New Thinkpads are out with Sandy Bridge - T/W/L series

The DisplayPort on the T500 and W500 do not carry audio, however, the T410, T510, and W510 all support video- and audio-out over DP.

I've achieved Lenovo's stated battery life for the T500 with less extreme measures, but obviously, most stated battery life claims are a bit on the high side. Frankly, though, I wouldn't mind having only 12 hours on a 9-cell.

I think heat is the larger issue. People who opt for quad cores generally know what they're getting into in the battery life department. With a quad core, though, the T420 would likely have required more extensive chassis adjustments that would've made it heavier and thicker, something that is not desirable for most users who would stick with dual core CPUs.

I think it's mostly lack of demand and a greater priority placed on weight/noise/cool operation. Most business computer users stick with integrated graphics (out of all the people I know who use Thinkpads large and small, I'm the only one with a discrete GPU option).

 

Thinkpad discrete graphics are aimed at 3d cad users not gamers.

 

I am pretty sure the Envy 14 has a quad core option, and it isn't as hot as one would expect for a relatively thin, and metal(?) body notebook. So, one would think Lenovo could with the T420? Then again the Envy 14 is a 14.5in device so that could be why it could have a quad core option?

 

Bad news. Only 48 CUDA Cores on the NVS 4200m... meaning this is more likely a re-badged 415m than a 420m. The 420m has 96 pipelines.

NVIDIA GeForce GT 415M - Notebookcheck.net Tech
NVIDIA GeForce GT 415M - Notebookcheck.net Tech

3DMark06:
420m: 6150
415m: 4000
Integrated graphics: 4000-5000


Boo! Why put in a dedicated card that is no better than the Sandy Bridge integrated 3000 graphics?


BTW, the new Latitudes and Elietebooks have the same problem...

Not a game changer, but it leaves almost zero reason to get dedicated graphics. Although some of the lower spec'd models will have the slower 2000HD graphics.

 

Maybe support for cuda, and the perception because it nvidia branded it has to better?

 

Alternatively, Nvidia also has their Quadro FX specs up and wow, the Quadro 2000M option on the W520 looks to be an absolute beast (192 cores vs 48 on the 880FX). It seems to be a bit less than twice the speed of the current card. And 55W? That is seems a bit much out of the 15 inch chassis. But if the W7x0 is dead, then they really had to offer a higher end option for workstation users. Can't wait to see the price premium over the 1000M. Over/under $500 anyone?

NVIDIA Quadro FX - Mobile Solutions

 

As those Quadro cards are pretty new, there are no benchmarks for them yet - based on the specs alone that you can see on the above link, can anyone guess at what sort of performance we are looking at?

 

Even though the Nvidia card is not much better, you still have to remember that if you utilize your CPU 100% then you will not gain 100% performance from the intel hd gpu, it will be starwed in power, so therefore a discrete cpu will do better.

 

I'm very disappointed to learn this. I had hoped that the use of Sandy Bridge in these laptops would have forced Dell/HP/Lenovo to put in a more powerful discrete GPU than what has been used in the past (entry level GPUs). That way people wouldn't be forced to pay for the more expensive "workstation" class laptops unless they really were heavy CAD/Visualization software users.

 

I have the same problem with this year's refresh. Guess will have to wait for next year to see where this all goes.

 

This pushes me towards getting a laptop without discrete graphics. The 3000HD is strong enough for most needs (even some gaming on low setting if you are so inclined.) I might actually abandon my home desktop and set up a ViDock to use a desktop GPU at home utilizing the expresscard slot.

 

So, how does the 4200 in the T series compare to the AMD 6470M in the 14in & 15in Elitebooks? Does the 4200 have cuda support, even if its partially supported?

 

Does anyone know if the T420s will support a 2.5 inch drives instead of the 1.8 inch that was in the T410s?

Thanks

 

Yes, that's been confirmed.

 

Oh? This is good news....

 

They are actually on par with each other.

 

Think someone wrote it had 48 cuda cores, not sure where I read it though

 

Interesting. I keep reading that both aren't much in performance than the intel IGP, and I am assuming they are only offering these options for marketing performance. Now the question is, are either gpu options really not that much better than the intel IGP or are people misinformed?

 

Intel HD Graphics 3000 - Notebookcheck.net Tech

Apparently the manufacturers are the only ones misinformed

 

I didn't see the 4200, but based on the 6470M numbers(if I am reading the chart right) the intel HD is better? I guess the only reason to provide the the nvidia and ati gpus in these machines are for cuda support in the Nvidia models, and maybe even marketing purpose as I been assuming; unless, the drivers for the ATI and Nvidia cards are some how better. Either way, the all three gpu options are way better than the Intel 4500hd model my Vaio comes with.

 

It is bizarre to be sure. Wikipedia and anandtech state that all mobile sandy bridge CPUs have intel HD 3000 on board. This is, as you said, faster than 4200 nvs and 6470m. How this one snuck by the engineering departments everywhere is a mystery to me.

People will be pretty shocked to push the stamina switch on the Sony SB to "performance" only to have graphics speeds get SLOWER. Even if the internet is wrong and they somehow snuck in the ty HD 2000 graphics, 4200 and 6470 are only marginally faster. Seems rather pointless.

ALSO: ATI does not support CUDA, and recently dropped support for their version of it too. dunno if this applies to mobile chips.

 

Well I was referring to cuda for nvidia models. I was thinking maybe these have the HD2000 as the rumors around the Vaio SB saying it does. Odd really. If this or the HP really come with the HD3000 gpu, then even better as I get to save money, unless the Intel HD gpu somehow doesn't support the higher res screen(pretty sure it does as the Z has switchable gpu, and that comes with a standard 1600x900 res and optional 1920x1080 screen and you can use the intel HD with that res).

 

As I wrote before, if the cpu is stressed 100% you will NOT get full performance from hd HD3000 at all! It will be starwed and performance much worse

 

Interesting point, but why then make the optional gpu a lower performer vs the intel igp, why not give it something that is marginally better?

 

That doesn't make any sense. You are looking at real benchmarks from 3dmark and actual games, where the dedicated GPUs in question are demonstrably slower despite CPU stresses.

 

If the CPU turboboosts it actually makes the GPU faster.

The only issue I could think of is if you ran out of RAM since this is shared to some extent.

But I'm not an expert.

 

There actually hasn't been reviews of the HD3000 in a mobile platform yet right? I find it hard to believe everyone in the industry overlooked the fact that the discrete is the same speed as the integrated graphics. I completely trust anandtech, but it makes me wonder if the final mobile hardware will actually be that fast.

 

Intel?s Sandy Bridge i7-2820QM: Upheaval in the Mobile Landscape - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News

these are actual benchmarks from an actual mobile chip. i7, but still. all hd3000 should be within 14% or so (they vary the gfx mhz based on cpu model)

 

How would Adobe Creative Suite 5 run in the Intel integrated graphics? Would you need to run discrete for After Effects/Premiere/Photoshop or would integrated do the trick?

 

FX 2000m is essential a 460m GTX with slower ram.

That should be an option on the w520. Hopefully it is not silly expensive.

 

Where are you getting the info for the Quadro 2000M? I thought it's based on the GT 550M with double the shaders (128-bit bus and 192 SP).

 

Any ideas when the X220 is being released?

 

See the picture in this thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/557164-x201-sandy-bridge.html

 

Nice to see they add HD+(1600x900) to the L520 options.

 

Yeah, pitty that theres no such option for L420
I mean, R400 had the WXGA+ option, why not its successor?

 

The less parts variations they offer on the L series, the more they can tap into economics of scales and at the same time decrease their part inventory.

 

Couldnt they use the same parts for L420 from T420/T420s?

Edit: Looks like all T420 models so far listed in Tabook come with 3 year warranty, is this going to be standart on T420?
T420s models listed have both 3 year and 1 year warranty.

 

Does anyone know how thick these slice batteries are? I can't seem to find dimensons on Google and I've never seen a slice battery (on any brand laptop) in real life. I'm trying to decide what to replace my T61p with, either a T420 or T420s.

 

Oh wow, super thick at the back? For some reason I thought it was the same width/height as the laptop and just made it thicker. That doesn't look like something I want to use.

Thanks!

 

That's pretty normal for a slice battery (at least based on the few I have seen from HP and Dell)....

 

This is what I was expecting.

 

the other slice is much more pleasant to write

 

Does anyone have any date for a release? Nothing mentioned on any regional lenovo variation.

I read on a random blog it's end of march and in another post an image showing its out in February. Anyone have any better sources? I wanna W520!

 

cant find my sources, but i have read that shipping-date is 17. march, but 100% at the end of march you can buy one!

 

To type on? I didn't even think about that. Hmm. Thanks!

 

Generally, the Thinkpads are released around the same time as the other business lines such as the Latitudes/Precisions and Elitebooks. All of these should be coming in mid-late March, though realistically, I don't see most consumers getting laptops into their hands until April.

 

According to the roadmap posted in the X220 thread, it's 3/29.

 

The T420 looks pretty interesting. Only one question (I'm sure someone here already has the answer so I don't have to google) - is there a 1440x900 display option, or are we stuck with 1366x768?

If it's the latter, then I'll be holding on to my T400 as long as possible.

 

The T420 moved to the 16:9 form factor, so there's 1366x768 and 1600x900 display options.