Student questions T420 (and possibly replacing desktop)

Hi,

I've been lurking like crazy on this forum and like many of you, am very close to pulling the trigger on the T420! Here is my current situation:

I have a more than capable desktop and see no reason to upgrade it per se (E6750 with 4GB RAM). I am, however, looking for a laptop for school. I absolutely need battery life, a great typing experience and most importantly a good build that doesn't scream cheap. That means that netbooks, while perhaps practical, are not something that I would consider (I have an old HP Mini and it's horrible, Atom is bad). My usage is rather light; mostly browsing/office stuff. I understand that thinkpads are completely overkill for my needs, but I really got a crush on the T series! I like the current Vostro look, but I'm not sure about the battery life... plus it's currently out-of-stock (3350) in the Canadian store, I believe. I've heard it's also on the heavier side, similarly to HP's Probook.

I've had a MacBook Pro for awhile but ended up selling it. Sure, MBPs might have been my favorite laptop build-wise, but I just can't stand OS X. I have never owned a Thinkpad but I do love their rugged business look and I have no doubt that I would be pleased with the T420. Before pulling the trigger, I just wanted to get some opinions about a few things.

I get it, I need to be willing to pay $1000+ to get what I'm asking for, but I would like to know if carrying the T420 every day feels heavy at all. I have a chronic pain condition and, while carrying my 4.5lbs MBP 13" was bearable, I wouldn't want to go much higher than that. Lighter would be better, but I don't think the T420s is a good option considering its shorter battery life. Comments about the footprint would also be appreciated. Of course I'd love to pay less than $1000, but the cheapest laptops that I have seen with long battery life seem to be rather, IMO, ugly and filled with glossy finish here and there (Asus Uxx...). I would seriously consider an Asus one if I could find a certain model that is entirely matte. I think I have an allergy to gloss .

I was also thinking about buying a NAS for storage, but wouldn't it be cheaper/more practical to get a docking station with the T420 to replace my desktop and fill my desktop with HDDs? What are your experiences with using Thinkpads as a desktop replacement? Have you ever missed having a desktop?

Lastly, would a SSD really improve the battery life?

Any input is appreciated.

 

While I don't have any experience w/ the T420 yet (mine hasn't shipped ), that's my plan as well.

I got a thinkpad to replace my current desktop (i5 2500K/Agility II SSD/GTX 560), which I already know I'll miss :\

But in terms of desktop replacement, I'm planning on hooking it up to a dock and run it w/ an external monitor, mouse, keyboard and NAS.

Not sure about weight vs battery life yet. I got mine with a 6 cell, and that's supposed to weigh close to 5 lbs. But supposedly you'll get 6-7hrs of real usage from the 6 cell as well, so there may not be a need to get the 9 cell (which would bring up the weight to 5+ lbs).

An SSD will run more efficiently compared to a normal HDD, I don't have the figures on how much more you'll actually get in real world usage. But considering how most HDDs idle at 1-3w, I don't see how you'll be able to get much higher battery life even if the SSD only uses .1 watts.


*Edit: found some benches
So apparently you won't see much battery savings at all w/ SSD at idle, as most laptop HDD drives idle at less than 1w.
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2.5-hard-drive-charts-2008/Idle-Power-Consumption,681.html

Under load though, you'd save a good bit compared to the traditional hard drives.
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2.5-hard-drive-charts-2008/Maximum-Power-Consumption,684.html

 

I think the T420 and the 420s will have similar battery life. The 9-cell slice battery (which will add weight) is also available for the T420s.

If you are looking for a good deal on it, try to find a Lenovo rep and order through the rep. They can usually get you a better deal. My US-based rep got me over 20% off the best price (EPP) I could find on a W520. I'd offer to give you his contact info but he can only ship to US addresses.

 

Oh wow, that's definitely a great desktop... not sure I could replace that

I'm thinking of getting the T420 with a 6 cell too. Seems to do the job for a regular school day with dimmed brightness/wi-fi off during lectures.

I don't know anything about SSDs to be honest. Would this work well with the T420 NCIX.com - Buy OCZ Vertex 2 Extended Sandforce 120GB 2.5IN SATA2 Solid State Disk Flash Drive SSD - OCZ Technology - OCZSSD2-2VTXE120G - in Canada

It's pretty cheap, but I don't know about the quality. I'd like to pay as little as possible for an OS drive SSD. Any recommendations?

 

Interesting. I'll try that when ordering.

 

I have a desktop with E6550 C2D, 8GB RAM, AMD 5670 GPU and 1.8TB worth of HDD's, yet I seldom use it because of my ThinkPads! My T61 feels a lot faster than my desktop due to the T9300 + SSD combination. Plus the portability is definitely a bonus should you need to take your work elsewhere or just relax and browse the web at your dining table for example.

For me once you have a ThinkPad its very hard to imagine being without it, I sold my T61 to my friend and regretted it after missing the portability and convenience of a good notebook. A few months after I bought another T61 and pretty much stuck with it since! Now i'm in the process of getting a ThinkPad T420, the desktop days are numbered at my place!

 

This is so true! When I had my MBP, I would often find myself surfing the web in my kitchen and other places. It doesn't sound like a big deal, but I thought it was nice to have the freedom

What SSD do you currently have in your T61?

 

I don't think that's the case T420s uses a smaller 6-cell battery and there is no slice battery option.

 

The t420 is just shy of 5 lbs with the 6 cell battery.

A ssd would help battery consumption just because it uses less energy and works more efficiently.

In my personal opinion, whether one needs a thinkpad or not is not based on one's degree of computer literacy or heavy workload usage. It should simply be because one needs a well built machine that is durable, mobile, and diy upgradeable. I have experiences with dell and hp and the one thing I hated about both laptops was their fragility. After a year of dragging them around in my backpack, I would see signs of tear around the screen hinges, the keyboard, warping of the casing, discoloration....

 

Currently I have the Intel X25-M in my T61, can't really fault it to be honest. My upcoming T420 will have the Intel 510 Elmscrest SSD which is still boxed up at the moment.

 

The 6-cell for t420s has little power, but I guess t420s with 6-cell+bay battery will offer slightly longer battery life than the 6-cell on t420. No slice for t420s as far as I know.

 

First off, I don't think a Thinkpad is in any way overkill for you. It's a great student notebook in that it can take the abuse of being carried around campus and hauled out and back in all day, every day. I had an X40 for most of my university years, and I just loved it.

As for the weight issue, I had a T61 between 2008 and 2010 and also carried it with me on a daily basis. For me, it was by no means too heavy, and the T420 actually shaves about a pound/half a kilo off that. If you, however, as you say have a back condition, and found a 4.5lb MBP only bearable, I think you should seriously consider the X series. The T420s, while being lighter, has significantly worse battery life. For the kind of use I had when spending a good part of the day in lecture halls, it wouldn't have been enough (the X40, however, easily pulled 6 hours even with high brightness).

The X220, on the other hand, has similar battery performance to the T420, while being almost 2 pounds lighter. Its one drawback, in my opinion, is the lower screen resolution (1366x768 as opposed to 1600x900). That, unfortunately, was a dealbreaker for me, having got used to the higher-res screen of the T61. Otherwise I wouldn't have hesitated an instant to opt for the X220 instead of the T420 that should reach me by the end of this week. =)

 

A well equipped t420 should compete with or beat an e6750 system. I currently use a desktop with an e6850 and it compared to my 720qm as far as real world single threaded performance. A new sandy bridge t420 would be even faster and would be able to replace the desktop.

 

If the usage is light - the T420/X220 (latter of which I am probably about to order) - does seem to be overkill. Wouldn't the X120e fulfill his needs for about 1/2 the price?

Although the X220, lightly equipped, sounds virtually perfect as well

 

Thanks for your input. Indeed the higher resolution is hard to ignore - I also find the larger palmrest surfaces of 13.3+ laptops to be generally more comfortable for typing. I'll still check out prices of various configs for the X220 tomorrow (assuming it's being released). Sure as hell beats my current 1024x600 from HP Mini 1035NR... oh the horror. I'm assuming the X220 does have a full-size keyboard.

Interesting. I have no idea how accurate Passmark is, but I got these numbers when looking up the two following models:

Intel Core2 Duo E6750 @ 2.66GHz
Passmark CPU Mark: 1688
Rank: 377

Intel Core i3-2310M @ 2.10GHz
Passmark CPU Mark: 2708
Rank: 220

I'm guessing an i5/i7 would be much superior. Speaking of which, would there be a significant difference in battery life with i5 vs i7 Sandy Bridge?

 

you dont really need a high res display or large display for what is essentially going to be a secondary computer. now while a 11.6 inch display is cramped, its still very usable and a 12" display is comfortable.

and if you want it to replace your desktop, you can just invest in a dock and dock it with your desktop's monitor.

invest in a wireless keyboard and mouse (or leave the wired variants plugged into the dock and you have a practically seamless portable to desktop transition. in fact you'll have a dual display setup. You can keep your IM/Email on the laptop LCD and have whatever program you're working on displayed on the desktop LCD.

 

I have been considering the X120e as well. I swear Lenovo is driving me nuts. I'm a little bit concerned about readability though. I tried the HP DM1z in-store, which is nearly identical to the X120e specs-wise. Considering the 11.6 screen, the resolution was very good but the characters were very small. I'm not a fan of increasing Windows DPI either so, I'm not too sure about the X120e. I've read that the keyboard is excellent though.

 

Another one for the X120e - it does sound like a very logical choice for my wallet and needs. I guess I'll have to go take a look at the DM1z again, try to see if I could get used to 1366x768 on 11.6.

 

The higher up you go the lower your battery life goes and your performance goes up. Honestly an i5 will handle most tasks as well as an i7 dual core, and IMHO, I would only get an i7 if it were quad core and thats not offered on a t420 sadly.

 

i was about to pull the trigger on the X120e when i found a fantastic deal on the X201 on ebay with over 2 years of warranty remaining (i paid $725, specs in sig). the outlet also had great deals for not much more money than the X120e, so i decided to pull the trigger and go for it.

i'd seriously consider getting an X201 off the outlet or ebay.

 

Same as the T series. One of the few benefits of the move to wider screens.

From what I gather, the differences - in all regards, both performance and power - between the i5 and i7 options available for these machines are very small indeed.

 

IMHO, save up and get something good like a Crucial RealSSD C300. I'm using one right now and it's worth every penny. I think you can get a 64GB model for somewhere around $130 USD. [pricing based on this Amazon listing]

On ThinkPads you can replace the optical drive with a HDD bay and re-use the HDD that came with your computer in the bay for storage. My Lenovo rep sold me a bay for my new W520 for $42.

 

What is the the benefit of a dock? Its price is expensive.
Can't we just connect the laptop directly with the external monitor and save some amount for other thing.

May be i miss something here about the dock.

 

You can connect an external monitor (or even two) directly to a laptop, but.. Imagine you have two monitors, keyboard, mouse, external HDD and headphones that you have to connect and disconnect every time. People prefer to connect everything to a dock and just click a laptop in or out.

 

It saves you time, and the cable is more manageable. It may save only 2 hrs of work time in a week*, but over the three year in which the laptop is in service, then the money saved from not having a dock is far less than the work productivity lost with the dock. Obviously for most consumers opportunity costs are not something they think about when they purchase laptops and their peripherals, this is also why most consumer laptops don't have real dock connectors anymore (you can get generic usb docks).

P.S. Frequent unplugging and replugging of cables do wear the ports out faster, which is quite expensive to replace.

* (that depends on how fast the person can connect/disconnect cables and how many cables there are to connect)

 

I agree! I just can't use a desktop anymore...not that I have used a desktop anytime in the recent past.

To the OP, since you already have a powerful desktop, why not opt for the X220. It is lightweight. It is powerful and, apparently, it has very good battery life.

Edit: Sorry, I just saw that the X220 has been recommended a number of times to the OP. Well, I add to those recommendations.