T420s versus T420 lid flex?

Hello,

I have not had a chance to get hands on with the T420. For those of you that have looked at (in person) the T420 and T420s, how would you rate the strength of the lid?

My wife has the scary habit of grabbing her T400 by the lid and I am afraid if I replace it with the T420s, bad stuff will happen.

Is the T420 lid significantly stronger than the T420s?

Thanks,

Thor

 

The T420s lid has the same strength as the X30x laptop, since there is less weight on the T420s, grabbing it by the screen seems a little bit safer than doing so on the T420.

But i would hesitate to constantly grab the laptop by the screen, as you may have a high likelihood of cracking the LCD.

I have a habit of doing this too on my T400 with the internal magnesium rollcage, but i wouldn't do it on the T410 and especially the T420.

 

The T420 appears to handle being lifted by the lid well enough -- I've seen some of them undergo plenty of this sort of abuse -- but it's probably not a good idea on any laptop.

 

I wouldnt grab any laptop by its lid unless theres some sort of metal protection like T400 mg roll cage or all-metal build like new Elitebooks/Latitudes at worst.

I dont buy this CFRP roll cage bull on new ThinkPads

I wish Lenovo started to make their laptops all-metal like new EliteBooks/Latitudes yet maintained their superiority price-performance wise and replaced rubber paint with anodized metal surfaces.

 

You guys are preaching to the choir. I'm not the one doing this. Part of the problem is that the T400 my wife does this with right now is a solid beast. Her T400 comes off warranty next March and I am trying to figure out whats next.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

The lid on the T400 would be robust as that has a rollcage inside and is thicker in design. The lid on the T420 is thinner and no longer has the lid rollcage inside so I would not advise picking the notebook up solely by the lid as you may risk damaging the LCD. I own both a T61 and T420 and while I admit that I had picked up my T61 by the lid on a few occasions I never dream doing the same to my T420.

 

I grab my W520 by the screen all the time. >.>

 

Maybe upgrade your wife's T400 to a T9900 CPU, put in 8 gigs of ram and get a good SSD, this should be at least enough to last her a while (depending on what she use it for).

Also, you could get TPP warranty on the T420 to guard against mishaps.

 

I'm well aware of the construction, but it's still not like it's *that* much weaker. Plus, most ThinkPad lids from "the good old days" weren't metal...

 

Are you kidding me? All metal what happens if you were to drop it? Really expensive paper weight that thing would crunch like a soda can. I seen Macbooks that have had that happen no thanks no thanks. Carbon fiber materials and reinforced plastics are the next best things makes them very durable and still very stylish.

 

I can still grab my T420s by the top of the lid but it's def. something I've been trying to avoid.

 

As lead_org has mentioned, a TPP would "insure" against a possible loss,

but why tempt fate?


Regards.