ThinkPad X1, X230, X230t, T430, T430s, T530, W530, L430, L530 Official

The starting prices are always extraordinarily high, but Lenovo does provide many ecoupons and other deals soon after launch. A few months after launch, and I'll bet the W530 prices will be in line with current W520 prices.

 

Do you guys know where I'd be able to demo a w530/t530 when they release? Like a Best Buy or something?

 

Given most retail outlets barely carry any entry level business (Pro Book, Edge, Vostro) it is unlikely they will carry a mainstream business notebook. I work at Microcenter, and the last time we carried a mainstream ThinkPad was 2010, with an X201, X301, T410, T410s. We only have the Edge and some crummy low spec Elitebook/ProBooks.

 

Doh. I have a good idea of how things will run and look, but it'd be nice to just mess around with it in person.

Thanks for the info though!

 

If there's a university relatively close by, then you may be able to find one at their store. The UCLA Bookstore had the T420, T420s, and X220 on display, along with a host of Probooks.

 

that's a good point. I can hop on over to Stanford. I imagine they have them there.

 

Yeah Commander Wolf has told me plenty of ThinkPads on display at Stanford, man we never had laptops like ThinkPads at the Drexel store...heck there weren't even any notebooks on display!

 

Mmm. I guess I'll be dropping by. I really want to see how good the monitor looks.

I'm using a t61 right now (1680x1050) from 2007! I actually still like this monitor. I'm under the impression that the monitors these days are better than what I have.

 

Unless it's still crippled by a 128-bit DDR3 interface.

 

I use pgup/pgdn all the time.

 

So, anyone planning to get a new Thinkpad decide what they are going to get yet?

I'm going for a T430s with integrated graphics. Will pick up an Ultrabay battery, too. And that will be it.

 

I'm going either

T430s with nvs 5200m or

S430 with 630m

Depending on the strength of the 5200m, and if the S430 will have an option for a 640m or not. If the 5200m > 630m, then T430s. They are both sexy laptops. Also, I hope S430 will have mil spec durability, i'm prone to drop things

 

630m = NVS 5400m

 

X230T with the i7.

 

I'm with you concerning the S430.

 

Thinkpads have better construction than Ideapads from my (albeit limited) experience. It's why you pay more for it. The trade off is a generally weaker GPU, but it's a workstation level card (better precision, which is unnecessary in games).

 

If it means anything, the S430 is a Thinkpad Edge, not an Ideapad.

 

Either X230t or W530, right now I'm leaning towards X230t.

But if I do decide to sell my desktop, then it's W530 for me.

 

I'm mum on the NVS 5200M. I do game, but it looks like the HD 4000 could be adequate enough for my needs.

 

I am going to buy ten T420 and put them in the basement. I am done with laptops for the rest of my life.

 

the S430 is also a thinkpad, not an ideapad

 

In name, yes.

 

it is an EdgePad.

 

It Is Spartacus!

 

Does anyone know if the T430s has room for a 9mm drive or only 7.5mm drive ? (not ultrabay)

 

The quality of the s430 won't be far off from other thinkpads

 

It's probably going to be 7mm again, so get those screws ready for your SSD.

 

I am Spartacus!

 

The new Mini Dock Serie 3 with USB 3.0 will be combatible with all modells up from the T400s That means T400s, T410/T420/T430, T410s/T420s/T430s, T510/T520/T530, L412/L420/L430, L512/L520/L530 and X220/X230: ThinkPad Mini Dock Plus Series 3

 

Quick question on that.

Is the dock just passing through USB 3.0 or does it have an onboard USB 3.0 chip? In other words, would the new dock be adding USB 3.0 capabilities for a T410?

 

quick question, will the T430s have a dedicated graphics card, if so which one? Currently considering the T430s or S430 depending on price and specs.

 

Discrete GPU only in the T430S? I doubt it. But the Intel HD 4000 is supposed to be pretty good so the line between integrated and discrete is almost gone.

Most likely the SKUs will be similar to the T420S. Integrated or Optimus. Optimus will have NVIDIA® NVS 5200M. See http://www.lenovo.com/products/us/laptop/thinkpad/t-series/t430s/

 

I don´t know, time and tests will tell. Maybe the dock have an extra USB 3.0 chip for the older modells.

 

As Thors Hammer stated, IGP is catching up so fast to entry level dGPU, there will be no point as the performance to wattage ratio Intel obliterates the competition. And given all the headaches with Optimus, they might phase out dGPU on mainstream T series all together.

 

I would not buy a T430S with Optimus. It's only going to add support for one more external LCD panel and unless it's a free upgrade it just doesn't make sense.

 

if the nvs 5200m = 630m/540m i''ll get it, below that might as well save some battery life and get the hd 4000

 

HD 4000 graphics look to be a significant improvement but there is still a vast difference between integrated graphics and current dedicated GPUs. One big difference is the ability to manipulate drivers and the other is the ability to significantly overclock a dedicated GPU. The GT520M is a decent overclocker.

 

After some thought, I plan to get the integrated graphics version of the T430s, given how Optimus has not worked correctly in the past for me. Plus, the HD 4000 does run Battlefield 3 at a decent clip, if you keep your expectations on performance and settings relatively modest.

 

For the vast majority of ThinkPad users, HD 4000 is more than enough. Tell me, do you need an overclockable GPU to do office applications or program? If you are gaming on a ThinkPad, you've bought the wrong laptop, it is a workhorse computer not a gaming computer. If you are going to do CAD work on a ThinkPad, majority of users will buy a W series, which has far more powerful GPU than mainstream T series.

 

it's settled, my next laptop won't be a thinkpad.

 

Supposed performance is getting there, but real world performance is an entirely different story. Driver support is especially horrible if you want to do anything that really uses the GPU. It's more than enough for basic usage. It's acceptable for casual gaming. Real gaming or CAD/etc work is completely out of the question though.

Agree with this though.

 

But again you say driver support, but HD 3000 wasn't meant to game, it just can game. And I can play Source games pretty smoothy on my X220t, TF2 runs med/high @ 720p. Heck even MW2/SC2 run fine albeit low/med settings.

 

Intel's drivers are improving, albeit slowly. Their drivers team still isn't quite up to par with AMD's or Nvidia's, though.

 

What is the point of the HD4000 being faster then? If its not for gaming, that leaves CAD/other pro work, which needs good driver support as well.

It would have been better for Intel to just make a lower power GPU instead of a faster one if they aren't going to put the effort into making the increased performance useful.

 

So I don't get your point, I'm saying just because there isn't good driver support doesn't mean it can't game, rather just unoptimized. Plus look at IGP hardware vs dGPU hardware. For most people, HD 4000 makes no difference, average joe schmoe browsing the web won't notice the difference. Maybe if he plays flash games or does light casual gaming he will notice the difference.

If you are doing CAD work, then you need to get a mobile workstation, like a W520 which offers Quadro cards with good driver support. Doing CAD work on a cheapo laptop = bad things happen.

All the reviews kept bashing the weak Intel GMA, so HD 3000's jump was astronomical compared to HD graphics, and HD 4000 is even more exponential. In fact, the Intel training at work shows they put more effort into IGP rather than clock speed. Unfortunately there's not much GMA can go lower in power, until 3D transistors mature, hence I am banking on Haswell/Broadwell and skipping IB all together.

 

T430s Hardware Maintenance Manual is now live. Here.

 

I have a fairly simple question that may be stupid to some of you but I honestly don't know. I play WoW on my Thinkpad T510 with a NVS 3100M optimus GPU. I can play on lower setting perfectly well. I am wondering if HD 4000 graphics will get equal or better performance in WoW? I have seen the benchmarks and stuff but real world can be very different from benchmarks.

 

NVS 3100M is a pretty weak dGPU, benches worse than 8600M GT which is beat by HD 3000. 3100M is based off of 210M/310M, and NVS 4200M is rebranded 3100M, all are very weak. HD 4000 is on par with a 5650 Mobility, which is significantly faster than 8600M GT. However if you start turning up details, IGP will choke. Faster memory may scale better with Intel IGP.

WoW is much more demanding with Lich King compared to Burning Crusade/Classic. I'm assuming with the newer expansion coming out, it'll be even more demanding. Worse case is to lower resolution/quality, but overall HD 4000 should be faster than 3100M.

 

The NVS 4200M is not a rebranded 3100M. It's based off of Fermi, while the 3100M is based off an older Nvidia architecture.

Furthermore, the HD 5650 is faster than the HD 4000 by a significant margin (think 20% or more), depending on the game. I think you are overrating the HD 4000's abilities a bit too much.

 

Here's the full review from Zaz for the X230

Lenovo ThinkPad X230 Review

Release date is either June 4th or 5th, either way next week.