Thinkpad E430/1 vs L430

I'm thinking to buy Thinkpad in several months later (or next year at worse). My choice is only between Thinkpad Edge and L series that fit on my budget.

The expected specs is processor intel core i5 ivy bridge and integrated intel HD graphics. I heard intel core haswell will be released in this year, but I expected thinkpad edge/L with intel core i5 haswell will be much expensive than the current ivy bridge ones.

For now, the qualified candidates are between Thinkpad E430/E431 and L430 (or L431 if it will be released). So what do you guys think I should pick? I only need the thinkpad for my software development jobs and I will travel along with it.

 

I would take the L430 anytime over the E430, because E430 only comes with the pathetic HD resolution, and the L430 can be configured with a HD+ display. Also, L430 has a better overall design (180° hinges, same keyboards as T-Series, no Glossy plastic between the keys etc.)

E431 (and L431) is not yet released, and we will see how it is. One thing that scares me a bit is the new Clickpad, and I would not buy this without any good tests.

 

Thanks ibmthink for your thought. I have ideapad Z480 and the trackpad has clickpad design. I don't have problem with the clickable pad design, but I don't like when I do vertical finger-swipe, it produces screechy sound on the pad. Probably the pad are not compatible with my finger . Hopefully, it doesn't happen on the thinkpad.

I'm kinda late coming to the thinkpad world. But if I compared some images of old and new thinkpads, I have impression it seems lenovo tried to drag thinkpad to looks more like to ideapad.

 

I would say, they only try to make it look a bit more modern. ThinkPads are not set in stone. IBM also modernized the looking through the time, just compare a ca. 1995 ThinkPad with a ThinkPad from 2003. Thats normal.

IdePads look very different, more metallic / glossy.

 

I just saw E431 at youtube from CES 2013. The E431 will have 1600x900 resolution with touch screen.

I wonder how to do middle mouse-click for the trackpoint on the E431 since no top three buttons anymore at the pad.

 

The 3 buttons are now (hopefully not horribly) intergrated into the clickpad. It's good to hear that it has a both a touchscreen and a 1600x900 while being thinner. Now we'll have to see about its battery life...
Other than the missing trackpoint buttons, the only thing that I despise is that the ThinkPad logo is now flipped (upside-down with a closed lid; rightside-up with an open lid... and the logos on the lid and the body no longer overlap >_<.

 

@Yuxie: I hope too the new clickpad are not dissapointing. I also hope the display is 1600x900 at the lowest, which means there is no 1366x768 version at all. In my country, it's very hard to find thinkpad with HD+ (1600x900) display, even T430 and T430s are only sold with 1366x768 display, so I hope with Edge E431, finally there would be an affordable 1600x900 thinkpad released in my country.

Btw, I had changed my mind. Now I'm looking for an affordable lightweight thinkpad with resolution larger than 1366x768. Hopefully, there would be E431s (or maybe E331) released in future.

 

Here's my predicted realease schedule:
Haswell will be released in Q3 with the x440 Thinkpads releasing in late Q3 or early Q4. The T431s will come BEFORE Haswell, and the E431 will come BEFORE the T431s.

The 430s is a great option for you: it does come with a 1600x900 screen (same with the T430) Although ULV processors in ultrabooks are becoming more ad more capable, I personally still avoid ultrabooks for the risk of compromises. My only problem with lightweight laptop is: will I need a sleeve or power brick with that?

The longer you can wait, the better. More options become availiable, older options become cheaper (or free upgrades/ higher standards; lenovo tends to give away free fingerprint scanners/backlit-keyboards)

In conclusion (for portability): T430s now for a compromise-free laptop; E431 for a cheap ultrabook; T431s for a quality ultrabook; T440s better compromise free-notebook... or you can go with a standard T430/T440... ORRR you wait to see what lenovo has to show off for the 2013 X1.

 

X440? Wow, if it's true, this would be the first non-carbon 14 inch X series thinkpad from lenovo.

E431 is ultrabook? Are you sure about that? From lenovo site, the weight is around 4.7 lbs (2.1 kg) which is not belong to ultrabook category (<2kg). One thing that make me disappointed is they still give HD (1366x768) display option , but I understand that era of HD+ became standard has not come yet.

The weakness of slim notebook than ultrabook is their power consumption, but unfortunately T430u which is an ultrabook thinkpad has poor battery life.

I had seen the thread about leaked docoument about T431s. Interesting that T431s is ultrabook. I thought lenovo will use 'u' code for ultrabook, such as T431u.

Also mentioned at here:
http://www.thinkscopes.com/thinkpad-santana-thinkpad-rogue-thinkpad-oasis-what-are-they/
there is L440s. If it's true, finally there is lightweight L series.

T430s is definitely my top option, the problem is that lenovo seems discriminates for my country as they don't sold HD+ thinkpad at all, except for X1 Carbon, well that's because X1 Carbon only has HD+ display option.

I definitely will wait and see the development of the new thinkpads and also for waiting T430s price going down . I don't think I can afford the high priced forthcoming thinkpads. The next option for me is new slim Edge series, hopefully there would be E431s or E440s.

 

There is no X440, this just stands for the upcoming lineup, like Xx30 are the current ThinkPads, Xx20 the 2011 ThinkPads ect. Xx40 stands for X/W/T/Lx40 series.

E431 isn´t a Ultrabook. And it will come with the option for a HD+ screen. In which country do you live?

Lenovo will probably just thow the "u" designation away, because they don´t need it anymore, if the T431s is an UltraBook. They don´t need two Ultrabooks in the T-Series, and many users are more common with the "S" designation.

There will be definitely a Ultrabook version of the E431/E531: The Edge S431/S531 (tentative announcement in April).

 

I have updated my profile with my country info

I thought 's' is mean for slim (lightweight notebook without ULV processor).

S431? oh, I have heard the current S430. It's originally my second option, the specs really fulfill criteria I want but there are few problems that bother me:
-Difficult hardware maintenance (you have to take out the keyboard just to upgrade the memory or access the battery).
-Although it's a lightweight notebook, but the power adapter is big and heavier than other slim thinkpad has. So if you sum both of them, you got no lightweight notebook anymore.
-The 4-cell battery life is weaker than other thinkpad edge which is known for their long lasting life battery.
-High temperature.

Hopefully, lenovo will change the design of Edge S431. They should follow E330 design which is much better.