Thinkpad Edge 420s

How come there isn't much discussion on this?

Where does it fit in the market? Somewhere between a business class T410 and a multimedia Y460p? Is it up against the macbook pro? How will it compare? Why do I have to wait till Spring

 

unconventional thinkpads dont get much discussion or attention here except some animosity because most geeks who frequent forums have more similar standards and needs so they generally fall under the X and T series lineup. The same reason nobody here talks about the W701 much because frankly there is less interest in and owners of it in terms of nerds who come to forums

 

Why is the T410 still the better buy over the E420s with the infinity screen?

 

specs, design style, build quality, matte screen

 

specs - only the screen is better, the rest there is no competition the edge has the edge

design style - mostly an issue here, since people here only care about ''real'' thinkpads and every once a week they create a thread to complaint about the dilution of the thinkpad brand.

build quality - we still dont know, but since it probably dont use a roll cage, and the use of the island style keyboard, people will invariably complaint of the poor build quality.

matte screen - yes this a good point.

So all in all, Im waiting for this one, if my laptop dies before I would inevitably get the x120e or the dm1z, being the lenovo a better choice in my opinion.

PS: the magnesium/aluminum case is tasty!

 

nevermind the fact we are comparing an old generation and a new generation laptop, but other than the dedicated graphics capability, t410 seems to hold its own. plus, it doesnt use the low voltage processors so it beats the edge in tat

 

So where does the edge beat out the T series? I guess I'll wait to get a sandybridge T series even thou the edge keyboard and chasis look better. Or I could pick up an hp envy 14 which I hear is good.

When is the sandybridge t series out? Worth waiting?

 

only the e220s will use ULV processors. If you compare different machines with the same cpu yes you will get the about the same performance.

The edge will inevitably have a more powerful gpu, the keyboard is comfort to use as per the review of the x100e and the older edges. The battery life is an unknown at this point but due to it having it integrated the battery is probably going to be larger in capacity.

The price difference is another matter, the edge will be invariably be cheaper as well.

The chassis should be of good quality like the U260, which is one good looking machine.

The main selling points of the edge e420s are:

The chassis is good, and its thin

the powerful gpu

the design

the weight

the price

the cons are

screen (however Im not one to be definitely swayed by higher res, I like color accuracy, constrast) and its still an unknown at this point

the lack of roll cage

the design not being thinkpad (which for me is a plus, there is no need to build a boring work laptop just because you can, try different styles to cater different professionals)

This is comparing to the t400 line.

The envy 14 without the radiance screen is a middle machine with no noticeable qualities. and currently there are no more envy 14 with the radiance, aside the refurbed and the used. The gpu in that model is underclocked, the cooling is average, and the build quality is ok with lots of complaints due to the poor QA of the envy's.

 

I think E420s could be bestseller if they deliver on build quality and battery life.

 

I have the same opinion, Im pretty much more inclined on this buy than on the vaio SA due to the build quality, the guts are about the same, with the lenovo having the slight advantage due to the use of the msata intel SSD, against the expensive raid 0 (no trim) SSD of the vaio.

 

I am really torn between the E420s and the Y470.

I like the design of the 420 more from what I can see in pictures. I like the black, the light weight design, and the thinklight.

The Y470 though appears to have the better video, and has an optional blue ray disk.

I don't understand why the 420 couldn't have had the same video card unless it had to do with the weight and overall size.

Its been difficult for me to decide between these two. Too bad one of them doesn't have a 1600x900 screen to help me make my decision.

 

The edge e420 is a evolutionary step in the notebook industry as we know it. The current models of laptops dont hold a candle to what its bringing us. Its an affordable, high powered laptop that caters more towards the business man that wants to be able to take it out and use it in front of other business people at the same time it can cater to enthusiasts because it has enough power to overclock/game all in a small form factor.

I also like the Y470. If your held up choosing one or other you will be happy with either one you chose and there will still be the other model to look forward to getting. I will say though that the Y470 if you dont already have an y460 looks hela sweet with aluminum/nvidia gt 555m.

 

I bought the Y460p and was very impressed while worked with the operation, keyboard, and especially the track pad.

I hated how cheap and whobbly the screen felt. I also did not like having no back lit keyboard or at least a thinklight. I have issues punching the number and F keys at night without any light.

I was undecided after I received it, but the next morning the machine would no longer boot so my mind was made up for me. Just returned it for a refund.

I thought I wanted the next machine to be aluminum, but after seeing the e420s, I think I prefer the rubberized feeling more. And it has a glass screen.

I don't think the Y470 is going to have a back lit keyboard and it won't have a thinklight so again I would be annoyed by that.

It's just very difficult to ignore that nvidia card and secondly a blueray player.

I am leaning to-wards the e420s, primarily because of aesthetics, which seems a bit ridiculous to me... because they both look nice. Guts wise, it seems the ideapad would be the better bang for the buck.

 

looking up the performance of the 6650 couple with a poor amd processor it performs around the same or a little bit faster as the old 5830, which has the same power as the gtx 260m nad is faster thyan the gts 360m, how it would compare to the overclocked version of the gt 445m it is an unknown, but if indication that the 6630, 6650, 67730 are the same chip but with different clocks both and are equipped with GDDR3, and the 6750 and 6770 also have the same clocks but with GDDR5.

I dont know the difference in market segments is pretty wide, as the weight and form factor difference, one is built to be ultra thin and exhilarate luxury, and the other is supposed to be gaming on a budget.

 

And I agree.. The build is what is drawing me to it. I really dig the look of the the new e420s. Not that the Y470 looks bad or anything, but it does look comparible to most other laptops that have gone to the alluminum look.

I guess I will just have to decide if the better look, better and smaller build, and the thinklight outweigh better gpu and blueray.

What would really do it for me would be 1600x900 resolution. Anyone thinking about trying to swap the screens out on one of these machines?

I would be willing to pay an extra couple hundred or so for the better resolution. I just don't know how much of a hassle it will be for me to do it on my own, and of course to research and find a compatible screen.

 

If the quality is bad I would change it, however it involves a e2e screen which is more of a hassle to do it.

 

just an fyi

according to the "official lenovo fan site" on facebook- the new edge models will go on sale on March 17th

10-second bootup?... | Facebook

 

Yeah I saw you posted that in another thread. If that date is correct, I will be buying the E420s. The decision will be easy. I won't want to wait another month or longer for the Y470.

 

Yes I too am currently waiting for the e420's. Hopefully the date doesn't get pushed back. I've been waiting at least a month for a good laptop to come out!

 

availability dates and some specifics for 2011 thinkpads can be found here:

http://www1.partnerinfo.lenovo.com/us/en/pdf/NA_Channel_Update.pdf

availability info - p15-16
model info- starts at page 50

I thought it would be a sandybridge computer, but it says "Huron River"?

 

Doesnt look like T420s will get any better battery life numbers than T400s/T410s - up to 8 hours with 6 cell+ultrabay battery.
Sandy Bridge might disapoint many
I wonder what is going to be the battery life for E220s/E420s

 

If there is no 1600x900 option, this thing is a joke. Why does lenovo place no value on screens? T series is full of literally the worst screens in the industry according to Anandtech, and Edge has always had only the bottom of the barrel standard low-res garbage since the beginning.

OPTIONS, LENOVO, OPTIONS!

 

Argh ... for me (and perhaps for a certain "group" of users who prefer a certain type of mobility) these are two of the biggest issues in considering a machine....

****

The T400 I am using atm has a nice screen when at its brightest (under Windows 7, mind you - the XP drivers did not seem as clear or bright for some reason), but when it is dimmed to the max to extend battery life it is extremely difficult to use, and in fact the worst machine I have ever used, quality wise, in this particular area.

Still - I was not expecting it to be a great machine battery life wise: I have a different machine for that, although the T420 that is to come out certainly raised my curiosity!

 

I wish there was even a list of full specifications and built options somewhere for the E420s.

Details on the Lenovo web site are scant.

What I've been able to gather from various sources so far (unconfirmed) for the E420s:

- 14", up to 1600x1900 resolution, glossy screen (?)
- Radeon 6630M GPU
- RAM up-to 8GB max (2x4GB modules), DDR3 1333
- 128GB SSD or 320GB HD
- HDMI (and VGA?) ports
- DVD slot loading
- USB 2.0 only!
- low light HD web cam
- spill resistant keyboard
- EE2.0 Rapid Drive boot up, c. 7-10s optimized out-of-the-box
- Weight: 1.86 kg (starting from)
- Optional 3G/4G WWAN module

 

If 1600x900 is true, then it might eat into t420 sales at some point IMO. Perhaps not by much, but still

 

Thanks for the links. I am currently looking at both the E220S and E420S for my next upgrade.

I believe "Huron River" refers to the platform of which Sandybridge is a part of, i.e. Sandybridge is the cpu part of the "Huron River" platform.

 

Just watched the official "video tour" clip of these on YouTube and in there somewhere it mentions "Intel HD Graphics 2000/3000"!

As I understand, the HD 2000 is equivalent to current gen graphics. They can't possibly pair this with SandyBridge can they? Or is it only for those machines that come with discrete graphics as well?

I thought all new SandyBridge laptops would have HD 3000.

 

Was considering the 13" Macbook Pro but kinda disappointed with today's refreshed spec. Seems a bit heavy for a 13" laptop and quite pricey!

So now that leaves Lenovo Thinkpad T420s, Edge E220S/E420S, Sony Vaio SA/SB, and the Toshiba R830 that I am considering.

Looking forward to the Thinkpad Edge series announcement in a week or so.

 

I still can't decide whether I should get a Thinkpad T420s or a E420s. What will have the better graphics processing for games and better screen?

It doesn't look like the E420s will have much over the T420s from what people are saying...

 

The E420s should be considerably cheaper than the T420s. The T420s will have a lot of enterprise level features that some people won't need.

For gaming, I think the Edge series would be more suitable as it should have a glossy screen (hopefully high quality) like all the other mainstream laptops. However, I doubt the "s" versions will get any decent discrete graphics due to the size constraints. Depends on what your other requirements and uses are.

Personally, the E220s and E420s are my choices at the moment. I no longer do any gaming and want something to be my main machine that is good enough in all areas, i.e. email+internet, multimedia, software programming etc...

 

I watched the official video of the e220s/e420s and I think that there won't be any discrete graphics available on those laptops. Only integrated ( judging by the hd2000/3000 statement in the video).

 

These are budget notebooks. I wouldn't expect dedicated GPUs.

 

the E420S has a dedicated video card and E220S doesn't have one... unfortunately.

 

If we are to believe this link, then apparently the E420s does have a discrete graphics option in the form of an ATI 6630 card.

I really haven't seen that much of a difference between the E420s and the T420, except that the edge is considerably cheaper and seems to have a lower max resolution of 1366 x 768. From what I've read recently the T420s doesn't even have the option of an i7 cpu, which at least the E420s offers. At the moment that is what I'm leaning towards (i.e. the E420s), unless the new lenovo chiclet keyboard isn't really up to par with the traditional Thinkpad keypads.

 

Aside that the NVS4200 is probably slower than the 6630 in games, or any application.

The res, there was a rumor about 1600*900 screens, if we are to believe this is good. But res for me is not an issue the worst thing is color accuracy, contrast and viewing angles..

 

Well as far as differences go, you might also want to consider the build quality and chassis strength. Benchmarks aren't everything...

 

So to re-cap, the E420s will have a worse LCD screen, worse graphics card, and form factor than the T series....

Why would I go with an Edge if cost is not a factor and performance is more important than looks for me...?

 

True; we'll have to wait till they're actually reviewed. But bearing the ThinkPad brand name, it should have decent build quality that is close to if not on par with the T series.

There are a lot of unknowns at this point, like the screen resolution I mentioned earlier, I highly doubt it being 1366x768 considering that the discrete option supports an AMD Radeon 6630 (that should easily support 1600x900).

So I wouldn't say that the E420s has a worse graphics card as the T420 supports a NVS 4200M.

 

I'm deciding between the T420s and E420s and leaning towards the E420s. I also think that the Sony VAIO S series will be able to compete favorably but the screen size on those is a bit too small for my taste (13"). The E420s may be less expensive then the T420s but by no means should it be considered a bargain laptop. It has discrete ATI Radeon graphics, the same on they are putting in the new Sony C series multimedia machines (although the E220s has integrated graphics only with no dedicated option). The S series has discrete ATI graphics as well but I think a bit lower model then the one in the E420s and the Sony C series. I want the best laptop for technical/research work -- I do a lot of applied econometrics and related heavy quantitative work, but also want to play World of Warcraft at semi-pimp settings and potentially some other light gaming as well (if I play shooters, etc. I do so on consoles, not bothering my PC with those). I am leaning towards E420s because of pricing -- I want to keep the total cost of the machine under $1,500 if possible including maxing out the RAM to 8GB and dedicated 1GB GPU. My guess is that T420s will get closer to $2,000 with a dedicated graphics option. ATI card is optimized for gaming anyways, NVIDIA has some weird rebranded drivers on its NVS cards, and I wish they had an option to just put original GEForce drivers/settings factory installed.

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Current machine: Lenovo T60P running Windows 7 with 500 GB, 7200RPM hard drive.

 

Eh... if my experience with the Edge 15 and X100e have shown me anything, it's that simply being labeled a "ThinkPad" does *NOT* mean it's up to the standard that most folks expect. The T410 is a little less durable than previous generations, and it is (IMHO) still far more solid than its Edge and X100e brethren.

 

Given that E220s and E420s are some sort of premium slim series and more expensive than reguler Edge laptops, perhaps they will be on the same level as L series?

 

any news about the e420s?

The sony SB is out already in the US

 

the US lenovo website now says April 2011- seems like lenovo now wants to release the new mainline thinkpads first?

 

thats terrible, unless the price gets lower than 1200 in my final specs (i5 2520m + AMD 6630) I would get the vaio SB in a heartbeat

 

Unless I'm mistaken, according to this slide http://dl.dropbox.com/u/57780/thinkpadGA.jpg, I was expecting there to some news about the availability of the E420s on March 11.

 

I remember that timetable, but I guessed that there would be some more leaked info, before the 11/3 date.

 

is there a confirmed release date for the e420s?

been waiting far too long for this to come out.

 

The timetable has been very close so far, so we will be likely be seeing announcement for the e420s very soon.

 

i hope so! but i'm guessing it wont be available untill at least mid April which is a bummer.

 

I came across these listings for the e420s today- no actual stock available yet it seems, but apparently you can call for an ETA

Model: 440129U Lenovo E420s 2310MB 4GB/320 DVR F C W7-64 $745.62

Model: 440128U Lenovo E420s 2410MB 4GB/320 DVR Bt F C W7-64 $809.91

I always thought reviewers got notebooks ahead of time? sigh