Thinkpad Edge 420s

I'm looking at the E420s.
But I'm a bit hessitant.

I'm getting it with the i5. And everything else stock. But one DIMM.
How long will the battery last?
How well can it do casual games on low settings with Intel HD?

 

expect about a hour less battery than advertized, and you should be able to play older games ( like 2005 - 2008 maybe ) at mid, and new games at low settings.

 

The person on chat told me 9 hours. So will it be 8 hours?
And did anyone succesfully switch the FN and CTRL keys physically? I heard it is shipped with a bios switch, but I want to switch it physically.

 

Refer to the 4th from last post on the link below about battery life, as he states:

"I'd say I could pull about 4.5-5 hours of from the battery, maybe a bit more if I dimmed the screen down"

forum.thinkpads.com • View topic - Edge e420s

 

Any complaints? I'm considering this laptop. And want to know what you guys think. How is it in games like TF2 and Portal?

 

Its really going to depend on what your doing with it on battery. If your just using word and maybe surfing the net on wifi with screen brightness at like 60 or 70% your looking at about 5.5 hrs this is my best estimate. Others have said differently throughout this thread if you don't mind sifting through some pages.


( lenovo cite says 7 hrs of battery life )

 

if you've got the fabled 6630m, it will be maxed out. if not, it will run

 

I live in the USA so I can't get that yet and I'm on a tight budget. But if you want to donate me some cash so I could get it, that would be coolio.

 

pffff, capitalist fail

 

So I ordered the E420s about 3 or 4 weeks ago before they took it off the website for a while. It was originally set to ship on April 12, which then got delayed to the 19th, which got delayed AGAIN to the 25th. We called customer support because we shouldn't have to wait 3 weeks to receive the laptop. They apologized for the inconvenience and said it would ship out May 3 and we would receive some form of compensation for the ordeal. Received a call today that our shipment was cancelled all together. This is ridiculous! The customer support was great, as they responded and called us back immediately, but this is a PR nightmare for them.

And now I'm stuck with a ThinkPad sleeve, which DID ship...

 

wow...that's crazy....if they can't send you the laptop..why is it even on their website?? im starting to look at other laptops...i've heard this story a few time from different ppl...it worries me...

 

Could be this:
Japan disaster triggers Lenovo plans to test PCs for radiation :: Editor's Blog at WRAL Tech Wire

 

Anyone else having this issue ordering their e420s?

I ordered mine this past Sunday and the estimated ship date is may 10th.

I'm considering cancelling my order not wanting to deal with this same mess.

BenMar

 

The current batch should be Ok, The last time e420s was up for order, it was most likely a mistake.

 

chat rep today had no idea when the 6630m would be offered and said to keep checking the website. at least they're not stringing us along anymore

 

I ordered mine (i5, 4GB RAM, 250GB HDD, Win7 Pro) on 4/17. I got an original shipping estimate of May 12th, but I believe that's a worst case scenario because I got an email notification this morning that said it was shipped out today. I chose the standard 3-5 day shipping method so it should be here by the end of the week.

Will share pictures and initial thoughts when I get it!

 

I ordered mine off Provantage (i5, 4GBRAM, 320HDD, BT) last week. It'll be delivered tomorrow. They still have i3 models up for sale if anyone is interested.

 

Thinkpad E420s - $675
i5, 4GB (1 DIMM), 250GB, Intel HD 3000, 14", 4.14lb, 1.2" thick

Dell 15R - $724
i5, 4GB (1 DIMM), 500GB, HD 6470M, 15.6", 5.84lb, 1.39" thick

Which to get guys?

 

What are you going to use it for?

 

I would go E420s. The 6470 only gives you about 600 more points in 3DMark06, not worth the hit to battery life.

 

I'm from Czech republic(Central Europe) and E420S + E220S are already available.There is also a E420S with AMD 6630 2gb!

I just had hands-on on one E420S, still deciding if buy or not.

The biggest issue for me was, maybe surprisingly, the built quality. Lenovo presented it as a premium laptop,thinkpad like,high quality etc(at least according to the price tag in my country). The one I saw today had poor loose hinges, when I shaked with the laptop, the screen was shaking too, and for me quite a lot. Too much for a thinkpad. Also the chrome lining was bad quality there some gaps between chassis and the metal lining.

The chicklet keyboard is nice,good response, clickpad looks big enough, BUT why the hell its on glossy surface?!? Entire laptop is made form matte-black-soft-touch material but the keyboard is surrounded by this glossy crap.

Another thing is the price tag, it costs 25 000 CZK which is aprox. 1500 USD.
Notebooks are really expensive in my country, but I expect the quality from it.
I hope I just had wrong piece or smth like that. So if any of you saw or bought E420S post some review, please. I desperately need a new laptop!

 

I wanna play games like TF2. And stuff. What settings can the E420s (i5) get w/ good FPS?
Or do you think it is worth getting the 14" with AMD Turion II X2 Dual-Core P560 and ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 4250 ?

Also, any success physically swapping the FN and CTRL keys?

 

Just placed my order with 6630, for a hefty 1600USD in Sweden :/
Now it better be really good or I'll cry!
I'll get it on tuesday, I'll post a quick review and some pics/vids for you guys if you want.

 

Oh yeah! Please do!

No its not worth it to get the 4250m, the HD 3000 is more powerful than that. It will run the games maybe its not that pretty but you will play. First thing I would do is either wait or raise the budget

 

I just received my E220s on Monday, which I assume would be the same build quality as the E420s. I am actually pretty impressed. Worlds apart from the standard Edge line (at least the previous generation, haven't seen the current). It probably isn't quite as durable as an x or t series, but it seems very similar in form and quality to the U260. The notebook does open and close a little easier than I expected, but I wouldn't say the hinges are loose, because the screen shake is minimal on my train ride to work. The only aspect of the build I have some issue with is that it does not open as wide as I would like; about 120 degrees maybe if I had to guess. This is usually good enough but not quite enough if it is sitting on a low desk and I am standing. Unfortunately the screen is glossy but the glare is not as bad as some laptops I have seen. I plan on writing a review when I get a chance, but overall very pleased so far.

 

to me it seems like Lenovo is having serious supply issues..due to Japan..idk..but the 6630m delay in USA might take until end of May..and probably until June for them to not keep delaying shipment. Man..only if they could also slap on a 1600x900 resolution..this would be an idea laptop....anyone know if they ever will?

 

I'm ordering today. But before I do. Is it possible to swap the keys?

 

Are you happy with the 16:9 screen? Please also comment on the battery life.

 

I actually kind of like 16:9 screens, at least when it comes to casual/multimedia purposes, which is my primary use. I have a feeling I am in the minority here, but really it comes down to personal preference. I probably would prefer a more traditional aspect ratio if this was going to be for business use, but I still wouldn't consider it a deal breaker.

I do wish the screen was a little less glossy. Don't get me wrong, as far as glossy screens go, it is not overly reflective. I haven't had any viewing issues, even on the brightly lit train, but then again I haven't seen the sun since getting the laptop three days ago. I can't help but think though that the glossy screen is indirectly killing the battery, because I have the screen brightness a couple notches higher than I probably would need on a matte screen to overcome the reflectiveness.

This leads to what is the weakest aspect of the E220s, battery life. I have been getting about 4 hours a charge so far doing basic activities such as windows configuration, application downloads and installations, web browsing, etc. As stated above, I do keep the screen pretty bright in well lit areas but at home I keep it quite a bit lower (about a 50-50 split). As a commuter who is basically only using the laptop during the commute and at home, I consider this acceptable although I was hoping for a little more. If you travel on business though or expect to be carrying your notebook from meeting to meeting, I suggest you look elsewhere.

Overall I would consider the E220s to be an excellent consumer grade notebook but only a mediocre business notebook. Based on what I wanted, which was basically a "refresh" of the U260, this fits my needs perfectly. But I wouldn't recommend this for someone just trying to save a couple hundred bucks off the X220 for work.

 

Just thought I would bump this after my conversation with Lenovo this morning. I was about to give up on the thought of an e420s with discrete graphics.

This renewed my hopes that its at least in the pipelines for those of us in North America. I guess I'll give them to the end of the may before I just buy something else.

 

I'm about to order the E420s model with the 6630m in Denmark. 7900 Danish kroner (1570 USD ).

Which sleeves are people using? My bag doesn't really offer any protection so I need a sleeve that offers a high level of protection, especially against bumps and shocks. I'm pretty sure of seen somewhere that theres a official Lenovo sleeve, will it be sufficient for me?

 

Finally received my E420s ... Will play around with it after work and post initial impressions and a mini review with pictures in a new thread.

 

got my e420s today. here is a quick review:

keyboard: 9/10
has a nice feel, no flex

build quality: 8/10
not as soft as I thought it would be, including the wrist pad

performance: 7/10
appears to perform well as expected

software: 10/10
good integrated software driver update support, minimal junk software if any at all unless you consider the lenovo software to be in that category

noise: 8/10
not much heat generation, low fan noise in most situations

display: 5/10
very average display, contrast/view angles is not that great, quite narrow, the "infinity glass" actually can depress/bend in around the edges, and I initially thought the "glass" was made of plastic, however, the plastic feel does not have an impact on the display it seems. running cleartype seems to help a little bit.

trackpad: 6/10
good for the basic functionality. the surface area is large. not as sensitive as I would prefer for multitouch purpose, especially for 2 finger scrolling. some uneven rough spots on the trackpad make the surface somewhat uneven.

sound system: 5/10
played some youtube clips and the sound was quite bad--especially for music clips. my only option might be to connect directly to external speakers. it makes me wonder if all laptops are like this. i'd rather compromise on bass if that keeps the music from being muzzled.

video camera: 8/10
great in low light conditions! wasn't able to get the microphone to work, i figured a computer restart would fix that.

overall: 6/10
the display probably has the biggest impact on the score since it has a lot of impact on the user experience (validated by a 2nd opinion also : ) ). Slot loading dvd drive is nice. The laptop is light as advertised. The like the fact that the hard drive will be easy to replace, although I am not sure whether a mounting bracket is required. I'll inspect that later.

 

I got mine yesterday.. will post a quick review soon.

Question though for those who have one. Were you able to get the microphone to work while on skype or gchat? I've been having issues getting the sound card to work while video chatting and whatnot. Besides that, no issues whatsoever!

 

fixed the microphone and speaker problems!! went directly to the lenovo support site and downloaded the latest conexant sound drivers. microphone works perfectly with skype now. the updated scores would be as follows:

sounds system: 8.5/10
with dolby turned on, the sound is quite good, couldn't hear anything with the old drivers, so updating the driver is critical.

 

also found a workaround for the display issues:

go to intel graphics and media control panel (under display advanced settings) and set the saturation level between 8 and 13. This helps to artifically increase contrast. Values higher than 13 may result in un-natural skin tones.

i found that this step makes the display much easier on the eyes.

 

Thanks! will tyr it out

Let me also try to see if it works. But do you think this will create artificial saturation while viewing photos? I plan to use for a little photo editing. Thanks

 

Hey I'm looking to purchase the E420s for my first year of university this coming fall. Right now the deal is RIDICULOUS! It's almost 50% off! Should I just buy this right now or wait until June/July to purchase it? By that time will it be cheaper? (Hoping for a back to school sale )

 

if you want the 6630m gfx card..you'll have to wait...if your ok with the weaker intel 3000 cpu (not really playing on gaming) ...that you might want to order soon....prices won't fall much from now till june...and right now lenovo takes like 1 month to ship the product....

 

Do you think the i3, Intel 3000 and 4gb of ram will be enough for light gaming, CRAZY multitasking and music/videos?

 

Looks like the price went up for all the models. No more $549 for the e420.

 

420s still hasn't changed i believe :s

 

I would get a i5 cpu for sure...

As for gaming...idk what "light" gaming means to you...might be helpful to tell us what games you plan on playing....but a 6630m is significantly (understatement) better than an intel 3000.

 

the intel control panel allows setting up profiles. so you could easily switch between a photoediting profile and normal saturated profile quickly. or you could just use a smaller value for saturation like 5 to 8.

 

still is in canada

 

This peeves me! Because I ordered mine out of the US when the pricing was opposite (was around $800 base in canada for a while). I live in Canada on the border so either shipping is fine. Regardless, i can't be that mad because i did get $25 off for corporate perks, another 5% off that, and free 4gb and 500gb upgrades.

 

I received my e420s yesterday. Will give a detailed review after a few days of use. So far so good!

Regards

BenMar

 

just an fyi- there is a new review posted on zdnet uk (core i5 6630M):

Lenovo's ThinkPad E420s: A personal take

 

another review from hardware geeks

HardwareGeeks.com - Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 420s Review

 

guys, anyone knows how the warranty for the e420s works? i asked my local retailers and they said it's international 1 year. i'm located in singapore btw.

planning to ship one from the US lenovo site, but the warranty details they gave was only 1 year transactional?