Thinkpad T420s Owners' Thread

Double post:

T420s BIOS 1.13 has surfaced.

John

 

Interestingly enough my new T420s which shipped on the 15th already had this BIOS version installed even though the release date is listed as the 18th.

Ike

 

Is there a way to order the driver updates by latest date on the new support site like you could with the old one?

 

Have been reading the forum for about 6 months now. Thanks to you all for your astonishing diligence in posting new information and sharing your expertise. I'm posting this now mainly to tell the forum about a great deal on a t420s configuration with Optimus graphics (see down below).

I finally bit the bullet and ordered a T420s. I waited around for some other models to come out, like the X1, Protege r830, the Sony SA, Samsung 9, etc. I even considered buying a MBP and using it as a windows machine. But after reading endless reviews I decided on the T420s. A few reasons: with 16:9, the 13.3 inch form factor makes for one short little screen. I know the 14 inch here is not a huge improvement, but since I mainly use the screen on my laptop as opposed to a monitor, every little bit counts, plus there's the HD+ resolution. I could have gone bigger, but I work in a few different locations and have to mover around with it a lot, so weight is an issue for me (and here again to me there is an appreciable difference between 4lbs and 5lbs), esp. with a bad back. And then add to that better than average speakers and a high quality videocam. So for my money (or really my employer's money) the T420s hit the sweet spot between size and weight that no other manufacturer has matched. The battery life is the main drawback, but I don't need really long batter times as I can usually work while tethered and when I really need it I can use the bay battery. Obviously there are others who have different needs and preferences, but for me this seems right. I hope I'm not disappointed. I promise to come back next month when I get it and let you know what I think.

Lenovo US is running a great bargain right now on the T420s with a 1 GB Optimus Graphics paired with a i5-2520M. They are giving $761 off the top price plus an extra 15% using coupon code USPTXSALE. Total price was $1257.15 plus tax (hurray for the end of the fiscal quarter!). [Edit: I forgot to mention, if you go through Ebates you can also get 5% cash back. I got $83.] Here are the specs:

Processor: Intel Core i5-2520M Processor (2.5GHz, 3MB L3, 1333MHz DDR3)
Operating system: Genuine Window s 7 Professional 64
Display type: 14.0 HD+ (1600 x 900) LED Backlit Antiglare Display, Mobile Broadband Ready
System graphics: NVIDIA NVS 4200M Optimus Graphics 1GB, Intel Core i5-2520M Processor
Total memory: 4 GB DDR3 - 1333MHz (1 DIMM)
Camera: 720p HD Camera
Hard drive: 320 GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
Optical device: DVD Recordable
System expansion slots: Express Card Slot & 4 in 1 Card Reader & Smart Card Reader
Battery: 6 cell Li-Ion Battery - 66+
Bluetooth: Bluetooth 3.0
Integrated WiFi: wireless LAN adapters Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205 (2x2 AGN)
Integrated Mobile Broadband - Upgradable

Notice that on the website when you go to the t420s page, they have two options priced at the same amount with the same discount, but only one of them has the Optimus graphics. Otherwise the specs are the same. In fact, I don't really need the graphics and if I find it drains the battery faster I'll just turn it off in BIOS. But I figured since it's the same price as an exactly comparable model.

I also bought an extra power cable, warranty extension and bay battery. The coupon code did not apply to these items, however, but maybe buying them separately with a different code would work.

I placed the order yesterday, and they are estimating a ship date of 6/30.

Next up: gonna buy an SSD, some RAM and an HDD caddy. Though haven't decided on mSATA for rabid boot or just a straight up SSD. I am leaning towards SSD because I'm afraid the mSATA thing will prove to be buggy or complicated and without it I can get WWAN at some point if I want, and also I sometimes use applications that do a lot of reading/writing to the drive and so I want them to run faster, too, not just windows.

Thanks again for sharing all your tips and tricks!

 

Not that I've discovered. You can also try using the System Update in the ThinkVantage toolbox on your computer to look for updates, but it doesn't work very well with my current very slow connection.

John

 

Bought an Intel 310 mSata from newegg. Unplugged the 7200 RPM drive, booted from the Win7x64Pro from factory recovery disks and installed onto the SSD (legacy BIOS, not UEFI/GPT) and everything went without incident.

Been running this config for about a week without noticing anything weird (except how fast apps start on the SSD ).

 

I'm writing for the first time in the forum even if I look at it a long time
I just bought a T420s (web special version)!
because I was not able to find an intel 310 I bought this:
"Bullet Proof MSAT MyDigitalSSD 64GB 50mm (Mini PCI-e SATA) SSD - MDMs-5064"

now I'm waiting for my laptop to be delivered(estimate ship date of 6/28 but i hope it will be shipped early)

anyway i have a question:
when I have everything I need,
what is the fastest way to install the system?
if I use the recovery disc (which I suppose I should burn) there may be alignment problems?

any suggestions on what to do next?

i'm w8ing for another 4gb of ram too

 

Good to know Mojonez, thanks. Now if I can just get my hands on one...

 

T420s eGPU information:

Requires BIOS 1.09 or earlier.
Cannot have Lenovo Power Manager installed.

EVGA GTX 570 HD on T420s laptop, 8GB ram, 128GB SSD:
Internal LCD: Result
External HDTV: Result

 

Fabio, I also just bought a T420s and 64 GB Mydigital MSATA drive, the SSD arrived yesterday, with luck I will be doing the install on it tonight. It is in the computer now, and the diagnostic scan showed it to be working fine.

Ike

 

I am happy to know I am not the only one!
let me know how it goes

 

I've never heard of that SSD before. I might try it in my T420s. From reading up on it, they even sell a 128gb version.

Any idea how this would compare to the Intel 310 series MSata or the Renice K3VLAR msata?

 

The Mydigital MSATA SSD seems to be working fine, I still have lots of tweaking to do, but no problems relating to the SSD, acted just like any other HD. From what I have read it uses a new to the market lower cost controller that so far is only used on a handful of SSD devices, this being the first one in the MSATA format, it is a little slower than the Intel 310, but still much much faster than spinning media, price is much cheaper also, I bought mine through the Amazon storefront. It looks like they are selling as fast as they get in now so only show up on the Amazon store front if they are in stock.

 

Thanks.

Does anyone have experience with the Intel 311 MSata? That is an interesting solution. I'm not sure if it's out yet but has anyone tried it?

 

How is the T420s screen compared to the T410? Similar? Better?

 

I would rate the T420s slightly better. Some of it depends on your preference. The T410s is 16:10 1440x900. The T420s is 16:9 1600x900. The extra horizontal resolution is nice.

The pixel density on the T410s seems tighter and doesn't have any of the "screen door" effect you see on the T420s.

Brightness on the T410s is slightly higher.

They are pretty equal on color and contrast which is considered fair. Some people consider it poor.

If you are trying to decide between purchasing the T410s or the T420s, I'd say go with the T420s. Mostly for reasons beyond the LCD panel.

 

I don't think the 311 is a good solution at the moment. The drive size is only 20gb and the going price for it is around $110.

 

Someone on another thread mentioned the Renice X3 mSata. It's 120GB and only $250 dollars through the end of the month (plus shipping). I almost bought one but opted for this 160GB Intel 320 drive from NewEgg, mainly because this particular Intel drive is 7mm instead of 9.5 mm (so I don't have to mess around with spacers and screws) and because Intel drives have a reputation for reliability and I figured I'd pay the extra $50 for 40 more GB. But it's a regular SSD drive not mSata. That said, the Renice drive uses SANDISK flash and a controller that is faster than the Intel, so it should be a bit faster.

 

I just ordered a T420s last week myself w/ 4Gb ram. Do you guys really ran out of the 4Gb ram? otherwise, what's the advantage of upgrading to 8Gb?

 

Before I order a T420, I was wondering if anyone here can convince me to get a T420s instead. I love the portability of the T420s and I don't mind the premium, but my biggest concern is the battery life. I will be using this laptop for school and I don't know how many of my classes will have available power outlets.

The solution that I keep seeing is to add an Ultrabay Battery, but I'm still not convinced. I don't really like the fact that power is drawn from the Ultrabay Battery first (quickly diminishing its lifespan), and I don't even know where to pick one up in Canada (it's not on the Lenovo Canada site). Is there another solution that I'm missing?

And stupid question... do I need to completely shut down my laptop in order to swap batteries? Or does it have some kind of internal power reserve?

 

the advantage to upgrade the RAM to 8GB lies in being able to take advantage of the dual channel
you can do it with 2x2gb too
but ram is cheap so.. why not?

 

There are dozens of the previous generation 29Wh batteries on ebay, I just bought a second one for my T420s it arrived today, used with only 3 power cycle for about $40 with shipping. New in the box they are going for around $75 on ebay, they are a couple of years old, but still have lots of life left, and 1/3 to 1/4 the price of the new 32Wh batteries.
Ike

 

If you've only got a main battery then you'll need to power down (I would use hibernation) before swapping the battery. If you have main + bay batteries then you can swap one empty bay battery for the next.

I've been leaving the optical drive at home and just using the main and bay batteries knowing that, if I'm frugal, I can get up to 7 hours of run time should the mains power go off. However, a T420 with 9 cell will run for a couple more hours than that under the same usage conditions.

John

 

the battery for the T40 or for the T42 works with the T420s?

 

I am not sure about the 2200 mAh one for the T42, but the slightly higher capacity 29Wh (2700mAh) one for the T61 that looks much the same does work in the T420s, I have one in mine right now. (the official new #42 ultrabay battery is 32Wh)

Ike

 

Just received my personal T420s, came with BIOS 1.24 even though I don't see it on their support site.

 

How's the fan noise? Is it still very loud?

 

Nope, but I have a work T420s with 1.09 and it isn't loud either.

 

Wow they are really going through BIOS versions, my T420s arrived 7 days ago today and has 1.13 which was released for download on their site 6 days ago.

Ike

 

Yeah, I'm curious as to what 1.24 fixed from 1.13. I'll be downgrading to 1.09 when my ViDock 4 Plus arrives next week though, so I guess it's moot for me.

 

I had another power-related problem yesterday: My CPU got stuck at 2.2GHz. HWiNFO32 didn't report throttling and the temperature wasn't high (~65C). Hibernation / resume usually resets this type of problem but not on this occasion. I had to shut down then restart. This is with BIOS 1.13. There's something not quite right about either the BIOS and/or Lenovo Power Manager.

John

 

So apparently my t420s with its ultrabay battery in discharges the ultrabay first, and then the main battery.

Is this usual? Is there any way to change the order of discharge?

 

It's been that way since they've made bay batteries. It blows because the bay battery wears very quickly, but I don't think it's on Lenovo's radar.

 

I see the same. There is some logic to this: Use up the bay battery first so you can swap it for another one, and another... and keep the main battery as the primary reserve.

Also, on recharging, the main battery gets recharged first.

I haven't seen a way to change this behaviour. I'm happy for my cheaper previous generation bay battery (from ebay) to get most of the wear.

John

 

FYI: SandyBridge can drive external 2560x1600 display (Dell 3008WFP via DisplayPort) and internal 1600x900 LCD at the same time.

See: http://myego.cz/tmp/thinkpad-2560x1600.jpg - running on battery with power saving features on

 

How about fan noise issue described at lenovo forum ? LINK ? It still exist in typical office usage ?

 

I think it is still an issue with unnecessary fan activity under light CPU usage. At the moment I have BIOS 1.13. Someone received a T420s with a newer BIOS but it is not yet posted for download. I'm running this version of TPFanControl with the following settings in the .ini file.

This means that the fan goes off when the temperature drops to 50C and control reverts to the BIOS when the CPU temperature reaches 80C (and reverts back to TPFC at 75C). In between there's a steady progression in fan speed.

John

 

So I'll wait few days to get some opinions.
Yesterday I was almost completely decided to get x220 but I found offer for t420s only 100 EUR higher than x220 ( the same spec) so getting higher res/bigger screen for that price may be worth but if fan issue won't be solved I would go for x220 ( I work a lot at evening in quiet so silence is key factor for me).

 

I doubt if the X220 will be any quieter since there is the same heat to be dissipated in an even smaller form factor. The 2000RPM T420s fan speed is almost inaudible and if you don't like that sound then I have already described the solution. Given that I use that solution, I don't know whether the BIOs updates have fixed the fast fan + low temperature occurence that happened to me when I first got my T420s.

John

 

May i ask you to run "powercfg -energy" at a command line and tell me your PCIe power management status?

Platform Power Management CapabilitiesCI Express Active-State Power Management (ASPM) Disabled
PCI Express Active-State Power Management (ASPM) has been disabled due to a known incompatibility with the hardware in this computer.

My T420s runs for 7-8 hours, so it does not seem to have any negative effects though.

 

So if you can describe the noise of t420s in office usage it's nothing similar to this from Toshiba r700 where fan works like jet engine ?.
My current Asus w3j almost always runs fan at slowest speed it's slightly audible in empty bedroom but in office, library etc. it really hard to hear it in office usage and that's noise form in fully acceptable for me.

 

It won't until the warranty expires.

 

There's no comparison between the fan noise of the T420s and R700 (I have both). The former is a quiet purr while the latter is a whine. The higher frequency noise is more intrusive. I have been leaving my T420s running in my room overnight until it finishes some work but I can't hear it.

John

 

I don't have an R700 to compare with, but I would certainly call the sam on my T420s as non intrusive, I often leave it running on my night stand while I am asleep. It is much quieter than my previous notebook (Samsung X460 & cooler).

Ike

 

So it's not as bad as some users at lenovo forum say. Maybe I will ask some general question, after some time are you generally satisfied with yours purchase ?

Right now I consider only t420 and t420s, x220 is too small and the resolution is too low.
Price difference between t420 and t420s in my case is around 100 EUR (~130$). If I would go for t420s I would also get second 6cell battery ( price the same as bay battery so I think it's better deal) for 75 EUR (~100$) because I need at least 4-5 hours of real work, 2 6cell batteries should give about 7-8hours. T420 with 9 cell ( upgrade from 6cell to 9cell costs 68 EUR) should give similar results so general price difference between t420s and t420 is about 100 EUR (~130$) and for me is fully acceptable for USB 3.0 and thinner case/lower weight.

The only question is, can t420s really offer acceptable working culture ar maybe it's better to go for his bigger brother.

 

Keep in mind that you can't switch the main battery alone without shutting down the laptop, vs. a bay battery which just switches seamlessly.

 

I recently got my T420s and I love it! However, I can't seem to figure out how to switch the intel graphics to the nvidia graphics while in Windows. I know you can change it in BIOS, but I prefer to change it on the fly. It would be great if someone could enlighten me.

 

I've always thought that was a huge advantage. If you're a super-batery nut, and battery life is the defining characteristic of the laptop you want - then go with a T420s and buy multiple bay batteries. You get significantly better battery life without having to restart it. I don't know any other solution that allows that.

Expensive, sure, but hey. For the record, I have one bay battery, and it works fine for me.

 

The funny thing is, the bay battery seems to give as much or more battery life than the main battery for me.

 

I recorded my T420s fan in comparisson to a friends x201i wich I consider
as not noisy. with no cpu load, both maschines are very quiet (the T420s only with help of tpfancontrol)

this is no laboratory recording, very low standard but it gives an idea. its recorded with the mic at the keyboard, not directly at the fan. the high pitched noise of the T420s gets more annoying after a while, maybe it doesnt seem so bad when you listen to it only 10 sec on a recording. but I have to say the Whinig of the R50 I was sending back in 2004 was worse!

https://rapidshare.com/files/1429012239/x201andt420shigh.mp3

first seconds is laptop powered of, you hear the noise of the recording mic.(I ve boosted the complete recording so you can hear it on little speakers too...)

then in relation to this, first the x201 on highest fan speed (4200 RPM), wich actually never happens and I think is not even in the BIOS, I had to force it with tpfancontrol.
last is the t420s on high fan speed, wich happens with 55% CPU load,

the highest BIOS fan speed of the x201 (around 3500 RPM) is like the average, every day fan speed of the T420s, and also then the t420s is nosier.

another recording: again, first mic noise, then x201 on 3500 RPM (happens only at high CPU usage), then t420s on 3500 RPM (happens in standart usage, browsing etc)

https://rapidshare.com/files/3570395779/x201andt420s.mp3

cheers



cheers...