Will the x220/t420/t420s be updated in early 2012?

Hello, guys.

I’ve been occasionally following these ThinkPad forums since early 2009 looking for something portable that I could replace my current laptop with and now it really seems that I will have to make up my mind in the upcoming months (poor old asus is falling into pieces).

I’m really interested in the x220 and its IPS screen and I think that it is just a beautiful little machine. However, since I am located in Russia and we do not get here any of the wonderful Christmas or New year discounts the rest of the world is used to, if I decide to go for the x220 now, I will have to pay the full price for it. And it will not make me happy if Lenovo updates its ThinkPad lineup shortly after that.

I’ve attempted to make some research over the internet, and here on notebookreview, but it seems that the typical October/November hysteria about the specs of the future thinkpad products to be revealed an CES or shortly after that has not even started yet. The only information that I managed to find on the subject was some speculation on a Chinese site about a possible update for the x220 after the Ivy Bridge is out (in March-April 2012).

In case it is true, I would prefer to wait for this update. So could you please tell if it is trustworthy that the x220 model (and the t420/t420s) will be renewed in 2012 (and when)?

Hope you don't mind to help.


Regards.

 

That sounds about right with Lenovo releasing an updated X220 not too long after that. It's a vicious circle. You can always wait for something better, but if you need then buy. While I'm sure Ivy will offer better performance, it'll probably only matter if you push the CPU. The basic stuff most people do like Office, Internet and Media probably won't see much of a difference. You might get some more battery life, but the X220 already gets excellent battery life.

 

Nothing yet in tabook, they will likely get refreshed but when is anybody's guess.

The biggest thing introduced in Ivy Bridge is full implementation of Intel's 3D transistors (tri-gate transistors) which dramatically lowers power consumption and allows for faster speeds. Intel was reporting 37% faster speeds with less than 50% power consumption of Sandy Bridge.

But if you have basic needs, Sandy Bridge would be enough for most people.

 

I ordered my X220 yesterday... after they finally fixed the IPS screen leak, CPU throttling issues that's been plaguing it for months after its release... with any new models you're always going to run into production issues.

 

Can you provide a link to where the solutions are located?

 

These were BIOS fixes...

 

I don't think there will be a significant upgrade until Ivy Bridge. Which means second half of 2012. Hopefully with free Windows 8 upgrade options.

 

The Lenovo forum seems to do a very good job of tracking the issues with this laptop. See the following thread:

Index of X220 issues - Lenovo Community

Still too many issues with this unit for me to consider.

 

I think the reality is that we'll find the performance increase isn't quite that high, more likely 10-20% on the CPU (depending on application), though I'm excited about the battery life increase, and a more significant increase being with the onboard graphics, which could be as much as 50% faster than the HD 3000 graphics.

It will be interesting to see whether a BIOS upgrade will allow an Ivy Bridge upgrade into existing T420/T520 ThinkPads, or whether that will take a new series of ThinkPad using the 7-series mobile chipsets when they arrive, as the CPU socket should be the same.

To the OP: Tsunade is correct in that the current Sandy Bridge CPU performs well in about every situation you could think of. If you need a laptop now, there's no reason to wait. Ivy Bridge will be a nice step forward in processor evolution, but is unlikely to be available until at least April of 2012. I've been very happy with my T420, and look at it as the balance between portability and functionality.

 

Thanks to all of you guys.

On one hand I understand that waiting for new releases can become a very bad and permanent habit, but at the same time I quite rarely update my hardware and hate buying outdated things.

I think that I will wait till New Year for any news on the x230 (or the x221?) and then will my make a decision.

 

Exactly, Intel will adjusts their pricing accordingly. You're not getting 50% increase in CPU performance for the same price for the older models. You might get a bigger speed increase with the onboard graphic because Intel is behind compare to the competition.

 

Ivy Bridge is in April, and Win8 is in Fall.

 

Everything I've seen points to Ivy Bridge in April.

As far as if it is worth waiting for..Probably not unless you absolutely have to have the latest thing out. Sandy Bridge is quite adequate for today's tasks.

 

Just do what I did. I got the X220t now and will upgrade when the next one comes out. Best of both. No wait, have the latest.

 

I feel kind of down sometimes about not waiting for Ivy Bridge to come out, but then I think if I need the battery life I'll get the battery slice and if I need the GPU I'll get a Vidock. $200 + $200 is way worth it compared to the whole process of selling my current laptop to get a newer one. It can be such a drain.

 

Battery life is pretty darn good on Sandy Bridge as it is. Just because Ivy will be better doesn't mean we haven't seen significant gains already.

A number of people are getting great life with the 9-cell on their SB ThinkPads.

 

I was actually planning on waiting for the successor to the T420s, but the cyber monday deals were too good for me to resist.
I got a T420s with a 2.5 GHz Core i5 & 160 GB Intel SSD, fingerprint reader, camera, & 3x3 WiFi antenna for $1100!
That is a pretty hard price to beat, in my opinion.

 

I understand that; this generation of thinkpads is great IMO. The ONLY thing now would be if Lenovo would start selling laptops with 16:10 screens, like in my dreams. Even then I'm satisfied with the 16:9 12.5" screen.

 

Well consumers will have to the 16:9 ratio sooner or later IMHO. I got used to it pretty quickly.

 

They're not going to go back to 16:10. Heck, I'll be really surprised if any laptop in the IB generation still has 16:10.

Yeah, I don't really mind it much. Just remember, back in the day, the only option on 12" was 1024 x 768, and no matter how you spin it, I think 1366 x 768 is better than 1024 x 768.

 

fixed it for ya.

 

Maybe I'm just not old enough, but I've never seen a 12" SXGA+? 12" WXGA, yes, but that doesn't qualify as "back in the day" in my book.

 

X61t with SXGA+ (do want)

 

Heh, don't post in lecture, I suppose... completely forgot about that, and my friend had one too. I'd still say it was definitely a rare enough panel such that most 12" buyers didn't have a choice.

 

The X60 tablet I just gave to my future sister-in-law was SXGA+. And I got it for free from her uncle.

Consider me lucky.