alexap wrote:
actually i was thinking about same T420s, i5 and intel 320
was it difficult to install SSD? i read some instruction that have to open it and remove cover etc..
thanks!
That is a great question! The issue with the T420s is that it only accepts 2.5" 7mm thick SATA drives. (This is sort of an upgrade from the T400s/T410s which used 1.8" drives.) At this point there are a couple of 7mm mechanical drives avaialble form Hitachi and Seagate, but only Intel offers 2.5" 7mm drives larger than 128GB at this time (I believe).
The Intel 320 series drives actually come as 9.5mm thick drives since they include a plastic spacer that permits them to be used with the more typical 9.5mm drive bays. The plastic spacer is secured with four screws and can be removed.
HOWEVER, the screws are
TOO LONG for just the adjusted 7mm thickness and SCREWS ARE DEFINITELY REQUIRED since the cover of the SSD is secured in place with the spacer and screws. Without the screws, the SSD top cover just
FALLS OFF and
YOUR LOOKING AT THE INSIDE OF THE DRIVE - JUST A BUNCH OF EXPOSED MEMORY CHIPS!!! Quite shocking at first, since you'd never open a mechanial hard drive unless it was already dead or you wanted it dead!
Bottom line, you have to obtain four shorter screws on your own, since they do not come with the SSD - even the most expensive retail kit does not include short screws.
Solution / tip: M2 x 4mm screws are the perfect fit to secure the SSD top cover when removing the spacer and turning a 9.5mm drive into a 7mm drive. I actually used the four screws of that size that were previously used to secure a ThinkPad T40 palmrest to the base.
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