Thinkpads Forum

Hi there. I have come to a final conclusion. I have picked those two and only need you to help me pull the trigger.
The t420s vs t420
They tell me that you can only put 8gb max in the S. Can you pyt 2 ram sticks in it?

THE T420
Örgjörvi: Intel Core i7 2640M 2,8-3,5GHz dual core 64bit
Lýsing: 4MB, 1333MHz, Intel QM67 m. iAMT, Turbo Boost 2.0, Hyper-Threading, VT-x, VT-d, Speedstep, AES, Intel64, DMI
Minni: 8GB (2x4GB) 1333MHz DDR3 minni (16GB mest), mjög hraðvirkt
Skjár: 14,1" TFT HD+ LED m. innbyggðri HD myndavél
Upplausn: 1600x900 punkta
Skjákort: nVIDIA Optimus tækni - 2 skjákort sem skipta sjálfvirkt á milli:
nVidia NVS4200 1GB og Intel HD graphics 3000, allt að 384MB.
Styður 3 skjái; innb. + 2 auka skjái
Diskur: 160GB Intel SSD, mjög hraðvirkur
Netkort: 10/1000 Ethernetkort og Bluetooth 3.0
WWAN: Innb. 3G módem, þarf SIM kort
Þráðlaust kort: Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6300 802.11 b/g/n 300Mb WIFI meðtveimur loftnetum
Drif: DVD-RW Multiburner drif í Ultrabayslim stæði
Rafhlaða: LiIon (9 sellu) m. allt að 15:00 klst hleðslu ,
Tekur auka 9 sellu rafhlöðu sem festist undir vélina (57Y4545, 15klst).
Tengi: 4x USB 2.0 (eitt með hleðslu), VGA, Displayport, eSATA, ethernet, Firewire
Kortaraufar: ExpressCard/34
Kortalesari: 4-1 (MMC, SD, SDHC, SDXC)
Öryggi: Innbyggður TPM öryggisörgjörvi, fingrafaralesari og smartkortalesari
Lyklaborð: eitt besta fartölvulyklaborðið á markaðnum, vökvaþolið
Lyklaborðsljós: lýsir upp lyklaborðið
Mús: UltraNav mýs; Trackpoint IV 4 hnappa mús, Snertimús - Multitouch
Ábyrgð: 3 ára alþjóðleg á vinnu og varahlutum, árs ábyrgð á rafhlöðu
Ábyrgð á diski: 5 ár og þarf ekki að skila inn viðbilun svo að trúnaðargögn fara ekki á flakk.
Byggingarefni: koltrefjablanda sem er gríðarlega sterk
Stærð: 340.5 x 233.0mm x 30.1-30.5mm, þyngd frá 2,13kg
Einstök kæling: ThinkPad hitnar minna og er hljóðlátari. Betri fyrir Turbo Boost.
Stýrikerfi: Windows 7 Professional 64 bita

or

THE T420S

Örgjörvi: Intel Core i5 2540M 2<(>,<)>6-3,3GHz dual core 64bit,,
Lýsing: 3MB, 1333MHz, Intel QM67 m. iAMT, Turbo Boost 2.0, Hyper-Threading, VT-x, VT-d, Speedstep, AES, Intel64, DMI,,
Minni: 1 x 4GB 1333MHz DDR3 minni (8GB mest), mjög hraðvirkt,,
Skjár: 14,1" TFT HD+ LED m. innbyggðri HD myndavél,,
Upplausn: 1600x900 punkta,,
Skjákort: Skjákort: nVIDIA Optimus tækni - 2 skjákort sem skipta sjálfvirkt á milli:
nVidia NVS4200 1GB og Intel HD graphics 3000, allt að 384MB.
Diskur: 160GB SSD Intel - mjög hraðvirkur (2,5"/7mm)
Netkort: 10/1000 Ethernetkort og Bluetooth 3.0,,
WWAN: innb. 3G módem, þarf SIM kort,,
Þráðlaust kort: Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 802.11 g/n 300Mb WIFI með tveimur loftnetum,,
Drif: DVD-RW Multiburner drif í Ultrabayslim stæði,,
Rafhlaða: LiIon (6 sellu) m. allt að 5:30 klst hleðslu<(>,<)>,,
Tekur auka 3 sellu rafhlöðu sem fer í Ultrabay drifstæðið (,,4 klst)
Tengi: 2x USB 2.0 (eitt með hleðslu), 1 x USB 3.0, VGA, Displayport, ethernet,,
Kortaraufar: ExpressCard/34,,
Kortalesari: 4-1 (MMC, SD, SDHC, SDXC),,
Öryggi: Innbyggður TPM öryggisörgjörvi, fingrafaralesari og smartkortalesari,,
Lyklaborð: eitt besta fartölvulyklaborðið á markaðnum, vökvaþolið,,
Lyklaborðsljós: lýsir upp lyklaborðið,,
Mús: UltraNav mýs; Trackpoint IV 4 hnappa mús, Snertimús - Multitouch,,
Ábyrgð: 3 ára alþjóðleg á vinnu og varahlutum, árs ábyrgð á rafhlöðu ,,
Ábyrgð á diski: 5 ár og þarf ekki að skila inn viðbilun svo að trúnaðargögn fara ekki á flakk.,,
Byggingarefni: koltrefjablanda í loki, Magnesium í botni,,
Stærð: 343 x 230.1mm x 21.2-26.0mm, þyngd frá 1,67kg,,
Einstök kæling: ThinkPad hitnar minna og er hljóðlátari.,,

Yes, you can put two RAM modules in the T420s. The notebooks seem to be rather similar. One difference that caught my eye is, that the T420 can take 9 cell batteries, while the T420s can not.

But when it comes to traveling. Is there a big differense regarding those two?
It the differense that noticable?
Because I travel a lot.

The battery difference is also a matter of cost. The three-cell Ultrabay batteries in the T420s are lithium-polymer technology, which seems to be more expensive than regular lithium-ion batteries. A three-cell lithium polymer battery for the T420s costs more than a 9-cell lithium-ion battery for a T420 here.

Batteries lose capacity over time. With 70% of designed battery capacities, the T420s will - according to Lenovo - run 6,5 hours with somewhat reduced screen brightness on the 6 cell and the additional Ultrabay battery. If that is sufficient for your travels, you might not need the 9 cell capability that the T420 offers.

The T420s is significantly slimmer and lighter, there's no question. Lower battery life is some of the price you pay for that.

Storage is one difference between the System which can be a deal-breaker:

The t420 uses normal 9.5 mm high HDD,
the t420s can only use 7 mm HDDs.
7 mm HDD are more expensive, and currently to at 500 GB, 9.5 are availabel til at least 1TB. On teh net theer are some claims that you can DIY fit 9.5 mm disk, but you will likely void the waranty.

I believe you can add a mSATA disk in both ( thius. e.g. a 120 GB sytem Disk + a 500 gB HDD data dump), if you do not need a 3G wwan connection, relaxing this issue somewhat

cheers

r.

Also the T420s is a better built machine. Using stlightly better chassis material and generally more expensive feeling external design.
The T420 tends to look and feel like a cheaper machine.
Thats just my opinion.

The major difference is the bottom plate, the hinges as well as the density of the machine.
The T420 is very hallow feeling, quite big, the steel hinges are also very large, the bottom baseplate is made of cheap plastic.
The T420s is very dense feeling, very little flex, the steel hinges are normal sized (small), the bottom baseplate is made of the traditional matte finised Thinkpad material ala X220.

Genereally speaking the T420 feels like a budget laptop. The T420s feels like a luxury class laptop. Both in built quality and size the T420s beats the T420.

Also, the T420s is the ONLY Thinkpad right now that supports the Rapid Boot Extreme, which allows for the system to boot in under 10 seconds from an SSD. This feature is not found in any other Thinkpad.

For a few hundred dollars more, I'd get the T420s. Just my opinion.

I just got a t420 after I had problems with high pitch noise on my t410s. I travel a lot, but the difference does not make any much difference. It will be nice to use the slice battery and have some real battery power. Especially on the trains and the bus. It is actually even better for me because I will be able to do some work on the way.

It is a win win situation for me.

It comes with a i7, 8gb ram and nvidia tech.
So far I love it.
It is far more better than my t410s, not mentioning the battery life.
I get this high pitch noise when running on battery with turbo boost on.
In the options I have the turbo boos dissabled, but when I turn it on the fans starts with full throttle. Is that normal?

Kaze22 wrote:The major difference is the bottom plate, the hinges as well as the density of the machine.

There is indeed a difference in the materials as you say. The T420s which is really an X-series in T-series disguise is also made from traditional X-series materials (magnesium alloy in baseplate). Naturally it also feels more dense, because it is (slimmer). But the hinges as far as I can see on all pictures are exactly the same width. And who cares anyways?