Thinkpads Forum

Hello,

Due to my somewhat southerly opinion of the new style keyboards on the T430 series I have decided to source a freshly trailing edge old-school T420 instead.

(and hope the 2014 models are sensible; Windows 8 and the ThinkPad 2013 keyboards deserve each other)

The model number is: 4180-MY2

There is no joy to be found with these resources:

http://www.lenovo.com/psref/
http://support.lenovo.com/en_AU/
http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/

Purportedly it is a Intel Core i7-2640M, 128 GB SSD model - so it should be capable of a stiff gallop.

But I am also interested in the minutiae, such as any USB 3.0 and e-SATA ports and whether it has WWAN installed or is WWAN upgradeable (antennas in place, just need mobile broadband modem), and so on.

Thus, would anyone know what the detailed specifications of that model are, or how they can be found?

Secondly I am not sure from the vendor description (job lot sale) whether it is Win7 32 or Win7 64 installed, thus the second question is:

if I was doing a factory re-install from the recovery partition, would I be given the choice of either installing Win7 64 Bit or Win7 32 bit?

Any assistance with these two matters would be most gratefully apprised, thank you.

The tabook is primarily a US based publication. These could be a one off run for a buyer that they never received, which is why you can't find any information on it.

Only the T420s model offers USB 3.0. You could buy ExpressCard cards to make those work. I know the USB 3.0 ExpressCard is not as fast USB 3.0 built into the machine, but it's still better than USB 2.0. I believe there is a combo eSATA/USB 2.0 port on the T420.

If I recall correctly and I may not, my X220i came with W7HP x64, though I wrote down the key and peeled the COA long ago. If by chance it does come with x86 Windows 7, you could download a Windows 7 disc here and do a clean install. If you want to post over in the Marketplace forum here to see if anyone has a set they'd sell at cost or for a small fee. Lenovo will sell you a set for a fee of course, but if it comes with X86, the recovery partition will be x86 as well.

Thank you very much for the clarifications.

I can live with express card USB 3.0 - and am accustomed to the trailing edge.

A pity about the specificity of the recovery partition (x86 XOR x64) but logical I suppose.

Still deciding between that T420 and this X220: 4290-2VM - which is in the database.

The T420 has, apparently, and i7-2640M, whereas the x220 has an i7-2620M; so the T420 would be the "gruntiest" of those two "grunt-boxes" in terms of I/O and processing power but the latter appears to be better kitted out, with WWAN aerial and modem apparently installed.

Decisions, decisions...

I would vote for the X220 over the T420 because I believe it's got the IPS and it should have x64 according to this. The IPS is a much better superior screen and the T420 isn't HD+ resolution so it offers no advantage. You can upgrade to a SSD anytime, but the screen you're stuck with.

Thank you very much for that link!

ThinkPad X220 (4290-33U)
ThinkPad X220 (4290-2VM)
Yes, comparing those two, pythonically terse lists from the lenovo site:

http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/product ... fault.page?

there is some cautious optimism to be had that it will have an IPS screen (and also mobile broadband installed), particularly, when cross-referenced to the excellent CostCentral link that you kindly provided:

http://www.costcentral.com/proddetail/L ... /11317988/

Why can't Lenovo provide that level of drill-down detail? - but that is by the by.

I think I will likely go with the X220; then in a few days I will soon discover what the reality is.

Thank you.

Core Share wrote:Thus, would anyone know what the detailed specifications of that model are, or how they can be found?

Nowadays, pre-configured ThinkPads are either "top sellers" for retailers, or "volume builds" for (usually) corporate buyers.

Top seller configs can be found in the Lenovo support site, but volume build information is pretty much only available to the corporate buyer concerned.

With the volume build configs, you should not assume anything about the configuration, you need to get that information from the seller ..... or pay a sufficently low price that its doesn't matter much

Cheers,

Bill B.

Yes, thank you; I will, perforce, have to bear that in mind.

Regrettable state of affairs, but this X220: 4290-2VM is in the US/AU public databases.

This concurs with what a Lenovo sales rep said today (after I explained that I was a rusted on old school ThinkPad acolyte, who cares not for the modern keyboards) - that just because it is in the 4290 family, as you have confirmed, nothing can be assumed about the build.

Life is not simple on the recently trailing-edge.