Thinkpad T420 questions. Pre-purchase.

[thinkpadcollection]

How can I tell this T420 by model types does have discrete ATI GPU apart from intel only motherboards? I prefer the ATI GPU ones.

Just to rehash a question, run msata SSD and spinning hard drive 2.5" is no issues? Second question which msata and SATA 2.5" SSDs is better in regard to performance?

Cheers, thinkpadcollection.

[RealBlackStuff]

Find out the MTM (TYPE xxxx-xxx from the label on the bottom) then check via the MTM-link at the top of this page.

[ajkula66]

How can I tell this T420 by model types does have discrete ATI GPU apart from intel only motherboards? I prefer the ATI GPU ones.

There are NO T420 machines with ATi/AMD, nVidia only (in addition to Intel integrated ones).

Just to rehash a question, run msata SSD and spinning hard drive 2.5" is no issues? Second question which msata and SATA 2.5" SSDs is better in regard to performance?

Well, if you're going to run SATA + mSATA then you should have the 2.5" SSD as a boot drive since it's a SATA III capable slot as opposed to SATA II in the mSATA.

[theterminator93]

I run an mSATA SSD and the original 320 HDD in the SATA disk drive bay on mine - the mSATA SSD is my OS drive and the HDD is my "storage and files" drive. For my needs it's a great compromise between performance of the SSD (albeit limited to SATA-II speeds), capacity vs. cost of the HDD, and ability to use my optical disk drive at any given time as well.

[Hans Gruber]

I have been collecting mSata SSD's for future upgrades because of WWLAN slot in the T420 series.

[Temetka]

As others mentioned:

1. You have 2 choices of GPU. Nvidia or Intel. The Nvidia GPU will provide better performance at the cost of increased heat and decreased battery life. If you aren't gaming, get the Intel GPU. Even then it's good enough for "light" gaming depending on the game.

2. mSATA slot. Sure it's SATA2, but it's still really fast, far faster than any spinning hard drive in the 2.5" bay. If you want to dual boot, you can load an OS on each drive and select your bootup drive at system startup. Or you can just use a regular large HD in the main bay for file and mSATA for boot. As far as recommendations are concerned, I prefer the Samsung 850EVO and PRO lines. The Crucial BX line is also good. Get something with 250GB or more of space. Why? With SSD's having expected life spans of a decade, you can move the mSATA drive to your next machine.

3. You didn't mention screen resolution. But since these machines use the 16:9 aspect ratio get the highest resolution possible. In this case, 1600x900.

4. Make sure you clean the heatsink and fan assembly when you get the machine. I also recommend putting a fresh coat of arctic silver 5 on the CPU. If you don't know how to do this, there are plenty of video's on youtube you can watch. You can also download the take apart guide for your machine from Lenovo. Or failing those, take it to your local PC shop.

5. Enjoy the system. This is the most important part.

[theterminator93]

1. You have 2 choices of GPU. Nvidia or Intel. The Nvidia GPU will provide better performance at the cost of increased heat and decreased battery life. If you aren't gaming, get the Intel GPU. Even then it's good enough for "light" gaming depending on the game.

To add a little to this... all of the T420s that have the nVidia GPU will have nVidia's Optiumus technology which allows the driver to switch between the integrated Intel HD GPU and the discrete nVidia GPU on demand. With Optimus, having the nVidia GPU doesn't automatically sacrifice any battery life. You can configure the nVidia GPU to only turn on for use by certain applications. Most of the time mine is off since day-to-day tasks like web browsing and so on don't need the extra performance. There's also a nifty tool available that can tell you when/which programs are using the nVidia GPU to help you customize Optimus to work for your needs.

Speaking of battery life - a good 6 cell (running on the Intel HD GPU) will give about 5 hours of realistic use. The 9 cell is good for 8+ hours. The T420 also has the ability to use the 9 cell slice battery (attaches to the bottom and plugs into the docking station port) in tandem with the standard system 6 or 9 cell, for 16-18 hours of battery life. (On a side note, the T420s can't use the slice battery, but it also has the ultrabay slim which can accept the 3 cell ultrabay battery, whereas the T420 cannot.)

The screen on the T420 is definitely the worst part of the ensemble IMHO. I have the 1600x900 screen in mine, and I'm coming from the 1920x1200 panel on my T61p. It's definitely inconvenient without those extra 300 vertical pixels since I do a lot of multi-channel audio editing. Perhaps down the road I'll find myself with an FHD T520 or W520... but otherwise, having the T420 in my arsenal has been an absolute joy.

[Temetka]

True about both Optimus and the battery situation. Bummer that the T420 can't take the ultrabay battery, whereas the T420s can.

WRT to LCD sizes and pixel count, I was considering a T430s as my next machine. However after a lot of research and reading of reviews I am looking forward to getting an FHD T520 as soon as I have enough pennies in the jar. I've never owned a 15" Thinkpad and the T520 seems like perfect candidate to try it out seeing how cheap they are on e-bay.

[thinkpadcollection]

I'm expert at working on computers including notebooks. Sorry about the GPU, I was bit tired when I first posted here.

T520 does not have dual heatpipes, there are 2 types, one thin heatpipe for CPU only, and other one is thick CPU heatpipe with GPU heatpipe. Last third one other is in theory by sellers on ebay is for T520 and W520 which is three pipes but the mounting layout are not same. I wonder if there is a W520 style heatsink with 3 heatpipes for T520 motherboard?

T420 and T420s does but I am interested in that type of heatsink design with discrete GPU so can handle i7-2860qm in the future upgrade on the T420. I do not wish to have T420s.

T520 is a consideration but it is about the heatsink design issue and W520 are too expensive and not suitable for gaming.

Yes, I will make sure resolution is 1600x900 LCD but this is a given and nearly all notebooks on ebay is intergrated GPU only and budget takes time to buy one and buy other parts to fix up a best combination of parts for T420 in the end.

Cheers, thinkpadcollection

[Quardah]

Hello!

mSata drives are lighter than Sata 2.5".

mSata drives are usually less power hungry which means better battery life. I have an Intel 530 Series mSata 120GB. See datasheets Here and the official Brief Here.

My current T420 only runs an mSata drive. Multiple drives in a laptop are not really mandatory and are more of an encumbrance than an upgrade. Get the drive out and buy yourself a drive toaster (see THIS LINK for reference) and use it for backup.

[Temetka]

If 1-4 ounces makes that big of a deal in carry weight, sure run pure mSATA.

But if you want SATA3, use the 2.5" bay. Otherwise, yes, mSATA will perform just fine at SATA2 speeds.

[Quardah]

If 1-4 ounces makes that big of a deal in carry weight, sure run pure mSATA.

But if you want SATA3, use the 2.5" bay. Otherwise, yes, mSATA will perform just fine at SATA2 speeds.

I learned something today, i thought mSata could handle SATA3.

Still fairly a good bet even if it runs under the old standard. Anyway, using linux, any SSD is overkill.

[Temetka]

If 1-4 ounces makes that big of a deal in carry weight, sure run pure mSATA.

But if you want SATA3, use the 2.5" bay. Otherwise, yes, mSATA will perform just fine at SATA2 speeds.

I learned something today, i thought mSata could handle SATA3.

Still fairly a good bet even if it runs under the old standard. Anyway, using linux, any SSD is overkill.

Very true about Linux.