Just bought a ThinkPad T420 and have some questions about it

[Quillz]

Hi,

I just got my new ThinkPad T420 today. I've been looking at ThinkPads for a long time. They appealed to me even though I'm not a business/corporate person. It was mainly the build quality, having grown sick of cheaply built Dells.

Anyway, I've got a few questions, and looking for some answers, if anyone has them:

[*]All it says on the physical casing is "T420." But is there somewhere I can go into Windows to find a more specific model name and/or number?
[*]Does the T420 include a USB 3.0 port? When I bought it direct from Lenovo, this was not mentioned. But looking at the casing, there seem to be four USB ports, one of which is USB/eSATA and another which has either a blue or yellow connector instead of the standard color.
[*]I got it with 4 GB of RAM. I went to Crucial and see that it can hold up to 8 GB of RAM. Would you recommend I buy RAM from them, or is there a better place? What about an upgraded hard drive? Who do you recommend I buy from?

Thanks for any and all help.

[ThinkRob]

All it says on the physical casing is "T420." But is there somewhere I can go into Windows to find a more specific model name and/or number?

It also says the complete model number on the bottom of the laptop.

I got it with 4 GB of RAM. I went to Crucial and see that it can hold up to 8 GB of RAM. Would you recommend I buy RAM from them, or is there a better place? What about an upgraded hard drive? Who do you recommend I buy from?

Buy the cheapest compatible RAM that you can find. Brands don't matter at all.

Once you get the RAM and install it, run memtest86+ and make sure the RAM passes a couple of runs. Yes, there are other RAM testing programs (PC Doctor). No, they're not as thorough.

If the RAM passes, congrats, you're done. Otherwise, return it.

[TTY]

[*]Does the T420 include a USB 3.0 port?

No. But if you need USB 3.0 I/O, you could buy a USB 3.0 Express Card.

[Quillz]

No. But if you need USB 3.0 I/O, you could buy a USB 3.0 Express Card.

Is there a reason why one of the ports has a different color, then? It's yellow, and I know it's not the eSATA port.

[TTY]

Lenovo calls this yellow USB port a powered USB port. What they mean is that in BIOS or in ThinkVantage Power Manager, you can set that port to supply a voltage even when the notebook is powered off. You can thus use the powered USB port for charging other devices, even when the notebook is shut down. From what i understand, these powered USB ports don't provide more power than what is specified for regular USB ports, i.e. 0.5 A at 5 V.

[Quillz]

Lenovo calls this yellow USB port a powered USB port. What they mean is that in BIOS or in ThinkVantage Power Manager, you can set that port to supply a voltage even when the notebook is powered off. You can thus use the powered USB port for charging other devices, even when the notebook is shut down. From what i understand, these powered USB ports don't provide more power than what is specified for regular USB ports, i.e. 0.5 A at 5 V.

So, what makes that any different from the USB/eSATA port on the right? They sound like they do exactly the same thing.

Thanks for the info, BTW. I also found the ThinkVoltage tools in 7 give me some more detailed hardware configuration.

I just set up Win8 on a separate partition, and Windows Update found generic drivers. Do most of the Lenovo drivers written for 7 x64 also work on 8? I haven't tried yet, but I'd imagine they would.

[TTY]

So, what makes that any different from the USB/eSATA port on the right?

The USB 2.0/eSATA combo port won't provide any power when the notebook is shut off.

[Quillz]

Oh, I see.

Well, thanks for all the help. This is my first ThinkPad and I'm liking it a lot.

[HLG600]

I disagree about throwing in the cheapest RAM you can find. Crucial is a premier manufacturer and as always, it is best to purchase when on sale. Currently you can get an 8GB kit from Amazon for $50.

Link 1: http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-CT2KIT512 ... _cp_e_pw_1

For comparison purposes, the cheapest one I found on eBay with the exact same specs was $40, and I never heard of the brand.

Link 2: http://www.ebay.com/itm/8GB-2-X-4GB-DDR ... 3107wt_905

An extra $10 for quality and peace of mind is well worth it in my book.

Please note though, that I have a T400s, which is an older model, so you'd need to make sure that the specs line up.

Hope this helps!

[ThinkRob]

I disagree about throwing in the cheapest RAM you can find. Crucial is a premier manufacturer and as always, it is best to purchase when on sale. Currently you can get an 8GB kit from Amazon for $50.

Sigh.

If you feel better buying a specific brand and are willing to pay more for it, go for it.

Just don't do it because you're expecting better performance or "better compatibility" or anything like that.

Shopping for RAM isn't like buying a hard drive or a video card. RAM either does the spec or it doesn't. If it does, you keep it. If it doesn't, it's faulty and you return it. The logo on the sticker on the side of the module doesn't make a lick of difference.

[visionviper]

Sigh.

If you feel better buying a specific brand and are willing to pay more for it, go for it.

Just don't do it because you're expecting better performance or "better compatibility" or anything like that.

Shopping for RAM isn't like buying a hard drive or a video card. RAM either does the spec or it doesn't. If it does, you keep it. If it doesn't, it's faulty and you return it. The logo on the sticker on the side of the module doesn't make a lick of difference.

I disagree. Price will often reflect on the quality of chips used for the module. Even with the same type of RAM (DDR3 1333 for example) there are difference in speeds between different quality/priced modules with the same timings. Is the performance a huge difference? By no means is it. It's pretty much barely just enough to measure in benchmarks. Is it an indication of a difference in quality? I believe so. RAM is one of those things that if it's working perfectly when you get it, it will pretty much last forever.

So will you be served fine by some random low-cost RAM you find? Most likely. I personally prefer to try and make sure I am buying a higher quality part.

[*]I got it with 4 GB of RAM. I went to Crucial and see that it can hold up to 8 GB of RAM. Would you recommend I buy RAM from them, or is there a better place? What about an upgraded hard drive? Who do you recommend I buy from?

I buy a lot from Newegg. They are based out of LA so you will get "free" overnight shipping. Their prices can be higher a lot of times, especially with tax, but I have never had a problem that they didn't make sure to solve. Amazon can be a good place to get hard drives. Often times what I do is find what I want to buy on Newegg and go to Google and see what the prices are at other well-rated online stores. If it's pretty close I buy from Newegg. If there is a huge difference I'll buy from the other place.

[ThinkRob]

RAM is one of those things that if it's working perfectly when you get it, it will pretty much last forever.

Pretty much, aside from cosmic rays.

Which is why I go with the cheapest option and just run memtest86+ when I get the modules.

I will admit though: I have a different approach than most, as my workstation and fileserver (the only two local machines which work with the most important of my data) use ECC RAM.