T420 Review

[ThinkRob]

I finally got a chance to write up some thoughts on the T420.

Let me know if there's anything you'd like me to add (or if you spot any typos, sleep-deprivation-induced grammatical oddities, etc.)

[Colonel O'Neill]

Good to hear it's boxy again; the T400 was kinda a bit too-round-y for my taste. Now I gotta wait for a nice eCoupon before I get mine.

Nitpicking: "bargin", "notebok", "port have", "angular," (should be a semi-colon), "resoltion", "flack" (pretty sure this should be flak).

[ThinkRob]

Nitpicking: "bargin", "notebok", "port have", "angular," (should be a semi-colon), "resoltion", "flack" (pretty sure this should be flak).

Nitpicking back at ya!

"Bargin", "resoltion", and "notebok": Good catches. All fixed.

"Port have": I think I'm right. "Have" refers to both the USB port and the Firewire port.

Semi-colon after "angular": Are you sure? AFAIK it's certainly not a grammatical requirement, although it might be more appropriate (it's too late for me to bother looking up the preferred usage).

"flack": Technically, it's an acceptable alternate spelling of "flak", although "flak" is the preferred spelling. So I'm right, but not intentionally. Fixed.

[harrigan]

Thanks for the review, I appreciate the Linux notes.

Does thinkpad_acpi seem fully functional with 2.6.38 (fan control, LED control, LCD brightness control)? What about the SMAPI functionality?

Is there a battery status LED visible when sitting in front of the LCD? Could you comment on the fan noise relative to the T410?

[ThinkRob]

Thanks for the review, I appreciate the Linux notes.

Does thinkpad_acpi seem fully functional with 2.6.38 (fan control, LED control, LCD brightness control)? What about the SMAPI functionality?

Is there a battery status LED visible when sitting in front of the LCD? Could you comment on the fan noise relative to the T410?

Sure thing:

1) thinkpad_acpi seems to work just fine. ThinkLight control and fan control work flawlessly. Backlight is handled by the native driver, see below.

Code: Select all

root@kestrel:/proc/acpi/ibm# dmesg | grep thinkpad_acpi
[   35.841966] thinkpad_acpi: ThinkPad ACPI Extras v0.24
[   35.841970] thinkpad_acpi: http://ibm-acpi.sf.net/
[   35.841973] thinkpad_acpi: ThinkPad BIOS 83ET46WW (1.16 ), EC unknown
[   35.841975] thinkpad_acpi: Lenovo ThinkPad T420, model 4177CTO
[   35.842442] thinkpad_acpi: detected a 8-level brightness capable ThinkPad
[   35.842754] thinkpad_acpi: radio switch found; radios are enabled
[   35.844614] thinkpad_acpi: Standard ACPI backlight interface available, not loading native one.
[   35.844838] thinkpad_acpi: Console audio control enabled, mode: monitor (read only)
[   35.846236] input: ThinkPad Extra Buttons as /devices/platform/thinkpad_acpi/input/input8

2) There is no visible battery status LED on the front.

3) Fan noise is, if anything, less than the T410. This thing is *quiet* -- it tends to idle with barely any fan speed (the fan's off as I type this), and even at full speed it's pretty quiet compared to some notebooks I've had.

[Colonel O'Neill]

Is there still the battery LED on the upper side of the lid?
With the shuffling of the UltraBay, did the weight distribution change perceptibly?

Pretty sure it's "ports have" not "port have"
Might just be me; I sprinkle semi-colons everywhere.
"flack" reminds me of the Aflac duck.

[ThinkRob]

Is there still the battery LED on the upper side of the lid?

Yep. Still there, but on the right this time.

With the shuffling of the UltraBay, did the weight distribution change perceptibly?

Not significantly. It's possibly a little more balanced now, but it's quite close to the T410 either way.

Pretty sure it's "ports have" not "port have"

Aha! A fellow pedant and worthy foe! I challenge you to a duel, sir! What? We lack a brace of pistols? Well fine. We'll just argue about grammar. You would be right if I had said "the USB and Firewire port". However, I said "the USB port and Firewire port".

[s1148625]

Rob, I know you don't use Windows, but did you notice whether or not the disk that came with your system was formatted at GPT or NTFS? The reason I'm wondering is that it seems as though the native UEFI GPT install of Windows 7 is one of the parts of the Enhanced Experience 2.0 fast boot (http://www.lenovoblogs.com/lenovofiles/ ... d-pc-boot/), and I'm wondering if all of the T420's are going to ship with GPT or if they're reserving it for the systems that ship with SSDs.

[ThinkRob]

No idea. I removed the drive before I ever booted the machine.

I suppose I could put it in an enclosure and take a look though. I'll try to remember to do that later tonight.

As an aside, my current boot disk uses MBR which does seem to cause a bit of a delay on startup. When I upgrade to a new SSD, I'll be sure to use GPT so that I can properly make use of grub-efi...

[willgriam]

Could you comment on the fan noise of the unit? Specifically, there were many complaints about the high pitched whine from the new "owl feather" (or something like that) blade design.

Thanks!

[ThinkRob]

Could you comment on the fan noise of the unit? Specifically, there were many complaints about the high pitched whine from the new "owl feather" (or something like that) blade design.

I've owned several machines with the new owl-inspired blade design, but have not experienced any "high pitched' whine on any of them.

Overall, I'd say that the fan is a lot less active than it is on the T410. Thermal management seems better, although it's also likely due to the improved power efficiency of the Sandy Bridge boards.

[iThinkPad]

Thank you for the nice review. I think, I have to finally upgrade my T61

I have a big one for you can you confirm that the T420 supports 6 Gbit/s SATA?

[ThinkRob]

I have a big one for you can you confirm that the T420 supports 6 Gbit/s SATA?

Unfortunately, I can't check that since I don't have any drives that support it. I assume it does, since other recently-released ThinkPads certainly support it.

[iThinkPad]

Thank you. It's too bad nobody knows this one for sure.

[Colonel O'Neill]

I believe StorageReview confirmed a W520 was operating at 6 Gb/s.

[ThinkRob]

I believe StorageReview confirmed a W520 was operating at 6 Gb/s.

Indeed. I assume that the T420 can as well, since AFAIK it's got basically the same chipset.

Tell you what: if you guys buy me a 6 Gbit SATA SSD, I'll do any test you bloody well please.

[erik]

Thank you. It's too bad nobody knows this one for sure.

all thinkpad huron river systems support 6Gbps.   this info comes from the source and is "for sure."

[iThinkPad]

Tell you what: if you guys buy me a 6 Gbit SATA SSD, I'll do any test you bloody well please.

Sounds good to me, how much money shall I transfer to begin with?

all thinkpad huron river systems support 6Gbps. this info comes from the source and is "for sure."

When I look at the chipset it should support 6 Gbps, but I haven't seen any official document that would back it up.
Do you have some official document for the T420, I could lay my eyes on?

I think, I have to buy one.
Thank you all for the help.

[craigmontHunter]

It has been mentioned in various places (I know that the storage review of the T520 mentioned it) - the reason that lenovo says sata II is because that is the fastest drive they have - they can't oversell the system (think the T61 - advertised as being sata II, only sata I). It is sata III, just don't expect to see it in any "official" documents until they start selling sata III drives.

[Colonel O'Neill]

Anything more quantitative on battery life? It looks pretty lacklustre on the NotebookCheck reviews, although their numbers are a bit counter-intuitive.

[ThinkRob]

Anything more quantitative on battery life? It looks pretty lacklustre on the NotebookCheck reviews, although their numbers are a bit counter-intuitive.

I'm getting about 5-6 hours on the 6-cell, and my usage is definitely not light (I'm constantly streaming music, moderate CPU usage, moderate disk usage.)

[Nickolai]

Thank you for your review!

Can you measure the weight of your model? I can't find numbers for 6-cell model.

Does your model have NVidia graphics? (or is it mandatory on this model?)

[TTY]

Tabook gives these weights for T420 models with 6-cell batteries:

Intel HD Graphics 3000: 2.17 kg / 4.79 lb
NVIDIA® Optimus™ technology: 2.20 kg / 4.84 lb