help buying t420 vs t420s

[michele2701]

hallo everybody thank you in advance for your help and sorry for my terrible english.
I would ask you which of these configuration you think is the best price/quality/performance
the differences in the four configurations are the processor i5 vs i7,graphic card in configuration 3is different Intel HD Graphics 3000 with Intel Core i5-2520M vs NVIDIA NVS 4200M Graphics with Optimus Technology, 1GB DDR3 Memory the rest is the same..

thank you
michele

1 ThinkPad T420 - 3 Yr Depot £1,266.76 (1,4437 €)

Intel Core i7-2620M Processor (2.70GHz, 4MB L3)
Operating system Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64
14.0 HD+ (1600 x 900) LED Backlit Anti-Glare Display,
NVIDIA NVS 4200M Graphics with Optimus Technology, 1GB DDR3 Memory
8 GB PC3-10600 DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM)
Hard drive 320 GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
Battery 6 cell Li-Ion Battery - 55+

2 ThinkPad T420 - 3 Yr Depot £1,131.64 (1,2897 €)

Intel Core i5-2520M Processor (2.50GHz, 3MB L3)
Operating system Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64
14.0 HD+ (1600 x 900) LED Backlit Anti-Glare Display
NVIDIA NVS 4200M Graphics with Optimus Technology, 1GB DDR3
8 GB PC3-10600 DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM)
Hard drive 320 GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
Battery 6 cell Li-Ion Battery - 55+


3 ThinkPad T420s - Express – 3 Yr Depot £1,251.92 (1,4268 €)

Intel Core i5-2520M Processor (2.5GHz, 3MB L3, 1333MHz DDR3)
Operating system Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64
14.0 HD+ (1600 x 900) LED Backlit Antiglare Display, Mobile
Intel HD Graphics 3000 with Intel Core i5-2520M
8 GB PC3-10600 DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM)
Hard drive 320 GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
Battery 6 cell Li-Ion Battery - 66+


3 ThinkPad T420s - Express – 3 Yr Depot £1,440.36 (1,6415 €)

Intel Core i7-2620M Processor (2.7GHz up to SC 3.4GHz, 4MB L3)
Operating system Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64
14.0 HD+ (1600 x 900) LED Backlit Antiglare Display,
NVIDIA NVS 4200M Optimus Graphics 1GB, Intel Core i7-2620M Processor
8 GB PC3-10600 DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM)
Hard drive 320 GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
Battery 6 cell Li-Ion Battery - 66+

[dr_st]

Hi Michele,

IMO, you are focusing on the less important differences. CPU - Core i5 vs Core i7 is negligible for most tasks. GPU - Intel vs nVidia is only important if you need to do GPU-intensive 3D tasks (gaming, CAD modeling and the like).

And in any case, you can choose either option, both on a T420 and a T420s. However, the T420 and T420s are very different machines. The weight, the available ports, the battery options and some peripherals (hard drive) are quite different. You should first decide which computer is better for you, and then think of the exact configuration.

[Q-Ball]

I'll expand on this a bit:

Even though they may have the same internals, they're not designed to perform the same things.
The T420 is a standard workstation, where the T420s is a thin-and-light.

For example, if you're just using this machine around an office or at home, or need a long battery life, or don't really care about a weight difference, the T420 is the one to pick. It's not as light as the T420s, but it's got more ports for expansion (though it doesn't have USB 3.0 but that can be solved with the use of a certain ExpressCard that sits flush in the machine), and it's got better battery life as well.


The T420s, on the other hand, is a good machine to pick if you need mobility. It's more of a cross between an X220 and a T420.
If you're used to carrying around an X-series, the T420s is the same weight (3.8lbs with 6-cell battery) as the X201 (same thing).
There are some things to be aware of if you get the T420s, though- most notably, battery life isn't all that great under moderate use (3 hours), and the lid is quite thin so don't pick it up that way.

I'll just leave this here (http://blogs.technet.com/b/keithcombs/a ... eview.aspx).

[AIX]

Nice review Q-Ball!


I find T420s very appealing, so I'm thinking more and more about getting one. My dilemma is which one to choose between this two setups:

1. T420s, Core i5 2520M 2.5GHz, Intel HD 3000
2. T420si, Core i3 2310M 2.1GHz, nVidia NVS 4200M, Optimus Technology

The price is about the same. I don't do 3D graphics intensive tasks, but I'd like to have enough power on the new laptop to play Civilization V decently. I do some CPU intensive tasks (which I can handle right now with my 2GHz Core Duo CPU good enough, but not that good, probably a Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz+ will do the job). ~3h on battery it's fine for me, I don't use external monitors.

So, which one is more "future-proof"? I'm planning to keep it for the next 3 years if I'd buy it.

[Q-Ball]

Civilization 5, eh?
Even the nVidia graphics card doesn't have enough power to do that (http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-NVS ... 343.0.html). You might get around 25 FPS at 1024 x 768, all details low, but anything beyond that is too much to handle for the GPU.
I don't think you'll get even that from the HD3000 alone, though.

A compromise (though admittedly this completely defeats the purpose of the T420s) would be to make/buy a ViDock (search up DIY ViDock), put a GeForce 400/500-series video card in, and play the game using that instead (Optimus can do this but you lose a bit of performance).



If you're doing CPU-intensive tasks the i5-2520M is going to be better (since you'll have Turbo Boost)- if you can offload some of that to the GPU, however, you may see some boost.
What applications are these, if I might ask?

[AIX]

I didn't know Civ 5 is such a resource hog. I used to play every Civ until now.. Anyway, this in not mandatory, after all, Machinarium is a nice game.

I think ViDock it's very interesting if you are a gamer. Nice alternative.

Regarding CPU intensive apps - GNS3/Dynamips mainly - and some dvd decoding/shrinking/backup tasks.