Buying a T420 - want to make sure I'm not doing something stupid

My trusty old Dell Latitude D520 is finally causing trouble after six years of heavy use. I want something that'll last another half decade and I'm not confident another Dell will pull through. After a lot of research (thanks to this forum) I've decided to order a Thinkpad T420 from the Lenovo site.

I think the HDD sizes offered are pretty small for my needs, so I plan to buy it with the cheapest 320gb hdd and immediately upgrade myself to a larger and faster hdd. I want to be sure I'm ordering the right thing. Is this 750gb 7200rpm ssd hybrid drive appropriate? Anybody know of any downsides to hybrid drives?

Also since I have free access to legal versions of Win7pro and I'll be changing the drive right away anyways, I planned to save the 50$ and order it with the basic home version. Will this cause any trouble if I want to have the option to use all the original Thinkpad features and software. As long as I follow the instructions offered here on the forum, there should be no problem right?

I'll also upgrade the memory myself to 8gb as the upgrade is much more expensive through Lenovo.

Further down the road I might decide to get an msata ssd.

Also, I live in Iceland and Sweden (where the same computer costs 2x as much) and plan to order it while on a trip in the US. Does anybody have any experience with Lenovo warranties? I haven't found anything about it, so I actually suspect I'll be on my own.

All chargers I've seen for a very long time have 120-240V input voltage (need 240 for Europe). I haven't been able to confirm this on Lenovo's website though. Does anybody know for sure?

btw these are the specs I plan to order:

T420
Intel Core i7-2640M Processor (2.80GHz, 4M Cache with Turbo Boost up to 3.50GHz)
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit)
14.0" HD+ (1600 x 900) LED Backlit AntiGlare Display, Mobile Broadband Ready
NVIDIA Quadro NVS4200M Optimus technology (1GB)
4 GB PC3-10600 DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz SODIMM Memory (1 DIMM)
Keyboard - US English
UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad) without Fingerprint Reader
720p HD Camera with Microphone
320GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
DVD Recordable
Express Card Slot, 4-in-1 Card Reader
9 Cell 2.8Ah Li-Ion Battery
90W AC Adapter - North America, Latin America (2pin)
Broadcom Bluetooth 3.0 with antenna
Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205 AGN
Mobile Broadband ready (no mobile broadband module)
Accessories
Lenovo DisplayPort to VGA Monitor Cable

That should give me a price somewhere under 1400USD after I figure out the best coupon deals ( good hints here if you are in the same situation). I know a full new line is on its way, but I'm guessing they'll be at full prices and these are good deals right now. I also only have a short window to buy while travelling in the US.

Thanks so much for the help, both for whatever you can answer here and everything I've read on this forum.

 

Back when I bought my T60, it came with a 3 year international warranty (and I had the occasion to test it; bought the laptop in UK and got my screen & keyboard changed two years later in Korea).

I strongly advise you to upgrade the base warranty (1 year in USA as I understand) to 3 years pick-up. I assume it's an international warranty... but I couldn't find a proper mention on the Lenovo website.

 

That price is really high. Also, if you can wait like a few months, the T430 is due out some time this year with Ivy Bridge.

 

The ThinkPad T420 should be IWS eligible so warranty work will be honoured in either Iceland or Sweden regardless where you originally bought it from. The AC Adaptors can work with various voltages worldwide so you just need the right cloverleaf plug cable which should be easily obtainable in your country of origin.

All Thinkvantage utilities and drivers designed for Windows 7 will work for all versions regardless whether you have Windows 7 Home Premium or Professional, though it has to match the 32 bit or 64 bit architecture for it to work properly.

As for hybrid drives, there's not much downsides to them except for that they're not as fast compared to a dedicated SSD. If you plan to get a dedicated SSD anyway you could opt for a high capacity standard hard drive to save a bit of money if you wish.

The specs you're planning to order are decent, depending on your workload you may find a Core i5 processor to be good enough as the dual core i7's have a small performance advantage over its i5 sibling, yet the cost difference can be quite exorbitant to justify having one.

 

Thank you all for your answers.

Thanks. I googled the IWS warranty and it does seem that it would work for me with no problems.

Yes since the warranty works and I want this machine to last, I actually might.

I'm pretty sure an i5 would be plenty for me and the wiser choice. It is the less rational side of me which wants the i7. Currently my processor intensive tasks are photoshop and light gaming which admittedly my ancient processor copes with. I also expect to do some video editing which is currently beyond my old laptops abilities. Even an i3 would be a big step up for me.

I thought that was a pretty decent deal. Prices appear to be higher on newegg. In any case the price is about half of what it would be in Iceland or Sweden and I have to have it shipped to friends' NY address by the time I visit in mid May.

I'm also guessing that the Ivy Bridge performance boost for the same price wouldn't be that much and the price would be high for a while after they are released. If I understand it correctly the greatest boost would be in graphics and I wouldn't expect it to surpass the dedicated NVIDIA. But then again I'm no expert.

Thanks again.

 

Yeah, if you're buying this in the US, the price looks quite high.

Think of it this way: with the minimal difference between a Core i5 and Core i7 (you won't be able to notice the difference outside of benchmarks), if the i5 can't cope with a certain workload, the i7 will not either.

I'd go with the base Core i5 processor if you have CPU-reliant needs. If your old laptop runs everything you need to just fine, even a Core i3 would be more than sufficient. Contrary to popular belief, light-moderate video editing works just fine on a Core i3/Core i5 CPU.

 

I was thinking there was a noticable difference between the two appart from the $140. I'd guess nobody would notice the difference between 2.6 and 2.8 GHz, but the extra cache and Turbo Boost could be significant. Thinking of these: i5-2540M (3M Cache, 2.6GHz) and i7-2640M Processor (2.80GHz, 4M Cache with Turbo Boost up to 3.50GHz)

My current setup runs everything I "need" and would be easily overrun by just about any full size laptop. But there are games I would like to play and it often chokes on photoshop. But then I suppose, with any of these cpus, the video card would always be the limiting factor in games, not the processor. The 64b and its higher ram allowances would fix my photoshop problems.

 

The i5 has TurboBoost as well. The extra 1M cache makes no noticeable difference outside of benchmarks. It's certainly not worth $140. If it were a $20 upgrade, I'd get it. Anything more, and I'd skip it.

Yep, correct.

 

i paid less for a w520 with a better everything

you def. need to reconsider

 

Unless you need WWAN, I'd vote for the mSATA + HDD setup.

 

I have been thinking of that. I don't need WWAN, at least not now, and I would like the mSATA + HDD combo. However I think I'll leave it as a future upgrade as it is pricey ( $210 for 120Gb). Maybe if I get the T420 price down a bit.

 

the t420 configured by the OP shouldnt cost more than $900 max

 

A smaller mSATA SSD will be less expensive and provide the same performance. Then you've got the larger platter drive for storage where speed is not as important.

 

I guess it's old by today's standards but last year I bought a brand new i5 T410 with a 3 year NBD warranty for $520 on Ebay.

Check Ebay for similar deals.