Hearst's Early Impressions with the T420 (vs T61)

After being a happy owner of two great ThinkPads I thought it was time to upgrade something newer. There wasn't much doubt for my next notebook to be a ThinkPad but the question is which one. After much thinking (no pun intended) I decided to opt for the T420, the X220 with IPS is certainly tempting but I wasn’t sure if I can live with its dimensions and screen resolution for long term desk work so I played it safe and opted for the tried and trusted notebook.

Happily Lenovo UK was selling the T420 at a rather reasonable price, throw in the now standard 3 years warranty that most rivals enjoyed, 10% Easter Coupon and 6% cashback via Quidco UK had certainly sweetened the deal. My usage is generally casual browsing, graphic design, office work, music listening and the odd movies. I don't game at all which makes the NVIDIA GPU a bit redundant considering how capable the Intel GPU is.

I ordered the following specs for my system:

Processor: Intel Core i5-2410M Processor (2.30GHz, 3MB L3)
Operating system: Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64
Display type: 14.0 HD+ (1600 x 900) LED Backlit Display, Mobile Broadband Ready
System graphics: Intel HD Graphics 3000
Total memory: 2 GB PC3-10600 DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz SODIMM Memory (1 DIMM)
Keyboard: Keyboard UK English
Hard drive: 250 GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm
Optical device: DVD recordable multiburner
System expansion slots: Express Card Slot & 4 in 1 Card Reader
Battery: 9 cell Li-Ion Battery - 55++
Power cord: Country Pack EU Generic (WWAN enabled) with Line cord & 90W AC adapter
Bluetooth: Bluetooth 3.0
Integrated WiFi wireless LAN adapters: Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 (3x3 AGN)
Integrated mobile broadband: Integrated Wireless Wide Area Network upgradable
Language pack: Language Pack UK English

I didn't need to spec up the RAM and the hard drive as I already have the upgrades in place [ 8GB (2x4GB) Corsair 1333MHz DDR3 SODIMM RAM Kit + Intel 510 120GB Elmcrest SSD ]. The power adaptor was certainly interesting as I was able to get the 90W adaptor for free as long I accept the EU plug which is fine as I can just swap out with my UK plug and save £50 in the process. The whole system including taxes and discount works out to be £811.33 which is not bad considering the specifications.

I ordered it on the 15th April, was shipped out on the 20th April and arrived on my doorstep on the 26th April which is good considering we had the Easter holidays. The buying process was smooth and was trouble free from start to finish so I'm quite pleased with that.


Image: T420 on the left, T61 on the right.

Build Quality

Naturally any ThinkPadder would be concerned on how the build quality progressed over the years with every new model. Thankfully the strong build quality is still there with the T420 and feels rock solid as ever. No creaks or squeaks, most major areas don't flex unless you try real hard which is unlikely in a normal computing scenario. Lift the system at an angle with one hand and it doesn't seem to cave in from pressure, quite a contrast from some of the Dell E6420s out there (sorry Mike - had to put it there! ). The T420 also feels much lighter than my T61 so carrying around shouldn't be a problem at all. The 9 cell battery design is a great leap forward, yes it sticks out a bit but its no more than the equivalent 6 cell of my T61 which is great.


Image: T420 on the left, T61 on the right.

Performance

I'm not a person who's really into benchmarking numbers, as long it feels fast then that will do for me. And honestly I would still call my 4 year old T61 system fast. It has a Core 2 Duo T9300, 4GB RAM and Intel X25-M SSD and feels very nippy to this day. Imagine a pensioner who runs the marathon day in, day out just for fun - that pretty much sums up my T61.

Now if that's fast then the T420 takes it to another level when combined Intel's Elmcrest 510 SSD with SATA III potential. I decided to record a video of both my systems booting up at the same time (its hard to turn them both on while trigger the camcorder mode) but it pretty much speaks for itself there (T420 on left, T61 on right... Konomi in the middle).



The Boot Timer doesn't really give an accurate picture of the boot phase but I decided to post the times it recorded between them. Also posted the WEI score too.

T61 Boot Timer Time:


T420 Boot Timer Time:


T61 WEI Score:


T420 WEI Score:


Ergonomics

The keyboard still feels a joy to use with minimal flex, though I would admit its not as tactile compared to my solid backplated T61 keyboard but that would be nit-picking really. The large touchpad and chunky trackpoint buttons are certainly a welcome addition while the backlit power button and volume switches feels slick. It's unsurprising that I had no trouble using the system, I solely use the trackpoint to navigate my way round and the accuracy is spot on from the go. So much that I didn't need to install the UltraNav driver as it was that good, HP and Dell needs to take note here.

The Screen...

There's no hiding that the real talking point here is the screen, infamously it tends to be one of Lenovo' major weaknesses over time and even I can't deny that my beloved T61 has probably one of the worst screens I've ever used - period.


Notice the yellowish hue on my T61 screen? (Right)

Of course times have changed now since LEDs came into the frame. Being a long time user of what is frankly a really poor screen, my expectation is that any new screen from today would surely be better than my T61. Well is it? In a word, yes. The screen on the T420 (which turns out to be an AUO B140RW02 V1 / LEN40A1 panel) is bright, sharp and is certainly usable. Is it the best however? Well that's where the praise fall short, the anti glare coating is certainly more noticeable than my older ThinkPads so it does look a bit grainy which also robs some of the colour vibrancy from certain images. Also pay close enough attention and you can make out the pixel grid lines. Maybe I need to adjust the screen calibration I suppose but to add further salt to the wounds Lenovo shipped my unit with a stuck pixel, not the end of the World I know but being a £800+ system and being my first ThinkPad (out of 6) to have this problem is a bit of a sucker punch really. Oh and I haven't even mentioned the limited viewing angles too...


Looks lovely with Sanae on...


...until you tilt the screen that is. Colour Inversion hurts!

If I was to compare the T420 against the E6420 then the Dell edges it here in terms of contrast, colour vibrancy and that Premium Panel Guarantee against any defective pixel which would certainly helped from my position (yes you can afford to be smug again Mike). I will try and get some pictures of the two as long I haven't upset my friend too much!

Features and Other Mentions

The T420 has a good selection of ports including USB connectivity and an eSATA port which is very useful for backing up large data to external hard drives. Displayport is a plus in connecting to your flat screen telly and the fans are extremely quiet on the T420, my T61/R61e tend to drown out the T420 by their fan noise instead! It also runs very cool too considering the power it has.

There are some gripes with the T420 however, upgrading seems to be needlessly fiddly especially accessing the 2nd DIMM slot and reapplying the keyboard. I can't seem to figure out why they haven't put the entire DIMM sockets under the same slot underneath the system. Popping the keyboard out is easy enough but reapplying in is a bit of a nightmare (I still don't know if I done it properly to be honest!). I prefer the old palmrest style akin to the T61/T400 era.

At the moment UEFI seems to be flaky with my system, from a cold boot it's electrifying fast. On a restart however it's a bit dozy to get off the line by hanging on the BIOS a bit too long than I hoped (bit of a tortoise and hare scenario against my T61 here). I'm trying to find the source of this hang up but wondering if any other fellow T420 owners who experience this or is it just my system who's not a good early bird?

In Summary

Overall early impressions show the T420 has potential to be a great system, fit and finish is good, the performance in everyday tasks seem to taken an extra notch from my T61 and is pleasantly cool and quiet to run. The screen could be a bit better though (and hope my stuck pixel will just disappear over time) and the upgrades seem to be frustrating than it needs to be. The UEFI boot is temperamental on a restart but here's hoping for a solution real soon (don't mind if its my mistake as long I know how to fix it!). I haven't tried out the battery properly but it seems to reporting 4:44 hours... with 38% charge left!

+ Great Build Quality.
+ Ergonomics unchanged from previous ThinkPads. In other words it's good.
+ With the right combination Performance can be very fast.

- Screen could be better.
- BIOS UEFI issues on restart.
- Upgrades can be frustrating.

EDIT - 27th April 2011 - Seems there are some issues with th Intel 510 SSD and Lenovo BIOS not playing ball, temporarily switched to an OCZ Vertex II SSD and the UEFI restart issue would disappear. Some W520 users are also reporting problems with the Intel 510 SSD on their systems as well during the restart phase, hopefully a fix will appear soon to solve this quirk.

NEW UPDATE - 17th April 2012 - It took almost a year but the wait is over for Intel 510 SSD owners wanting a fix on the startup freezing issue. Lenovo released a fix with the BIOS update version 1.38-1.18.

 

Great review! Seems to confirm all that is said about the T420 on these forums. A solid Thinkpad with potential to score 10/10 if it wasn't for the screen (both quality and 16:9 format) Probably 7 or 8 out of 10 now depending on what you're using it for. Then again, cold boot in under 10 seconds.. that is fast

Somebody should donate a X220 so you could do a X220 vs T420 comparison

 

How did you get 3 year standard? Isn't it 1 year? At least when I ordered both x120e and x220 at the bottom of the customization list it was 1 year topseller warranty

 

Nice review and congrats on your new machine.

 

I wouldn't mind a kind donation!

In the UK all new T/X/W series models comes with 3 year depot warranty as standard.

 

Very helpful.

Do you have access to some digital scales so we can have the weight of your T420?

And another question of interest to many people is the battery life.

John

 

Hey great review Hearst! That T61 is quite yellow o_o have you thought about calibrating the screen?

 

The T420 tips the scales at 2.359 kg with the 9 cell on, the T61 in comparison tips at 2.448 kg with a 6 cell battery. So less weight and more battery life!

The battery I will need to report back, i'm currently draining it down so it goes pass my charging threshold but at 35% it can still run for 3:14hrs with mid brightness and Wi-Fi on. That's still longer than what my T61 can run on its entire 6 cell!

My T61 is 4 years old now which is a pensioner in technology terms. CCFL tube is starting to show its age but I could try and recalibrate to see if it improves matters, thanks for the tip.

 

In what usage scenario did you have 4:44 left with 38%?

 

Thanks. For comparison my Dell E6410 with 9 cell weighed in at 2.42kg and I believe the E6420 is heavier than the E6410.

John

 

Excellent review, thank you! Agree on the ram placement - so much better to be able to upgrade from same entry - without having to remove the keyboard. I also dislike how the HDD is accessed now - prefer from the edge as in the 500 series rather than from the bottom. As a relatively recent changer form Dell to Lenovo's, it still seems in general Dell provides better screens...

 

In your video, it seemed like the black level on the T420 was much higher than on your T61. Is this true in reality?

The side-by-side shot does a good job of showing how much bezel there is around the 16x9 screen. Hopefully Lenovo will adjust the chassis to the new screen size in the next refresh.

Do you have a 5GHz 802.11n network? Can you do a throughput test on the WiFi with the T420? I'd be particularly interested in hearing what kinds of speeds you get via SMB file sharing.

 

Great review. I have a consumer-level Lenovo u450p from February 2010 and upgraded my RAM via the torturous passages under my keyboard and I feel like it's a lot looser now even though the screws are all there and tightened. I'm considering upgrading to the T420 this summer, and your review was very helpful in swaying my decision towards Lenovo and away from a Latitude. My vision is not that great, so even with this consumer laptop things look pretty good compared to my old school 12 inch Powerbook G4.

 

Thanks for the great review. Could you comment on the procedure you used to set your system on your Intel 510? For example did you clean install Windows 7 with UEFI-ONLY selected in the BIOS? How then did you install all your Lenovo drivers/software?

I ordered a T420 but then was scared off by some reviews here of the screen and canceled for the T520. I have an 80 GB Intel mSATA on the way and I'm envious of your boot time, I want to set up my system that way!

Cheers!

 

Are you sure that t420 support sata III?

 

Every Sandy Bridge Thinkpad does.

 

Thanks for the feedback guys, I try to answer your concerns where possible...

This is using the "Power Source Optimized" setting on the Power Manager, screen was set on mid brightness, Wi-Fi on and doing some light browsing. But I will a do proper battery test with my 9 cell doing my daily activities to give an idea on how long it lasts on a full charge.

I also found the hard drive access a bit awkward as well. The non-removable screw doesn't make it any easier either.

My friend kindly dropped his E6420 for me to analyse for the day. The two notebooks couldn't be anymore different in construction and output. But yes, after reviewing the screens again I do feel the screen on the Dell has more vibrancy in comparison to my Lenovo screen. The Dell doesn't seem to suffer the graininess effect with its specific anti-glare coating. I will post more details about this later (since its 2am over here! :x).

The T420 is certainly more consistent in backlighting in comparison to my T61 though that uses CCFL technology rather than LED. Though in truth it depends on what angle you look at the screen, being a standard TN panel the further you tilt it the more extreme the colour inversion will become and that can give certain images an exaggerated black level. I also didn't have a good recording camera so I would assume for this to be the case.

I only have a 2.4GHz 802.11n network at home but I see if we got the resources to do this at the office pending the right equipment.

What I done, I went to the factory local disk and copy the "DRIVERS" folder from SWTOOLS which is located at the root of the local disk drive (C:\). Copy this folder to the USB stick and restart to access the BIOS (F1). Then I simply set the BIOS mode into "UEFI Mode Only" and installed Windows 7 SP1 by the CD. The installer will take care of the rest by setting the UEFI compliant GPT partition for you. You can still access drivers on the USB (via UEFI USB Emulation) to load the Intel RST 10 drivers for the SSD.

Once Windows is installed I gone to Device Manager and manually pointed each missing driver to the "DRIVERS" folder on the USB stick and it had no troubles installing the correct ones. Took me less than 5 minutes for the whole process and no need for System Update. The only Lenovo utilities I used on my T420 are the Hotkeys Integration and Power Manager.

See Transfer Mode for your answer.

 

Here is a great guide for what you want to do with your T520 from one of the members of this forum.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/572616-t420-msata-uefi-only-20-sec-boot.html

 

@dboss619 thanks, I've checked that thread out

@Hearst, thanks thats exactly the info I needed. Does the windows install process prompt you for the Intel RST 10 Driver? Would I need to install this for the 310 Intel mSATA? Long live Sanae-Alpina!

 

I just started using my T420 today.

I'd say the 16:9 is the main reason to ding the screen. Even if it isn't perfect, it's a huge improvement over the T61 and the T400 in brightness and contrast. I'm hating LCD panel vendors right now; there's half an inch of bezel at the bottom of the LCD, almost like the "chin" on the white Intel iMac desktops, that Lenovo could have used if the right panels were around.

I've turned my fonts up to medium and turned on ClearType, not because the display isn't sharp enough, but because 1440x900 at 16:10 was on the edge for me --this is cutting it a little closer. My vision is plenty good for someone nearing 40, but perhaps I'll need to look at the computing equivalent of reading glasses.

 

excellent review, i have a quick question. sorry to go a bit off topic, but i have an old Vaio with a 2ccfl screen that's got a horrible yellow hue now, what would i use to try to reduce that? would the LCD calibration software work? i thought it was due to the degradation of the CCFL compounds?

 

love the review, you must use your T61 a lot. So did you get the machine in UK?

 

Thanks for the detailed review!

 

Congratulations Hearst on your new Sanae! Very helpful and informative review - I will believe many less experienced ThinkPad users will find it extremely valuable and trustworthy kind of review.


p.s. Out of curiosity - may I ask which series Sanae is from? My first guess was Sanae from Clannad - but after seeing her hair, it's definitely not her. ;-) EDIT: Nevermind... I have no idea how I didn't think of Touhou before

 

If you still have the E6420 could you put it on the scales. Then we will have the weight difference between the two (tell us which battery is in the E6420).

Thanks,

John

 

Times like this makes me wish I have a proper camera, but anyway the T420 finally meets its nemesis (or best friend? ) the Dell Latitude E6420. Visually the E6420 looks much bigger than the T420 but its actually not that much thicker despite the all round Magnesium Construction design.



As my friend said, the E6420 is a bit of a "Marmite" - you either love it or hate it with its chunky exterior, rubberised interior finish and that orange surround. He loves the E6420 unsurprisingly, i'm not a fan of Marmite so you can guess where this is heading to...

But on with the show, I guess many of you is keen how good the screens are between the two. Earlier I concluded the Dell has the better panel and I stick by that claim. My camera doesn't really do the panels justice here but from my eyes the colours on the Dell panel tends to look much "warmer" by default, in comparison the Lenovo panel looks "cooler", I mean blue-ish not "that was cool bro!" sort of cool. I asked my friend whether he calibrated the screen but said it was the default settings, I didn't calibrate mine either so the panels are showing its default colours at the moment which makes it a fair test.



Anyway I was able create a side by side comparison which pretty much sums up my experience between the two panels, I used the same image on the two with the Dell panel being on the left and the Lenovo on the right. Notice that the green is more vibrant on the Dell panel in comparison to Lenovo. You could also just make out the slight griddiness on the Lenovo image which is not visible on the Dell.

Spoiler

Both panels suffer limited viewing angles but the T420 seem to suffer far worse than the E6420. From the image below I tilted both at the same angles side by side and the T420 is washed out (left) while the E6420 (right) just manages to keep some colour true on the same extreme.



So the Dell wins in terms of panel quality, it also doesn't seem to suffer the graininess with its anti-glare coating in comparison with the AUO unit on the Lenovo.

 

E6420 looks so hideous....... i like the E6400 bit more, it has a more refined style. The Dell E6420 reminds me of the Alienware design, which is good for a gaming laptop but not for a business laptop.

 

Ironically, looking at these pictures I find myself turning my screen back and forth in all directions, trying to find the optimal viewing angle for seeing the "true" difference between the two photos.

 

In terms of design I agree that the E6420 looks a bit out of place with the T420. The width of the E6420 is almost as large as my 15.4" R61e which is quite something for a 14" notebook. Personally I liked the E6410 and looks a more natural competitor in design to the T420.

Ha ha, yes i'm struggling to make out with my T420 panel at this moment! But thankfully I have a desktop computer and monitor next to me to sort out the pictures and the differences in colour does show.

QA Session

The Windows Installer doesn't exactly prompt you to put the Intel RST driver in, its up to you really to load it up. But to do so, on the window where you set up your disk drive partition there is a button called "Load Driver". Click on it and it will ask you to locate a source for the drivers, with the USB stick in with all your drivers just point it to the directory and Windows should take care the rest for you. Afterwards you can install Windows 7 like normal, I prefer this method so I don't need to install the RST software on top afterwards for the same driver.

You can try and adjust the screen with the calibration software provided by Windows if it helps (type "Cali..." in the search box and it should come up). Though it doesn't hide the fact that the CCFL tube had past its prime unfortunately.

Yes, all my ThinkPads are bought from the UK and I have used my T61 for quite some time so my eyes must have degraded for the screen to become acceptable!

You guessed right, Sanae Kochiya from Touhou. Though it does take me a while to think of a codename for my notebooks, I gone over 4-5 before plumping for this one!

The E6420 with 6 cell battery (my friend wanted a flush finish) is 2.472kg according to my scales. So yes I can imagine the E6420 with 9 cell battery is a slightly heavy notebook, much more heavier than the T420 with similar combination.

 

Interesting. I've got a hypothesis about the "griddiness" effect. Can you set a solid color background and see if you still observe it?

Spoiler

I think it's the dithering used to simulate 8-bit color on a 6-bit display.

 

Thanks a lot for this review.
About the weight, the Tabook 2011 says "9-cell: from 4.70 lb (2,13 kg)". What does Lenovo forget, hard drive ?

 

Probably the optical drive. It weighs in the vicinity of 150g. That still leaves a gap, but at least it's smaller. Lighter SSD, perhaps?

 

lolololol yeah I so second this. Dell has ruined Latitudes with the latest refresh but apparently it is selling like hotcakes. Maybe it's time to jump ship completely to Lenovo..

 

No optical drive, perhaps a mini-card SSD as the storage device, 4 cell battery (mentioned in the model data although not listed as an accessory) no WWAN, no WLAN. That's why I like to see some user weights.

I'm bringing the T420 and E6420 weights together for ease of comparison.

I would add an extra 0.16kg for the extra 3 cells (see Dell) which would put the E6420 with 9 cell at 2.63kg. That's a difference of over 0.25kg (0.55 lbs in old units). My Dell E6410 with 9 cell weighed in at 2.42kg - slightly heavier than the T420. I'm not sure what Dell were thinking of when they approved the E6420 design (evidently not portability).

John

 

Hi Hearst,

Big fan of your collection of T420 reviews. I used your post as a big source for my decision to purchase the T420. Didn't have an account on here previously. But, made one because I wanted to ask you about your stuck pixel you had initially. I just got my T420 today and I have a single stuck pixel (red spot on black screen).

So did your stuck pixel ever go away?

 

Unfortunately its still there but on everyday use I generally don't notice it. Mine is a tiny green speck on a black background near the right hand side.

It's a lottery, sometimes it may disappear over time while some don’t. I remember my boss having a stuck pixel on his VAIO so I ran a screenfix application overnight and that fixed it. I haven’t been able to replicate that success with the T420 so far but I let you know should it later disappear.

 

I finally got a chance to compare the E6420 side-by-side with the T420; I got an Outlet system for a relative at an unbeatable price.

The E6420 isn't bad, and I'd probably put money on getting better support from Dell. However, I'd agree that the ThinkPad T420 is a much better design.

I'm really disappointed. The E6420's palmrest is flat with a hard edge, no contours to make it comfortable for one's wrists. It's bulky when it doesn't have to be. Its keyboard isn't as good, and its trackpoint is a little too recessed within the keys, making it harder to use than the ThinkPad's; the center scroll button seems slippery too. Finally, there's only a single latch; a dual-latch mechanism would be a lot better for this system (with one latch, it feels cheap and insecure at that point).

I agree that the E6410 was a good design. I guess that's the other reason the E6420 is a real letdown. I'm really glad I chose a ThinkPad again.

 

Dell's have always better a much better value than ThinkPad. All mainstream E series Latitudes come with 3 year depot warranty. When I first saw the leaked photos of E6420/E6520, I nearly vomited. They just remind me of an unprofessional consumer grade notebook.

Dell's keyboard have always been inferior to ThinkPad, but the new ThinkPad keyboards have gotten far worse from the T61 days. Trackpoint ThinkPad has always won, and Dell's has always been crappy.

Adunno what was wrong with E6400/E6410, but some engineer at R&D thought this new design was a good idea and apparently the big wigs OK'd it. Too bad I'll only look at an older Dell Latitude in Outlet or just stick with ThinkPad.

 

If Dell had squeezed the 16:9 panel into the E6410's chassis (or, even better, had twisted the arm of a display manufacturer to continue using 16:10 panels) then I would most likely be using one now. The E6410 was a good design that just needed a mainboard upgrade.

John

 

Agreed. It would have been a harder choice for me if they had continued the E6410 design into Sandy Bridge territory.

One other note: Using the optical drive eject button is also a real pain on the E6420. The base of the laptop angles inward as it goes down, making finding and pressing the button extremely difficult, especially if you're hoping to boot off a CD or DVD. This is compounded by another issue I've experienced: If you press F12 to go to device multi-boot, the system fails to spin up the optical drive to boot off the disc and errors out. If you have the disc in at boot time, and the optical drive ahead of the hard disk in boot order, it works fine with the same disc (I tried both burned and commercially pressed discs). I think it's a bug, maybe in the BIOS, or in power-management functions somewhere, but it's frustrating. I haven't had that issue with any previous Dell model I've used.

 

Thank you for the review! My only gripe with the system is that the panel is 16:9 not 16:10... and I just got used to letting go of a 4:3 LCD

I'm curious though, how would you go about calibrating your LCD on you T61?

I use a T61p 14.1" and this definitely got my attention!

Thanks again!!

 

Well I have the Intel GPU in mine so the calibration software will be slightly different to what you have on the T61p (which should have the NVIDIA chip instead). I just adjust some values with the RGB & Gamma levels on the Intel Control Panel to see if it improve things but the panel on my T61 is quite dim and washed out so calibration only makes some marginal improvements!

 

Thanks for this review and all of the comments. I am thinking about picking up one of these used but my T61 is still going strong! I had a lot of reservations about the smaller screen but I think it would be a good addition.

Eunix