Help with T420 (multiple things, WEI, WIFI, mSATA, CPU)

Hi all,

I am hoping that someone here will be able to help me out a bit with a few different things.

System configuration
T420 with 8GB ram, Nvidia Optimus 4200M, Intel Core i5-2520M CPU, Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 AGN

WEI
First of all 4.3 Windows Experience Index, due to "Desktop Performance for Windows Aero" even when the system is using the Optimus GPU
Which is a bit lower than I would expect. (I know it is not the best indicator for performance of system).
Could anyone perhaps explain why it is this low and how I may raise it ?

WIFI
Last time I tried to run the latest Ubuntu version, I ran into some serious issues with the performance of the Wifi card that this unit came with, and I have been unable to find any solution to the issue. It would connect but the speed was like a freaking modem...
Does anyone know if this have been solved or if this is still an ongoing issue ?

mSATA
I have been considering installing an mSATA for a while, however I haven't been able to locate any places where I would be able to buy any here in Canada. (minimum req. for mSATA would be 120GB preferable either samsung or Intel) does anyone have any good ideas to where I might find those ?

CPU
I stumbled across a different thread on this forum regarding a couple of people who had replaced their CPU with a "real i7 CPU"
http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/568372-thinkpad-t420-owners-thread-9.html#post7475372

However there was something that didn't fully make sense to me, which was that i5 CPU's is using socket PPGA988, where i7 CPU uses FCBGA1224, FCPGA988 so I am just curious to figure out which i7 CPU's would be compatible with the i5 socket.
Intel® Core? i5-2520M Processor (3M Cache, up to 3.20 GHz)
Intel® Core? i7-2720QM Processor (6M Cache, up to 3.30 GHz)

 

You can check to see if there is an updated graphics driver for your model though typically getting the drivers from the vendor direct (i.e. NVIDIA/Intel) is more later than the one from the OEM (Lenovo) so you could try that to see if it yields more in performance. Then again the WEI benchmark system is a bit flaky so I wouldn't get too worked up about it.

As for the Wi-Fi, I don't use Linux much but you can try this site to see if it helps your problem.

For the mSATA you could try Newegg.ca though Intel only has up to 80GB for their mSATA range. Alternatively try MyDigitalDiscount as they sell mSATA SSD's in the capacity you're after.

As for the CPU you need to look for ones that fit in Socket G2 or rPGA988B. I can't guarantee that all Quad Core i7 will work as it's an unofficial mod but given the i7-2720QM has been verified to work fine without additional modification it would be probable that the other set of Sandy Bridge Quad Cores will work in the T420 also. Bear in mind it is recommended to have at least a 90w Power Adapter should you want to proceed with this as it can be power hungry.

 

Thank Hearst,

Regarding the wifi issue, then I had already tried that solution and it didn't seem to solve any issues with the speed of the connection. I might have to look into if there are any other configurations that could help.

Thanks for the clarification on the i7 cpu socket, I think that is something that I will investigate a bit more.

 

Keep in mind the i7 quad also gets quite a bit warmer in the T420 chassis.

I did that swap for one laptop in our company, the engineer has been quite happy with the results.


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