This Laptop was delivered on January 7, 2012. Here are my first impressions.Configuration is average for the most of modern laptops but with some advantages:
Latest processor Sandy Bridge Core i5 2520M dual core 2.5 Ghz;
4Gb RAM (used only one slot, I'm going to install additional memory which shall provide me with max of 8 Gb of total memory 2x4Gb).
500 Gb/7200 rpm hard drive is fast enough and equipped with anti-shock feature.
This machine has 14" matte HD screen with resolution of 1600x900 which does not give any reflections at all! It tilts 180 degrees which is very handy.
It has Intel HD Graphics 3000 and nVidia Quadro NVS 4200M with 1 Gb dedicated memory, which is not the fastest but is still sufficient for day-to-day activity: work with MS Office applications, Web surfing, watching video and playing not too demanding games.
Three USB-2 drives + one e-SATA/USB are an advantage, more than enough, but it would be better to have USB-3 and HDMI port which in this case replaced with Display port which is not so widely used yet.
Spill proof keyboard is a beauty of this machine! I used to have laptops of different brands: Toshiba, Dell, Asus, Sony, the last one is Samsung (I still have it) but this one is the best in terms of the keyboard! Typing this keyboard is nothing but the pleasure. The only thing which requires to be got used to is the location of certain keys such as DELETE, two keys right above the arrow keys, which I found unnecessary they switch pages when surfing the internet current to previous and vice versa. I'd prefer to have HOME/END keys instead of them. Also FN and CTRL keys: ctrl key should be at the lowest left and fn key is between ctrl and windows keys, but you can swap them in BIOS.
Interesting feature is the track point did not have chance to use much but with a little practice I'm sure it can be more convenient than touchpad. Touch pad is normal, nothing to say bad or good. It is smaller than the same in Samsung QX 411 but you do not touch it accidentally when typing which was a pain with Samsung.
Another cute thing is a little flash light on top of the camera, which allows for typing in complete darkness. You can turn it on by pressing "function + page up" keys simultaneously; it justifies the strange placement of these keys, because it's extremely easy to find them in the dark.
Sound quality alright. Not best but not too bad. I found a bit inconvenient combined headphone/mic jack, had to buy special headphones with combined phones/mic connector.
Built in web camera is crisp and works flawlessly in fast networks.
Laptop has a fingerprint reader which switches on the machine. Nice feature.
I've bought configuration with 9 cell battery 55++. Had a chance to test it with everything on: Wi-Fi, connected wireless mouse, Bluetooth, LAN cable, in other words normal operating mode (no gaming, no films): Web browser running with at least four tabs open with running flash, MS Word, Excel, MS Outlook, Windows live mail + 15 minutes of YouTube video. And it lasted 7.5 hours, without watching video it would last the whole 8 hours! I think it is an excellent result.
As for the weight it's about 2 kg just a 100 gr heavier than Samsung QX 411 which has same 14" display and 6 cell battery with 3-4 hours life.
As for the build quality A+ a very solid reliable laptop the best I've used.
Design: Very practical yet beautiful, I like it's rugged style, it has everything I need but "no frills", no glossy finish, display hinges made of metal the lid does not shake. No gaps, no squeaks. I'd say that it's as good as mac book pro with one exception MBPs for show-offs and Thinkpads for pros.
Generally speaking I absolutely satisfied with my Lenovo ThinkPad T420.
January 2013 update: It has been 7 months and I haven't had any issues or blue-screens with this laptop. My only complaint is with the nvidia optimus technology: I usually have to manually tell the nvidia to run with games. If you don't game, then you won't be bothered by this. I love my T420.Rock solid durability, classic look and feel, very fast performance, security features, quiet keyboard
I've been a fan of Lenovo products for many years now. Lenovo has long been considered the GOLD standard for the Enterprise. And their latest ThinkPad T420 only continues this tradition.
Lenovo positions this laptop as being "rock solid durability". And from what I've seen that may even be somewhat of an understatement. They are built like a tank. Tough and rugged, and provide all day performance.
While the design of the ThinkPad has not really changed that much over the years, what is under the hood sure has kept up with the times and provides extremely fast performance. Mine is configured with a Core i5 2.5Ghz processor, 8 GB RAM and a 320 GB 7200rpm drive with the NVIDIA NVS 4200 upgraded video card. And the Windows Experience Rating in Windows 7 for this configuration is 5.9 which is a very high rating for a business class laptop.
The ThinkPad T420 has all the latest security features, including a fingerprint reader and a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 1.2 chip. The TPM chip allows you to enable Bitlocker to protect the hard drive should your laptop be stolen and is a requirement of a lot of IT shops these days.
Battery life is even better than I expected. With the 9-cell battery I get over 7+ hours of usable battery life. And the 6-cell provides over 4 hours. I would recommend purchasing the bay battery which slides into the DVD slot.
I will agree with others that the button to open the DVD seems to be placed in the wrong spot since I tend to accidentally hit it all the time. It's more of an inconvenience than anything else.
And finally, the customer support at Lenovo has been poor in my experience. This is nothing new, and should not reflect on the review of any of their products, other than being noted.
Overall, this is one of the best laptops that I've ever purchased. This is not my first Lenovo and definitely will not be my last. If you're even considering a Lenovo, go ahead and do yourself a favor and buy it. You won't regret it.Bought my T420 a little over a year ago, and dragged it around SE Asia for 6 months with nary a problem... pretty rugged. I bought it for personal use, not just business. I thought about getting something a bit lighter weight but went for bullet-proof instead. This was my first Thinkpad so I have nothing to compare it to. I did upgrade mine with a solid-state flash drive for the OS and a secondary 500mb conventional hard drive for data and applications. Did have a few software wrinkles to iron out here and there but nothing critical. Screen was OK for me, not the greatest but it worked just fine. My wife and I watched movies on it while we were travelling & it wasn't too bad, except for the darker under-lighted scenes. Battery life was excellent. I'm still using and enjoying the laptop.Everygood laptop, Thinkpad quality. Very quiet, very stable.
It comes with a 9-cell battery, which is not clarified in the description.
Cons: Thinkpad puts too many useless software inside, which slows down the boot time. If you want, you can erase that and get new system by yourself.
1 comments:
I really like your writing style. Such a nice Post, Can’t wait for the next one.
Toshiba - Satellite Ultrabook 14.4" Laptop - 6GB Memory - 500GB Hard Drive - Midnight Silver
Toshiba - Portege Ultrabook/Tablet - 11.6" - Intel Core i5 i5-3439Y 1.50 GHz - Ultimate Silver
Post a Comment