I have one as a secondary machine and it runs as well, if not better, than a much more modern Asus I own. I have the i7 model and I hope to expand my ram from 8 to 16 GB soon.
Such a well crafted video, as usual. I love that style of thinkpad, I'm still running my venerable T430, Nvidia GPU, M-sata for the OS, despite the gen 2 speeds, 1 TB sata for my files, 16GB of 1866 ddr 3, an i7-3632QM, and of course the 1vyrain bios, for the faster wifi card etc. It still gets the job done!
This is one of the cooler models that I totally overlooked. What we find here is essentially a regular T420 carbonized. Being the 3rd and last T400s model with the classic keyboard I'm sure there's people that would absolutely adore this unit. And that weight difference is HUGE if you want no compromises on screensize but a lighter classic thinkpad.
the perfect thinness of a laptop chassis with no compromises to cooling and key-travel. with modern screens this could be what everyone needs IMO. some fanboys will disagree
@@LaptopRetrospective yep. unfortunately it sucks that reviewers and light users consider thinness as a feature. to some extent it is but no to this point where it ruins the whole experience of using a laptop. and thinness does not equal lightness so i don't see a reason to make sub 15mm machines
T420s was the first thinkpad! I bought, back in 2014 for $250. Used it for 3 years of university, upgraded it to 16GB with the stock 128GB drive, later upgrading to a 500GB one. Crazy to think it has more memory and disk than my current laptop, a 8/256GB M1 Macbook Air.
cual es la diferencia entre esta y una t420 normal? pregunto porque quisiera hacerle unas mejoras en cuanto a la tarjeta grafica y el hardware en general pero tengo entendido que la t420 es mejor para eso que esta
I bought my T420s a few years back for about $150, mine has 8GB of RAM, put in an SSD and it is still running Windows 10 pretty nicely. Will be switching it to Linux at some point before Win10 support ends, and I expect this old tank to continue running for years to come. One minor issue with mine is I’m locked out of the BIOS with a password from the previous owner, requires some low-level chip work to bypass which is more than I’m willing to do atm.
Watched this on my T420S. I think I paid about $30 for it on eBay in early 2020. Mine is the i5 variant with 8 GB of RAM. Since I had a recovery CD on hand, I was able to put the OEM branded version of Windows 7 with all drivers back onto this machine like it was new from the factory. (I realize the risk of running Win 7 post 2020). One thing I find interesting is that the stickers on my palm rest are oriented differently than yours are. I wonder why, or if it has to do with when the machine was manufactured.
You certainly make it sound tempting! Still chugging along with the T530 from four years ago. Still works a treat, although there was a month where it kept glitching and crashing. Turned out that it didn't need thermal paste or different RAM... it was just the friggin' Intel HD drivers! Augh!
Bought a T430 with a 512 GB SSD and 8 GB of RAM for € 70 last week and installed the latest verison of Linux Mint on it (22 Wilma). Truly awesome combination! The ThinkPad doesn't show its age at all -very much feels like a modern up-to-date device. Incredibly responsive and thanks to the SSD & Linux lighning fast.
Any thoughts on starting showing hp elitebooks? I am a thinkpad user, but to be honest they have very bad touchpads, at least the older ones, only this was the reason to learn how to use the nipple. And elitebooks 8th series definitely have better touchpads..glass touchpads, better screens...what do you think? :)
Elitebooks and HP machines in general rarely show up around here. They aren't very popular in my part of the world or I would. I'm limited to what I have around me most times when I make videos unless one is donated.
Had trouble with my T420s i7 which ran hot and the fan was loud and constantly running. On the other hand, I had a great experience with T430s i7, which I still daily drive. The keyboard is better on T420s, but it can be retrofit onto T430s with a little effort. Great video and thanks for ThinkPad coverage!
Natehowe - I am obsessed with my T430s which I have not turned off since 2012 for as much as 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. I would like a better screen and love the deep dish keys (vs the chiclet keys) on the older model. Any idea where to go for parts to replace the CPU, SSD, old school keyboard and higher res screen for the T430s?
I just upgraded mine with a 4GB DDR3 SODIMM to take it to 8GB, and I replaced the HDD with a new 256GB SSD. I did a clean install of Win 10 pro and the speed difference is amazing. Total time to boot up and be signed on to windows is ~ 45 seconds. It's like a different PC now. What a difference an SSD makes.
i swear think pads are so good literally when i got one in 2014 IT WAS PHENOMENAL i ran linux and i kid u not IM WRITING THIS FROM THAT SAME THINKPAD!!!
I've got four storage devices in my Dell laptop, plus one in the dock. As it's my main system it's perfectly reasonable to have that many storage options, and there's room for more than even what I've got.
Got 10.5TB worth in drives in my daily driver (Precision M6800) with one being an nvme in the expresscard slot and will eventually be installing an RTX mxm card at some point. Wish that there were modern laptops that are this upgradeable.
I bought 2 T420 2 years ago for my sons running linux mint they never complained ,I have also a X220 still using daily.... I have also a T470s it will be the next laptop for the daily use..
Have had 2 420's, the only reason I sold them was the smell but one of your recent videos explained the reason for that so I know how to cure it, will be looking on EBay for another one as I absolutely love them and love the 'old-style' keyboards.
I ordered a t420 yesterday and paid about 90 dollars for it. I will upgrade it from 4gb ram to 8 and from 500HDD to 256SSD in the future and it will be my daily driver.
just want to contribute my 2 cents on the T420, as I personally have one T420 when it released back in 2011 and still rocking well.. and my T420 is a i7 but it definitely didn't come with a USB3.0 port.. not sure if they change that spec in the later version of the T420 as mine was one of the first batch
4 drives may be a more useful option than u think, for example: 1 ssd + 1 hdd + 1 msata ssd + hdd, dual boot cheap small capacity ssds and larger hdd for storage! cheap way to expand ur storage on a dual boot system!
What i love about Lenovo is they build laptops that are built to last unlike other manufacturers. I still use a T460s bought second hand a couple of years ago that still works perfectly with zero issues
@@FlyboyHelosim I would like a word with Dell too as several of their modern laptops we use at work are falling to bits unlike Lenovo. I have also experienced various hardware issues with the XPS range in the past
@@matthew6994 The modern ones from any manufacturer aren't as good as they used to be, even ThinkPads, but that's just the trend and nothing fundamentally to do with a company. Dell also do many lines of laptops, and not all are equal. This is one of the issues faced when people blindly compare a Dell to a ThinkPad.
I have always been a fan of the T series and X series. Being a X fan, makes sense why I loved my T410s. Now running the modern successor, the X1 Carbon.
This is a great machine. I have one. But I cracked the planar when it fell with a USB cable plugged in :( It still runs but I cannot pick it up while running.
Thanks for the review but you didnt mention CPU or GPU upgradability. I was actually interested in the standard T420 model review but couldnt find a video about it on your channel.
I still enjoy using my regular T420 from time to time. Having the IO on the back to me feels more convenient in a way since my arms would touch any dongles or plugs that way, something not given with the regular T420 I have. My device could deserve a thermal paste replacement by now but I am too shy to do it myself :/ The caddy is one awesome feature tho, having additional SSD space that way or another OS is really easy to add.
@@LaptopRetrospective You're being kind. I'm typing this on a T61 (T9500) with Windows 7. It's OK, but the X301 was/is slow. I really don't understand it.
There are some things you can do like use a modern SSD with an adapter kit, flash a custom BIOS to get the speeds up to SATA II and a lightweight Linux distro.
I have one as a secondary machine and it runs as well, if not better, than a much more modern Asus I own. I have the i7 model and I hope to expand my ram from 8 to 16 GB soon.
Awesome!
Such a well crafted video, as usual. I love that style of thinkpad, I'm still running my venerable T430, Nvidia GPU, M-sata for the OS, despite the gen 2 speeds, 1 TB sata for my files, 16GB of 1866 ddr 3, an i7-3632QM, and of course the 1vyrain bios, for the faster wifi card etc. It still gets the job done!
That's a beast of a machine!
I'd like to put that keyboard on my T440
Yeah, haven't heard of a keyboard swap beyond the T430.
This is one of the cooler models that I totally overlooked. What we find here is essentially a regular T420 carbonized. Being the 3rd and last T400s model with the classic keyboard I'm sure there's people that would absolutely adore this unit. And that weight difference is HUGE if you want no compromises on screensize but a lighter classic thinkpad.
Lots to like, no question.
the perfect thinness of a laptop chassis with no compromises to cooling and key-travel. with modern screens this could be what everyone needs IMO. some fanboys will disagree
Business machine designs are largely dictated by the companies that buy them. It will be interesting to see what gets them to move back from thinness.
@@LaptopRetrospective yep. unfortunately it sucks that reviewers and light users consider thinness as a feature. to some extent it is but no to this point where it ruins the whole experience of using a laptop. and thinness does not equal lightness so i don't see a reason to make sub 15mm machines
I've talked to some key people and they think that that battle of thinness has more or less come to its conclusion for now.
T420s was the first thinkpad! I bought, back in 2014 for $250. Used it for 3 years of university, upgraded it to 16GB with the stock 128GB drive, later upgrading to a 500GB one. Crazy to think it has more memory and disk than my current laptop, a 8/256GB M1 Macbook Air.
Memory speeds and CPUs of course have come a long way. That being said, it sounds like yours has had a distinguished service life.
cual es la diferencia entre esta y una t420 normal? pregunto porque quisiera hacerle unas mejoras en cuanto a la tarjeta grafica y el hardware en general pero tengo entendido que la t420 es mejor para eso que esta
I bought my T420s a few years back for about $150, mine has 8GB of RAM, put in an SSD and it is still running Windows 10 pretty nicely. Will be switching it to Linux at some point before Win10 support ends, and I expect this old tank to continue running for years to come.
One minor issue with mine is I’m locked out of the BIOS with a password from the previous owner, requires some low-level chip work to bypass which is more than I’m willing to do atm.
Yeah supervisor passwords can be a real pain. Glad you have a software plan.
Watched this on my T420S. I think I paid about $30 for it on eBay in early 2020. Mine is the i5 variant with 8 GB of RAM. Since I had a recovery CD on hand, I was able to put the OEM branded version of Windows 7 with all drivers back onto this machine like it was new from the factory. (I realize the risk of running Win 7 post 2020).
One thing I find interesting is that the stickers on my palm rest are oriented differently than yours are. I wonder why, or if it has to do with when the machine was manufactured.
Nice purchase!
You certainly make it sound tempting!
Still chugging along with the T530 from four years ago. Still works a treat, although there was a month where it kept glitching and crashing. Turned out that it didn't need thermal paste or different RAM... it was just the friggin' Intel HD drivers! Augh!
Blasted drivers!
Bought a T430 with a 512 GB SSD and 8 GB of RAM for € 70 last week and installed the latest verison of Linux Mint on it (22 Wilma). Truly awesome combination! The ThinkPad doesn't show its age at all -very much feels like a modern up-to-date device. Incredibly responsive and thanks to the SSD & Linux lighning fast.
Solid combination.
Any thoughts on starting showing hp elitebooks? I am a thinkpad user, but to be honest they have very bad touchpads, at least the older ones, only this was the reason to learn how to use the nipple. And elitebooks 8th series definitely have better touchpads..glass touchpads, better screens...what do you think? :)
Elitebooks and HP machines in general rarely show up around here. They aren't very popular in my part of the world or I would. I'm limited to what I have around me most times when I make videos unless one is donated.
Had trouble with my T420s i7 which ran hot and the fan was loud and constantly running. On the other hand, I had a great experience with T430s i7, which I still daily drive. The keyboard is better on T420s, but it can be retrofit onto T430s with a little effort. Great video and thanks for ThinkPad coverage!
Interesting, I wonder what was the cause of the heat. Glad your T430s is going strong.
Might want to check the thermal paste on your T420. I've also heard of people transplanting later heatsinks into older thinkpads.
Natehowe - I am obsessed with my T430s which I have not turned off since 2012 for as much as 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. I would like a better screen and love the deep dish keys (vs the chiclet keys) on the older model. Any idea where to go for parts to replace the CPU, SSD, old school keyboard and higher res screen for the T430s?
@carltoncotter2614 best place for parts is usually eBay.
I just upgraded mine with a 4GB DDR3 SODIMM to take it to 8GB, and I replaced the HDD with a new 256GB SSD. I did a clean install of Win 10 pro and the speed difference is amazing. Total time to boot up and be signed on to windows is ~ 45 seconds. It's like a different PC now. What a difference an SSD makes.
HDD to SSD is no joke.
BTW by doing some research, they say t430 is alright for university if upgraded enough, why do many change the screens of these machines?
That will depend on your expectations. Batteries are old, CPUs aren't super energy efficient. People change out the screens to avoid TN panels.
@@LaptopRetrospective oh now that's not practical enough
i swear think pads are so good literally when i got one in 2014 IT WAS PHENOMENAL i ran linux and i kid u not IM WRITING THIS FROM THAT SAME THINKPAD!!!
They do last so easy to believe. 😎
I've got four storage devices in my Dell laptop, plus one in the dock. As it's my main system it's perfectly reasonable to have that many storage options, and there's room for more than even what I've got.
That's awesome. It's fun to see how far these older machines can be pushed.
@@LaptopRetrospective They can be pushed much further than anything modern what with the number of, and different, ports and slots.
Got 10.5TB worth in drives in my daily driver (Precision M6800) with one being an nvme in the expresscard slot and will eventually be installing an RTX mxm card at some point. Wish that there were modern laptops that are this upgradeable.
@@MrKillswitch88 Hello again. We talked before on another video. 😂
@@FlyboyHelosim I forgot lol, the things a six day work week does to the mind.
what is the difference between this and a t420? im asking brcause the t420 is very upgradable,can you upgrade a lot with this one too?
The s variant is not as upgradable.
Mate I have a question, is it worth to buy a t430 for $106.83,and that too for engineering (college use) 😅
If it were me, for university work the oldest I'd probably go now is the T480.
Gotta watch your t480 vid asap lol
@@LaptopRetrospective thanks for the instant reply mate
You're welcome!
I bought 2 T420 2 years ago for my sons running linux mint they never complained ,I have also a X220 still using daily.... I have also a T470s it will be the next laptop for the daily use..
Fantastic lineup!
Have had 2 420's, the only reason I sold them was the smell but one of your recent videos explained the reason for that so I know how to cure it, will be looking on EBay for another one as I absolutely love them and love the 'old-style' keyboards.
Glad I was able to help solve that.
Just bought one yesterday with i7 and looking forward to it. Planning upgrades in msata storage and the bay battery.
Hopefully you can find a bay battery in good condition. 👍
I upgraded mine to 16 gb ram 1tb msata ssd and two 1tb ssds in raid and a 1080p lcd to bad the nvs4200m sucks
Yeah, eventually you run into a limiting factor. Nice upgrades though!
Got this around a couple of years ago, upgraded with SSD and increased RAM to 16GB. It is now my server, running Plex. I love it to.
Fantastic!
I ordered a t420 yesterday and paid about 90 dollars for it.
I will upgrade it from 4gb ram to 8 and from 500HDD to 256SSD in the future and it will be my daily driver.
What tasks are hoping to do with this as a daily driver? 🤔
@@LaptopRetrospective
Normal things.. browsing.. writing.. doing some Photoshop editing and watching shows and movies
just want to contribute my 2 cents on the T420, as I personally have one T420 when it released back in 2011 and still rocking well.. and my T420 is a i7 but it definitely didn't come with a USB3.0 port.. not sure if they change that spec in the later version of the T420 as mine was one of the first batch
I know the X220 i7 came with a USB 3 port and the T420s did. I'll need to check on the T420 and what options it had.
4 drives may be a more useful option than u think, for example: 1 ssd + 1 hdd + 1 msata ssd + hdd, dual boot cheap small capacity ssds and larger hdd for storage! cheap way to expand ur storage on a dual boot system!
Lots of options, no doubt.
显然我家里还有一台外观非常新的ThinkPad T410s（原装的），以及一台ThinkPad T400，平时也没怎么用，现在就更用不上了，因为硬件已经完全落伍了。😂😂😂
What i love about Lenovo is they build laptops that are built to last unlike other manufacturers. I still use a T460s bought second hand a couple of years ago that still works perfectly with zero issues
ThinkPads continue to impress and last.
Dell would like to have a word with you, especially their machines from the same era.
@@FlyboyHelosim I would like a word with Dell too as several of their modern laptops we use at work are falling to bits unlike Lenovo. I have also experienced various hardware issues with the XPS range in the past
@@matthew6994 The modern ones from any manufacturer aren't as good as they used to be, even ThinkPads, but that's just the trend and nothing fundamentally to do with a company. Dell also do many lines of laptops, and not all are equal. This is one of the issues faced when people blindly compare a Dell to a ThinkPad.
I want this laptop soo badly, but for some reason it was not released here in India
I have always been a fan of the T series and X series. Being a X fan, makes sense why I loved my T410s. Now running the modern successor, the X1 Carbon.
Excellent machines, the lot.
This is a great machine. I have one. But I cracked the planar when it fell with a USB cable plugged in :( It still runs but I cannot pick it up while running.
Ah, sorry to hear about that. 😬
I got a few of these for $20 each from my school I work at the It help desk and get dibs on old hardware 😬
Very cool, what will you do with them?
One of my favorite ThinkPad models! Fantastic device.
It is pretty slick. What did/do you use it for?
Thanks for the review but you didnt mention CPU or GPU upgradability. I was actually interested in the standard T420 model review but couldnt find a video about it on your channel.
On the s models they are soldered so nothing to upgrade.
@@LaptopRetrospective alright, thank you.
I ve t420 the only problem is heat idle 50 workload 66 to 75c
I've got an X220 that can get a bit toasty.
Great video as usual. Can you tell me the difference between this and a R500
I'd say there isn't a lot in common between the two. The R500 would be closer to the T500. This is several generations different.
Which Linux OS would you suggest for this model?
I'm a fan of Linux Mint. It's one of the more familiar distros for people coming from Windows for example.
I still enjoy using my regular T420 from time to time.
Having the IO on the back to me feels more convenient in a way since my arms would touch any dongles or plugs that way, something not given with the regular T420 I have.
My device could deserve a thermal paste replacement by now but I am too shy to do it myself :/
The caddy is one awesome feature tho, having additional SSD space that way or another OS is really easy to add.
Thankfully a thermal pad/paste replacement is pretty easy.
I am watching this on a T420s :)
I have an X301 - it's s-l-o-w ;)
What OS are you running on the X301?
@@LaptopRetrospective Windows 7. I was expecting the X301 to be faster than an X201/X220. It isn't. :(
Yeah, the CPU isn't a heavy weight.
@@LaptopRetrospective You're being kind. I'm typing this on a T61 (T9500) with Windows 7. It's OK, but the X301 was/is slow. I really don't understand it.
There are some things you can do like use a modern SSD with an adapter kit, flash a custom BIOS to get the speeds up to SATA II and a lightweight Linux distro.
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