I agree with all of your complaints. I've had two T420 and a T430. I still own a T420 and a T430. All 3 of these devices suffered from excessively sloppy hinges and display bezels made of such brittle plastic that half the tabs broke off the first time I removed it. One of my T420 suffers from the messed up RAM door, which is made worse on the T420 vs the T430 because one of the screws that holds the door in is also for the keyboard, so that chintzy plastic door is whats keeping the keyboard tensioned against the chassis. Great. I've had to replace the palmrest on both of my T420 and my T430s, though my T430 still rocks its original palmrest. The T430 and T420 are honestly not that great IMO, they seem poorly and cheaply engineered and they also suffer from strange proportions and an overall odd look. Out of the two, the T430 is my preference, as I think mine feels a little more solid than my two T420, though that isn't saying much. I also do prefer the fully beveled edges on the T430, as well as the LCD thats more centered in the bezel rather than up high like a T480. I also own a T440p and have had several before, and IMO its a superior device to the T430 and T420 in almost every way, so good in fact its better than the 15" CS14 ThinkPads like the T540p and W540, which IMO were a letdown from a quality and engineering perspective. Pretty much all the CS14 devices were a letdown except the 14" models, which is odd, considering they were previously the worst of the bunch. It does not suffer from any of the issues described in this video. Personally, I would say it is actually my favorite 14" widescreen Lenovo ThinkPad of all time, and I've had all the best ones, T420, T430, T480, even a new T14. Its the only one I consider to be in the same quality league as the 15" devices (disregarding the CS14 15" models). Now of course, it is still beat out by the T60, which is clearly the most solid built and high quality 14" ThinkPad of all time. Though of course everything is beat out by the Px0 and Px1 series. I could go on about this all day probably.
I've heard good things about T440p, the feel must have really improved in that model. Makes sense that T420/T430 are both chintzy. I must have been lucky with my T420 holding up as well as it did. These are the office grunt model. Back in the day they would have been called the R-Series, but for how poorly put-together they are, I think they hold up worse than the R-Series, which I've been reconnecting with in their favor. I think T420s/T430s are built a little better, but they have useless battery life.
What do you think about old macbooks? my father about 2 years ago, gave me his macbook pro 2012, he used once or twice, its pretty new, now it runs Arch
I have a T430, X220, X1E2, T480, X1Y3. I wanna get a T61p or T60 too, atm the T430 is my absolute favourite though, I have done so many mods to it, I actually find the annoying parts the most fun, I loved sanding down the keyboard tabs and modding my keyboard hahaha.
@@iliketowncars Thanks! I use Arch Linux on my ThinkPad T430, Debian on my X220, Proxmox on my T480 (server), and my X1E2 is a gaming machine, the X1Y3 is my Mum's laptop so it is running Linux Mint. I love using Arch Linux on my T430. My friends think I am gay though just because I use Arch - I am gay, but that is not the point LMFAO.
Interesting video... I haven't tried to change the keyboard on my T430 so it's good to hear about your experience with that process. So far I haven't had much trouble with it, but I've left it completely stock, so I guess that's why. Did you put an SSD in it? How did that process go if you did?
Have you ever used a consumer grade laptop?
Ive used Moms hp pavilion, a fujitsu lifebook, and thinkpad Edge. thinkpads are really on another level
I agree with all of your complaints. I've had two T420 and a T430. I still own a T420 and a T430. All 3 of these devices suffered from excessively sloppy hinges and display bezels made of such brittle plastic that half the tabs broke off the first time I removed it. One of my T420 suffers from the messed up RAM door, which is made worse on the T420 vs the T430 because one of the screws that holds the door in is also for the keyboard, so that chintzy plastic door is whats keeping the keyboard tensioned against the chassis. Great. I've had to replace the palmrest on both of my T420 and my T430s, though my T430 still rocks its original palmrest. The T430 and T420 are honestly not that great IMO, they seem poorly and cheaply engineered and they also suffer from strange proportions and an overall odd look. Out of the two, the T430 is my preference, as I think mine feels a little more solid than my two T420, though that isn't saying much. I also do prefer the fully beveled edges on the T430, as well as the LCD thats more centered in the bezel rather than up high like a T480. I also own a T440p and have had several before, and IMO its a superior device to the T430 and T420 in almost every way, so good in fact its better than the 15" CS14 ThinkPads like the T540p and W540, which IMO were a letdown from a quality and engineering perspective. Pretty much all the CS14 devices were a letdown except the 14" models, which is odd, considering they were previously the worst of the bunch. It does not suffer from any of the issues described in this video. Personally, I would say it is actually my favorite 14" widescreen Lenovo ThinkPad of all time, and I've had all the best ones, T420, T430, T480, even a new T14. Its the only one I consider to be in the same quality league as the 15" devices (disregarding the CS14 15" models). Now of course, it is still beat out by the T60, which is clearly the most solid built and high quality 14" ThinkPad of all time. Though of course everything is beat out by the Px0 and Px1 series. I could go on about this all day probably.
I've heard good things about T440p, the feel must have really improved in that model.
Makes sense that T420/T430 are both chintzy. I must have been lucky with my T420 holding up as well as it did. These are the office grunt model. Back in the day they would have been called the R-Series, but for how poorly put-together they are, I think they hold up worse than the R-Series, which I've been reconnecting with in their favor.
I think T420s/T430s are built a little better, but they have useless battery life.
What do you think about old macbooks? my father about 2 years ago, gave me his macbook pro 2012, he used once or twice, its pretty new, now it runs Arch
Im sure theyre fine, never used one personally but people respect them
Well hey bro, I need one, send it here. I will love it, and use it, hug it.
I have a T430, X220, X1E2, T480, X1Y3. I wanna get a T61p or T60 too, atm the T430 is my absolute favourite though, I have done so many mods to it, I actually find the annoying parts the most fun, I loved sanding down the keyboard tabs and modding my keyboard hahaha.
That is part of the joy of the ThinkPad experience, I am so glad you're having fun!
@@iliketowncars Thanks! I use Arch Linux on my ThinkPad T430, Debian on my X220, Proxmox on my T480 (server), and my X1E2 is a gaming machine, the X1Y3 is my Mum's laptop so it is running Linux Mint. I love using Arch Linux on my T430. My friends think I am gay though just because I use Arch - I am gay, but that is not the point LMFAO.
Interesting video... I haven't tried to change the keyboard on my T430 so it's good to hear about your experience with that process. So far I haven't had much trouble with it, but I've left it completely stock, so I guess that's why. Did you put an SSD in it? How did that process go if you did?
im running an mSATA SSD, it works well. 2.5" has worked well in the past.
@@iliketowncars Cool... I think I saw a connector by the RAM for one of those...