decided to keep my t420 for a couple more years


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So I've decided to keep my T420 for a couple more years as I'm not sure what to expect re the next thinkpads. I'm looking into upgrading the ram to 16gb. I tend to have lots of tabs open in firefox and chrome, citrix for work, excel, a vm to play with linux and a bunch of other stuff. The computer tends to get slower (duh! lol) and 80% used ram.

 

Would a new set of 2x8gb ram make things faster?

Recommendations?

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corrected.

 

ok now.

well, since you already have a SSD, then the next logical update would be the RAM; 16GB is plenty for running some VMs, having lots of open tabs (i have now 51 open tabs) and such. But remember that even that is not the holy grail of performance; you are running a preview OS, that has caveats and undocumented bug and problems so your performance can be suffering from those. Also try to pin point what is killing the performance: is it the VMs? Is it the memory leakage from the multitude of tabs?

 

i'l say go for it, but keep in my those things as well.

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Hello,

 

Have you considered replacing the remaining HDD with a SSD?  That should improve performances of programs which are disk I/O bound on the current hard disk drive.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

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I have a T430 - only use 8GB but as mentioned, it will take 16GB

I usually sell things just to get something newer, but I like this laptop

I dont think I will sell it anytime soon.  I am shocked at the length of battery life I get -

I had a Carbon X1 that I just sold, I used that money to get a new TV - I dont get attached to many things electronic-wise -- but I like this T430.

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I have just convinced my company that I needed a new T440, it replaced my T400 which was ok for performance but I wouldn't run more than a single VM on it. It was a stable platform but the battery life wasn't great and it weighed as much as a small child (extended battery). The new T440 is lighter, faster and the battery lasts a day for my use so when I am at a client site I can leave the charger at home.

 

Personally, I would do a clean up of the system and keep the T420.

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ok now.

well, since you already have a SSD, then the next logical update would be the RAM; 16GB is plenty for running some VMs, having lots of open tabs (i have now 51 open tabs) and such. But remember that even that is not the holy grail of performance; you are running a preview OS, that has caveats and undocumented bug and problems so your performance can be suffering from those. Also try to pin point what is killing the performance: is it the VMs? Is it the memory leakage from the multitude of tabs?

 

i'l say go for it, but keep in my those things as well.

It's the same performance in win 8.1 pro. I think the main problem is the multiple tabs.

 

Well I just look at the crucial site and from what I see is that your laptop maxes out at 8GB.  I doubt that 16GB is going to happen.

 

http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/compatible-upgrade-for/Lenovo/thinkpad-t420

 

The T430 maxes at 16GB.

With the newer bios it can read up to 16gb.

 

Hello,

 

Have you considered replacing the remaining HDD with a SSD?  That should improve performances of programs which are disk I/O bound on the current hard disk drive.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

I rarely get any disk activity from my secondary HDD, so I don't think it's a big deal.

 

 

 

I've also decided to upgrade the cpu. I didn't find much informarion on the net. I came accross this sucess story but the user hasn't been active since Oct 2013, so I can't contact him.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo/624256-t420-upgrade-i7-2720qm-es-q154-successful.html

 

Any pointers? Opinions?

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..

 

 

 

I've also decided to upgrade the cpu. I didn't find much informarion on the net. I came accross this sucess story but the user hasn't been active since Oct 2013, so I can't contact him.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo/624256-t420-upgrade-i7-2720qm-es-q154-successful.html

 

Any pointers? Opinions?

Keep in mind the CPU doesnt make for a big deal in overall performance.  I think it would be a waste of resources (money & time)

A clean system with plenty of RAM and an SSD - cant get much faster than that.

The one thing I did that was a nice upgrade for my T430 was put a Carbon X1 screen in it.  There are plenty of websites listing compatibility for this mod.

Mine came with a really lousy 1360x740 screen (or something like that) and off center viewing was bad, when using skype it was a pain to get it to center on me, but be able to view the screen optimally.

So, I used the low end Carbon X1 screen and my rez jumped up and it was an IPS screen - HUGE difference.

A ThinkWiki page gives all the info you need.

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It's the same performance in win 8.1 pro. I think the main problem is the multiple tabs.

 

It actually isn't.  There is a lot of debug code running and that slows things down, even if you don't perceive the difference.

 

I am assuming we are talking about 10 from previous comments.

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..

Keep in mind the CPU doesnt make for a big deal in overall performance.  I think it would be a waste of resources (money & time)

A clean system with plenty of RAM and an SSD - cant get much faster than that.

The one thing I did that was a nice upgrade for my T430 was put a Carbon X1 screen in it.  There are plenty of websites listing compatibility for this mod.

Mine came with a really lousy 1360x740 screen (or something like that) and off center viewing was bad, when using skype it was a pain to get it to center on me, but be able to view the screen optimally.

So, I used the low end Carbon X1 screen and my rez jumped up and it was an IPS screen - HUGE difference.

A ThinkWiki page gives all the info you need.

 

Really? How come? I thought a quad core would give a boost..

 

My resolution is at 1600x900, not sure if I'll want a higher resolution, though an IPS would be nice.

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Really? How come? I thought a quad core would give a boost..

 

My resolution is at 1600x900, not sure if I'll want a higher resolution, though an IPS would be nice.

Oh sure, a quad core would help with things written to take advantage of them.  Just saying, overall, CPU isnt a huge factor.

Now, that just means there is no discernible difference between... lets say two Core i5s, but going from a  Core i3 to an i5 might show some benefits everyday - of course an i3 to an i7. 

If you already have the 1600x900 - you are good in that aspect.  I did the mod because the Carbon X1 screen is only $60, and the upgraded cable is $10 - so for me it was a no brainer.  The screen mine came with was atrocious

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Oh sure, a quad core would help with things written to take advantage of them.  Just saying, overall, CPU isnt a huge factor.

Now, that just means there is no discernible difference between... lets say two Core i5s, but going from a  Core i3 to an i5 might show some benefits everyday - of course an i3 to an i7. 

If you already have the 1600x900 - you are good in that aspect.  I did the mod because the Carbon X1 screen is only $60, and the upgraded cable is $10 - so for me it was a no brainer.  The screen mine came with was atrocious

I might hold off on the quad core for now because I'll need to buy a new 95w power brick for that, and that would just add extra expense.

 

For now, I'll focus on ram and maybe I can get a higher resolution screen in tere :P

 

From the below, which one should I go for, the cheapest? They're all DDR3 1600 1.35v.

 

Crucial $186 CAD http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148614

G Skill Ripjaws $209 CAD http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231705

Corsair Vengeance $203 CAD http://www.hookbag.ca/product/H3C0ENCEM

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I might hold off on the quad core for now because I'll need to buy a new 95w power brick for that, and that would just add extra expense.

 

For now, I'll focus on ram and maybe I can get a higher resolution screen in tere :p

 

From the below, which one should I go for, the cheapest? They're all DDR3 1600 1.35v.

 

Crucial $186 CAD http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148614

G Skill Ripjaws $209 CAD http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231705

Corsair Vengeance $203 CAD http://www.hookbag.ca/product/H3C0ENCEM

Out of those 3, definately whatever the cheapest is.  Speed difference in RAM only comes into play with Overclocking (nobody can really tell the difference in real world scenarios), and since they are all premium brands - you are safe with any of them.  So I say whatever the cheapest is.

 

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