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"Fantastic enterprise-class laptop!" on by mlbriggs
Pros: Rock solid durability, classic look and feel, very fast performance, security features, quiet keyboard
Cons: Lenovo customer support is not very good
Summary: 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. -
"Worst customer service..." on by reviewmaster2000
Pros: Potentially very powerful computers...
Cons: ...if you can get them before the next ice age
Summary: I must say, I do not understand how Lenovo can even sell a single computer. After placing an order, I was told it would take at least an additional 5 weeks to build the laptop that was advertised as available for shipment within the week. I called the customer service several times to get a firm date with no luck. At this point I realized, if their customer service is this bad when I am trying to buy how much worse would it be after the purchase. Therefore, I decided to cancel my order 4 weeks before it was supposed to be delivered. The customer service told me I was put in cue for cancellation(?) I did not even understand what that meant until unexpectedly I received my laptop 4 weeks later and was charged for the laptop. Of course, once again I was on the phone with the customer service trying to send the laptop back. I must have spent over 8 hours over 5 weeks with these guys, I got to know them really well. I belive their customer service is completely disconnected from the actual laptop building side of the company and neither knows what the other one is doing or capable of... I would not buy even a battery from Lenovo if my life dependent on it because I wouldn't be sure if it would ever show up.
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"No Customer Support" on by vindows71
Pros: I cannot find anything good to say.
Cons: Before you buy, call customer support. You will find out how terrible it is. They cannot answer any questions or get you through to anyone who can. Worst customer support I have ever seen.
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"T420 are awful, type 4177" on by topherdude
Pros: When the T420's run they are similar to the dozens of Thinkpads I have purchased in the past; solid, rugged machines.
Cons: unknown issue is causing two T420s to freeze at the splash screen. I have sent both units to depot several times, they work for a month or two then the issue re-occurs. I have begged depot to find the root cause, but they re-image and return.
Summary: I have been buying the Thinkpad line for many years T40, R61, T400, T500, dozens of T410. All of then have been great. I have two T420's, both have an issue of freezing at the splash screen at boot. Depot only wants to re-image the HD and send it back. They cannot find what is causing the problem. I have one at depot now they called to get permission to re-image the HD, this will be the fourth time!!! I came to this review page looking for a new line of laptops to buy. It is very hard to leave IBM/Lenovo, I have been very patient with depot, but I cannot buy another Lenovo laptop knowing there is an issue that Lenovo can not resolve.
Awful T420 update - my second T420 just did the same thing as the other, it froze at the splash screen, again! We are not running any different applications then what is on our dozens of T410s and it has happened to different users. Lenovo depot's solution is to re-image the hard drive. Lenovo, I am done!!!
Updated on Mar 30, 2012 -
"ThinkPad Buyers Beware of defective Thinkpad touchpad" on by americanism
Pros: It was great for 15min until cursor went crazy. ThinkPad Support sent a postage-paid return box right away and I returned the defective ThinkPad to them for repair. ThinkPad Support speaks English well.
Cons: My new factory sealed ThinkPad was defective. ThinkPad Repair does not stock the parts required to make any repairs to defective ThinkPads. Board of Directors does not care about customer down-time. If you buy one you must spend time warning others
Summary: I purchased a new factory sealed ThinkPad on Tuesday. After fifteen minutes of use the touch-pad would not control the cursor. On Wednesday I called ThinkPad Support. They remotely controlled my defective ThinkPad but could not effect a repair. ThinkPad Support sent a next-day postage paid return box for my defective ThinkPad. I shipped the defective ThinkPad to them on Friday. They received the defective ThinkPad on Monday. It is now Wednesday and after not hearing from them regarding the defective ThinkPad, I called ThinkPad Support. I was informed that the replacement keyboard/pad needed to effect the repair might not arrive from their vendor for another week. And that I should expect to receive my then previously defective ThinkPad a week after that.
To say that I am extremely dissatisfied is an understatement. I would love to yell at and curse their board of directors for being unconcerned about the down-time customers suffer because ThinkPad Repair does not keep sufficient parts on hand to effect repairs of defective ThinkPads. The support staff does speak English well. That is good news for anyone who buys a defective ThinkPad. They are not, however, in a hurry to satisfy ThinkPad customers. ThinkPad buyer beware.
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