SIDE-BY-SIDE HARDWARE AUDITZero Pricing • Objective Specification Advantage Highlighting
Lenovo ThinkPad T420 (Classic 7-Row Keyboard) vs Apple MacBook Pro 15 Retina (Mid-2012 Pioneer)
Compare processor microarchitectures, maximum GPU TGP, display color accuracy, RAM upgradability, and battery Watt-hours with automated win badge analysis.
Slot 1 • Lenovo2011
Lenovo ThinkPad T420 (Classic 7-Row Keyboard)
14" TFT LCD • 2.24 kg • x86_64
Slot 2 • Apple2012
Apple MacBook Pro 15 Retina (Mid-2012 Pioneer)
15.4" IPS LCD • 2.02 kg • x86_64
Reasons to Choose Lenovo ThinkPad T420 (Classic 7-Row Keyboard)
- ✓Higher Charger Wattage (90W vs 85W)
- ✓User-Upgradable RAM SODIMM/LPCAMM2 (vs Soldered)
Reasons to Choose Apple MacBook Pro 15 Retina (Mid-2012 Pioneer)
- ✓Lighter Chassis (2.02 kg vs 2.24 kg)
- ✓Thinner Profile (18 mm vs 30.5 mm)
- ✓Higher Peak Brightness (300nits vs 220nits)
- ✓Larger Battery Capacity (95Wh vs 94Wh)
- ✓Higher Max GPU TGP (45W vs 15W)
- ✓More Thunderbolt Ports (2ports vs 0ports)
01.Platform & Compute Subsystem
Processor architecture, graphics envelope, and power ceilingProcessor / SoC
Intel Core i5-2520M / Core i7-2640M (Sandy Bridge 32nm)
Intel Core i7-3615QM / i7-3720QM (Ivy Bridge 22nm 3D Tri-Gate)
CPU Core Architecture
2-core / 4-thread (2.5 GHz base, 3.2 GHz Turbo Boost)
4-core / 8-thread (2.3 GHz base, up to 3.7 GHz Turbo Boost)
ISA Architecture
x86_64
x86_64
Graphics Hardware
NVIDIA NVS 4200M (1GB Optimus) / Intel HD Graphics 3000
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M (1GB GDDR5) + Intel HD Graphics 4000 (Dynamic switching)
Maximum Graphics TGP
15 W
45 W+30 W
Operating System
Windows 7 Professional
OS X 10.7 Lion / OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion
02.Memory & Storage Upgradability
RAM capacity, SODIMM vs soldered, and NVMe expansionRAM Capacity Options
4 GB / 8 GB / 16 GB DDR3
8 GB / 16 GB (Soldered onboard)
RAM Technology / Speed
DDR3-1333 MHz SODIMM
DDR3L-1600 MHz SDRAM
RAM Upgradability
✅ User-Upgradable✅ Upgradable RAM
Soldered Onboard
RAM Sockets / Form Factor
2x SO-DIMM (Upgradable to 16 GB)
Soldered Onboard
M.2 SSD Expansion Slots
1 Slot
1 Slot
Storage Bus & Architecture
2.5-inch SATA III bay + internal mSATA slot in WWAN slot
Apple proprietary mSATA/PCIe blade connector
03.Display & Color Accuracy
Panel technology, screen resolution, refresh rate, and luminancePanel Technology
TFT LCD
IPS LCD
Screen Diagonal Size
14 inches
15.4 inches
Aspect Ratio
16:9
16:10
Resolution
1600 × 900 px (HD+ Anti-glare)
2880 × 1800 px (220 ppi Retina Display)
Display Refresh Rate
60 Hz
60 Hz
Color Gamut Coverage
65% sRGB
100% sRGB
Peak Brightness
220 nits
300 nits+80 nits
04.Chassis, Thermals & Battery
Enclosure weight, profile thickness, battery capacity, and chargingChassis Weight
2.24 kg
2.02 kg-0.22 kg lighter
Chassis Thickness
30.5 mm
18 mm-12.5 mm lighter
Chassis Materials
Magnesium Roll Cage base with titanium composite top cover, classic 7-row tactile keyboard
Unibody aluminum enclosure with asymmetric dual fans
Cooling Solution
Enhanced Owl-wing fin fan with copper heatpipe module
Dual asymmetric impellers with shared dual copper heatpipes
Battery Capacity
94 Wh
95 Wh+1 Wh
Bundled Charger Wattage
90 W+5 W
85 W
USB-C Power Delivery
No
No
05.I/O Ports & Connectivity
High-speed buses, external display outs, and media card readersPort Complement
4x USB 2.0 (one Powered USB, one eSATA/USB combo), DisplayPort, VGA, Gigabit Ethernet, ExpressCard/34, 4-in-1 SD reader, Ultrabay, ThinkLight
2x Thunderbolt 1 (10 Gbps), 2x USB 3.0, HDMI port, SDXC card slot, MagSafe 2 power port, 3.5mm headphone jack
Thunderbolt Ports
None
2x Thunderbolt+2 ports
HDMI Revision
DisplayPort 1.1a (Supports full HDMI/DVI audio via adapter)
HDMI 1.4b (up to 1080p60 / 4K30)
Card Reader
Full-size SDXC Reader
Full-size SDXC Reader
3.5mm Headphone Jack
✅ Present
✅ Present
Wireless Networking
Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0
AirPort Extreme 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0