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    Just got my T520: Yes it is SATA6.

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by xerais, Apr 14, 2011.

  1. xerais

    xerais Notebook Enthusiast

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    I am in love with the thing. I've had a smaller laptop for a long time (a toshiba m700 tablet) and decided I wanted to go with a larger one now that I'm no longer lugging it to class every day.

    I'm impressed with the build quality, it seems exceptionally sturdy yet isn't very heavy. Also, the new processors scream. I selected the quad core i7 and the optimus video card thing. I'd like to have a little extra video card power if necessary, but I probably would have been fine with the integrated graphics.

    The only 2 upgrades that I threw if myself were 8 gigs of ram (90 bucks from crucial, how can you not?) and a 250 gig SSD. I know there have been posts asking the question about SATA 6 drives. I put a vertex 3 in and Intel Rapid Storage lists the drive connected at SATA6, although I have yet to personally run benchmarks.

    Very happy with my purchase and thankful that I spent time reading these forums, seemed like a lot of happy customers.
     
    xerais, Apr 14, 2011
    #1
  2. talin

    talin Notebook Prophet

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    Well, if you run some benchmarks then we can draw some solid conclusions. Hint hint. ;)
     
    talin, Apr 14, 2011
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  3. xerais

    xerais Notebook Enthusiast

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    Fair enough, hah. Let me get it out of my bag.
     
    xerais, Apr 14, 2011
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  4. xerais

    xerais Notebook Enthusiast

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    I just ran this bench... definitely SATA6. Benches almost as fast as the two vertex-le's I have in a RAID0 on my desktop in SATA3... lol. I guess I know what I'm getting when I decide to upgrade the desktop.
     

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    xerais, Apr 14, 2011
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  5. talin

    talin Notebook Prophet

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    Wow that's good to know, thanks. :)
     
    talin, Apr 14, 2011
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  6. hantanbl

    hantanbl Notebook Enthusiast

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    Indeed it is SATA6. I am jealous....how much did you pay for that vertex3?
     
    hantanbl, Apr 14, 2011
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  7. xerais

    xerais Notebook Enthusiast

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    It was right around $580 bucks. Pretty pricey, but I went to the store with the expectation I'd probably have to drop a bit if I wanted more than 100gigs.
     
    xerais, Apr 14, 2011
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  8. Dan_J

    Dan_J Newbie

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    What screen did you go for out of interest? The HD+ or the FHD? And how do you find it?
     
    Dan_J, Apr 15, 2011
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  9. talin

    talin Notebook Prophet

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    I'm wondering if it has something to do with choosing a core i7 with optimus system, since they are different motherboards than core i3/i5 with integrated graphics.
    If that's the case, I wonder if the nvidia card isn't soldered to the motherboard but connected via pci express. If I were to get a T520, I'd probably choose optimus just so I know I'm getting SATA6 and just remove the nvidia card. But that's me. Something to ponder.
     
    talin, Apr 15, 2011
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  10. Sonoadeus

    Sonoadeus Newbie

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    I have a T420 core i5 with integrated graphics and an intel 510 120GB SSD installed, here is what I got with the same benchmark above:

    [​IMG]

    Ignoring the differences between the two SSDs (intel having slower write but faster read speeds) this would imply that all the new models / motherboards have SATA6. Don't feel boxed in, you have options
     
    Sonoadeus, Apr 15, 2011
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  11. xerais

    xerais Notebook Enthusiast

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    I have a quad core i7 w/ the nvidia card and I went with the full 1920x1080 screen.

    It was definitely worth the upgrade, the screen is absolutely beautiful, extremely bright and vibrant, and the viewing angles are great.
     
    xerais, Apr 22, 2011
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  12. shashu

    shashu Notebook Geek

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    Hi, any probs with fitting the Vertex 3 into the primary bay on your T520?
     
    shashu, Apr 22, 2011
    #12