Lenovo T530 Owner's Thread

Well, I can give reports on a T420 and a 2011 MBP, both with similar hardware, as my T530 has been shipped but hasn't arrived yet.

The T420 (i7 Sandy Bridge dual-core, NVIDIA, HD+ screen, mSATA SSD) gave me around 7-8 hours with a 9-cell battery. Ivy Bridge should be more power-friendly, so possibly expect around the same, maybe less due to the higher-res screen and mechanical hard drive.

Mind you, these are just best educated guesses based on similar hardware. I'm not too keen on what kind of battery-saving measures exactly Ivy Bridge has, just know that it's more power- and heat-friendly.

 

Thanks very much for your input. I read somewhere that someone claimed 2-3 hours on this thing, which would be horrendous battery life. I would think even just getting 5-6 on a 9 volt battery would be on the low side no? I was hoping for the crazy 13 hour battery life reported for the T430.

 

This review just gave me some hope

"Our test device uses a 9 cell battery with a rated capacity of 94 Wh. In the Battery Eater Reader test, with minimum screen brightness and Wi-Fi disabled, we achieved a maximum runtime of 10.5 hours.

The more realistic Wi-Fi surfing test, with a screen brightness of 150 cd/m2 and Wi-Fi enabled, uses Internet surfing as the load and our ThinkPad sample lasted a remarkable 8 hours in this test.

We tested the ThinkPad’s endurance by watching DVD movies and measured a runtime of 5.5 hours, more than enough for even two extended cut movies.

In the Battery Eater Classic test, we rendered a moving 3D scene with Wi-Fi enabled and maximum screen brightness, representing a worst case scenario. In this test, our notebook only lasted about 2 hours. The processor’s performance remained at the same level as on AC power. The GPU was a bit weaker and only scored 9033 points in 3DMark06 as compared to the 9215 points on AC power.

The ThinkPad T530 demonstrated a 3 hour recharge time."

Review Lenovo ThinkPad T530 2429-5XG Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

 

To anyone who has the T530 - how is the temperature on it doing idle and load?

The review from the previous post has me worried... Review Lenovo ThinkPad T530 2429-5XG Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

But another review for the t430 has extremely low temperatures from this review. http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/lenovo-thinkpad-t430.aspx

Also, where is the original stick of RAM located on the T530? Is it located on the underside of the machine or do I need to go underneath the keyboard for a RAM upgrade? Thanks a lot in advance.

 

The article has a section on temperatures, and has a description and photos of where the RAM is located and how to get it.

 

Oh wow, I completely missed the pictures on the right of the review. Thanks for the heads - up.

I also read the section on temperatures and the reason why I'm asking is to find out why the temperatures are so different between the T430 and the T530. Aren't they the same machine except for the monitor?

 

I believe the t430 review unit is missing the discrete GPU that the T530 had. That probably accounts for some of the heat, but the jump in temps between the T520 and T530 reviewed by Notebookcheck is more perplexing. Maybe their T530 was a bad unit?

 

Hopefully once people start getting theirs they can comment on battery life, and if that loose 9 cell battery was just a defective machine they had to review.

I am also curious, based on reading about the fact that the video card you can opt for is not good for gaming, is it possible to install your own GPU? Thanks

 

My 9-cell is a little loose, actually. It definitely wiggles.

Also, I commented on the 9-cell battery life earlier on in this thread (page 7 or 8?).

 

Hey there, sorry I missed that somehow. 6:37 seems pretty good to me.

Can I ask you to share with us how much it weighs with the 9 cell battery, should you have the time? Thanks so much.

 

Just unboxed my T530.

I'm moving over to my first Lenovo. Right now I'm on an old Dell Studio 1555.

Here's my build:
Processor - Intel Core i7-3820QM Processor (8M Cache, up to 3.70 GHz)
Operating system - Genuine Windows 7 Professional (64 bit)
Operating system language - Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 - English
Display type - 15.6" FHD (1920 x 1080) LED Backlit AntiGlare Display, Mobile Broadband Ready
System graphics - NVIDIA NVS 5400M Graphics with Optimus Technology, 1GB DDR3 Memory
Total memory - 8 GB PC3-12800 DDR3 (2 DIMM)
Keyboard - Keyboard Backlit - US English
Pointing device - UltraNav without Fingerprint Reader
Camera - 720p HD Camera with Microphone
Hard drive - 500GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
Optical device - DVD Recordable
System expansion slots - Express Card Slot & 4-in-1 Card Reader & Smart Card Reader
Battery - 6 Cell Li-Ion TWL 70+
Integrated WiFi wireless LAN adapters - Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 AGN

Came in at $1664 with the B&N Gold discount.

First thing I did was load up the same photo on both screens, just to check. (I do a lot of photography.) They looked about the same to me. So at least it wasn't a step backwards. I haven't calibrated it yet to see if that will make a difference. I also have a nicer large monitor to plug into.

It's quiet. Thus far. Haven't done a lot. No dead pixels.

I was worried about the keyboard mostly because the Dell has a near full-size keyboard (no number pad, thank goodness) and the Lenovo is about an inch shorter but it was very easy to type on. The keys have a nice feel to them. I'm a writer so the keyboard was pretty much the most important thing to me and I was able to open up notepad and just start typing fine.

My Dell already had a six row keyboard so I might not have as many issues with the Lenovo one as some other folks do. Though I do know there are things in different places.

The speakers are about what you expect from notebook speakers. Nothing fancy. I have the docking station and nicer speakers to plug into. (Hoping I don't have the "clicking" issues other have reported.)

I just got the regular battery. Popped it in and it's 93% fully charged in half an hour.

The textured track pad feels weird to me because my Dell one is smooth but I think even the Dell had a tiny bit of texture on it when I got it. I'll smooth that one done in no time. Or maybe I'll even come to like the little red knob. ha!

Weight is about the same as my Dell so not much difference for me there.

Can't say anything about heat because it's just idling so all is cool.

Now to remove the optical drive and drop in a Samsung 512 SSD.

Can't wait to get everything moved over to the new system.

 

Congratulations!

The LG LP156WF1 screen on the Dell Studio 1555 is great. The AUO B156HW01 V4 screen on your new T530 is awesome. I'd say it's a step forward.

 

Sounds great! Can't wait to get my new machine. Ordered on the July 17th, and it has a estimated ship date of 7/23 or 7/24, depending on the call center or the order status online. Thanks for the first impressions.

 

Thanks for this, Kaso!

I just dropped it off at my computer guru shop for the SSD swap. They have a 1 terrabyte HD they could give me in place of the 512HD it came with but it would only be 5200 and the 512 is 7200. The HD is going to be for all my data, documents, photos. The SSD will be for the programs, Lightroom catalog. Will I see much lag time if I get the slower but larger HD? (They're gonna give me a good price, credit back on the other drive.)

 

What is the real battery life of the T530 with 6-cell and 9-cell?

 

I have a T530 with and I'm very pleased with the temperatures.

The notebookcheck review has a flawed methology! They tested the T530 with a room temperature of 27.1 degrees celcius!

In comparison, the T520 was tested with a room temperature of 21.7 degrees celcius. No wonder it ran much cooler.


I can't believe how unprofessional this is. They specifically pointed out the high temperatures and didn't figure it could have something to do with the really high room temperature?

Again, the T530 runs very cool under real world situations.

 

Sounds great. Do you have the NVS graphics card? Or is this just the intergrated? Thanks for the response.

 

I got a N1E2UGE Quad Core with NVS.

 

Is there an ultrabay battery for the T530? I kept looking on Lenovo's website and could not find one and also chat with an agent and she told me she cannot find one for the T530 but I am pretty sure I read somewhere that the ultrbay battery can work for all T series.

 

No, only for T430s.

 

Am I right that the Core i7-3610QM Processor option is no longer available on the T530? Is there a certain reason for that?

 

Right now, the options available for quad-core are the 3720QM and the 3820QM, the difference being $200 and 2MB of cache.

 

Does anyone know if the T530 can still be connected to the docking station with the slice battery attached?

Also, when the slice battery is connected with the AC, which one gets charged first, the original or slice battery?

 

FYI - when I got my T530 we swapped out the optical drive for a Samsung 512 SSD. All was well except it appears that there's an issue that arises when an HDD or SSD device is installed in the Thinkpad Ultradrive bay (replacing the default DVD drive). When the computer is put to sleep and then woken up, the system attempts to unmount/eject the device in the Ultradrive bay. Based on some testing plus reading through various reports online, it appears that the root cause is some kind of interaction between the Ultradrive bay, Windows power management, and the Intel Rapid Storage Technology (RST) drivers.

Some people have reportedly worked around the problem by updating the RST drivers, but in my case the RST drivers were the latest version and I still experienced the "attempted eject on wake" behavior. However, the problem appears to have been resolved by uninstalling the RST drivers and allowing Windows to install the default SATA drivers.

Just an FYI.

 

Just got my T530 by UPS. I'm too lazy to post a full specification list, but here are the parts I remember:

i7-3720qm processor
Nvidia NVS 5400m with Optimus
1600*900 display
9-cell battery
Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 Wireless adapter
320GB, 7200 RPM hard drive

Not bad for $1000. Don't you love the deals on the Lenovo website?

It's working perfectly so far (although the side vent does get REALLY hot when I'm using the dedicated GPU). I'll try to let you know if I have any problems. I'll probably test battery life as well, and I'll let you know the results.

 

Has anyone with a quad-core T530 tested whether the laptop can run on the 90W power adapter (rather than the rather heavy 135W adapter that ships with it) ?
I have read that this was working for the previous, T520, model, so I'm wondering whether it still works with the T530. I understand Lenovo want to play it safe so they provide the 135W adapter, but I think there should be very few times when the laptop really draws more than 90W, so the 90W adapter should be good enough when traveling for instance. Thanks in advance for any reply on this.

 

i think they used to ship with 90w's till a few weeks ago. now i think they are only shipping 135w. i may be wrong though.

 

They are still shipping it with the 90W adapter if you customize it with any dual-core processor but if you choose a quad-core CPU, you will have to get the 135W adapter. It can still function with the 90W but you will not be able to get the maximum performance out of it and it is not recommended. This is just the tax you pay to get the powerful quad-core CPU but at least thank God that you are not getting the 170W brick that comes with the W530 (it is a real BRICK)!

 

Can you use a non-Lenovo battery instead? I've heard that even with a clean install of Win7 the T530 will tell you that it will not charge a non-genuine battery even before it boots into Win7. Are there any workarounds? It seems to be at the BIOS level.

 

I'm jealous. Ordered mine on 7/14. Shipped on 7/18. Expected delivery on 7/23. Still sitting in Louisville, KY in "Jail" since 7/20. Actually, the UPS quote is "Held in Warehouse per a contact service offering."

I hope you enjoy yours. I eagerly await the release of my from the UPS hub in KY.

 

I've had my T530 now for about a month. Yesterday my fingerprint reader quit working ("Cannot find fingerprint sensing device.") For the last 3 days, every time I turn the laptop on, I get a CMOS error and have to reset the time and date via F1 key. Seems like the CMOS battery crapped out. Lenovo's sending a box for the fingerprint repair, I hope I can get them to replace the CMOS battery too. I hope this is not a sign of more things to come.

 

i hope not either.

ordered mine on the 17th, shipped on the 23rd. it was going to come today, but it was sent to quebec canada by mistake (?????). so now I have to wait saturday and sunday and possibly monday for this.

 

Anyone having this problem?

 

I think that they are designed like. The newer Lenovo T5XX will not charge old Lenovo battery or non-Lenovo battery. The newer battery with a '+' in the name (T80+) have a chip that identify them.

 

​

Is there any way around this? The ability to disable that "check" feature at the BIOS level?

 

Keyboard flex - so the left side of the keyboard has a slight flex and upon opening you can see there isnt any back support underneath the s,d,f,a,s,w keys. Any suggestion on how i can put something to make it feel more sturdy?

For example, if you happen to open the keyboard area you might have noticed that lenovo puts a small black foam type piece underneath the x,c,v keys.

The slight flex on the left side is really bothersome as it screws the typing speed and feel for the keys.

Thanks for your help!!

 

Some pieces of masking tape. Double or triple up, as needed.

Or, the "official" way.

(Keyboard flexing (even with "Precision" keyboard). Palmrest creaking. Battery wobbling. Screen uninspiring. Absolut Lenovo.)

 

Hi Susan,

I am currently on a Dell Studio 1555 and am seriously considering the T530 as my next laptop. I am also a writer/photographer and I would appreciate it if you could answer a couple of questions based on your experience with the T530 so far:

1. How does the keyboard compare with the Dell's?
2. I have a FHD screen on the Dell. How is the FHD screen on the Thinkpad, especially for photography?
3. The Dell has a real flimsy hinge holding the lid up. I assume the Thinkpad has no wobbling issues?
4. How does the trackpad compare to that on the Dell?
5. The Dell has some decent speakers and the laptop has served well for my wife and I to watch movies on. How are the ones on the T530?

And are there any other things you think might be an issue for someone who has used a Dell Studio 1555 for almost 3 years?

Thank you so much for your time,

David

 

Can anyone who created the recovery media on their T530 please tell me the total size of the media (If you created it on a USB drive, please let me know as well)?

 

Hey T530 owners. I have just placed my order. One question for all of you: are you happy with your product?

 

Hello to all t530 owners. Am planning to get the t530 with the NVIDIA quadro, i7 and 1600x900 hd+ options. Was just reading the notebookcheck review which stated that there were some heat issues, especially under load. Can anyone confirm this? Is the heating really that big an issue?

 

Hi David,

Wow, sounds like we have similar Dell systems. I can give you first impressions and then some more as the week goes on as I've been dragging my heels getting things moved over to the new system because I'm not looking forward to switching to Windows 7. (I liked the simplicity of XP and hate the look of Windows 7, even after trying to customize it.)

1. I like the keyboard and that's saying something because I LOVE my Dell keyboard. So much so that I think when I've finally committed to the new system I'll probably wipe this old Dell, install Windows 7 and Scrivener and use the Dell to finish the current WIP.

The best thing about the Dell 1555 is the near full-size keyboard without the blasted number pad. The T530 is about an inch less wide which throws me off a little but not a lot. I don't have any trouble with the arrow keys and the stuff on the right but I will say that the cntl/fn keys being reversed is a pain. I left it Lenovo's way for a start to see how it felt but I'm going to go into the bios and switch it and hope my OCD doesn't freak out at having the keys labeled wrong.

I was able to type a page with no errors right out of the box and the keys had a nice response for someone who is going to be inputting a lot of text. I'm hoping the smaller keyboard doesn't create other issues but right now, I think it will be great.

2. I got the 1920 x 1080 FHD screen on the Lenovo and it is wonderful. I put the same photos on both systems and looked at them side-by-side and they looked pretty close to the same with an edge to the Lenovo. And that was just a quick look. I'm moving my photography stuff over today and will look at things more closely then but I think it's going to be great.

3. My Dell hinge has no problems so I can't really compare there but the build on my Lenovo seems pretty darned solid all the way around. I'm impressed with it.

4. The trackpad might take some getting used to. It depends on you. It's not smooth like the Dell one and the textured throws me off a little bit but I imagine it will smooth down with use.

5. The speakers are laptop speakers. No better than the Dell but no worse. That will be a personal call for you. I don't watch movies on my laptop but I do use it to listen to music but then I'm usually plugged into the larger monitor and nicer speakers.

I think the biggest adaption is going to be the keyboard size. You can tell you're typing on a smaller keyboard but it's not like typing on my little Samsung netbook that I use when I travel.

It's very quiet but then I swapped out the DVD drive for an SSD and I swapped out the HD it came with for a larger 1 terrabyte HD from Western Digital. It's been super quiet and no heat issues (though I always use a lap desk when using the laptop.)

It's been hard for me to leave Dell because I've been so happy with this Studio 1555. I had the extended warranty on it and many things have been replaced and I will let Dell keep on repairing it so I'll have a nice backup computer.

Oh, the battery life on the Lenovo is MUCH longer than the Dell. That part is very nice.

I think, after doing a lot of obsessive research, that the T530 is a nice move up from the Dell 1555 and will give me years of good service. For you I would guess the speakers might be the only issue but if you were happy with the Dell ones, the Lenovo might be okay.
(I haven't plugged my system into the docking station yet to see if I have the clicking issue so many folks are having.)

Ping me again with any more questions I might be able to answer about the comparison.

 

What is considered a big load, enough to cause heat issues?

I'd like to put my system to the test but I'm not sure what that would mean.

 

Not really sure, but the notebookcheck review I linked above seems to indicate a problem even in general running. The relevant paras are below:

"In terms of temperatures, the ThinkPad T530 did not score as well. While idle, the underside of the T530 reached nearly 40oC (104oF). This is very close to the feasible limit for lap-top use. The top of the notebook stayed within an acceptable range with a maximum temperature of 35oC (95oF). During the extreme load of our simultaneous CPU/GPU stress test, the ThinkPad heated up particularly in the vent area on the left side and both the top and bottom of the unit reached a high 53oC (127oF). The left wrist rest did not remain particularly cool with a measured temperature of 39oC (102oF).

In our stress test, we checked to see if CPU and GPU performance remained available over longer periods of full load. At first, it seemed that the T530 coped well as it was able to run at its full 3.4 GHz Turbo Boosted speed for the first hour. Once the CPU temperature climbed to over 100oC (212oF), the CPU clock immediately dropped to 1.2 GHz and remained there until the core temperature dropped to below 80oC (176oF). In 3DMark06, the ThinkPad was able to reach full power, suggesting that overheating is very unlikely in normal use."

Like I said, am considering buying and had pretty much ordered it, but the heating issue is kind of worrying. Any similar issues on your system? This is the link for the review I quoted above Review Lenovo ThinkPad T530 2429-5XG Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

 

it was addressed. check the earlier pages. the review seems faulty because some owners disagreed and the room temp is too high. also, check laptopmag's review of the w530, same chassis, if anything the w530 should run hotter because of the gfx card and the qm. Lenovo ThinkPad W530 Review | Workstation Reviews

 

This is a really bad part of this review. They test the notebook at 27° C room temperature and then they wonder why the notebook gets hot? Hello, Notebookcheck, thats not a good test.

 

Thanks very much for your thoughts thus far. I wonder if you could comment on the average battery life you are seeing? Thanks!

 

Hmm. So what temps are reviews meant to be carried out in? I am really interested, because I'm from a pretty hot country, where access to air-conditioning is not always a given. Would like to know how the T530 (or thinkpads in general) handle ambient room temps around 30c.

 

I've a T530 and the bottom of the laptop is pretty much room temperature during normal operation. It get's hot when running the GPU full load (specially because I have it OC'd) but it's still cooler than my old T60p, after owning one of those nothing really gets too hot for you.

i5-3360M Nvidia NVS5400M

 

I'll let you know when I get mine. I ordered on 7/13. It spent 7 1/2 days in Customs in Louisville, KY. Finally released and should be delivered today (one week after the initial UPS estimate).

The most frustrating thing about ordering my T530 is the anxiety over the miscommunicated delivery date and the lack of information once it his Customs. Prepare yourself for a delay in customs. I've seen delays from 4 hours to 3 weeks when scraping these forums (and others). I'm not sure why, but there is larger number of customs delays with Lenovo's versus other manufacturers. Note, I have confirmed that the entire Lenovo "Group" of packages was delayed in customs, not just my packages. In the past, there were concerns that individual packages included invoices, but the "group" of packages did not include the master invoice.

I chatted with UPS online at 6 days in customs and they stated "we are waiting on customs to release." I got an email reponse from Lenovo to the same effect.

The bottom line here is: Set your expectations and be patient.

I've had Thinkpads before (T30, T31, T43) and I've had great success with them all. Some were work computers, I still have the T30 (acquired used in 2004) and would keep using it, but it has critical software configurations and I don't want to risk an upgrade of memory or OS. Once I get the T530 set up, I'll move over the critical software and upgrade the T30 for other usage.