Lenovo ThinkPad W520 User Review

Introduction

I wanted a future-proof, high-performance, reasonably portable workstation laptop that ran Windows natively. The ThinkPad W520 tries to be that exact workstation, but build and quality control issues eliminate it as a viable option.

The Touchpad. Woe Is Me.

The W520's touchpad is absolutely unusable. The texture is too rough, and everyday tasks like mousing across the screen and scrolling down a webpage quickly become painful and tiring. That is, unless you have trouble activating the scroll function in the first place. Which you probably will. It is extremely challenging to scroll using the touchpad, even after adjusting mouse sensitivity and deactivating Lenovo's "mouse filtering" settings. Scrolling is intolerable and more than half the time you struggle to even activate it.

If you like to middle click, more bad news. You can't activate middle clicking if you try. No quick-closing browser tabs or quick-opening links in new tabs for you.

This enormous failure aside, tasks like browsing the internet, typing, and adjusting Windows and BIOS settings went well. The unique Lenovo dot in the center of the keyboard sometimes got in the way of my typing, but it's nothing to complain about.

Consider yourself warned. The W520's touchpad will make you miserable. It alone is enough reason to not buy the laptop. The touchpad is a disgrace.

The Price

And now for some good news, I guess. The W520 is much more affordable than a similarly equipped Macbook Pro. Using the special VISA-Lenovo coupon (up to 35% off select machines), I was able to purchase a a W520 with Core i7-2720 processor, 1920x1080 FHD screen, 4 gigs of RAM, Intel Ultimate-N wifi and probably some options I'm forgetting for $1400 shipped. The W520 is rumored to be upgradeable to 32 GB of RAM in the future; that, the quad core processor and the two USB 3.0 ports make this a reasonably future proof laptop, at a very attractive price.

Battery Life

Browse the internet and set the brightness to real world usable settings and you'll get about 5 hours of battery life.

Build Quality

There are multiple issues seemingly inherent with the W520 model, the i7-2720 model in particular. Some of these include:
-Turbo-boost not working at all with latest BIOS update. Machine is significantly slower than it should be.
-System hangs present
-Overheating
-Fan noise
-SSD issues

The list goes on.

The laptop frame has a cheap, plasticky flex to it. The flex on the W520 is worse than that on my 5 year old Dell e1705. I wasn't expecting much durability from a $1400 workstation laptop, but Lenovo claims "Milspec tested for ruggedness" on their official W520 datasheet, so I was expecting it to feel relatively rugged. Disappointingly, the W520 feels fragile and insecure. You wouldn't want to drop this on a hardwood floor.

The black coating on the W520 loves to pick up dust and fingerprints, which I find very bothersome. It demonstrates that Lenovo let a surface detail slip by at the expense of their professional user-base. This poorly executed cosmetic detail, combined with the inherent W520 issues above is very troublesome.

Lenovo needs to spend less time putting on makeup, and more time doing quality control.

My W520 came with a dead pixel near the center of the screen. According to Lenovo, I should just live with it, because ThinkPads need to show 3 dead pixels before being deemed "defective". Really Lenovo? If a dead pixel on a brand new laptop screen doesn't qualify as a manufacturing defect, what does?

Conclusion

Don't buy this laptop.

 

You seem to miss the truth my friend. Real-Word Reviews speak other words!

 

Fn + F8 > UltraNav tab > TrackPoint Settings > Settings > Scrolling Type, set that to Smooth, and the middle click button will behave exactly the same as on a mouse.

You'll find the same policy across pretty much all OEMs, unless you purchase a "no dead/stuck pixel guarantee" from a reseller (ie, XoticPC). I believe ASUS also gave this guarantee on some of its higher-end systems, at least in the past. It sucks, but nothing you can do about "misfortune" of the draw.

 

I'm no fan of dead pixels either, but on your display, that's only 1 in 2,073,600. Get real.

 

Hahaha "real world" reviews. I'm a real world person who really bought a real world W520 to use as my own personal machine.

@toast: Sell a laptop on ebay. Then try to sell the same laptop with ONE dead pixel on ebay, and try to get the same price.

@MidnightSun: That would've been useful to know, but the touchpad and BIOS / fan / heating issues remain as insurmountable obstacles to long term ownership.

 

Wow. Although I have the T520, the W520 is based on the same chassis and am surprised to hear you find the laptop bad. I and my friend who owns a W520 have not experienced any of the problems that you listed, except for the fan pulsing problem, which is not the same thing as fan noise.

Aside from the problems present in the last two BIOS updates (can be solved by rolling back to an earlier BIOS), I find the laptop to be a very solid machine. Probably, the best present on the market. Just a few things I think you should look into while considering the W520 or T520 are the absolutely amazing FHD screen, the high-end quad cores, relatively cool (you can't get cooler than ~45 C with regular use on any other quad core based notebook) and quiet operation. This comes in contrast with what you describe, possibly, because you've got a defective machine or a laptop that needs a little bit of tuning.

Oh, and the touchpad is quite usable relative to other notebooks I've used, though I prefer using a mouse instead.

 

Did you return the W520? That would be real world.

 

Sowwy, did the truth hurt?

I'm returning it a cost of $215. I would not recommend the W520 to anyone.

 

De gustibus non est disputandum

 

It's my conspiracy theory that Synaptics gimps UltraNav touchpad drivers at the behest of a very fruity company. The hardware is perfectly fine with third-party tools like TwoFingerScroll.

Did you have the 6-cell or 9-cell battery?

Generally, OS issues are PEBCAK-induced. =P

 

From my experiences, the touchpad works just fine. Yes, for both one and two finger scrolling with the Synaptics drivers. I get about 7 ~ 8.5hrs surfing the web and doing some other stuff with a 9 cell. Turbo Boost has worked fine for me with all BIOS versions. Haven't noticed any system hangs. Does run quite hot if I run Prime95 and Furmark at the same time (I've actually gotten the GPU to throttle), but I'm hard pressed to find anything that would push the system that far. Fan noise is fine, even with the pulsing. My W520 feels pretty solid, sure it flexes about 1mm in the palmrests before hitting the rollcage below, but that's minimal compared to the other laptops I've used (and I've used some $1500+ gaming laptops). Any black object will seem more dusty than a non-black object, because dust is white-ish in colour. And honestly, the fingerprints would be far worse on a glossy surface. I think the W520 is a great machine and would recommend it to anyone with a budget over $1000.

 

Even though i felt like my T520 isn't as rock solid as the old T61, it STILL is one of the most solid, non-flexing laptop there are on the market. It still has the vintage, classy business style that many prefer. None of that glossy, annoying, flashy back cover.

I was looking at a laptop for college, and i was demanding. I needed something that can be thrown in a backpack everyday and carried around without any problems. Also, it needed to be powerful and easily upgradeable.
I looked around for a while, pretty much every manufacturer, but Lenovo Thinkpads still came in first place with their less flexy body, metal hinges, and overall durability.

Just my 2 cents herr.

 

Got it. Sowwy you had a bad experience. I'm curious what you'll be buying next.

 

I absolutely agree, even on my T520. It's too bad that I lose the function of my track point with the native Syanptics drivers. The lastest Lenovo driver seems to be better than the driver that came with my T520. Responsiveness is far better, although the gesture zooming still sucks. Touch pad on my old VAIO (Alps) and my better half's MBP work much better.

C.

 

So what machine besides a Toughbook would you expect to survive a drop on a hard floor?

A screen with a dead pixel on delivery should be replaced. That's a weak policy.

 

Pretty sure ThinkPads are rated for 29" falls while operating onto the base, flat. Most manufacturers do not replace the panel unless there are 3 or more dead pixels. Some manufacturers even allow up to 12 dead pixels on a 1080p panel (I believe my desktop's monitor stated something like that in the manual, no dead pixels on the thing though).

 

Texture of the touchpad is a matter of preference, but it's hard to argue that two finger scrolling does not work too well. Even single finger scrolling on the side of touchpad is not very reliable. Same story with the previous generation - T510/410 are no different.

What's curious is that it's all software, Lenovo-branded Ultranav drivers; the ones from Synaptec work better. Even with original lenovo drivers two finger scroll works perfectly with two-finger-scroll - Two finger gestures for Synaptics TouchPads on Windows - Google Project Hosting .

Anyway, a part of the reason to buy a Thinkpad is to get a far better mouse control solution: a good TrackPoint with selection of caps and properly done middle button/scrolling.

Combined with FHD matte screen, dock, color sensor, full 7 rows keyboard w/o "creative work" on key locations and combinations, fingerprint reader + TPM, ability to replace the useless DVD drive with another HDD or SSD, decent video with CUDA (even capable of runnning a modern game occasionally with high settings), all that with decent build quality, no shiny/slippery parts and no cold metal where hands touch it, and all for a very reasonable price - there are not too many options like that.

Oh, and it's completely silent with tpfancontrol and SSD when reading/browsing/word processing. And even w/o tpfancontrol, the fan sound is negligible compared to the usual rotating 7200rpm HDD, so mostly a concern for SSD users. No hangs experienced, and full speed with BIOS 1.22.

Conclusion: a great laptop for a very reasonable price. But HP and Dell have mobile workstations too, of course. And with better screen options AFAIK. Comparing W520 to MacBook Pro is rather pointless IMO, apples and oranges.

 

Back in the day when I wrote this article Dead Pixels on Notebook Screens about dead pixel policies IBM only honored a return for 9 - 16 dead pixels, so Lenovo has actually improved the product in that regard. I do think that the placement of the dead pixel should be a factor, one right in the middle of the screen is a big deal while off in the corner no big deal. I know some manufacturers actually weight the factor of the dead pixel placement when determining whether to allow a refund / replacement without restocking charge. For instance, this is the Dell policy:

* 1 to 5 Dead or Stuck pixels spread out are within current standards and do NOT warrant a replacement
* 6 or more Dead or Stuck pixels anywhere warrants a replacement monitor
* 2 adjacent Dead or Stuck pixels warrants a replacement monitor with manager approval
* 1 Dead or Stuck pixel directly in the center warrants a replacement monitor with manager approval

 

Looks like a pretty well thought out policy. And I agree, a dead pixel in the middle of the screen should be fixed. Certainly the return should be at zero cost.

 

I know there was one OEM (forgot which one, I thought it was Dell...) that had tech support people tell you to download a specific wallpaper that divides up your screen into defined sectors. Depending on which sectors your dead pixels fell in, different numbers of dead/stuck pixels were required for a panel replacement. Thought it was a neat, simple, and unequivocal idea.

 

For context:



^^This is my current machine, which I prefer over the W520.

My next machine will either be a Panasonic or Apple. Those are the only 2 laptop manufacturers doing it right these days. Samsung and Toshiba are honorable mentions.

 

I'm a W520 owner, have not experienced any of the problems you have described.
To me this is the best laptop I have used, and I've used quite a few.

Including - Toshibas, Dells, Sonys, Panasonics, MacBooks... I seriously think you had a bit of a bad experience which isn't particularly indicative of the norm.

If you seriously let your laptop get into the state that your Dell is in, then perhaps you should look for something like an etch-a-sketch... seems to be the type of thing that could handle the robustness required.

 

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH.......

Dude, if you are THAT hard on your laptops..... you will absolutely WRECK the aluminum of a Macbook. Good luck to you. Those are simply NOT built to take bumps.

 

While everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I have to say that I haven't experienced any of the hardware problems that you mention and view your issue with the trackpad as non-critical. I haven't found a single trackpad that I prefer over a mouse. Also, some of the issues you mention are software related and not related to hardware or build quality. While having 100% customer satisfaction is impossible, I do think your experience is an exception.

I have SATA 3 SSDs running in my w520 and haven't experienced any problems whatsoever not does my laptop ever run hot unless I have discrete only graphics enabled. Even then, it's less heat that other laptops I've used.

While I haven't browsed for 8 hours straight on my laptop, I have easily gotten 8 hrs doing light work such as email, web, and photoshop with my screen brightness on 9.

I do agree though that the dead pixel issue is unacceptable. But I think this is more an issue with Lenovo's suppliers not guaranteeing their screens for anything less than 3 dead pixels so Lenovo just passes that to the consumer. It also explains why this is consistent across most manufacturers. Obviously, I'm not sure what % of screens have dead pixels but it appears small enough where Lenovo (and other manufacturers) could eat the cost of replacing defective screens without a huge impact to their bottom lines.

As for frame and build quality, I don't know of any laptop that I would feel comfortable dropping onto the floor from any height so I think that is an unreasonable expectation. The W520 feels solid enough for me and I routinely pick it up with one hand on the edge and don't feel much flex when lifting the full weight of the laptop from one end. Fingerprints can be an issue but making a finish look aesthetically pleasing usually runs counter to making it scratch and fingerprint resistant.

It sucks that you didn't like your w520 but I know that i am extremely happy with my purchase. In terms of performance, it definitely out performs any laptop I've had and my desktop workstation which is running Xeons.

As for you preferring your old Dell to the w520, everyone values different things. If that is what makes you happy, then I'm happy for you. However, I think that as you try other laptops, you will find that some of the issues you have with the w520 aren't isolated to just the w520.

Another thing, I've never had an issue returning items to Lenovo. Especially if it's within the first 14 days. I'm quite surprised that they charged you a restocking fee unless you had your laptop for quite some time.

 

I have to say that my experience with the W520 was nothing short of superb. The system had no issues for me, not with the SSD, screen, mouse, fan, or even heat (even when gaming). Sorry you had some bad luck with yours.

I did end up returning it - no cost thanks to AMEX. But I did this because I found out that going from an X201T to the W520 was too big of a jump in size and weight. I ordered a T420s as a happy medium.

 

Overall, I'm very pleased with my W520 but I agree that they really screwed up the touchpad.

Renee

 

I'm starting to think the OP is a troll.

 

I think the OP has made his feelings known and we all understand there are always anecdotes for negative experiences to go along with the positive, no product is perfect and anything ever produced has a failure rate associated to it. It's the overall rating and statistics that should give a product a good or bad reputation, which is why forums are valuable as we can see a collective experience and opinions. I'm just going to close this thread now before it devolves into anything else.