Lenovo W510 Owner's Thread

Microsoft Security Essentials gets good reviews and is fast and light.

 

Perhaps, but Norton is a whole different story. As long as your antivirus does a good job without taking too many resources and being easy-to-remove-install-update, you're fine.

 

+1

I removed the Norton I just don't like anything yellow in color
Panda was good in the days when I was using XP

 

i just got my w510 love it it feels sturdy, however the internal speakers suck and i find when playing from itunes and video from the web the audio is really uneven but a dvd and video file sounds ok.

Is it possible that it is the driver responsible for the uneveness since it plays some audio ok?

 

Does it sound like skips/crackle/pop/stutter? Or just async?

 

no it doesnt crackle but u can tell it struggles with some music tones it fluctuates basically but i mainly noticed it on itunes and youtube but during a dvd and video playback it was ok

 

are you on the Voip setting or the music(y) setting?
idk if that makes sense
but in the lenovo program you can change to different profiles
hope this helps

 

how do u check that?
sry for my noobness i switched from mac

 

after playing some music in win media player it plays normal so i think it's either chrome and itunes or its the driver cuz audio works fine in win media player and vlc

 

hey I have no idea if this helps at all...

but its "smart audio" in the control panel.

i thnk (as the person above me that it is a chrome problem)
try vlc for a test

 

I feel like someone asked this a while back

but I have just got 3 hours of battery life

(everything off / battery stretch on)

i have had the screen at 0
and ethernet and light web browsing the whole time

I have 10 percent left now
but im switching to the cord
I would assume another 10-20 minutes
cheers

 

Thanks for ur help man, i realized its de apps which prob means its driver related

 

I notice this on my T510, too! I haven't played any CDs or DVDs yet, but in iTunes and streaming youtube stuff it does sound weird through the speakers. It almost sounds like it's trying to apply dynamic range compression but producing weird artifacts. Or, like the macromedia anti-piracy distortions you used to hear sometimes "back in the day" when recording from vinyl record to cassette tape (or from tape to tape). It's a bit annoying.

 

yes its annoying but after playing with it for a while it only happens in certain apps (web-browsers and itunes so far) but it works normal while watching a dvd, CD or when using vlc so we'll have to wait until lenovo fixes it im sure its software related

 

Anyone know when the FHD will be available again?

 

Is 3 hours about the average most people are getting on battery life? I assume that this is without the processor being throttled (well at least beyond turbo boost being disable) and only with the single 9-cell, correct? Doesn't include the slice battery.

 

Mine should arrive on Monday, will be able to confirm whether it's true or not.

 

Here's what I get when I pull the plug:
Battery 0: Discharging, 95%, 04:02:01 remaining
Mostly idle machine, 9 cells, screen mid/high brightness, no wlan/usb stuff.
So I guess 3 hours is about right and perfectly appropriate.

 

even idling that gpu is a huge power suck.

 

my test was with only the 9 cell standard battery
i did not use the slice
and only throttled the computer as much as the standard lenovo software does.
(meaning that i did not turn off anything in the bios)

 

Looked at the Asus G73H, as a cheap replacement (in that it's half the price and most of the power).


Can't do it. I'll hold onto my stuff until Lenovo can rerelease W510s with FHD. I just love this screen...

 

They have been sticking to the early/mid April time frame for quite some time now. I called this morning and they told me to check back every couple of days.

 

soon soon dont panic!!!!!!!


as for the sound issues (got non) thus I went to |sound|mixer|speakers|>enhancements>|^|disable enhancements CHECK box!+make change to 24bit studio quality sound.

next you click start >type>smart audio (mentioned above) and do as you please there.
then you got to kitchen and make yourself a cuppa

 

Okay I think this is the fix. I didn't have to turn off any enhancements in the Sound control panel (though I did dig around and found the spot for it). I went in to the SmartAudio through the control panel, clicked on the VOiP Voice Effects (second icon from the left at the bottom of the window), then clicked on Voice Recording to activate that mode instead of the VOiP mode. You can see just under it that the Speaker Noise Reduction feature turns off (the blue light turns out) and then everything sounds great again! (Well, as great as these speakers can sound)

 

And what exactly is the W510s?? I've been waiting for the W510 w/ FHD for a long time.

 

It's the plural form of a single W510.

 

Ok Lenovo...hurry up and not only get FHD back but end this 1-month+ delivery delay. That is actually a respectable battery life. A few months ago I tried out an HP Envy 15 and it only got a little over an hour on the 6-cell battery and only 3 hours with the 9-cell slice (15-cells total). Not only that but that was with everything off and the software throttling a i7 720M to 933 MHz (user can't change it either).

 

43192PU W510 finally arrived this week.

I think that the screen is fine...people had me worried about using a 95% gamut screen for standard apps.

Still have to test CPU throttling with and without the 135W AC adapter. BTW, the 135W is smaller than HPs 120W adapter!

Regards,
R

 

Congratulations on getting your new computer!

Could you post a picture of the power supplies to give us an idea about relative size? I'm afraid it will be a massive brick!

 

The 135W power brick is
152x65x36 mm
(just measured).

 

That's
5.3x2.6x1.4"
for those of us who still use illogical, antiquated measuring systems...

 

i just took a picture
ill post it in a second

 

Hey again
I put it on image host (let me know if it dosnt work)
the top one is the 135 w
and the bottom is the 90 w
http://j.imagehost.org/view/0491/Power
cheers


Ps: I (obviously) have both so if people would like to see the throttling difference Ill do most any benchmark you request

just let me know

 

Question: did anyone update the BIOS , any changes any comments?

 

I'm still on the one from Jan 20th.

End of April there's supposed to be a BIOS update fixing an ACPI issue that causes problems with suspend on linux. I'll definitely apply that right away.

 

I can see that theres a good amount of fixes. especially notable the Keyboard fix and fn+f7. I think I'm gunna try and boot into it.

Summary of Changes

Where:

* BIOS: BIOS version
* ECP: Embedded Controller Program version
* [Important] Important update
* (New) New function or enhancement
* (Fix) Correction to existing function

Version 1.15-1.09
BIOS: 1.15 / ECP: 1.09

* (New) Improve key input response.
* (Fix) Fixed an issue where StartUp Interrupt Menu can not be displayed by condition.
* (Fix) For vPro users: Fixed an issue where multiple provisioning data handling by USB key provisioning does not work.
* (Fix) Fixed an issue where network boot may not be executed via ethernet device.
* (Fix) Fixed an issue where system might not boot with USB PortReplicator attached to USB3.0 port.
* (Fix) Fixed an issue where screen may not displayed on LCD panel when pressing Fn+F7 key when system boot with closed LCD.
* (Fix) Fixed an issue optical media may not be ejected by once pressing eject button.


I

 

Which distro you have running on it? Any issues with the nvidia drivers?

 

I'm running debian unstable with a 2.6.33-1.slh.3-sidux-amd64 kernel and nvidia 195.36.15. No issues with the latest nvidia driver, but since it is not packaged yet I had to install it the nvidia way. Earlier versions have a problem with screen corruption when switching to a VT.

The only linux issue with the W510 is that s2ram won't work twice, and that's apparently due to a bug in the BIOS.

For more linux compat info head over to nvnews (search for a "FX880M" thread) and the W510 thinkwiki page.

 

OK good news everyone!... (professor farnsworth style)

I have successfully updated to 3/25/2010 BIOS W7

 

Thank you sir, just what I needed to know.

Now if you could call Lenovo and get them to sell me a FHD attached to a W510 I would be truly happy.

 

That is a good news indee-e-e-e-d! (same style )

So, no issues at all?
My lappie should arrive early next week, gonna do the same.

 

This version of the BIOS seems to have fixed the keyboard accuracy problem. The key accuracy was iffy before when typing fast,, jumbling up the letters order in the words, after BIOS flash it is spot-on.

Highly recommend this one for people who type fast. One of the biggest issues i've had with W510 has just been fixed with this release.

 

@ AIKI
@ Zenit

yeah fixed the keyboard jumble bull I think. and not sure about real world other fixes (usb 3.0 boot issue was important for me) as well as the keyboard problem was rather annoying I agree.

mainly I done what I had to to be sure I done it , I know doesn't make sense...
but I'm happier feels more solid now.

Just was fiddling with power manager and found a so called tick box that says switch to "energy saving graphics", I done that had some flashing going on and then all went scary and dark now its dim and it says it drags about 19W of power that's not bad! I had 3H in normal Use I expect to get 4h from this

 

I wonder if it's possible to put an i5 in in and utilize the IGP, to make the switchable option?....

 

Personally I wouldnt mess around with this kind of thing. One of the strengths of W510 is a quad core processor. Why gimp the thing?
I'm getting around 3.5 hours with screen reasonably bright with 9 cell, so its not like the battery life is poor.

Would be better off getting something smaller with long battery life as 2nd laptop. Gotta always have an extra laptop for backup anyhow.

 

First, if you compare extensive benches and tests of all duals and quads you'll find that i7-620M (dual) is stronger in 95% apps than i7-720QM(quad) and at the same time the TDP is lower ->hence better battery life. Plus the IGP that you could utilize in a switching mode with FX880M to make your system much more flexible and double (if not triple) the battery life.
I'm gonna attempt the crazy mission, so stay tuned.
The only concern is the BIOS support for the switching...
Still, gotta try,...too tempting...

 

Oh no, not again.
Just get a W500 already.

 

here is something to consider from Lenovo blogs before undertaking what you are about to try:

"Calpella Switchable Graphics

Over on our forums and on thinkpads.com, there has been a lot of confusion over the graphics capabilities of our Calpella T Series systems. To be clear, the only 2010 ThinkPad system with switchable graphics capabilities is the ThinkPad T410s. The ThinkPad T410 and T510 and W510 are either integrated graphics only or discrete graphics only. It might be possible to do a hack to allow “cold” switching between the integrated graphics core on the CPU or the discrete graphics chip, but this is not something we’ll support or even say is possible on any given system. There is extra circuitry required to enable switching capability. For 2010, buy a T410s if you want switchable graphics capability from Lenovo."

As I understand it, the best case scenario you will have to make a hacked bios and drivers to allow for switching, while in worst case scenario, it is not going to work at all due to lacking circuitry. W510 also uses a different motherboard from T510, so a i7-620M is probably not going to work without a BIOS modification. In any case, good luck with the project, i'd be curious to see if it works.

 

no PAIN no GAIN!


I'm planing to switch from the naughty AHCI to compatibility instead. I have a feeling there's no improvement in AHCI i.e when i had AHCI in my X60s the tranfer speeds of my HDD were 40% slower than when I switched to Compatibility I have a feeling same thing is happening now in my w510,as I didnt yet get to switch to $$D

 

I was looking at the lenovo system reference guide

and it says that the w510 "supports second disk" (in the harddrive setting)

where does this drive fit?
can you create and after purchase raid array?
WHERE DOES IT FIT?????

thanks