Lenovo W510 Owner's Thread

Hi Chaos,

>> I thought the HD+ was the 1920x1080.

Not quite. I think it's something like this:

FullHD 1920-by-1080
HD+ 1680-by-945

But even FHD doesn't give you the full x1200 of vert. height I have on my big EIZO 21", which I really need to do proper page layout.

- avi

 

The difference in screens is the only difference (unless your FHD come with a touchscreen)

however
the HD+ is1600×900
and the FHD is 1920x1080
(HD is 1366×768)
I think
@avi are u sure?

 

HoustonKV and avi are both correct on the resolutions. Some manufacturers have different resolutions for HD+ though majority use 1600x900 (don't remember where I saw 1680x945 unfortunately, but it seems familiar). Comparing to 16:10 aspect ratio, you have WUXGA (1920x1200), WSXGA+ (1680x1050), WXGA+ (1440x900), and WXGA (1280x800).

 

Standard convention is that "High Definition" in the context of video and TV is at least 720 vertical lines of resolution. Most devices (in North America at least) have settled on 1080 vertical lines as the typical high-end for content and playback.

I.e., most TV's and Blue Ray players sold as of now are geared to 1080 vertical lines of resolution. But many 2-3 year old systems, and many cable and satellite providers still broadcast in 720 lines.

This is where the abbreviations come from for Lenovo. HD+ is 1600x900 -- so it's a bit more lines than required to technically be considered HD. The 1920x1080 is "Full HD" FHD.

 

Ok.
Thx for clearing that up guys

Chaos

 

I thought the Thinkpads were "corporate laptops" not TVs?

Let's call a spade a spade. This "HD" nonsense is a convention adopted by the entire PC industry as a way of fooling clueless average customers by promoting bottom-of-the-barrel 1366x768 screens as being better than what they are. Its willful deceit.

All the stuff about TV blu ray etc is nonsense. Because if that was the priority then the industry would have put better quality LCDs in the laptops, they would actually have blu ray drives in them - and they wouldnt be jacking you for an extra 500 bucks for a Blu Ray drive if you can get it at all, in the first place.

Its deceit. Same as you go in starbucks and they sell you a tiny cup of coffe and call it a "large". Such lies betray a total lack of integrity.

 

Sounds to me like you are getting a little overly mad about some labels. I've never had a problem with clicking the "help me choose" or similar link on dell, lenovo's, etc's website's and finding out exactly what the resolutions are. I don't think the laptop manufacturers are all "out to get you."

 

I'm sort of with you until you get to the Starbuck's part. It sounds like you've been corrupted by the American media machine into thinking that a "large" should contain at least a gallon of high fructose corn syrup. The fact is that what's considered a "large" today is the same size it was 20 years ago, but they keep adding larger sizes. A large coffee, maybe 12oz, is really more than enough for anyone and in Europe it's an absurd amount. Anything larger than that is a serious health risk and simply unnecessary.

Anyway, back on topic... Any company selling goods is a business, and they will always push out the cheapest thing they can at the highest price they can. Laptops are becoming commodity items that are targeted more at the mass market than "computer people".

I do find it strange that even though the whole computer world is pretty much in agreement that 16:9 screens at FHD are the wrong way to go, we are still going that way full force. That tells me there must be such a huge cost advantage to them that no amount of complaining will reverse the trend.

 

Well commodifying the product isnt really helping them be more profitable. And we know that they are struggling with this in the LCD business. So if "cost savings" are not helping you create a desirable product, then you've cut too far. Which is why they've gone to this deception of calling the inferior product "high definition".

When you need to lie about your product and you still aint making money, then its time to go back to the drawing board. And that is what the LCD component makers need to do.

 

I don't think you understand the LCD industry in any way shape or form. Do you know how much it costs to build an LCD manufacturing plant now days? It costs so much that companies share the cost (ie: Samsung might team up with Panasonic to build 1 factory). It's so expensive they can only afford to share 1 manufacturing line. That line will get setup to build the most profitable product, and that's NOT computer screens, it's TV's. The computer market gets what's left over. Lenovo isn't going to 16:9 because they want to, and they aren't doing it because the want to lie to you. To make high volumes of LCD's on current high technology manufacturing lines costs an INSANE amount of money, so all the different uses for LCD have to converge.

 

Actually, skagen, I think your interpretation of the various labels being "willful deceit" is because you probably hang around really smart people most of the time.

The fact is, that many consumers really just don't get "what is a gigabyte" or the impact of various screen dimensions "what is a pixel" "what is DPI". I would argue that relating laptop screens to TV resolution is just a way of coping with people who really don't have the time and intelligence you do to understand all this stuff cold.

 

I could buy that! Some people don't even get what "double click" means, let alone 1080 i/p.

And that goes doubly so for most "business class" people who aren't in IT or development. I know tons of upper management brass that LOVE their Thinkpads but don't understand one lick about their specs.

 

One could argue that labeling screens as "Full HD" is actually a step up, on average, as most people previously would shop for the lowest resolutions because on a higher rez screen "everything is too small". At least with this terminology, people know that a higher rez is better.

 

If you are spending a rather high amount of money on a product (eg. notebook, tv, car, ...) and don't do any research at all it is your own fault when something doesn't work out as expected. I physically checked out my Thinkpad W510FHD before buying if the fan noise is okay, does it boot linux, how is the resolution, ...

If you just buy and then complain it is your own fault - marketing divisions will ALWAYS use special terms that suggest the product is superior to others and can do miracles

The HD/HD+/FHD labeling is rather easy to understand and in my eyes very fair to potential customers.

 

I will repeat again: if someone decides to settle on a product and a process that has high costs and forces them to make a crap product, have they chosen the wrong path? I think the answer is pretty obvious.

As for the "high definition" nonsense, I have also noticed that many manufactuers are going out of their way to hide the screen specs although they highlight the "HD" terminology. And its not like the rest of their marketing isnt full of specs and numbers.

So its pretty obvious what is going on. Its as if the car industry suddenly stopped discussing horsepower numbers and in the next breath started referring to cars with 100bhp engines as "high powered". Total sham.

 

What's pretty obvious to me is that you think something is simple when it's not. Intel obvious knows nothing about what they are doing because fabrication facilities too have become so stratospheric in cost they are near impossible to build. Hell, maybe the whole industry is inept. Forget the fact that today's monitors are higher resolution, higher color gamut, higher quality then ever before.

Look how far LCD has come. You think a monochrome Thinkpad from 1980 compares in complexity? Do you think it should get cheaper when you ramp up from 100 transistors to 100 million? Or black and white screens at a rate of 50 per day to millions of colors, high resolution, and 100's of thousands made every day?

If the system is so broken, open up some competition and make some money. Since you are only complaining about it without understanding the scope and spouting irrelevant examples I'm forgetting about this conversation. A 100 horse power car high powered? In what sense of the word is a FHD screen at 280 nits with 98 percent color gamut a 100 horse power car when compared to 80 more pixels, 30 percent less color space, and half the brightness? This generations monitors are better save for a few lost pixels, I don't care how you cut it, dice it, or look at it, that FHD display is better, the HD+ screen is better, it's just a different shape. I haven't heard one complaint from new adopters other then screen size about the quality and capabilities of these displays.

 

OK, I thought its not going anywhere without my 4cents,

COOKIES for Everyone!!! please stay calm! more on the way!
on the other hand i need one cookie for myself (gay pple say it helps),
coz I hate those who say text is to small!!! bloody hell, please answer me this simple question do you know what is mosaic? no then. i dont care.
but if you do then more (pixels=mosaic bits) the better the picture more detail and overall quality combined.

now do you use the Google earth? oh you do so you want to see more details? but you have only 40 mosaic bits-pieces <-? then you are officially boned.

more bits better picture !!! I want more bits if they offer me 3840x2160 I will say yes and the price difference doesent matter (within 300$ lol)

 

What does a 1980 have to do with it as a comparison, as opposed one from four or five years ago that has the same or more number of vertical pixels, although todays LCD with less vertical pixes is somehow called "high definition". Hmmm.....

As for the brightness, that is another red herring. 280 nits is actually more than anyone needs. 220 to 250 is fine. The real issues really are that what todays screens seem to have as a norm is poor black levels, poor contrast and viewing angles sometimes worse than a few years ago. All of which kind of put the cherry on top of the "high definition" joke...

 

Just curious, when people noticed that their W510 had "shipped" how long did it really take to "ship?" My order status has said "shipped" since 7 May. When I click on the link to track it UPS still just says "billing information received."

 

I'll take every bit of that brightness for outdoor usability. And the contrast, viewing angles, and black levels on the FHD screen are excellent per all measurements I've seen (even better then some of the old IPS panels). If you're so pissed off about it what are you doing here? Just here to complain? Keep other people from buying? If that's your goal have at it, it's pointless for me to keep arguing it.

 

Mikey, this seems pretty common unfortunately. Mine also "shipped" on the 7th and is likewise only showing billing information received on the UPS tracking page.

 

why does the displayport have a strong magnetic field directly above it? I just noticed this when a bottlecap snapped onto it...

 

must be transspacial warp coil, make sure you stay away from it otherwise you'll be sucked into subspace!

or time machine, intruction manual says throw away the w510 get T30 takes you 8 years back?

oh and update over my keyboard issue they are sending me the CRU since mine appears to be one of those few sour pies some other guys got in the first shipments.

 

I would guess that there's a speaker in that general area, and speakers have strong magnets in them.

 

the speaker on the right is detectable as a very weak magnet. the field on the left is much stronger. am I the only one with weird magnets in my laptop?

 

I have the same thing. It's quite likely the mechanism that determines when the screen is closed.

 

Ever taken the magnets out of a hard drive? If you think the ones you are talking about are strong.... whoa! The ones in your hard drive are insane. Find an old drive and pry it apart. They are fun to play with, just don't put them too near your electronics.

 

@mikenavey and @mrpeaches,

Send them an email and they'll email you the UPS number -- apparently the website update 'doesn't'.

 

double post my net suks.

 

yeah thyr best to fish coins and metal objects out of hard to reach places the small 2.5 s have one of the strongest magnets.

 

Go figure...this morning, after putting my thread on here, the status on Lenovo's site changed and my W510 should be here tomorrow.

 

compile dsdt 's error ,how to fix it?



intel ACPI Component Architecture
AML Disassembler version 20081204 [Dec 4 2008]
Copyright (C) 2000 - 2008 Intel Corporation
Supports ACPI Specification Revision 3.0a


Intel ACPI Component Architecture
ASL Optimizing Compiler version 20081204 [Dec 4 2008]
Copyright (C) 2000 - 2008 Intel Corporation
Supports ACPI Specification Revision 3.0a

dsdt.dsl 1: ACPI SWGP, 8,
Error 4095 - ^ parse error, expecting `error' or `PARSEOP_DEFINITIONBLOCK'

ASL Input: dsdt.dsl - 12898 lines, 436123 bytes, 0 keywords
AML Output: (null) - 0 bytes, 0 named objects, 0 executable opcodes

Compilation complete. 1 Errors, 0 Warnings, 0 Remarks, 0 Optimizations

 

ACPI Warning (nsaccess-0733): NsLookup: Type mismatch on BFWB (RegionField), searching for (Buffer) [20081204]
ACPI Warning (nsaccess-0733): NsLookup: Type mismatch on BFWB (RegionField), searching for (Buffer) [20081204]


I am not sure but those 2 lines at the start of your DSDT don't look right to me - try redumping your DSDT again. I think it is safe to delete those lines - they start right before at what seems to be the real file header (comment block). I did that and tried to recompile and then a lot more errors appeared (which is quite normal in that field of "sloppy" coding) but those errors look a lot more meaningfull. I will take a better look at it and try to fix some of the errors.

For the first warnings you can simply add "Return (Zero)".

dsdt.dsl 6640: Acquire (MUTE, 0x03E8)
Warning 1104 - ^ Possible operator timeout is ignored

Probably means the waiting time might not be long enough - just change it to "Acquire (MUTE, 0xFFFF)". To be honest I doubt those warnings are causing that much trouble at all. I rather think there is something else wrong. It is hard to tell without knowing your notebook and what you are trying to achieve...

Now for the legal stuff - I am not an expert in that field and can't predict what side effects may happen by altering that file and using it afterwards.

 

Yes I have this problem. Also, if I shut down my laptop, take out the battery (leaving only AC power plugged in) and then start the machine up again, I get the same problem. I use CPU-Z and the Intel CPU Identification Utility to check CPU clock rate. Looks like Intel speed step is not working on my machine no matter what combo of power options and bios settings I use. I am continuing to troubleshoot and may send the laptop in for repair...

 

This sucks. After waiting all this time to receive my laptop, it comes yesterday, and immediately upon turning it on there is a blaring read dead/stuck pixel in the lower center of the screen. Now I'm waiting for Lenovo to send me a box next Tuesday to send it in for a repacement screen. I just hope their turnaround is fast as I'm in the military and moving/deploying in early/mid June.

Edit: It looks like I will have to call back Monday to add another defect. It appears as if the Bluetooth module was never installed. The software is there, although it doesn't load at startup. When I go in device manager to look for the Bluetooth module it is nowhere to be found.

I thought Lenovo might have better quality control than HP did...right now I'm not a satisfied consumer.

 

the fact that you are army boy doesent make you superior to any other person who bought "consumer laptop" it aint got balaclava inside the box does it? , but I feel for you about sie pixel as i had problem which also req to send it for replacement.

 

He did not imply that it made him superior.

Anyway, I hope Lenovo gets FHD screens back in stock sometime this century. I've been waiting since January .

 

I got tired of waiting for FHD screens. I don't know if they are ever going to get them. I ordered and just received an HP Elitebook 8540w with a FHD display. Even has a "pointing stick" similar to the Thinkpads. Great machine. Love it.

I've had numerous thinkpads both personally and when working for IBM and like the styling and reliability a lot but it is just irresponsible for Lenovo to run out of stock of displays and remain out of stock for months. What happens if you have an FHD and it goes bad? Do you wait months for your machine to be fixed? I think Lenovo has some serious problems.

 

Thanks. I didn't think I said anything "harsh" either, insinuating that I wanted better treatment than anyone else. I was just being very hopeful that Lenovo's repair times are good.

For anyone who has had to have an HD+ display replaced, how long did it take you from the time you mailed it to the time you got it back?

 

ok Im not sure about what happens in americas , but here in UK they replaced my FHD in 5 days! with a perfect screen no leaks no bad pixels nothing, no pink tints.

 

UPDATE:

I have successfully Updated my Bios to a latest release. this has remedied the mic mute button problem on my W510 and the overlay response of the volume control. Im not sure if there are any side effects of any kind like with all remedies lol

generally I recommend doing it the following way,

USE THE DOWNLOAD MANAGER! such as orbit or FDM, any.

to download BIOS go here (this is for those who are unaware where) Lenovo Support & downloads - Drivers and software - ThinkPad T410, T410i, T410s, T410si, T510, T510i and W510

then get the PC ver of bios (thers also the ISO ver. which you need to burn on CD if you are unable to use the EXE ver. for whatever reason) exit all running progs and read the manual.





System Model 4318CTO
System Type x64-based PC
BIOS Version/Date LENOVO (1.17 ), 4/19/2010
SMBIOS Version 2.6

 

Question for previous and current Lenovo owners. It's been a while since I've owned a laptop. How durable are the keyboards? I've never liked putting keyboard covers on as they look bad and don't feel right but I also don't want to see the letters start to wear off. Are Lenovo keyboards durable with respect to that kind of wear? How much does a keyboard cost to replace in the future after lots of use?

 

q: how often and how much time u spend typing
q: what is the environment
q:/a: keyboards cost about 20pounds or about 40$ new all keyboards wear out.
thers one solution i can see here for you if you don't like "protection" and more sensation lol there are silicon stickers sold high grade atleast here from uk bay sellers they are of very good quality and will not look feel or act odd.

I bought em as my keys wore out on T30 a bit. but from the other hand you can have em as preventive measure they'd be 100% better than "protection hehe

 

I'd guess if you're typing so much to wear the letters off the keys you probably already know how to touch type without looking. Also, as already mentioned, you can get stick-on protectors or replacement letters if really needed, or even buy a new keyboard (cheap) if it wears out. You might also be able to use something like clear nail polish applied to each key to add more durability to the paint.

Just like any consumer product, they are designed to meet a majority of consumers needs. If you really need something significantly more durable, you should look at something like a Toughbook. However, the replacement cost of the keyboard is probably so small as to make that moot. Also, as an IT pro for 15 years, I would say that these days laptop keyboards are not built to significantly lower quality than many desktop keyboards. Finally, keep in mind that Thinkpads are designed to be more durable than many other brands.

 

Cool...thanks for the feedback. I'll keep my eye out for the stickers, although by the sounds of it I'll just use as normal and pick up a new keyboard in the future if the need arises, since they sound pretty cheap.

 

I have an X61 tablet that's almost at 3 years, and there's absolutely no wear on the keyboard. Your mileage may vary, depending on the oil content and acidity of your hand sweat, and how often you clean your keyboard (I do it way more often than most people).

 

Any player here?
I'm looking for a laptop that could do both (work+games) if possible.

Would it run World of Warcraft with Ultra settings on native resolution well?

 

I play bad company 2 on it online. No problem doing that.
My only complain is that i need to change drivers back to lenovo original when i want audio on display port since the newer nvidia drivers dont support this.

 

I play portal (native fairly high)
left 4 dead is amazing
i posted fps and setting early in the thread

overall not amazing
but great if you consider the battery life

 

you discredited yourself when you said you got tablet lol

I've got the X60S and w764 on it and keyboard in perfect condition,also I think that x60 and x61 series had one of the best keyboards in IBM history.