Lenovo W510 Owner's Thread

Experience? Not sure what you are looking for here... It doesn't interfere with my use of the laptop in anyway, and it calibrates the lcd as intended. ???

 

Unless you will end up migrating to an i7-920XM, I wouldn't bother with 1333Mhz memory. 1066Mhz will not make a noticeable difference and I have heard about systems not functioning realiably on 4x1333Mhz modules. I have 4x1066Mhz 4Gb and it's blazingly fast.

As for the SDD, I'd say go for the Intel Postville 160Gb 34nm generation 2 drives or possibly th more recent Samsung 256Gb SSD drives. I have had OCZ Vertex Turbo 2 and it gave me grief on the bios-level HDD passwords and it consumed more power. I've been quite happy with the intel postville ever since.

 

Hi, I am new here.

Just ordered my W510 today

my order:
INTEL CORE I7-720QM
2GB RAM (1X2GB) DDR3 SDRAM, 1066 MHz
15.6" Full HD (1920 x 1080) 16:9 aspect 95% colour gamut Anti-Glare NVIDIA QUADRO FX880M 1GB GRAPHICS
9-cell lithium ion
3Yr Basic Warranty Extension

CA$1380 before HST.

After more than 1 hours exploring this thread, I decide to ask you for help before it's too late to change my order.

1. I ordered the cheapest option for RAM, which is 1X2GB. May I replace it with 4X2GB 1333Mhz? I found a website saying the one installed with my order is a non-removable ram.
here is the link
http://www.crucial.com/upgrade/compatible-memory-for/Lenovo/ThinkPad+W510+Series/list.html

2. When I was ordering, there was no option for Color Sensor. May I order it thru Lenovo's hot line? How much?

3. How long will I receive it?

you help is more than appreciated.


For SSD, it is super fast, it only takes 20 sec to perform a full reboot for my X300. But it was dead last week; and because of the tek, I am not able to retreive any data in it. Lenovo sent me a used servisable SSD, but all valuable data was gone forever. You have to backup on daily basis. no kidding.

 

For the RAM, you can probably get it much cheaper if you order 4x2GB modules instead of 2x4GB. This laptop supports 4 RAM modules. Also, 1066MHz RAM is enough and you won't notice a difference between that and 1333MHz. All RAM should be removable.

 

Thank you so much, Orev.


any idea for the Color Sensor and shipping time?

thanks a lot

 

The color sensor is built-in, so I don't think you can add it on later. If you need one you are better off buying an external one, as it's something you could also use on other computers. If you have it built-in, you can't do that and have to spend more money to get one the next time.

 

Thanks again, Orev

Yes, I have a i1 Display (Eye one display), also made by X-rite. But I am not sure it will work with my W510, because i1 needs adjustment on RGB, brightness and Contract. Does W510 have these adjustment function? I never see a notebook with these adjustment.

Also, I heard that the sensor come with display is more accurate, is the one with W510 accurate?

Once the order is summited, I cannot change my order? I thought Thinkpad customize our order, right?

have a nice day!

 

I ordered my W510 on 11/24/10 and got an estimated ship date of 12/7, but the notification just popped up in my inbox saying it's shipped! That was fast.

Looking forward to it!

 

1 week is very fast.

I added Color Sensor to my order today, for 43 CAD. Hope it is useful and accurate.

 

I ordered a W510 on 11/26 with an estimated ship date of Dec 9th - which has now been changed to Dec 13th. I guess I am not in that lucky club.

I have a question. I bought another 4GB Dimm and I have been reading that the install should be specific to achieve maximum speed. Where is the second 4GB Dimm suppose to be installed to properly achieve the optimal performance?

 

It's a pretty decent deal at $70 but keep in mind it only calibrates the laptop LCD. I use the Datacolor sensor for all of my LCD panels and laptops. See http://spyder.datacolor.com/product-mc-s3elite.php

 

Does anyone use a external battery charger for their W510 - part # 40Y7625 ? I am thinking about buying this and a extra battery. Also, has anyone utilized the "slice battery" and if so what is your experience?

 

yes, I know. I have my i1 Display 2 by X-rite for other LCDs.

Hope the one on W510 does a great job. The price is so good.

 

Hello!
How to make clean install win7 on a new W510?
Just ordered laptop with Win7 64 preinstalled, so the question is there any disks in the box or where to get installation DVD with win7?

 

There are no clean install disks that ship with it. You will have to borrow or download a disc to use. Please search around as there are links in this forum for places to get it legally. Also see my ABR tool (signature) for ways to backup and restore your OEM activation to help ease the installation.

 

All Right Gentlemen instead of messing around with the other brands for at least a month trying to figure out what I really wanted, and bought, a Lenovo W510. It is waiting for me at home to be opened and played with. I will have hands on this coming Saturday!!

The model is: 43192PU
CPU: I went with the Core i7-720QM
HD: 320GB, I have the Seagate Momentus xt 500as a back up drive that I may or may not replace the 320 with. I haven't made up my mind.
RAM: 4 gb
Sceen: Non touch but the 1920 x 1080 FHD
WWAN Option
Finger Print Reader
Win 7 64 bit

I have been wanting a Thinkpad/ Lenovo for a real long time, and since my old Asus W3V is acting real flakey I figured now was the time. Plus I really didn't want to wait for the new processors because of the price I feared they would command. I feel I made a real good decision. And yeah I am excited!!
I may end up getting a dock for it but not right now. All I really need is a small usb hub to get me by. Honestly I don't use many usb devices so I may not even need that.
I know that I need to make the system discs and I have no problem with that but is there anything else I should do first? Anything to keep an eye out for?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks guys I can't wait, I just needed to tell somebody!!

Val0673

 

hi all,
i addded 8 gb ram to my w510. everything works fine!
I just wanted to report that the informations given by lenovo on the population of memory dimms, ( Lenovo Support - What is the correct DIMM slot order to populate additional memory DIMMs - ThinkPad W510, W701, W701ds) contains an error: it's inverted the slot 0 with the slot 2. According to their indications, my upgrading didn't worked (only detected 6 gb of the 12 gb); moreover, the factory setting was made as if slot 0 and slot 2 of their article were inverted.

Hope that some more expert people can confirm it.

At the end I added to the 4 gb of the factory setting, 8 gb ( Newegg.com - G.SKILL 8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Laptop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBSQ)
paired like this
4+4 in the bottom side, slot left (ref to the photo in the article), and keybord side upper slot
2+2 in the bottom side right ,and keyboard side lower slot.

Should this work fine, and is it the best placement of dimms?

Bye, Dario

 

Hi guys

Just received my W510 in the mail on Thurs. Pretty happy with it so far -- seems very fast. First observations:

- Fan sound - primary fan is always on. Not loud by any means but you will notice it if you are in a quiet place.
- Is a little thicker and bigger than I was expecting
- Keyboard has a slight flex on the right side under the Enter key
- Keyboard definitely has a different feel than the old IBMs, though it looks identical
- Has a nice mute key that lights amber when activated
- Comes with DPI preset to 120%
- 1900 x 1020 screen is great
- Disappointed at the lack of recovery media. All I have is a separate partition on the HD which is bad for two reasons: 1- it takes up 10 gigs, 2- if the drive fails and you need to recover, too bad!

 

All new laptops come like this these days. It's up to you to burn the recovery discs yourself. Read the docs or look for one of the Lenovo programs that's preinstalled that allows you to do that.

 

Thanks orev. I plan to use your Activation backup for this very purpose.

And I still think it's cheap on Lenovo's part to not spring for the extra $3 and include a copy to be included with their higher-end machines.

 

Dos anyone try this one?
Notebook Internal 2.5 Inch 7200 RPM Mini Hard Drives: 320GB-500GB SATA 7200 RPM | Seagate

 

Okay everyone
I am now sitting here writing this post with my brand new Lenovo W510 and all I can say is WOW this thing rocks! I really, honestly love this machine. I really love the screen the most I was worried about that the most for some reason. I would recommend this machine to anyone with out any hesitation. You guys made me a Thinkpad nut!!

Vals0673

 

I'm glad you'll check out ABR, but it won't help you with making the Recovery Discs!

Any SATA hard drive will work fine.

 

Yes it will work, but I’m wondering how? Will it be much, much better than normal spin drive, or just better! Does anyone try it yet?
thanks

 

I noticed that in battery mode the w510 can't handle 1080p video, even in maximum performance mode. Processor is downclocked to save battery, but I find the fact that it can't hande hd videos a bit disappointing. I have FHD display, and the movie is recorded with the codec AVC/h.264

 

Pretty much all disks will perform the same, and installing one of those you will see no difference in performance, and certainly not worth the cost. The only way you will see a big difference in speed is if you bought an SSD.

 

Hey Guys quick question here, if no one minds. I made the back up discs and used a cd for the first Bootable), and then two blank DVDs for the rest. Well my question is, is that the right amount of discs? I thought it was three DVDs plus the first cd. Anyone with a quck answer I'm just trying to make sure I have all the restore files I need. Thanks in advance!

Val0673

 

The first disc can be a cd or DVD. There will be three discs total not three DVDs plus a boot disc.

 

There seems to be some confusion on the placement of RAM on the W510. I bought a W510 with 4GB of 1333 and purchase a second 4GB Dimm which I will install when it arrives. Which slot should the RAM be installed in to achieve dual Channel? And I guess another question is where will the original 4GB Dimm be installed when I get the W510 (if it ever arrives)?

 

If memory serves the single dimm will be in slot 0. My system came with two dimms and they were adjacent to each other 0 and 1. I'm not sure but I think that's the way it shipped hopefully that was dual channel ready. I almost immediately went to 16 GB of ram.

 

Well the stuff is DDR3 triple channel. If you have 4 gb, 2gb is on the bottom of the laptop and 2 are under the keyboard which has to be removed to access. There are slots for two more RAM cards, one each next to the ones described. I have 6gb now but could not get the keyboard out so did not put in the last 2gb yet. I have found that I can do multiple things at the same time...back-up, play HD movie, have 10 programs open and not use more than about 3GB.

 

Thanks Andre I just wanted to be sure.


Val0673

 

The service manual should have all the answers
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...k_GHIR38UR5fbBBdg&sig2=8fdK0H1sRHNKn6k1mvP3XA

 

The manual does not address the question(s) adequately. The ram slots in the manual are not labeled sequentially 0, 1, 2, and 3 as one would expect. They are labeled 0 and 1 for both pairs of slots which includes those under the laptop chassis and those under the keyboard. Further, the string "dual channel" does not appear anywhere in the document, so they do not really tell you where to put the DIMMs in order to realize dual channel operation.

If this does appear in the manual and I missed it, please give page numbers as I would be just as interested as the OP in knowing more about it. Thanks!

 

So how does "dual channel" work with triple channel memory? They do tell you to start with slot 0 bottom, then slot zero top. I assume you would then start with slot 1 bottom and slot 1 top. ??????

 

I had 4gb, 2 down and 2 up using 2 dimms. I added one down per the instructions to get 6 and it shows 6 in control panel system. I could not get the key board out to put in the 4th 2gb module. Pressed down pretty hard but no luck. Any tricks to recommend?
Thanks

 

That's just it the manual doesn't tell you to do either. It does not specify any priority beyond "if using a single DIMM, use slot 0". Don't let the DDR3 base of the RAM confuse you. Dual channel (for the motherboard) refers to the increased bandwidth for ram to cpu communication. DDRx refers to the bandwidth each DIMM can accomodate. Strangely enough these two things are quite independent of each other.

EDIT: The manual linked by orev is a great resource for removing the keyboard. It works, you have to be firm.

EDIT2: Be sure to remove the keyboard screws...

 

Just curious, but what do you do that requires 16GB RAM?

 

In my day job, I'm a bioanalytical chemist that deveops new instrumentation for chem/bio analysis. In so doing, I am tasked with molecular and process modeling, instrument design, production, and validation. To accomplish this, I use Autodesk Inventor, EdgeCAM, FeatureCAM, COMSOL, Origin Pro, Adobe MC CS5, ChemOffice Suite, and etc. Often, I'm using 5-7 of these apps simultaneously while running unnamed software developed by a company called Hydroid in a virtual machine. I have not occupied all of this ram at any point before, but I do not use a page file and having headroom is nice. I can say that this has been the best performing portable computer I've ever had the pleasure of using. My T61p was great, but this thing gives me googly eyes.

 

Hey Guys,
I have another question I'm hoping you can help me with. I have the W510 with the 9 cell battery, sticks out the back. I have been trying to order a sleeve from sfbags.com, also known as waterfield design. I have been getting the run around with the dimensions from the sales staff. One sales person is quoting me one thing and their web site is showing me another. My question is, which sleeve are you guys using with your laptop if any? It will be placed into a back pack while its inside the sleeve for added protection. I really liked the sleeves from sfbags.com but I have answered and replied to their emails about 4 or five different times now and honestly its giving me a headache dealing with them. Its a shame to because they have a great product but this transaction is turning into a nightmare with them. Any suggestions? Does any one else use the sfbags.com sleeves? If so what are the dimensions or model you have used?

Thanks again

Val0673

 

Quoted below is the response from Gary regarding a sleeve for both my T61p and W510. Bear in mind the T61p is smaller, so the native W510 sleeve works for both.

Hi Andre,

Thanks - I see.

I have your W510 at 14.7" x 9.6" x 1.4"

and your T61p.... do you have the 15.4" screen or the 14.1" screen?

15.4" = 14.1" x 10.8" x 1.4"
14.1" = 12.3" x 10.8" x 1.3"

To have one case that would fit both (one at a time) size no. 30-21

This size would take care of all three sizes actually.

Anything else, let us know.

Best regards,
Gary

 

I have tried creating the restore discs twice now, only to have the DVD writer become 'unavailable' after one disc is ejected and another inserted. Is this being caused by power management? How do you turn it off?

Also, is it possible to order a set of discs from Lenovo directly?

 

Thanks Andre,
I'll fire off another email to them this should solve the problem. Do you have the 9 cell battery in your W510 or a smaller battery?
Thanks
Val0673

 

I'm not sure I understand the problem. Measure the laptop length, width (including the battery bulge), and height, and match it up using the chart that pops up when you select "Lenovo". There's even an entry for "W510 - 9 cell battery". What is the problem you are having with them?

 

I have the 9 cell.

 

Orev, I've measured the unit out and gave them the dimensions. I don't know if it's on their end or the sales rep in question isn't reading what I'm writing. I have ordered in the past with no issues. I even followed their chart. I will see what happens today. The confusion came when they emailed a set of dimensions that didn't match what was on their chart.

Andre, thanks I also have the 9 cell so I'll let them know the same model will work for me also.

Thanks Guys for the help

Val0673

 

It's in the Lenovo Power Management (not sure if this is the actual name as I am away from the notebook at the moment)- I ran into the same issue and it drove me nuts. I actually had to reinstall the optical drive drivers. After I did that, I went into the Lenovo Power Manager and found the option to keep the optical drive from automatically switching off when the computer was plugged in.

 

I have a minor quibble. In the interest of resolving it, or at least finding company to share in my misery, LOL! I will expound on it here. Periodically, my computer places the drop down menus in programs to the left of the click as one would expect on a tablet, but this is no tablet so it irks me a bit. I go into the control panel [start>control panel>tablet pc settings>other>left handed] and change it, but it switches back sporadically. What am I doing to cause this? Is it possible to stop it from happening?

 

I see in Windows Update that a graphics driver update is available, dated November. Having already installed an update from Nvidia's site dated October ( http://www.nvidia.com/object/notebook-win7-winvista-64bit-260.99-whql-driver.html), I'm wondering if this is the same thing?

 

I picked the 30-21 from the following site.

WaterField Designs | Lenovo/IBM SleeveCase Sizing Chart

The W510 is listed with 9-cell and the 30-21 is a perfect match!