Lenovo W510 Owner's Thread

interesting, I ordered one on 1/28. What do you know about the shipping dates for these? =)

 

I ordered one on the 1/11. ETA is the week of 2/15

 

Got my W510 today (I7-820QM, 4 GB RAM, 500 GB 7200rpm HDD, HD+ display, colour sensor) after it cleared customs yesterday. I'm in Canada and got the Visaperks discount (that was great).

While I was contemplating kicking myself for ordering the HD+ display and not the FHD one, and researching it on the net, my shipment came.

The screen is significantly better than my fluorescent-backlit ThinkPad R60, so I'm really happy with my decision there. I didn't need FHD, even though I do photo editing (sometimes a lot). I found this page http://www.anandtech.com/weblog/showpost.aspx?i=569 which has a lot of discussion on gamut and resolution, so please spend some time thinking about this and not just going for the highest resolution display because it sounds good.

BTW, the graphics card is the Quadro FX 880M, and the HD is a Seagate Momentus 7200.4 (ST9500420AS).

 

Welcome to the club!

I'm still trying to figure out a few things. I do a LOT of photo editing, but I'm not sure what software I'm supposed to be using for the color calibration of the screen. Did yours come with that sensor?

L.

 

Thanks! I haven't got any work done today because I'm so excited with the new machine! Well, I can consider installing software to be "work".

Yes, I ordered it with the sensor because I don't want to have to worry about manual calibration. I was working on a budget too, one of the reasons I didn't go with the FHD display, besides that my eyes aren't great (28 years of staring at computer screens), and 1600x900 is high enough for me on a 15.6" display (many people with perfect eyesight don't like too high res on that size display either).

 

Yeah...there's a huge difference in resolution, and I definately needed some getting used to. I have a 1920x1200 screen at home, but it's 24", the pixel density coming from that screen is pretty insane!.

I have the color sensor as well, I just don't know how to use it...The first thing I did was format the system, so I'm not sure if I'm missing out on any software or not...

 

Son of a....


Ok, false alarm. UPS delivered the docking station. Apparently, my laptop IS still down in Kentucky.

CRAP!

 

HI. Got a question about the customs. I live in canada too and am wondering whether you paid duty at the customs or the laptop is duty exempt?

 

I expected it to be exempt as I ordered it from Lenovo Canada, and it was.

 

I just opened the s/w for this - it's hueyPRO version "Lenovo Version 1.2.1." Hope this helps.

The colour calibration works really well! It made a significant change from the out-of-the-box settings.

 

Hello?

*tap* *tap*

This thing on?

Where are the pictures?

 

I think I need to wait until Lenovo posts it up. I tried the one onlie right now (1.1.7), and it doesn't seem to work. It installs fine, but when it tells me to close my cover, the computer just goes to sleep, and that's it....

I'm sure it'll be up in a few days.

Thanks!

 

I saw that one too; seems like it's for the W500, not the W510.

 

Oh yeah, nice to read!

Is there anything like a calibration report after doing it? before + after...

very curious!!!

Best + Thanks, Walter

 

I just took a few pics now but I'll have to process and post them later as I'm going out now.

Just installed GIMP on the new machine for editing later

 

Immediately after calibration it lets you click "before" and "after" buttons to compare (you can click as much as you like before exiting).

 

Dansari, just wondering where in Canada you're living in? I ordered from Lenovo Canada as well and it cleared yesterday in Ontario(customs), but living on the West Coast, I don't expect to get anything till next week I figure.

 

I'm in Mississauga. It cleared customs in Toronto yesterday at 8:30am, and I got it today around 1pm.

 

Yeah, the UPS site was updated. Turns out it'll be here on the 11th.

 

Is is possible to export that color calibration and post it here, maybe using NVidia control panel ?

I didn't get the color sensor since it certainly won't work under Linux.

Still waiting for my W510+FHD... I'm in Canada, and still NO CHANGE to my order since 27 Jan...

 

Jealousy... rising...

 

Call Lenovo. They should give you a tracking # for UPS (I didnt get one through email correspondence). Based on UPS, mine has already cleared customs and is on the move (is in Canada). They haven't updated my order via their website though.

 

Did you order the FHD or FHD Multi? I'm also in Canada and can't seem to get the FHD screen without multi-touch. I'm going to be running linux as well so I doubt it will support the multi-touch functions in the first place.

 

No multi-touch; Don't want it. Its not a tablet pc. No finger oil on my screen please!

 

Here's a few pics I took earlier this evening:

[deleted - see later post with better pics]

 

That, and a few posts ago I read that it is rated at lower nits brightness. Forget that, give me more nits.

 

I should be getting mine soon. I opted for the HD+ screen though instead of FHD though. I have a DELL 24" 1920x1200 screen at home and I wish the res was 1680x1050 instead at times - cramming a 1920x1080 res on a 15.6" screen would not be ideal based on my preference (and eyes).

 

Good Morning

Can you report about color temperature before calibration and deltaE values from profiling? Would be a big help for decision.

Best, Walter

 

90% of females perfer guys with more RAM

 

Anyone know why the 4yr deport warranty is cheaper than 3yr?

 

Hey. Thanks for the quick response. How heavy are these W510s. The reason i am asking is from time to time, i may be required to travel and wonder how heavy these beasts are to carry around. If it is in the 5.5 pound range, then am a happy.

 

Here are a couple of better pics than the ones I took yesterday evening (under tungsten lighting):





One thing I don't like about the design is the "grille" things flanking the keyboard. I think the only way to get dust out is to suck it out with a vacuum cleaner.

 

I must say it looks really good (matte!) and high-quality overall.

What's that thing between the touchpad and fingerprint reader? This color calibrator?

 

Nice pics. Thanks.

 

I like your machine, looks so nice! I hope it can fit the small keyboard on the right side. Have you tested your graphic card? Waiting for your result: 3dmark 06,3dvantage and SPECviewperf 10

 

Yep, that's the colour sensor. You activate it by running hueyPRO from the System Tray (is it still called that in Windows 7? LOL I just upgraded from XP), then it tells you to close the lid; it then runs its stuff and beeps to tell you it's done.

 

I haven't seen anyone mention the sound card. How is it? I listen to quite a bit of music while I work and I would hate to have some cheap component in there.

 

Thanks! I haven't tested anything yet; I'm trying to install SQL Server Developer Edition on it right now. I don't think I can download that, darn...

 

Device Manager says it's NVIDIA High Definition Audio; I don't know where to find more details.

It sounds fantastic compared to my R60, cranked up at full volume. Also, unlike my R60, I can feel all the vibrations in the keyboard, kind of like driving a manual car and feeling the engine vibration in the gear stick.

 

Just did a Windows Experience Index Benchmark in Windows 7. Results as follows:

Processor: 6.9
Memory: 5.9
Graphics/Aero: 6.4
Graphics/Gaming: 6.4
Disk Transfer Rate: 5.9

My specs are:
Intel Core i7 720
4GB PC10666
Quadro FX 880M
500GB HDD 7200RPM

Running Windows 7 Ultimate x64

 

I just ran it now (same specs but I7 820 QM and Windows 7 Pro 64):

Processor: 7.1
Memory: 5.9
Graphics/Aero: 6.4
Graphics/Gaming: 6.4
Disk Transfer Rate: 5.9

Processor improvement is marginal on this test suite; I expected it to be about 10% better.

 

Dansari,

Can you snap a few pics showing the overall thickness and port layout? Additionally, one of the bottom with the battery in/out. I'm trying to get a sense of overall, uh, girth.

 

Newegg has pics of the T510 up. Bottom as well.

 

The W510 looks very similar to that T510. To me, it looks identical.

 

Yikes, the 510 sure looks like it put on a few pounds these last few years....

 

Checkout the WINSAT score at http://twitter.com/Keith_Combs/status/8733775711

I can't tell which SSD he has, but the score is smokin.

 

It's not technically "fully loaded" because he's got the 820QM, and not the 920XM.

I'm happy with the 820; it's not as power hungry a beast. I might go for a SSD next year, when prices come down.

 

Appears to be a lost cause in the near future, but the widescreen design is so lame compared to 4:3. Sorry - that's just my first thought looking at that wide bezels on the sides of the keyboard and the shorter vertical reading room (don't the LCD makers understand why books are usually made in the portrait format?). It also makes full screen displays of vertical format photos really small.

I wonder how the high end screen with the color calibration compares to the 1600x1200 IPS screen on my T60p?

 

About the only good thing about the 16:9 format is that it forces the machine to be wider, spacing the speakers out slightly further for a better stereo effect

I can confirm though that the DPI is approximately the same as my R60 @1400x1050 (just going by sight, not measurements/calculations), so it doesn't hurt the eyes if you're used to that.

 

It is probably an Intel X-25 160gb