Lenovo W520 Owner's Thread

Guys

Does anybody know if there's a lighter travel power adaptor for the W520? The one that ships with it is really really heavy!

Thanks

 

Just got a new w520 as a work machine, switched back to Windows from MBP, couldn't be happier.

The only problem I have is with the display which my only ordering option was HD+. Would it be possible to retrofit a FHD panel in place of the HD+?

I am looking at the maintenance manual and for the FHD supported models it does have the 4284-CTO, my model is 4284-CV4. Does anyone know if CTO means something.

The Lenovo price is over 600!!!, so it would obviously be a aftermarket.

I am assuming the pinout is the same and the quadro 1000m is an option on FHD builds.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

 

CTO = Configured To Order

 

I got the wimax option and then found out that I would rarely use it so I bought the ultimate card and installed it. It did increase the range. there was an area in my house that my connection was intermittant with the wimax card that doesn't disconnect now. I haven't noticed the difference otherwise. For me the ultimate card is the best fit. If not for the one dead spot I would not have purchased the second card.

 

They should be totally independent. The Gobi 3000 requires a SIM card, so you can use your 3G data plan. WiMAX coverage isn't too great.

If you want top-notch performance with standard 802.11 wifi, and have no need for WiMAX, you should go for the 6300 over the 6205.

 

Thanks, guys. That is exactly the kind of advice I needed. Greatly appreciated!

 

I bought the 130W Lenovo Power Adapter at Amazon to use for travel.
It weighs about the same as the 170W, but is a bit smaller.
It works fine with my W520 (i7-2820). (may not work with the i7-2920, which uses 10W more)

 

Guys

I suddenly lost sound through my w520 speakers. When i attach a headphone, i get sound but a very very low volume. Anybody else ran into this?

 

1. Did you turn your volume up?
2. Did you try installing new drivers?
3. Do your speakers make a clicking sound when you try playing sound through them? If they do, it is a known issue that requires RMAing the machine for a motherboard replacement.

 

sometimes my buttons on the keyboard don't work but if I click on the speaker icon on my toolbar the speakers work and the buttons work after that.

 

Guys what is the benefit of W520 Smart Card Reader for average user?

 

it provides no benefit unless you use smartcard.

 

What lead_org said. Smartcards are typically used by companies to provide for secure access to computers, kind of in the same way a college student would use their ID card to enter their dorm building.

 

Thank you guys to clear that up. It would be cool if we could use our credit card!

 

Seeing as both use chips within the card (RFID iirc), I don't see why it wouldn't be technically possible. However, one would probably have to rewrite to coding in the reader to accept a credit card as a form of ID.

 

Actually if Lenovo could implement this feature, that would be awesome!

 

anyone who owns Kingston Hyper X 1600Mhz inside W520 can check 2 things please

1. how HOT these modules are while running?
2. did you find worse battery life with these modules?

I just found few reviews, who is claiming that they got so issues after installing these modules (both mac related)

so want to be sure that there are no so issues with W520 and these modules

 

I think that they think that a fingerprint scanner is good enough for the average Joe (I think so too, since it's not reasonably possible to steal someone's fingerprint. Credit cards, OTOH.... )

I've never heard of any sort of memory running hot; that usually means that there might be a problem in the electrical circuits and that maybe too much current was going into the RAM modules. If that's the case, they either received faulty chips, or a faulty Mac.

Generally, more RAM chips don't really affect overall battery life. They take up so little power that adding a full 16GB of RAM would only stuck up maybe a minute or two of battery life. I am able to get 8 hours on battery with either 4GB installed, or 12GB installed (one Samsung 1333MHz, two Mushkin 1333MHz).

 

1. no issues
2. no noticeable difference

 

Hi, I just ordered a W520 from Tiger Direct, with 2820QM/8GB RAM/Quadro 1000M.
I intend to connect a ViDock with GTX 560 Ti via ExpressCard to it, does anyone envision any problems? (OS will be changed to Windows 7 Ultimate x64 Chinese)
I read somewhere that I need to downgrade the BIOS to allow ViDock to be recognized sometime ago, is that information still relevant?

 

Anyone know if external gpu works with this? I have the pci-e socket and card but I dont have a gpu atm, I think I tried it quickly where it didnt give me an image, but anyone heard of something doing it?

 

Zero if your company doesn't use them, and assuming your bank doesn't require it for online banking.

 

I plan to do it. I just ordered a W520 and I have a ViDock with GPU ready.

 

When do you have it ready (if all goes well)? could I get you to pm me your results

 

I assume I would get the W520 delivered by Friday, and I intend to do comprehensive benchmarking on it this weekend (i.e. the differences between x1, x2, Optimus)

 

how will you do x2?

 

I'll see what options I get with Nando's eGPU setup software.
I know the slot itself should be X1 2.0, but I don't know how Optimus or the other option works.

 

Received my W520 two days ago, and so far I absolutely love it. The keyboard is a real pleasure! The trackpad isn't nearly as nice as the one on my Macbook Pro, which I prefer even to the trackpads on the newer Macbook Pros, but the Trackpoint is a great surprise. I really like it.

The display, build, ease of HD installation... all outstanding. So far so great!

 

Hey guys so I finally pulled the trigger on the W520! I played around with the Sony Vaio SE but it just wasn't for me and I wanted something more powerful with better build quality. It should arrive tomorrow hopefully. I'm wondering if there is anything I need to do when I get it? Update BIOS, graphics driver etc...? I ordered it with FHD screen and the Quadro 1000 card.
I read that this card is comparable to the GT 540m. Is that true? I'm not a heavy gamer but I play some games (FIFA 12, Flight simulator) casually so will it be able to handle them? I don't care if the settings aren't maxed out. The 2000m is out of my budget so I couldn't get that.

Also can anybody recommend a good display port to HDMI adaptor? Thanks!

 

By specs, yes, I can confirm that it is slightly faster than a GT 540M. Though, I have not compared the two side by side.

 

Hi
All those lucky chaps that have got their W520 recently, did you find any place for a good deal? B&N is not running any great deals right now. And I don't expect Lenovo to be generous during Thanksgiving for the W520

 

What do you consider a good deal?

 

The best I've seen in the past month or two was something like 12-15% off on top of the B&N price, then you get $150 statement credit for purchasing it with AMEX.

 

I assume the 1000M would be slightly slower than the 540M because Quadro cards are not optimized for gaming, even though both have 96 unified cores and the 1000M is clocked slightly higher.

 

The amex Lenovo deal expires tomorow. Do you think waiting Thanksgiving will be better?

 

Treat the W520 like you would a car and haggle over the phone over the price.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/456885-aw-dell-ordering-advice-how-save.html (works with any computer company, not just Dell)

 

Any DisplayPort->HDMI cable or adapter will probably do. For instance, DP (DisplayPort) Male to HDMI Female Adapter does work fine.

 

I don't know.

Speaking of the amex deal, is the $150 credit rewarded when you make a purchase before the 19th or when your credit card gets charge? I called lenovo and they told me that my credit card will get charged once the laptop is built and shipped.

 

Thanks. I didn't think of that caveat!

 

You can always give the Quadro a good kick in the clock speeds.

 

Hey guys!
I've got the W520 with 8GB ram+Quadro 2000M and im trying to run some tests before and after a fresh installation of Windows 7 [which I hope will improve performance], and also before updating to Bios 1.33

I have used 3DMark Vantage and I got the score of 6898 [performance mode]:
NVIDIA Quadro 2000M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-2720QM Processor,LENOVO 4270CTO score: P6898 3DMarks

I wanted to ask if thats a decent score or is it lower than normal for this W520? Can Anyone help here?

 

Your score sucks. Your machine is likely misconfigured and using the wrong drivers. It should be closer to
NVIDIA Quadro 2000M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-2720QM Processor,LENOVO 4284A58 score: 11575 3DMarks

 

Thank you Very much for telling me the hard truth, man

Now I need to figure out whats causing this low score.
Again..I am using 3DMark Vantage version and I was testing it on the "Performance" setting. not high or Ultra.

I am using the latest Quadro 2000M drivers downloaded from Nvidia's site
[285.62 version]. Maybe thats why?
I have tried reinstalling these drivers using the ones from Lenovo's website- but something was fishy there.
All I got at the end of the install was "NVIDIA HD Audio" but no Physx or anything else..So that's why I've turned to Nvidia's site instead of Lenovo's.
Any Suggestions on how to fix this & improve performance?Battlefield 3 runs very avarage on LOW settings..so it sucks

 

You're comparing 3DMark 06 to Vantage there.

I run BF3 at medium at 30FPS at 1920x1080. You should use the beta NVidia drivers.

 

Hi guys,

Has anybody experienced very poor Quadro 2000M on their laptops? Every game I play suffers from terrible stutter when that didn't happen 1 month ago. In fact, some games like FIFA 12 play better with Integrated graphics!
I ask this after updating to latest drivers (official from Lenovo and even Nvidia ones don't make a difference) & latest Bios...
The problem seems to be isolated to the Quadro 2000M because there is NO stuttering at all with integrated graphics. Interestingly in Unigine heaven, sometimes it is smooth and in other opportunities stutters like hell... I found out that the heat that comes from the Notebook is not as important as before and when I use utilities like Nvidia Inspector (no overclocking at all) the temp climbs up to >90C very rapidly.
Any suggestions? I think that there is some heating issue with the Quadro itself & plan to use the warranty.
Thanks for your help.

 

I haven't experiences anything bad concerning the 2000M. Haven't updated any drivers since I bought it in June.

 

Yea, all those fonts and colors bring out the anger...

Let's start with the basics. When you are running the test, is your BIOS display setting integrated, optimus, or discrete? I ran mine on discrete.

 

Ha! I didn't even notice. So what should a good score be?

 

Dunno lol. I'll give 3DMark Vantage a go on my system.

 

Forgot to make disk when first get machine. Later on, installed ubuntu and accidentally removes the windows 7 preload partition. I had to get a OEM version of windows 7 prof., and was able to activate through phone with key on W520. But it shows OEM version now. Overall it runs good. But the boot time is super slow about 100sec (best case around 70sec). Is this slow boot due to the oem win 7 installed? btw, the win 7 build number is 7601, version 6.1.
I download it from
http://msft-dnl.digitalrivercontent.net/msvista/pub/X15-65805/X

Anyway I suspect the build version is too old that might cause slow boot time. I will get the system recovery disk in the mail from lenovo. I will install the lenovo preload win 7 in the about to buy msata 120gb drive to see if any improvement. Any comments?