Lenovo W520 Owner's Thread

I have 7601 build on my T60p too, boot time was 20 seconds after a fresh install.

 

An SSD will definitely improve boot time no matter what. As far as Windows goes, I have An OWM Win7P installed and never noticed any slowdown, before and after upgrading to an SSD.

 

100 seconds sounds like you've got driver issues. I'm presuming it's running off of the mSATA SSD?

EDIT:
3DMark Vantage at stock clocks: P6666 (lol)
http://3dmark.com/3dmv/3661437?page...&show_ads=true&requestIpAddressCountryCode=CA

3DMark Vantage at 1100/683/1365: P8185
http://3dmark.com/3dmv/3661496?page...&show_ads=true&requestIpAddressCountryCode=CA

 

OS is running from raid 0 disks, just regular 7200rpm mechanical drives.
I haven't yet get mSATA SSD yet. Plan to get one.

 

This time I measured the boot time by stop watch. Its 105 secs. From pressing ubuntu grub menu for win 7 to entering useable win 7 desktop. I set the win 7 as auto logon. The most annoying part is the 'welcome' screen spends like 40 secs to finish. I plug in the AC adapter and set maximum performance. I turned off the I/O ports like wimax, modem to be disabled, since I don't have these in the system. wife's g570 boot time is like 30sec with i3 processor.

 

I'm getting 30-40 seconds from power button to Firefox load on a single drive.

I'd recommend running a boot trace as follows:
Trace Windows 7 boot/shutdown/hibernate/standby/resume issues - MSFN Forum

Also, where'd you get BIOS 1.36? O.O

 

sorry ,
should be 1.33

 

Just go through the boot trace thing. It seems helpful. I will let you know how it goes.

 

Finally got my W520 with FHD and Quadro 1000. Haven't regretted anything so far. Improved the original 4GB RAM to 12GB on crucial.com. Everything is so great.

About to upgrade to SSD soon~~~

 

Hey, so Ive tested my W520 with the drivers downloaded from the Nvidia website [not the lenovo ones] and i got a score almost like yours:
6898 [vs. your 6666]
NVIDIA Quadro 2000M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-2720QM Processor,LENOVO 4270CTO score: P6898 3DMarks

so is that normal score for a W520?
i am not sure how u Overclock your Quadro 2000M but im not sure id like to do that. it gets hot enough...and i got games freezing up the laptop sometimes..so..

 

You are comparing 3DMark 06 to Vantage.

 

I got my W520 today and so far I'm liking everything about it except for the speakers. Is there a way to improve their quality/loudness? Also anybody knows if I can swap the DVDRW drive for a Blue ray one? Will any standard notebook drive fit?

 

Yes it looks within the range of variance. You should use TPFanControl to set the fan up to level 64 during gaming. I have to do that otherwise the graphics card crashes when overclocked.

 

My number is still bigger than your number so it must be better.

 

Hi,

Could anyone tell me when would be the best time to buy the W520. It will primarily be used for heavy vid editing/post prod and light to medium 3d work.

I can either buy one now, or will then have to wait for around beginning of march 2012.

My budget is kind of limited to around $1300-ish for this purpose. I also would like to consider the workstation alternatives provided by HP and Dell (8560w and M4600) but the lenovo with discounts etc is phenomenally cheaper as far as I know and I love their design.


Thanks!

P.S. I keep hearing about throttling and heat related issues. I would be running the machine during rendering tasks at full load for a couple of hours or more. How 'real' are these issues? I know that a laptop cooler can make a bit of a difference but not much.

 

Follow the instructions, but no clue or improvement at all. Finally after changing "msconfig", get a BSOD all time. It cannot even enter the safe mode. Now I have to reinstall the system with Lenovo recovery disks, since I delete the hidden recovery partition. The shipping of the recovery disk from Lenovo is very quick (only 1 day).

 

Yes you can greatly improve, type dolby w520 on google.

 

It's for the better after messing up the environment with Ubuntu.

 

I've been looking around for a good deal for this model for about a week now. I ended up grabbing the 427637U configuration from Amazon for $1199 earlier today - Amazon.com: Lenovo ThinkPad W520 427637U 15.6" LED Notebook - Core i7 i7-2720QM 2.2GHz: Computers & Accessories. It was the last one available at that price. I had been looking at building one through Lenovo, but I couldn't come close to matching the specs of this one for that price. Plus, since I have Amazon Prime, I only have to wait two business days to receive it instead of a couple weeks through Lenovo.

 

$1199 is a really good price for that config.

 

Hi bsweetness,

I am looking out for a good w520 deal for the past few days. For the past two days, i saw a minimum price of 1369.99 USD. How you got it for 1199 USD. What are the better place to look for the deals and how i can get a better deal. Thanks.

-- imax98

 

I was typically seeing prices around a minimum of $1369 as well for the past week or so. But then I was browsing through Amazon, and buried deep in the search results was the 427637U configuration. It said there was one left in stock from Amazon with a price of $1199. After I ordered it, the product page showed that it was only available from third parties, and not from Amazon. A little while later, it showed up as available from Amazon again, but at $1455. I guess I just got lucky. It should be arriving tomorrow.

 

Thanks for this. This is has definitely helped the sound quality.

I got mine from CompUSA/Tiger Direct. I got the 1369.99 model but got it for 1169.99 since I had a $200 voucher from them. I think that's one of the best deals out there. You get a quad core CPU, FHD screen with 95% gamut, 8GB ram, Q1000m and a 3 year warranty. To me it was too good to pass up. Only thing I wish I could have gotten was the Q2000m but I guess I can't complain too much with that price and a 3 year warranty on top of it.

 

Yeah, the 3 year warranty on top of the bumped up specs for most of it is what sold me as well.

 

The 3-yr depot warranty offered by Tigerdirect and Abe's (avoid Abe's BTW) is great, but just know the warranty period starts when the reseller bought the machine, not when you receive it.

For example, the X220t I got from Abe's only had 2yrs 7 months on the warranty because they bought it from Lenovo during the summer...

 

The 3 year warranty is directly from Lenovo not from Tigerdirect.

 

Um, I know. The company you buy from (i.e. TD or Abes or whatever online retailer) buys the Thinkpads from Lenovo. That purchase date starts the 3-yr Lenovo Depot warranty clock. The warranty runs as it sits in inventory...once you purchase the Thinkpad from the online seller and boot it up for the first time, it will not have a full blast 36 month warranty..it will have whatever is left on the Lenovo warranty from when the reseller originally bought it to resell.

I know it's a Lenovo warranty all too well. My X220 tablet was defective when I received it from Abes of Maine last Thursday. Had to send it to Lenovo Friday morning because it was defective (and Abe's would NOT exchange it under their "30 day guarantee.")

Just saying 3 yrs isn't a full 3 yrs unless purchased directly from Lenovo.

 

Oh ok. I didn't know that. But then when I check my warranty status under Vantage toolbox it says I have 1102 days and it expires on November 26, 2014.

 

I'm not sure that's entirely accurate. I was under the impression it could be reset with proof of purchase.

 

I'd be very interested in this source, as I was cheated on my 3-yr warranty terms when I bought from Abes of Maine, which advertised a 36-month Depot warranty.

When I called to place a claim for my defective X220t last Thursday, I was told the warranty had only 31 months on it because the "sold" date from Lenovo (to the retailer) was during the summer....../frustrating.

 

If so, that's the first time I've heard something like that. Every warranty I've had starts with the consumer's purchase date of the product. It's something I'll definitely check after getting the machine though.

 

I really have bad performance streaming for example videos on battery with "Max performance" profile, anyone else have this on 1.33?

 

I just received mine from Amazon. Really loving it so far as I work on getting everything set up.

I just checked my warranty status here:

Lenovo Support - Check Warranty Status (US)

It says my warranty is good through 11/19/2014, which is exactly three years from this past Saturday (the day I bought it). So mine started on the day of purchase by me, not when the reseller bought it. That's typically how warranties work, so something is odd about your experience.

 

If you plan to keep the X220t, I would contact Lenovo Warranty Service and have the date adjustment made. I'm sure it will be a hassle and require faxing or sending a scanned image of your purchase receipt, but it seems worthwhile to me for 5 months of warranty.

 

Oh yeah, agree. I gave that 1000M a good 20% OC and BF3 runs smooth on all high details @ 1366x768 res. Has to disable Turbo-boost on the fly on my 2920XM though, as it gets too hot otherwise. Overall, temp stays below 90 deg C. Pretty amazing how the palmrest and keyboard doesn't get hot at all

On another note, seems like Lenovo is using a script to install both Intel and Nvidia GPU drivers together. Is it safe to install the latest driver from Nvidia website (285.62)? Can I also install latest driver from Intel website? Does brightness indicator work with these non-Lenovo drivers?

 

Seriously :/
I have a 2920XM with my configuration (I had no choice in customizing it) and would love to be able to change the multiplier on this guy. Hopefully Lenovo or some BIOS modder will decide to release a BIOS that unlock the full potential of Extreme CPU's (unless the OC lock was implemented into the motherboard, in which case we're ****'ed :/ )

 

IMO, I'd go with a higher resolution over framerate in BF3. Gotta watch for those pesky scope glares.

I installed the latest NVidia drivers over the Lenovo ones. Works a charm. The brightness indicator works as expected. Don't try updating the Intel-side ones; it messes with the brightness and power consumption.

 

I mainly play the game for the eye-candy, so I'll do anything for those high quality explosions on metro 64 conquest @_@ No sniper in Metro, so don't have to watch out for scope glares. Although they do drive a mean MAV.

Thanks for the Nvidia tip. Gonna try installing it tonight. Hope I can get details to Ultra

 

Yeah Metro doesn't get lots of snipers in Conquest. Unless the RU team has bulldozed the US back to the spawnpoint.

 

Lenovo Holiday Sale
Lenovo - Laptop computers - ThinkPad W520

 

Yep. Keep me updated. I am looking for that bios. I haven't found anything yet. We were able to overclock the W510 920xm cpus, but not on this W520 2920xm..just a waste of money..buying an XM chip.

 

How do I go about overclocking the Q1000m? I've tried using GPUtool but it only sees the Intel HD chip. I even selected to open the app with the High end graphics option and also selected to always open the app with the NVIDIA chip under the NVIDIA Control Panel but it still only sees the Intel graphics card instead. Some help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

Perhaps you can try a third party tool such as MSI Afterburner.

 

It reads as the Intel chip, but is actually setting the Quadro speeds. You'l want the PowerMizer Manager to force voltages to stay at maximum to avoid crashing.

 

Where do I get the newest version of PowerMizer Manager? Cant find anything from Nvidia?

 

Interesting review about SSD Caching (blending together the speed SSDs and the capacity of hard drives), which mentions the W520:
DIY SSD/HDD Notebook Caching With NVELO's Dataplex | StorageReview.com

 

hello, does anyone here have the 2920xm version of W520? really interested it's perfermance

 

Anyone measured battery impact of running with hyper threading enabled?

 

here's my best pc vantage score with the 2920
NVIDIA Quadro 2000M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-2920XM Processor,LENOVO 4270CTO score: 19792 PCMarks
most scores are in the 17,000 to 18,000 thousand range without constantly cleaning and tweaking. I have an 8gb ramdrive and that helps. 16gb of ram total. I also have an intel 510 ssd. If you want the most bang for the buck get an ssd and the second fastest chip. you will still have a faster machine than the guy with the 2920 and a hdd. Huberth started a thread here
http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/588642-post-your-pcmark7-benchmark-scores-here.html
that shows scores for most every config

 

Tbh getting the 2820 over the 2720 is also not always justified, those 100mhz are quite expensive