Lenovo W520 Owner's Thread

Here is an example:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/len...s-16gb-ram-why-doesnt-x220-5.html#post8120310

 

Vacuum tubes.

Thar be one indeed. Here's that T500 that was killed once by Corsair RAM.

 

Thank you for the link. It helped me in some of my questions about RAM. But I have new questions
.
Does each stick of RAM always draw voltage from the battery at all times?

Or is each stick only used when the extra memory is needed?

I’m asking because if they are always being used wouldn’t it be more effective to use
(2x8GB sticks @ 1.5 v) as compared to (4x4GB sticks @ 1.5v)

 

So long as the laptop is powered on, yes. However, the power draw of a stick of RAM is so insignificant that you can think of it as having nearly zero effect on the battery life. Display, GPU, CPU, and HDD/SDD (in that order) mainly determine the battery life.

 

I noticed an increase in power draw after upgrading from 1x4GB to 2x4GB. It shaved off about 20mins of my battery life. Granted, I can still use the laptop for like 8 hours on battery so it is not much of a concern.

 

Identical workloads for 8 hours straight?

Hard to believe ONE 4G stick would draw enough juice to cut 20 minutes of battery life.

More likely, something else was running or running longer on your test.

 

Yeah, 20min for one stick seems way off. I noticed maybe an average difference of a few minutes between 1 stick and 3, but that is so tiny compared to 8 hours that it's statistically insignificant.

 

I'm not 100% sure, there is a chance that it's just statistical fluctuation and different workloads, etc. But my battery life did go down as opposed to when I had only 1 DIMM. Though, my battery only has 10 cycles on it and my W520 is like 7+ months old, so I haven't been using it much.

In the grand scheme of things though, I'd say that it's not that big of a deal anyways.

 

Hmm.. you could always do a few test runs with and without the extra stick and then see if there's any meaningful difference, if you like. Still sure it's not 20min.

 

It'll probably depend on your usage scenario.

Consider two forces at work here:
1) Increased power draw of the extra DIMM, decreasing battery life.
2) Decreased paging caused by the extra RAM, increasing battery life.

Different combinations of these will yield different changes in battery life for different usage scenarios for different people.

 

I'm looking to buy Dell Ultrasharp U2412M as my second monitor for my W520. Does anyone know I could use my built in color sensor to calibrate the second monitor?

 

No. Unless you mash the display against the palmrest and run the calibrator or something.

 

Do they make a 1x8GB 1600mhz. memory for the W520? Or do I have to OC a 1x8GB 1333mhz to get to 1600? And is it safe to OC heat wise?

 

Any particular reason you need 1600MHz?

 

Hi,

I've been trying like a mad man to set up my three screens with the W520 (1000m card), but it doesn't seem to support this! I've tried changing the value in BIOS from Optimus to that other setting which I can't remember the name of without any luck.

Is there really no way for that setup to work?

PS: There's only one monitor with a 1900-resolution, the other two have 1024x1048.

 

You want to use W520 to drive 3 monitors AND the internal display? I don't believe that's possible. I am using the internal display and 2 external monitors, all of them at Full HD resolution.

 

I have three external monitors in my setup as is, and i do not want to use the internal one.
Hope that clears it up

If this isn't possible; does anyone have any experience with USB to VGA/DVI-adapters?

 

W520 supports a max of two. It's a design limitation.

 

You need to set the BIOS to Optimus, attach the three monitors, then turn off the internal LCD.

 

Have you actually tried that?

 

The T420/T520 does it, except with four displays. The W520 is restricted to three, so I assume it works the same way.

 

Nope. It does not. It will only drive two external. I have tested this very thoroughly.

 

Yeah, I have only managed to drive two U2410s with the W520.
Always thought, the dock was needed for the 3rd monitor.

 

Startech.com USB2DVIE3 Usb Dvi Ext Vid Adpt-card (065030844161) | eBay

I've been using the above 'Startech' USB to DVI monitor adapters for a while now, and they work fine, provided your monitor has a mainly static display. Way too much tearing for any kind of video, but for a brower, Word doc, file editing, they're ok. Max out at 1920x1200(WUXGA) resolution. And, fairly cheap

These are by no means nearly as good as something plugged into a VGA/DVI/DP/HDMI port, but can get you by, minimally, if you just need more screen real estate.

Limit of five on a given system. I'm currently using two of these, on a Win7 Pro W700 laptop, in addition to several other monitors on the W700. Likely be adding number three shortly.

If you buy one, be sure you get the correct model/version, as there are several(DVI, VGA, etc).

 

Any thought on whether this would be possible? It sounds like it has not been tried.

 

anything is possible but practical? I don't think so. If you buy all the parts it should fit but you'd probably be much better off selling yours on ebay and ordering a new one with the screen you want.

 

I would if I owned it.

 

You can try, although tabook lists the FHD as having a different lid thickness. Might be structural, might be that the FHD screen is thicker.

 

It looks like this guy did it on his W510 and it does look like tabook has the size difference on that model as well:

Thinkpads.com

Sounds promising

 

Seems like a lot of hassle to go from 1600x900 to 1920x1080. Have you actually used a 1920x1080 15.6" screen at 100% DPI for an extended period of time?

 

It is a pretty significant jump in awesomeness.

Having used my friend's T510 with 1600x900, the W520 with 1920x1080 is a pretty big improvement. (I assume that to be a fair comparison.)
a) The text is a lot smoother at the same physical dimensions.
b) The bigger resolution is nice for working with lots of stuff simultaneously.
c) The colors are nicer.

 

It is possible to swap Q1000m for Q2000m in lenovo service?

 

Well, more to my point, I doubt many people use the FHD screen at 100% DPI. 125% is more likely and at that percentage it's close to 1600x900. I agree the FHD screen is better on pure resolution and colors, but I personally would not change a corporate asset on my own dime.

 

fwiw I've been using mine since I got it at 100% and like it that way. I got it in May and it looks better to me at 100 than 125.

 

I got mine at 125%, but changed it to 100% immediately and loved it.

 

Of course it looks better. It's at native res. It would be interesting to see data around FHD usage, and the demographics of the users. For instance, whether the user wears corrective eye wear, age, hours of use, etc.

I used to think 1680x1050 on the 15.4" T61p was the perfect screen but a lot of people think THAT is too small.

 

I'll start I suppose. As noted above, I'm at 1080p 100%, and I'm extremely nearsighted (wearing contacts).

 

I still have my t61p with the same screen, my wife loves it but she likes the screen on the w520 better

I'm 53 and don't wear glasses. I am suffering with a bit of presbyopia.

 

Hi guys

Sorry for asking something already answered in this forum, but the search engine is pretty bad.

What is the best method for reinstalling a clean windows on a raid 0 setup. I want to be rid of as much bloatware a possible.

I don't know how to install a normal windows without the disk drive and which drivers do I need from lenovo and which should I skip?

 

After a small issue with UPS (incredibly poor customer service, but saved by a wonderful driver), my W520 arrived late yesterday. Looking forward to setting it up! Woot! I took it out of the box just to look at it, but won't have time to diddle with it until this weekend.

First reaction: It looks amazingly similar to my T61. Boxy, square corners, thick. Welcome to the 1990's! It looks even stodgier compared to my wife's new laptop--she just got a Samsung i7, which is super slim and very sleek looking, like an Apple. But as she reminded me, I bought it for pure performance and rock-solid stability, not looks.

 

I am coming from a 17 inch MBP with 1920x1200 and the HD+ seems way to cramped.

I don't mind putting a little money into a corporate asset especially since I will be using this bad boy for 3 years. Demographic - 32 with Contacts, I am usually looking at this thing at least 9 hours a day, if I am at my desk at home it is connected to a 1920x1200 cinema display.

 

I am having playback issues with youtube videos. Full-screen 1080p is quite choppy... and occasionally I have sound stuttering for a second which is really annoying.

 

Could be a driver issue? I can run 1080p Youtube fine with both HD 3000 and Quadro 2000M.

It might actually be that your internet connection slowed down?

 

I just discovered something odd and am hoping a few people can confirm or deny this problem:

If I hold down a letter key then after about 1/2 second I cannot move my mouse until I release the key.

If there is some setting to fix this I would appreciate learning what it is.

 

It is a driver issue. Revert to an earlier version (i.e. first version) of the driver if you don't like it.

 

Well my drivers are up to date... I went and checked in "Device Manager". It is really annoying

 

Are you using Flash or HTML5 for playback? What browser? Is GPU acceleration on or off? Are you using the Intel or NVIDIA GPU during playback?

 

System Restore seemed to be able to resolve the problem. I don't know what was going on... it was very annoying and bizarre. I tried to reinstall the drivers but was constantly getting an error about "how my system does not meet the minimum requirements necessary to install the driver". Works without any problems now :S

 

Who bought the laptop? What were they expecting?
To be honest I am sick of companies breaking something that works in the name of some vain attempt to bump sales for the quarter. I actually put hockey tape over all the logos so that people don't think it's anything special. If I was trying to compensate for something I would have bought a Mac ;P