Lenovo W520 Owner's Thread

FYI, I paid $83.97 for 12Gb of RAM from Lenovo. It was on a separate line item in the same order as my W520. I just had to install it myself. Piece of cake, and pretty cost-effective. They only jack the price up when you order it pre-installed.

 

I had 0 bass if I used those settings in my Sennheiser HD555

 

The profile is designed for the internal speakers.

 

Oh

Anyway I want info if the W530 is going to have Thunderbolt or not :/

 

We'll just have to wait. The only thing that will *very likely* happen is that the W530 will look similar to the W520, from current information (or lack thereof)

 

Thats fine with me as long as it gets Thunderbolt and a bit better battery and maybe new Nvidia card

 

What's wrong with the battery? I get 8+ hours for what I use it for. I can watch 720p video for like 6 ~ 6.5 hours straight, too.

 

Is that typical battery life for everyone? I didn't realize how much better the battery life was over my W510... I am lucky to get three hours with my 9 cell, and it is still about 95% of the original capacity.

 

I get 7 +/- 0.5 hours if I use it as I do on AC. I think the typical battery life for a quad core machine is somewhere between 0.5 ~ 1 hour lower.

 

I usually get ~7 hours with the Intel GPU and screen brightness at 5.

 

Wow... I truly didn't realize how much the battery life was improved over my current rig. I read a few reviews since my post, and I'm blown away... I have spent months thinking of going smaller to aid my back i.e. a X220 or T420s, and that battery life really has me thinking of a W530 as a possibility... I could leave the power brick at home with that kind of battery life... LOL!

Side note, that 170 W AC adapter is huge glad to know it's lighter than my current 135 W adapter... But, boy, its HUGE!!

 

Oh, forgot to mention, I use it on Optmius with a balanced profile in PM, and the screen brightness is at 9.

I never carry the brick around unless I'm migrating to somewhere for more than 24 hours.

 

Well, finally got my 520 today.
I've been on it for the past 6 hours trying to get it set up.
Have a question and will probably have more later.
I hit Fn+F4 to enter sleep mode, now how do I get out of it?

Actually, while typing this, the message "Windows just recovered from an unexpected shutdown" came up and the machine rebooted.
So, does this mean I can't use the sleep function?

 

Press the Fn key to wake it from sleep.

 

It worked, thank you.
I guess the shutdown wasn't related.

 

No, but it might be related to the monster thread at W520 shuts off intermittently, no BSOD or shut dow... - Lenovo Community

 

Nothing, but it can only get better, and tbh I am getting a tad tired of my 9 cell partly because its makes my laptop bulky but mostly because it feels loose (Which seems to be the norm)

But I just want to see if I can upgrade for 300-400$ then 400mhz more and 15% clock for clock improvement is nice and then batterylife is a side benefit but we can never get too much batterylife

 

Depends on the means to achieve that battery life.

I could hypothetically jerry-rig a diesel generator to my W520 and have a battery life of maybe a week, but obviously that'd be a terrible option.

Would be cool if the W530 had 10+ hours of battery life though. And a better-fitting battery too...

 

Strapping that slice battery to the base of the unit is extreme IMO, which unfortunately eliminates the generator approach as well... SMH

 

Using a slice battery definitely adds weight, but it's an entirely viable solution for when you're nowhere near an electrical outlet. It's still mostly portable.

 

LOL! I get your point though!

 

I CAN get 10-ish hours of battery life out of my W520 when I use it for lecture hall slide viewing + Facebook checking in my lectures, but that's extremely light usage. And, the slice adds like 1" of thickness and 1.1 lb of mass onto the W520, 7lb is kind of heavy for a 15.6" laptop these days.

 

Totally paying attention to the lecturer there...

From what I can tell, under lightly-threaded usage, the quad should get similar battery life to the dual considering Windows powers down unnecessary cores.

 

I'm really liking the red trackpoint thing to move the cursor and for scrolling.
The trackpad thing is horrible for scrolling. Sorry for the dumb comments, but I've never had a laptop before, lol!

I'd like to learn more about the Thinkvantage stuff, where can I find a user guide for it?
Thanks!

 

No need to double post... Someone will answer your question...
Just noticed the update... Sorry for posting so quickly about someone answering... At any rate, Lenovo.com may be a good place to start...

 

I'm with privatejarhead. The slice adds a little weight, but honestly not all that much, and it's still quite portable. I'd rather carry the slice with me than the power brick. I can get around 18-20 hours of light use out of the 9 cell and the slice, and around 15 hours of fairly heavy use. It's definitely worth it if you need to be unplugged for a lengthy period of time.

 

What exactly would you like to know? Lenovo's software covers various aspects of the machine's operation and I'm not sure which parts interest you.

If you want my opinion though, the only software that I kept after a clean install was the Power Manager, since I find that it works better than the Win7 manager in terms of (slightly longer) battery life and customized power profiles (I have several specialized profiles for certain applications, such as F@H).

 

Well, I want to learn about all the Thinkvantage features as well as all the features the laptop has to offer in general.
I followed adams advice and went to the Lenovo site and downloaded the userguide. It has tons of information and once thru reading it, I'm sure I'll understand much better how to take advantage of everything the 520 has to offer.

 

Hi, I am looking for help. I have a W520 and I am by no means an expert user. I can usually follow instructions as long as they are step by step and nothing is left out but that is the best I can accomplish. I cannot understand how to "launch the Intel Wireless Display" and am now even doubting that I even have it. So frustrated! If this is NOT the place to ask this question OR if those here do not help people like myself, just say so and I will go away and keep looking somewhere else.
Thanks, Donna

 

Try this http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=19782

 

press the windows button, between ctrl and alt, and type in intel wireless display. if it's not installed you see an icon that you can select to install. if it's installed you should see a shortcut. good luck.

 

Ok, now I'm curious. What is "Intel Wireless Display", and why would one want it?

PS: I'm not in front of my laptop at this time, so I have no idea if I have it either, or what it does.

 

Go here for more info: Laptop to TV with Intel® Wireless Display (WiDi)

 

My w520 is on the way! I ordered with the minimum 4 gb ram. They said it was in a slot under the keyboard so the two under the back cover should be open. I didn't check, but since they put 4 gb in one slot I'm assuming they don't have to be in pairs?

I was going to remove the 4gb and put 16 gb in, but if the channels are independent of each other I might just get 2 x 4 for the back cover slots for a total of 12 gb.

Any thoughts, suggestions, recommendations?

 

Have anyone bought a laptop from this ebay seller Lenovo W520, Lenovo X220 Tablet items in New Thinkpads store on eBay! before?

I want to buy a W520 from them as it's cheaper buying from them than any other store in the UK

 

Send them a random question about the system and see how they reply. That has usually worked for me in eliminating systems I was going to bid on. Wish you where in the U.S. as im trying to unload my system.

 

Hello everyone,

I am new to this forum and I plan to purchase my first Lenovo W520. I just wanna ask one question as I am using this as a desktop replacement connecting it to a monitor most of the time. I used to connect my old laptop using the HDMI so I get both audio and video. With the W520, I see that it does not have an HDMI and I am not sure if there is any solution to still get it connected to my monitor and get both video and audio.

I know this may have been already discussed but I will appreciate a quick advice.

 

I have a Dell U2412M monitor.
What would be the best cable to use to connect it with the W-520.
Thanks

 

DisplayPort.

 

I haven't purchased anything from them, but a 99.8% feedback score with 6,521 instances of feedback left over the course of more than six years indicates that it's a reputable seller. Average ratings of essentially five stars across the board for every category. If that large amount of positive feedback isn't enough to convince you, send them a question like jwolf7722 said to see how they respond.

 

Thanks sgogeta4!

 

If I buy a W520 from US, will the keyboard layout and symbol be different from UK version?

Also will the voltage be different? UK voltage is 220V

 

displayport to hdmi adapters work fine, puts out both video and audio. only issue I have had is that it didn't like 60Hz, had to set it to 50Hz for it to display properly on my projector.

 

I believe UK and US keyboard have very similar layout. US layout would display $ sign rather than pound but I doubt it would be an issue for you. Google "W520 keyboard picture" or "W520 review" - you'll find quite a few pictures of US based keyboard. And, of course, you can change keyboard layout in Windows to UK one.

As for the voltage - AC adapter supports both. You'll need to buy another cable that connects AC adapter to the wall outlet - those are different in US and UK. That cable is pretty standard from AC adapter side - a lot of devices use that. You'd be able to buy one very easily in the local store.

 

There are a few differences from the UK keyboard to the US although its minor as both uses the QWERTY layout. The UK version has a much bigger Enter button than the US as well different placements for the @ and Quotation marks for instance.


UK Version


US Version

The voltage should be no problem as the Lenovo AC adaptors are adaptive to take in various voltages worldwide. The only stumbling block would be the plug ends but obtaining the correct cloverleaf cable should be relatively cheap.

 

Speaking of keyboards, does anyone know how to reattach an individual key back onto it? I accidentally popped off the left arrow key and I have no clue how to fix this.

 

I'am going to hot country soon, thinking about replacing thermal greease with some better one. any one know if I will dissasmble w520 to do that, will I loose my warranty?

anyone know good how to instruction - how to do that?

 

I accidentally sucked a key off with my little shark vac. Putting it back on was easy. Assuming nothing is broken, just line it up and press down until it clicks back into the clips.

How hot is the ambient temp of the environment you plan to run the W520 in?

 

I was trying to remove my stuck keyboard (the clip under the down key wouldn't come out), so I was using a tiny screwdriver to pry it out; I slipped, and off comes the arrow key. I tried lining up and pressing down, but it doesn't reattach. The right side sticks up and it'll eventually fall out if I press it.

I think I'll just call IBM tonight, since I'm also having problems getting my mSATA card to fit properly.

 

gorilla glue?