Lenovo W520 Owner's Thread

That would be great if we could have this information in written!

 

Thanks. I believe I'll want BOTH mSata and SSD. More options for Photoshop scratch discs and data discs, video rendering, etc.

 

Should be this:

Primary HDD Bay: SATA 3
UltraBay: SATA 3
eSATA port: SATA 2
mSATA port: SATA 2

Hence RAID-0 with Intel 510's or Vertex 3's should run both drives at full speed.

 

I posted my question regarding radioactive contaminants testing for Lenovo components manufactured or assembled in Japan. Here is Lenovo's response:


As an official answer, I'd point to this news article with quotes from Ray Gorman, head of Lenovo's public relations. Japan disaster triggers Lenovo plans to test PCs for radiation :: Editor's Blog at WRAL Tech Wire

I believe Lenovo will undertake all necessary measures to ensure our products continue to be safe.

My personal opinion is that alternative suppliers for constrained parts are routinely qualified to address supply constraints as a normal course of business. Sometimes component suppliers have fires, or other more conventional disasters that can shut down a factory or delay production.



Best regards,

Mark

ThinkPads: T43, X60t, X200 IdeaPads: S10e, Y710
Mark Hopkins
Program Manager, Lenovo Social Media
Lenovo Connections
Lenovo Forums (lenovoforums) on Twitter
Official Lenovo Fan Site | Facebook

 

You can get an Intel 510 120GB SSD SATA III for under $275 or a Crucial C300 128GB SSD SATA III for under $200.

 

I was planning purchasing 4 gigs of gskill ram from here for $40.00 cant go wrong. I figure 8 gigs total is plenty maybe even overkill but I figure it will help when running games.

Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Laptop Memory Model F3-10600CL9S-4GBSQ

Is this the correct ram or are there other types that are better. Or is RAM RAM and it doesnt really matter

 

I would add that raid 1 only protects against a failure on the drive itself. But in my experience you're much more likely to have a soft failure, like a hosed registry after an update. And that will screw up the image on both drives - raid or no raid.

I think one is better off putting thought into an appropriate backup strategy with that second drive than bothering with raid 1 on a notebook. Maybe on NAS or server?

Save raid 0 for those needing the performance increase.

 

Agreed. RAID-1 is meant for high-availability servers, not data protection. I have a few servers that I'm responsible for which use RAID-1 (RAID-5, actually). Either RAID-1 or RAID-5 will allow the server to keep operating as if nothing happened when a hard drive fails, long enough for a tech to grab a spare off the shelf and hot-swap it in. The hardware/software RAID then propagates the data to the new drive while the server is being used, so there is no downtime. No RAID mode protects you from poorly written software or your own stupidity, both of which cause data loss far more often than a hard disk failure.

The only reasonable RAID modes for a notebook are RAID-0 or JBOD, for performance or convenience reasons.

EDIT: BTW hrana, or anyone else, could you PM me you sales rep's contact info? I don't have enough posts to PM yet..

 

I've just been sent in a loop between sales and tech support

This thread at Lenovo forums has more confused people too.

Contacting my rep, but I can't decide whether it's worth it to cancel my order at this point since it's supposed to ship in 2 days AND since I've already received my separate HDD caddy.

 

Just received a reply from Lenovo about my shipping date. I ordered a W520 with FHD on 4/17. This is what they sent me:

We apologize for the inconvenience. As per our records the order will ship anytime in the week of 11th of May. It is just an estimated shipping date the order can ship much earlier. Please do wait for some time and the order will be shipped. We do have a constrain on the screen. So please wait for the updates.

FHDs are on backorder?

 

According to this link : http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/W-Serie...uirky-with-W520-and-Intel-510-SSD/td-p/412193
Intel 510 SSD in not working properly.
I don't know how Crucial is working with w520

 

Can someone with a Wenger Synergy bag take a picture of the W520 inside it? I'm considering buying a Wenger Synergy, but I'm not sure how tight a fit it will be. Thank you.

 

Just got my offer from a sales rep:

Qty Product Code Description Unit Cost Total
1 SYS.4270CT CONFIGURED SYSTEM $1,866.65 $1,866.65
The above product code consists of the following component(s):
1 4270CTO THINKPAD W520 - 1 YR DEPOT TOPSELLER WARRANTY $1,707.65
1 0A68541 SBB ICI7-2720QM $0.00
1 45M3090 VBB GENUWIN7PROFES.64 $0.00
1 0A68625 SBB GW7P64 E $0.00
1 0A68535 SBB 15.6FHD (1900 X 1080) LED $0.00
1 0A68894 SBB NVQ2000M GR $0.00
1 45M4572 VBB 4GBPC3-10600DDR3 1333SODMM $0.00
1 45M4839 SBB KEYBOARDUS ENGLISH $0.00
1 0A68526 VBB FINGERPRINT READER $0.00
1 0A68558 SBB 720P HD CAM INT MICR $0.00
1 0A69620 SBB I RAID-NOT EN $0.00
1 0A68553 SBB 500GB HDD7200RPM $0.00
1 0A68547 SBB DVD RC8XMXDLLRULTEHATA $0.00
1 0A68529 VBB ECS+4IN1CR $0.00
1 45M4816 SBB 9CELLLI-ION BATTERY $0.00
1 0A68904 SBB CPNAMLC+ 170W AC AD $0.00
1 0A68261 SBB BLUETOOTH 3.0 $0.00
1 45M4804 SBB IN.CENT.ULTIMATE-N 6300 $0.00
1 44C7950 SBB INT WRLSSWDAREANTWRK UPGR $0.00
1 0A68564 SBB LANG PCK US E $0.00
1 0A68537 SBB FINGRPRNT READER $0.00
1 41C9337 LENOVO THINKPAD PROTECTION WITH THINKPLUS ONSITE REPAIR - EXTENDED SERVICE AGREEMENT - 2 YEARS - ON-SITE $159.00

Payment Terms: Credit Card

Ship Type: UPS Ground
Merchandise Total $1,866.65
Sales Tax $162.23
Shipping / Handling $0.00
Total $2,028.88


Looks a bit too pricy for my understanding. I am a bit dissapointed actually...

Any recommendations?

 

My order and shipping date is about the same for an HD+ configured system. Something else is the bottleneck.

That looks decent compared with the online prices (mine is less beefy and the same price, bought online), but based on others experience you could probably do even better.

 

DRAM quality varies significantly. DRAM manufacturers mount third party Integrated Circuits (ICs) onto their silicon ranks (cf. Exceleram - do you know...). As stated in the article, IC prices are positively correlated with the number of tests that they pass. Memory manufacturers are not compelled to disclose from which bin they buy ICs. Most hierarchies I've seen are based qualitatively on reputation. My understanding is that G.SKILL is middle-of-the-road.

What's in a name? The fact that G.SKILL founds its marketing strategy on the idea that capitalization attracts the consumer leads me to question the competence of the company. After all, poorly cultivated taste (RIPJAWS!) is the sign of an idiot. As Thinkpad users, we appreciate the value of subtlety and functionality.

Here is my recommendation: buy DRAM certified to be compatible with the W520 motherboard. Buy DRAM with a VDDQ of 1.5. Higher JEDEC voltage requirements are indicators of low quality ICs (a higher VDDQ is needed to mitigate data corruption due to current leakage). Use Memtest86+ to test the RAM for at least 12 hours in order to identify hard and soft errors. Mixing DRAM types (differing density, CAS, tRFC, and tRAS latencies, clock speed, etc.) forces each module to run at the speed of the slowest module in each category (latency or clock), and to run in single rather than dual channel mode.

If you buy cheap RAM, it will probably work. The fact that the G.SKILL model you're looking at runs at 1.5V is a good sign. Even the worst DRAM brand I've ever tested only failed Memtest 9% of the time on a per module basis. Just make sure you test it thoroughly before your RMA period expires.

 

Just for your information GSkill is making some of the best overclocking ram (If not the best, just not the Ripjaw as thats not their top model) on the market and I know you dont care for that part, but them designing their enthusiastic ram is just commen business strategy, the market they are selling to want their ram to look different.
I do not overclock and only have a laptop now, but I just hate seing people judging people/things without a proper reason

 

The idea of common business strategy is like John Kenneth Galbraith's "conventional wisdom." The isolated act of comparative judgement, evaluation and discrimination is as much human as it is amoral. You're right to suggest that we must be as scientific as possible. That's why I included a few recommendations.

The rest is lighthearted, and ironic and hipster in the best sense.

What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.
So G.SKILL would, were he not G.SKILL call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. G.SKILL, doff thy name;
And for that name, which is no part of thee,
Take all myself.

 

I think that the Optical drive is SATA3. Can't remember where I read it though...

 

Just got off the phone with a sales rep. Apparently someone else here called him with the same issues I posted and so it went pretty quick. As an aside, he said it was already being built and might ship before he has a chance to make changes (!). It was bought online on 4/21 and supposed to ship 5/16...

Windows XP mode: successfully enabled. He said that he checked with engineering and that this option does not affect BIOS/firmware configuration. It's just whether or not they install the free update from Microsoft. I told him to enable it anyway to make me feel better.

RAID: he also confirmed with engineering for the last customer that if you don't order RAID then the firmware it ships with has it disabled, and RAID is then no longer an option in the BIOS. I asked if he could tell the factory to enable RAID, and he said the only way was to configure it with RAID, which means dumping the DVD drive and ordering a matching 2nd hard drive ($$). No thanks.

(Aside: if I'm reading this right, re-flashing with the firmware from a RAID-enabled build might solve the problem)

Modem: he didn't know of any configuration options to explicitly tell the factory to include a modem, the but the exact model I ordered (details below) is supposed to include a modem. If it does not, I can do an RMA. Guess I'm going to have to take my chances on this one.

FHD: In addition to the higher resolution, the FHD does have a wider color gamut and higher brightness (!). The brightness is what did it for me, so I upgraded. $200, ouch.

That put me over my $2k budget.. I asked if he could sweeten the deal, but he was unable/unwilling to throw in any accessories on an already ordered system, and didn't have access to anything more than the 10% coupon I already used Now I have to decide if it's worth my time to cancel and reorder with one of good reps people in this thread have been using (somebody please PM me contact info if you have it).

Here's my original order. I'm still waiting on his updated quote, which will have XP mode (free) and the FHD for an additional $180 plus tax.

1 4270CT CONFIGURED SYSTEM
05/16/11 $1,914.10 $1,914.10
0A68541 SBB ICI7-2720QM
45M3090 VBB GENUWIN7PROFES.64
0A68625 SBB GW7P64 E
0A68534 SBB 15.6HD+ (1600 X 900) LED
0A68894 SBB NVQ2000M GR
75Y0175 VBB COLORSENSOR
45M4572 VBB 4GBPC3-10600DDR3 1333SODMM
45M4839 SBB KEYBOARDUS ENGLISH
0A68526 VBB FINGERPRINT READER
0A68558 SBB 720P HD CAM INT MICR
0A69620 SBB I RAID-NOT EN
0A68553 SBB 500GB HDD7200RPM
0A68547 SBB DVD RC8XMXDLLRULTEHATA
0A68529 VBB ECS+4IN1CR
45M4816 SBB 9CELLLI-ION BATTERY
0A68904 SBB CPNAMLC+ 170W AC AD
0A68261 SBB BLUETOOTH 3.0
75Y1724 SBB THINKPADB/G/N
44C7950 SBB INT WRLSSWDAREANTWRK UPGR
0A68564 SBB LANG PCK US E
41C9338 3YR ONSITE + 3YR TPP

 

I'm sure Lenovo knows more about their customers and market than I do, but I think this sucks.

 

I sent you a PM. Could you please send me your rep's name and phone number ASAP? My rep is making excuses that the W520 won't ship with a modem. This is what she said:

Let's put it this way... I'm very annoyed so you could send me the info then please do so. I'll be very grateful.

 

Check this out!

W520 Review!
Lenovo ThinkPad W520 Review

 

TO everyone that has PM'd or was going to PM me for my rep's info...

I have just been informed that the deal I got is no longer available. The big L has removed the code that allowed the reps to give that deal. If you still would like my rep's info PM me and I am more than happy to give it to you. My rep was very easy to work with and has gotten back to me very quickly when asked questions.

Sorry if I have sent you their info recently and you were hoping to get the same deal as I.

 

Nice, the Laptop Mag W520 also has a modem. I'm seriously cracking up and what Lenovo US is telling people.

 

I heard the same thing from my rep; supposedly the code got leaked.

 

Yeah or they are pulling in the reins on too many people getting too good of a deal.

 

The built-in speakers produce a muffled sound. Is there anyway to replace them with internal speakers from a third-party vendor to get better sound quality?

Also, Laptop Mag claims that an Core i7 W520 got nearly 9 hours of battery life while constantly browsing the web. This seems hard to believe for a full-power workstation notebook. Is this realistic?

Finally, when can one expect an ATI Firepro graphics card option? (presumably, it will cost less than the standard nVidia graphics, thus lessening the overall price). Also, does the W520 have switchable graphics?(asking b/c not sure, only recently stumbled upon this notebook...).

Thanks.

 

Yes, the W520 has NVIDIA Optimus.

 

Well, Lenovo rates the laptop at 8.9 hours in a configuration similar to the one LaptopMag got. It is plausible since manufacturers basically announce the idle time of the machines, and surfing the web constantly isn't too much worse than idling. I think most users report 6 ~ 7hrs of actual usage time in this thread.

 

The FASTEST ram on the market for notebooks, that actually make a real world difference!

Kingston HyperX 8GB 1866MHz PnP Memory

Kingston HyperX 8GB 1866MHz PnP Memory Kit For Notebooks - Sandy Bridge Notebooks Get HyperX Treatment - Legit Reviews

 

I can confirm that the best deals of yesterday (LENOVOVIP)on the W520 are gone. I just ordered a W520 through a sales rep (Same rep as hrana and kimocal). The price I received was approx $100 more than stacking the Visa offer and the now non-existent LENOVOVIP coupon. It's not the 30% discount that some have mentioned, but I know the rep worked to get it as low as she could.

Those folks who are sending their units back to Lenovo should be aware that they may not see the same prices / discounts again when they re-order. And I suspect that the prices will only go higher from this point on.

I decided to order the unit with the 80G Intel 310 mSata installed. Yes, it's a big markup, but I don't want to be waiting for the backordered mSata from New Egg and then complicate my OS transfer to the mSata. I would like to be able to set it up right from the start. In fact, I was told by the rep that when ordering with the mSata from Lenovo, that they will automatically install the OS on the mSata. Saving the time and hassle of that transfer alone, will make the extra cost worth it for me. It may not be worth it for some-one else, though.

Here's my base config.
W520 Configuration
$ 1987.83
Description
ThinkPad W520 - 1 Yr Depot Topseller Warranty
Processor: Intel Core i7-2720QM Processor (2.20GHz, 6MB L3)
Operating system: Windows 7 Professional 64
Operating system language: Windows 7 Professional 64 English
Display type: 15.6" FHD (1920 x 1080) LED Backlit Anti-Glare Display, Mobile Broadband Ready
System graphics: NVIDIA Quadro 2000M Graphics with 2GB DDR3 Memory
Color sensor: Color Sensor
Total memory: 4 GB PC3-10600 DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz SODIMM Memory (1 DIMM)
Keyboard: Keyboard US English
Pointing device: UltraNav with TrackPoint & touchpad plus Fingerprint reader
Camera: 720p Camera
Storage subsystem: Internal RAID - Not Enabled
Hard drive: 500 GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
Micro Hard Drive: Intel 80 GB Micro Solid State Drive, Serial ATA
Optical device: DVD recordable multiburner
System expansion slots: Express Card Slot & 4 in 1 Card Reader
Battery: 9 cell Li-Ion Battery - 55++
Power cord: Country Pack North America with Line cord & 170W AC adapter
Bluetooth: Bluetooth 3.0
Integrated WiFi wireless LAN adapters: Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 (3x3 AGN)
Integrated mobile broadband: Integrated Mobile Broadband - Upgradable
Language pack: Language Pack US English

This is $ 217 less than the Visa Cardholder offer, so it's definitely worth finding a good rep. I also added in some more warranty and the dock, but that is NOT included in this price. And of course, more Ram on the way in order to max out at 16 Gig.

 

The only thing that would make me send it back at this point is if the chipset is the faulty sandy bridge sata controller. Still waiting for the official word from L on that.

Let's hope that the ones that come with the mSata are not the correct B3 stepping chipset. Another gotcha to add to the list much like the RAID needing to configured from the factory. If so then I'm taking my business elsewhere.

I will say this laptop does rock though. I don't want to send it back. All this raw power AND amazing battery life. Hooray for living in the future. You're going to love this laptop.

 

There is something wrong in that test and I think its the matter that they dont use duelchannel for the cheap ram as they write 6GB vs 8GB so the 6GB is running a 2GB and a 4GB module together and I am pretty sure that disables duelchannel, on a desktop memory normally give you a max overall systemspeed increase of maybe 5% but normally 2-3% so them getting 30-40% in games is absurd

 

For those that are on the fence about the W520... Anandtech has just posted info on the Dell M4600 and M6600. The prices seem almost similar pre-discounts but Dell is notorious for not dropping the price. I suspect a similar spec'd M4600 will be pricier than the W520. The bonus with the M4600 is the IPS panel. Otherwise they'll be fairly similar internally.

 

They look interesting, but I hate those number pads.

 

Well competition is always good for the consumer...and coupons. It has some nice options per this french info from dell.

 

you are spot on with dell pricing part. Dell couldn't touch my w510 quote. I sent them actual order link to price match with w510 config and all they could do is $600 top of the lenovo quote. I don't like that at all after telling me they will match everything... go figure...

 

I doubt 3 major companies would all pull this kind of an elaborate cover up story when it cost them nothing to get the chipsets replaced by Intel.

So how good is the battery life? I've heard anywhere between 6hrs to 6.5hrs to 7hrs to 9hrs so far.

 

The latest word from the Lenovo forums is pretty definitive. The boards are B3, but they are using CRID to make it look like a B2 for software compatibility reasons. This is the word from engineering specifically about this issue, so pretty much case closed at this point. The only thing more definitive would be stripping the computer, taking off the heat sink, and identifying the actual IC. But there's really no point in voiding anyone's warranty at this point...

 

1. Are the supported SATA interface speeds on the new ThinkPad's SATA III 6GB? Specifically, is this true for the T420, T420s, X220, X220t, T520, and W520?

[Lenovo] Yes, The new Huron River ThinkPads will support 6Gb/s, but our current drives that have been certified are only 3GB/s drives. The current roadmap is showing Late 3Q or early 4Q is when we'll qualify 6GB/s drives. This is true for the T420, T420s, X220, X220t, T520, and W520.

2. What SSD drives have been tested and are recommended for the new Sandy Bridge based machines?

[Lenovo]These are all 3.0 Gb/ps.

ThinkPad 160GB Intel X25-M Solid State Drive II - Released
ThinkPad 128 GB SS Drive II - Released
Intel 320 Series - Not Released. Lenovo engineering has completed testing/certification of the Intel 320 Series.

3. What is the hard/ssd drive bay height and size for the new machines? I need this for the primary bay, and ultrabay for each machine. I understand some of the bays will only take 7mm height drives so if you provide a table of information on the machines above I would appreciate it.

[Lenovo] Primary bay height for each system: T420, X220-X220T, W520 approx. 10.5 mm. Ultrabay height for each system: T420, X220-X220T approx. 10.5 mm. W520 Ultrabay is 12.7mm. Machines with 7mm height drives: Yes The X220/ X220T, T420s will only take 7mm drives in their primary drive bay.

4. Which machines support the mSATA drive in the WWAN mini PCIE slot? Do all of the machines support this? For the machines that do, is OS boot support supported?

[Lenovo] W520, T420, T420s, X220, X220T. Yes, boot is supported for all of them.

 

Lenovo W520 and Intel 510 SSD Warm Reboot Issue - Storage Forums

It looks to be a firmware issue but I'm not sure if RAID systems are shipping with a new BIOS than non-RAID systems.

 

Yes, Lenovo is aware of the issue on several fronts. My understanding is that it is being investigated but I haven't heard what the root issue might be and an ETA on a fix. Hope it's soon.

 

It would be nice if a representative from Lenovo was monitoring this forum and provide us with timely answers.

I ordered my W520 with "Internal RAID - Not Enabled" - thinking I could enable RAID later.

 

As a point of clarification, I was referring to the Intel Series 510 warm boot issue, not the RAID issue. I also hope they will fix that fiasco as well.

 

There is no RAID fiasco. You can order your thinkpad with RAID (more expensive) or without RAID (less expensive). You get the same Intel chipset but with RAID firmware or without RAID firmware accordingly. If you think that you can add hardware raid after buying the machine then you are mistaken. You can save yourself time and money by informing yourself before the purchase.

 

My rep said same thing, the great deal I got on my W520 is gone for good.
If I RMA my W520 for any reason, I will have to place a new order.
They don't have return and exchange policy. It is return for refund, and place new order.

I will keep my W520, it is perfect so far. I have no need for modem or RAID in a laptop. I back up the entire drive once a week, so I should be fine in case of drive failure. Will be putting in a Vertex 3 120GB soon.

As for the B3 stepping issue, I think it is resolved. But would still like to see actual picture of the chipset spec number if anyone is brave enough to open up the beast and take a snap shot.

Lastly, I can say the W520 Does Not support running memory at 1600MHz.
I have a pair of Kingston 8GB 1600MHz kit in it and CPU-Z shows the memory clocking at 1333MHz only. So I conclude no need to get 1600mhz ram unless Lenovo enable it with a new Bios update. The are nothing in the Bios for you to set or change the ram speed either.

Can anyone confirm this as wells ??

 

I believe the W520 in that review is a pre-configured system, NOT a custom build that we are buying on their website or thru a rep.
I would believe Lenovo no longer provide modem in custom built system as it is a very out dated thing on such a high tech system.

So I believe the only way to have the modem is to buy a pre-configured system. These cost more as usual and may not be worth it just for a modem, unless you must have it for a reason.

 

I asked my rep and she confirmed with her manager that it does contain a modem. I'm ordering from Canada though so it might be different.

 

I did buy a pre-configured system and it did have a modem but it did NOT cost more than it would if I had ordered it directly from L. The deal was comparable to what others got early on - apx 38% off list (and no sales tax). Best of all, it arrived 2 days after I ordered.

 

What specs did you get and how much you paid?