Lenovo W520 Owner's Thread

It's a fiasco in that they aren't allowing users to configure RAID after the laptop leaves the factory. Why not ship every laptop with the same firmware and let users configure their laptops however they want? Either there's an actual technical issue here or Lenovo is just trying to get people to purchase overpriced hard drives.

 

The fiasco is the misleading website CTO option. And I respectfully disagree. Not giving technical users the ability to order the RAID capable machine with a single drive is just rude. Many other companies do it and have for YEARS.

 

I did look thru the pre-configured ones, but can't find any with the color sensor included, except for the most expensive one, so I went the custom build way. Now we learn that there are no modem. And no raid unless we pay for their over-priced drives.

 

They must figured that you are already getting such a good deal on their W520, it must be OK to force us to pay for overpriced drives if you want raid.
Plus they don't give you the DVD drive either when you get raid.

 

I am starting to get concerned with all the delays some people here are having my estimated ship date is May 2 Ordered on the 19th. Even though the only extras I have are quadro 2000 and centrino ultimate and 1 dimm instead of 2 for the ram.

I am hoping it still ships early somehow but now I am not so sure. I hope it does not get delayed

 

Apparently Intel only charges royalties for the RAID chip if you ship with a RAID-enabled BIOS. Lenovo's probably just trying to save a buck at the expense of its customers.

 

Yeah, that's the other problem I had with it. If you're paying that much more for $50 HDDs, they should at least give you your optical drive for partial compensation. The external ODD that they have in the accessories section is $100. I guess that they want you to pay extra for that too. Supposedly the optical bay hard drive adapter costs $60. Is that true?

 

2nd HDD hard drive Caddy F Lenovo Thinkpad T420 W520 | eBay

 

I received an email from my L. sale rep PN, Inbound Sales Rep Lenovo AG Direct Sales regarding running the W520 with 1600 MHz RAM and his reply was yes. As long as ALL of the RAM is running at the same MHz frequency.
I have been reading the article at Legit Memory Reviews regarding the Kingston HyperX 8GB 1866MHz PnP Memory Kit For Notebooks. I am considering ordering the 1866 MHz kit.

 

I'm very interested in PC3-12800 SODIMM support as well. Did you buy the XMP version of the Hyperx series? What CPU does your W520 have? Does the W520 BIOS present the option to manually alter the DRAM clock or timings? What is the idle and active power usage of your machine? Hyperx SODIMMs are supposed to draw 2.223-2.399W per module.

I have 16GB of Kingston Hyperx 1600MHz DDR3 DRAM waiting to be mated to a yet unreceived W520. I don't know whether I'll get my machine before my RAM RMA period expires, so it would be convenient to find out whether 1600MHz operation is possible.

 

I spoke with an engineer at Kingston about two weeks ago. He said that the W520 motherboard was tested by Kingston, and he confirmed successful 1600MHz operation. In context, we were discussing Hyperx model KHX1600C9S3K2/8G. Upon subsequent analysis of the KHX1600C9S3K2/8G and KHX1600C9S3K2/8GX white papers, the XMP model evidently runs at an fCK of 667MHz under the default profile. The non XMP model runs at 800MHz. I interpret this to mean that for a non XMP compatible BIOS, the XMP Hyperx model should run at 1333MHz unless BCLK, DRAM clock and timing parameters are modifiable. However, model KHX1600C9S3K2/8G should run at 1600MHz. Here's a link that supports my intuition: forum.thinkpads.com • View topic - W520 Lenovo Core DRAM Controller.

 

What specs did you get and how much you paid?

 

So we should not buy the XMP version? Does the W520 support XMP?

As to the 1866MHz RAM, isn't 1600MHz the fastest supported by the CPU?

 

I don't know if we should buy the XMP model. 1600MHz operation may depend on modifiable parameters (if any) in the BIOS. I don't think the current BIOS supports XMP. Unfortunately, I still don't have my machine, so I can't test any ideas. I'll leave this as an open question to the forum.

1600MHz is the fastest operation supported by the 2700, 2800, and 2900 series quad core mobile i7s. However, as far as Intel is concerned "support" can be construed to mean "legally guaranteed, contingent on BIOS and appropriate hardware." Without waxing prolix, you can force operation of different clock speeds and latencies if: 1 the parameters are modifiable within BIOS, and 2 the hardware remains stable under such modification. Essentially, this returns us to the underlying question of the nature of the W520's BIOS.

 

I'm simplifying this a bit but basically the official speed supported by the i7-2700 series Sandy Bridge quad core processors is 1600Mhz. However, Intel's XMP and JEDEC allow a properly enabled system to use much higher speed modules. It looks like this person has shown that the W520 doesn't allow us to use faster RAM. This is a Lenovo limitation. Is anyone surprised by this? I'm not.

EDIT: One thing to note is that KHX1866C11S3P1K2/8G is 1866Mhz RAM but it doesn't use XMP. I wonder if this will work in the W520.

 

I had the Lenovo web order page e-mail me a quote over the weekend with the coupon deal. Yesterday the link seemed to be broken to place an order, but it worked this afternoon (once I changed from my cash-back AMEX to normal VISA).

We'll see whether they actually honor this order (I wasn't getting a response to e-mail contact attempts), or whether it actually ships this year!

Details + tax and $10 shipping:

4270CT CONFIGURED SYSTEM
05/15/11 $1,399.18 $1,399.18
0A68541 SBB ICI7-2720QM
45M3090 VBB GENUWIN7PROFES.64
0A68625 SBB GW7P64 E
0A68535 SBB 15.6FHD (1900 X 1080) LED
0A68893 SBB NVQ1000M 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
45M4804 SBB IN.CENT.ULTIMATE-N 6300
44C7950 SBB INT WRLSSWDAREANTWRK UPGR
0A68564 SBB LANG PCK US E

 

That sucks. My W520 arrived yesterday, and I already had purchased 4 sticks of KHX1600C9S3K2/8GX. When I ordered the memory Newegg was out of stock of the non-XMP version, and although I was aware the the BIOS might not support changing XMP profiles, I did not know that the default profile would cause it to run at 1333 MHz. The price was the same so I figured why not -- stupid me.

I am in the middle of a project and don't need any distractions right now, otherwise I would unbox the W520 and see if the BIOS supports XMP profiles -- I am pretty sure it does not. I will just have to wait a few days, or perhaps I will see if I can exchange the 8GX parts for 8G (they are unopened). Newegg happens to be out of stock of both right now.

 

Using CPU-Z, the 1600MHz is listed under the XMP Profile, and the W520 BIOS has no setting for memory to use XMP Profile.

The Kingston I got is (KHX1600C9S3K2/8GX).

I have no way to make the system clock the ram to 1600MHz.

The Legitreviews used a Asus, not our W520. That Asus seems to support even 1866MHz ram.

 

My W520 is a Quad 2720QM. There are nothing in BIOS to alter memory setting anyway. My Kingston ram is KHX1600C9S3K2/8GX.

 

I have the XMP version KHX1600C9S3K2/8GX. It is NOT clocking at 1600MHz.

Guess I have to return it for exchange to the non-XMP version.

Wonders if the 1866MHz version is XMP or not ???

 

Well the w520 is a workstation replacement and stability should be the top requirement for a workstation. OC'ing and tweaking is usually reserved for the gaming or enthusiast laptop domain.

Although if the t520/420 do have those cpu/mem adjustment options I bet some enthusiast may a way to modify that BIOS to work on the w520.

 

Well, since the price of 1600Mhz ram is not much more then 1333MHz, so I opted to get the faster one. And the Quad 2720QM supports 1600MHz ram, so why not. If I wanted tweaking, Alienware would be the choice. I have no need to tweak or mod the BIOS. And it is beyond my skills. Just want a fastest stable system without overclocking.

 

I called Kingston and I'm waiting to hear back regarding some correspondence. I'll report back when I know more.

 

Just available and in stock at ..... Buy.com

Kingston's new plug n play ram.

These hopefully will work on our W520, it is non-XMP ram.

Hope these are true Plug n Play, no need of BIOS tweaks.

KHX1600C9S3P1K2/8G
KHX1866C11S3P1K2/8G

I ordered the 1866MHz version.

 

According to their press release, these new ram should be automatic clocking at 1600 or 1866MHz for the new Sandy Bridge CPU.

Link to Press:
Kingston Technology Launches HyperX Plug and Play High Performance Memory | EON: Enhanced Online News

 

Maybe the BIOS needs to be updated to allow the PNP to function properly.

 

Gonna test it out as soon as ram arrive, and find out.
Maybe tomorrow if Buy.com can ship today.

 

Looks like we have some good news. I decided to check my laptop ship date and it moved up a week. So hopefully Lenovo has found a solution to their supply issue.

 

While we are on the subject of ram it seems like the types of ram discussed were gskill,crucial,corsair, kingston I want to pick up a single 4 gig dimm
I dont mind paying a couple extra bucks if say one is better then the other.
What is everyone else using

I assume the following are compatible with the W520 but which RAM would people recommend of the following ddr3 1333

kingston 44.99
Newegg.com - Kingston 4GB 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 Laptop Memory Model KVR1333D3S9/4G

crucial 42.99 +0.99
Newegg.com - Crucial 4GB 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Laptop Memory Model CT51264BC1339

corsair 42.99
Newegg.com - CORSAIR 4GB 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 Laptop Memory Model CMSO4GX3M1A1333C9

gskill 39.99
Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Laptop Memory Model F3-10600CL9S-4GBSQ

 

when did you order and what extras do you have my ship date is still the same

 

I ordered my laptop a little more than a month ago. Everything is standard for the 2720QM except I added the FHD screen, color sensor, Centrino Ultimate, and RAID 0 configuration. My new ship date is 5/4 now.

 

your ship date is still later then mine that I ordered on the 19th so now I really think mine will be delayed (crossing my fingers its not though)

 

Preconfigured model (4276-37U) for just under $1600 delivered.

 

Kingston KHX1600C9S3K2/8G RAM is back in stock at Newegg.com:

Newegg.com - Kingston HyperX 8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Laptop Memory Model KHX1600C9S3K2/8G

Picked up my 4 sticks for a total of 16Gb I'll be selling my factory-equipped stick if anyone wants a cheap upgrade.

 

Mine is the preconfigured model (4276-37U) which does NOT have a built-in color sensor but you can easily add an external color sensor for about the same price AND use it to calibrate other monitors you may have now or in the future. I wouldn't let that be a deal killer.

 

Might want to get the newly released 1600MHz ram instead..

model = KHX1600C9S3P1K2/8G

It is designed for Sandy Bridge according to Kingston.

 

Mine was phone order. I paid $150 more (delivered). I do not have Modem and I have only 1 stick of 4GB RAM. However, I got 2000M graphics, Colorsensor, WiFi 6300 and 3-years on site warranty. Ordering directly from Lenovo's Rep. still looks about $200 cheaper.

 

What's the difference? I'm not going to overclock.

 

Hopefully they get the supply issues resolved and your laptop won't be delayed. I read about some other customers who ordered around the same time as me and they received their laptops so I think I just missed out on the parts which came from northern Japan.

 

Cool - me too - we'll see if it actually happens! Moved from May 11th up to May 4th

2720
Quadro 2000M
FHD
500GB
4GB Ram

Extras:
Intel 310 80GB SSD
12 GB more RAM (just bought the G.Skill that was mentioned to be the same as what comes with the W520)

Was going to pick up a 120GB Intel 510 SSD as well, but I see some posts about issues with the 510 and W520 - anyone know what's up with this? As far as SSD speed is concerned, I'm not too fussy - reliability is much more important as it's primarily a business machine.

 

Okay guys... it looks like my laptop issues have been straightened out tonight. I've ordered a new W520 through my rep. It is exactly like my last system except it has RAID0 configured with the 320GB drive. In fact, the price was the same expect is has an additional $100 charge for the ultrabay caddy, hard drive, and RAID-enabled mainboard. I figured that it wasn't a terrible deal. I can always eBay the drives later. In other words, the old deal we all got was applied again without any issues.

I have to call tomorrow to arrange a return of the old W520. There will be no restocking fee. The only issue remaining is there will be no built-in modems on W520 CTO orders through Lenovo's United States division. For those of us that must have a modem our only option is Lenovo's USB modem (part# 43R1814). I will try to see if a modem daughter card can be added to our systems tonight but I doubt it'll be covered under warranty.

I know many of you are experiencing shipping delays. My last system was ordered on 4/10/2011 and was at my door by 4/21/2011 (it shipped on 4/18/2011). My new system was ordered today 4/26/2011 and has a tentative ship date of 5/11/2011.

One last thing... it looks like all of the RAID and modem issues that we raised a fuss about made it into an email sent to Lenovo's entire sales floor. My rep told me that it was us that "helped Lenovo see there was a problem" and that Lenovo is "thankful" for us "being guinea pigs." Obviously my rep could be just buttering me up but she sounded genuine. They've also been informed about quad display and B2/B3 stepping issues. Who said forums full of us "secondary market" users didn't have an impact? We clearly do.

Finally, a huge thanks to kimocal, maaku, and others in this thread for helping throughout this process. We've got an awesome community of enthusiasts here and I'm glad to be part of it.

Now I am waiting for Kingston to reply to my email about testing their 1866Mhz HyperX RAM in the W520. If they allow it then I'll be a very happy camper.

 

I posted a reply to a link a page or two earlier in this thread which discusses the issues between the w520 and intel 510 SSD. It appears to be a firmware issue but I don't think there's a definitive answer yet.

 

wow, it seems that the avg shipping time is a month? Is that normal? I've never bought a notebook online, only desktops, but a month seems very long to me.

Either way prob worth the wait.

 

I take it you were still required to order a machine with two hard drives?

What did you mean they have been "informed" about the quad display and stepping issues?

Where can we get answers from real Lenovo employees? It seems they go dark on the blogs and pick and choose what to answer on forums.lenovo.com site, and here. I'm actually surprised they stop answering questions on the blogs.

 

Yes, I was required to order 2 drives. It was $100 extra. I see it like this...

Lenovo-branded UltraBay caddy = $60
320GB 7200RPM SATA drive (WD @ NewEgg) = $54.99
RAID-enabled W520 = Priceless?

I don't see it was that outrageous of a price increase as I had originally perceived. However, for the SSD RAID crowd this could be seen as a waste of money.

Basically, Lenovo sales department didn't know about the 4 issues I listed:

1. No modem.
2. No RAID enabling ability later.
3. No quad display like T520.
4. No B2/B3 stepping issue.

They are all aware of these issues now through an email that was sent to everyone in the department and they will inform customers that call in about the product. However, we don't know if or when they'll update the website to reflect these findings. This means web-only buyers (that don't read this thread) may be in for a surprise later with when the RAID or quad-display issue strikes.

I agree with you that Lenovo employees have gone dark especially as the Sandy Bridge notebooks have come out but they've done this before. Also, I agree that they pick and choose items to answer on their forums. This is all rather unfortunate. If you find out where to get answers from real Lenovo employees then let me know. At this point it looks like we have only the enthusiast community to rely on for our questions/concerns.

 

You also lose your DVD-burner, which I doubt you'll use much, esp if you have another machine around, but they are crazy expensive if you get an Ultrabay one ($150!)

USB Burners are like $50

 

Thanks Hrana.

On a different note, Dell is finally talking.

Additional details at Dell Precision M4600 and M6600 Mobile Workstations Available Worldwide May 10 - Direct2Dell - Direct2Dell - Dell Community

 

yeah exactly. I mean if you are on trip and like to watch movie etc.

Also I am amaze how hard drive enclosure of $7 + USB 3.0 port can solve second HDD issue. I mean it remain mighty portable and available to transfer data from one system to another of almost any size. Cheap and mobile option.

RAID is fine unless you have some specific use where two hard drive is must but I am not of that users and many on this board.

But hrana thanks for sharing the info.

 

Looks cool, but a bit late to the party as far as the workstation class fanboys are concerned - no? I'm sure it will be a good machine - I've bought several Dells for my office and most of them have been reliable and decent, if not expensive for the technology level they offer. Actually, my best Dell purchase was not a computer, but the awesome U2711 monitor that I picked up on a Dell deal for under $700!

The 4600M was my first choice for a work station laptop and through researching it found out about the W520: with the shipping delays of the W520, I'm sure the time frames for both will be close. That being said, the deals on the W520s were insane and I'm pretty sure that if I priced out a 4600M similarly, I'd be in for a grand more - easily (and would have been in for at least $500-750 more for a 4500M even on sale!). Additionally, I think that the Lenovo notebooks are definitely a bit better built than the Dells - I have a few Dell notebooks used at the office that have needed bezels and hinges replaced after a few years of use - the two Lenovos that we have, have been rock solid in this aspect. I guess we'll see with the new chasis for the M4600 and M6600 how they hold up.

Anyway, it's cool to see all of this technology converging and hitting the next step at once:

Sandybridge
Nvidia Fermi
Kick @ss displays (i'm sure the ISP display will be awesome, but I'm also guessing that the W520's FHD is nothing to sneeze at?)
SATA III (with ever increasing SSD options)
Cheap RAM (16 - 32 GB in a notebook - wow!)
mSATA
USB 3.0
eSATA
Raid implementation for those that want it (interesting to see that the 6600M supports Raid 5!)

 

hrana:

I just want to say that while I don't know you personally at all, your posts in this forum have been absolutely AWESOME and highly informative (and also very professional) - I'm sure I speak for a lot of posters when I say that I appreciate them and the information that you've presented here. Thanks for participating and helping those of us who are a bit more newbish along the way.

I'm stoked to get this laptop up and running for sure - the RAID, modem and monitor issues aren't big ones for me, though the stepping issue would be if it's indeed not fixed (though the explanation sounds reasonable enough - I guess we'll see!) - if everything else is on point, I will be one happy camper with this computer.

Thanks again to you - and everyone else who has passed out super useful information in this thread - it's really cool to see a thread stay on topic for 1300 posts and maintain a highly respectful and professional level.