Lenovo W520 Owner's Thread

i7 2720
FHD Screen
Nvidia Quadro 2000M
Color Sensor
4 GB RAM (bought 12 GB separately to get total to 16 GB)
500 GB HDD
Intel 310 80 GB
Centrino Ultimate N 6300
1 Year (will get an upgrade if needed)

Total: $1575 (not including the price for the extra RAM and SSD), without the color sensor it would have been closer to $1500


I'll also go through my thought process between the 8560W, M4600, and W520.

The first laptop to be cut was the 8560W. It has some great features, such as the DC2. However, it simple weighs too much. It's a pound heavier by itself. Plus, if I want to carry it with me, I'd basically be forced to bring the charger which adds another 1.5-2 pounds. A 3 pound weight difference is huge to me considering it's half the weight of the M4600 and W520.

Another downside is that it can't take an mSATA. I love the combo mSATA and HDD. You get the benefits of an SSD with the storage of an HDD. What's not to love?

Now someone might say, "well you can always add a regular SSD and get a slice battery." That's true. However, the slice battery is still an extra 1.5 pounds and a 2.5" SSD will add more weight then the mSATA. So while that may solve some problems, it doesn't address the weight and it makes the 8560w even bulkier.

Onto the M4600. This seemed like a great middle ground between the two laptops. It has some great features like its IPS display and a great physical layout with easy access to components. However, again I ran into the weight problem coupled with mediocre battery life. There's also another downside in that the IPS MUST come with the Quadro 2000M. Those upgrades quickly raise the price. So in the end, the I didn't go with the M4600 for similar reasons to the 8560W and because it would be more expensive.

Sure, I could go without the IPS and still have a nice laptop. Yet again though, I run into the battery life problem. When I buy a laptop, I want to be able to take it with me. If I wanted my laptop to stay at my desk, I'd simply buy a desktop for a fraction of the cost which would also be several times more powerful than any laptop for the same price.


Now here am I with the W520. I have a laptop with plenty of power that's on par with the other big hitters. It can have an mSATA. It's the lightest out of the three and if I wanted I could take out the DVD drive to lighten it even more, though I won't. It also has a top notch FHD screen which is one of the best around. Does it match an IPS, not really. It also doesn't cost as much as the IPS upgrades on either system and still stands up to them relatively well. All this with incredible battery life which means I don't have to carry a charger with me.

Edit: Oh another thing, I like the Thinklight. Backlit keyboards are cool, but I like how the Thinklight acts like a mini lamp so I can see a paper next to me. Granted, I probably wouldn't get much use out of either the backlit keyboard or the Thinklight. I don't work in the dark that often. It's bad for the eyes and is completely unnecessary for me.

 

Cant I use quality headphones (Sennheiser HD555) but I might end up buying a logitech usb mic. But it MUST be a driver issue when its exacly the same nomatter if I use the inbuild mics or a thirdparty mic, lots of static and my voice is odd. Using third party soundcard and there is no issue.

Btw how much time does peoples battery last with minimum brithness? I only get 6-7 hours with nothing running :/ and I read a review that got 9 hours with medium brithness and websurfing (I am just looking at the batteryapp so if that is unprecise then it might not be an issue, but it measures 10W at the lowest)

 

Sorry for my self quote but I'm a bit stuck

 

so, I am planning to get a t520 with fhd, but worry about its 1080 pixel on a 15.6 inch screen.


What I will do is to change from its pixel from 1920*1080 to 1280*720.

but :

1) is this possible? Could you Please HAVE a try?
2) would the picture or display becomes very blurry?

I am asking because this laptop is not available for where I live (Quebec, Canada), so I have to make sure the fhd works for me better I purchase it online.

Thank you in advance

 

thanks for the replies.

I'm not going for RAID as i want a distinct disk for hosting VHDs separate from the host OS altogether, and want something bigger on the bay drive anyway.

I've pulled the trigger on the W520-2720 now (yay), and am gonna look at the performance and do a full RAM upgrade later if needed (but I think i will probably survive with 8GB for now) though I know I'll have to replace the whole set rather than add to.

Am gonna get a secondary SSD for the bay this weekend - thinking about the 256GB Crucial M4. Is it 100% across the board that the everyone needs to implement the registry fix for the power management?

I've also been wondering on whether IOPS or sequencial drive performance would be more important when running virtualisation.

I guess i should worry less! its gonna rock whatever

** edit: created a new thread for n00b SSD questions **

 

is the Lenovo 135 watt slim AC charger good enough to keep the W520 powered without charging the battery?

When travelling I thought about packing the big brick with my luggage, and just take carry with me on my carryin the 135w slim AC. Again I realize it's too weak to power and charge the W520 at the same time but I only need it to be able to power the laptop on the road, and leave the big AC in my room or something.

If anyone tried this before let me know. I don't have a W520 yet.

 

At minimum brightness and nothing running with battery stretch enabled, I can get 11.5 hours. Yes, I have tested this, but only ran the battery to around 50% before it started to drive me insane. Normally, with brightness at 9/15 and on a balanced power profile, I can get 8.5 hours or maybe even 9 hours surfing the web.

The W520 doesn't draw that much power unless you have a 2920XM and some other stuff. Under full load (Linpack + Furmark), I haven't seen my system break 100W, though it came pretty close (like 98W). Add another 20 watts for a 2720QM and a Quadro 2000M and you are looking at about 120W under full load. Many forum members have reported success with a 135W power adapter, so I believe it should work (and charge the battery at the same time).

 

Can anybody here who uses their machine for CAD and/or 3D modelling and rendering tell me how long will the battery last when using it for such applications?

Is it advisable to power the W520 or any laptop for that matter, constantly with the AC charger with the battery still attached to the notebook?

 

No clue how long the battery will last if you do that, but if your laptop is literally at max load, expect an hour or less. I'm going to guess that it is going to be most likely in the ballpark of 2 ~ 4hrs.

The battery thing is a personal preference, although some people have reported throttling without the battery. I personally don't suffer from throttling without the battery, and I don't use the battery a lot currently, so I just leave it out. Others may leave it in for a matter of convenience. It probably is agreeable that the battery will not outlast the laptop, and will have to be replaced at one point or another anyways.

 

Forgive me but, what's throttling and how is it an adverse effect?
There's also a slice battery or a docking station right? Will it suffer the same effect if I were to use them?

Also, will using an SSD instead of a HDD reduce internal heat build-up? And will it yield a longer battery life?

 

Many people have reported that their CPU gets stuck at 800MHz without the battery. As you can imagine, running at like 1/4 of its maximum speed is detrimental to performance.

I'm not sure if a SSD will provide much of an advantage, if any, over HDDs in terms of battery life. The Seagate drive they use is nearly silent in my opinion. I sometimes even forget that I have a HDD in there, until I go do something disk intensive and go "Oh, right, there's a HDD."

 

Which is technically inaccurate. It does not get stuck. If you boot on AC power then pull the plug, it's true speedstep lowers the clock speed to 800. However, if you reboot the 800MHz ceiling is lifted to 1500MHz. Still not full power but hardly "stuck".

 

In the case of the W520, you need to leave the battery in for full power.

 

135W is sufficient unless you are running the extreme Quad with a RAID enabled system. Apparently that config is the only config that requires 170W.

 

Hi. First Post. Have been lurking for weeks and am amazed at the wealth of knowledge out here. I will soon have a w520 and hope I can contribute in the future.

So here's the deal:

On August 3rd I will receive my w520 (8GB, 500GB, i7-2720QM, 1000M, FHD). I will also be receiving an Intel 510 120GB SSD. I make my living on my computer, so everything just has to work, all day, everyday. Even going with the SSD makes me nervous, but I have spent a lot of time lately watching the HD light on my T61p grind away, so I took the plunge.

My plan is to go with BIOS (not UEFI), MBR, install OEM W7 64-bit to the HDD, create R&R DVDs, swap the HD out for the SSD, and leave the HD out for now. Then run R&R to reinstall to the SSD.

I will at least initially be using the SSD for OS and User Data. I will install HD when the adapter arrives. May then move the User/Program data to HD, or just use the HDD as backup. I am currently using a total of 70GB of HD storage (with same OS), so should be plenty of headroom on the SSD.

I know I need to install SP1, run Windows/ThinkPad update, etc. Done this many times, just unsure about any complications regarding the SSD.

So, questions:

1) Do I need to have any SSD drivers available at Recovery time, or will Windows handle it until I update them after install (things like RST)?

2) Is there any real advantage to doing a clean W7 install to the SSD? I have an image, but it seems simpler to use the Recovery disks since the ThinkPad drivers are already there.

3) Since Windows is partitioning/formatting the disk, do I need to worry about alignment?

4) Will W7 need to be reactivated, and will there be a problem doing so? Do I even need to activate the initial install?

5) Does it matter what DVDs I use for R&R (DVD-R, RW)?

6) Overall, is this the right approach? Am I missing anything, or making any bad assumptions?

I know that many of these answers are in this forum, but most of the SSD-related issues/answers seem to be in the context of UEFI & GPT. Some posts make using an SSD look like a real science project, but I am hoping this simpler approach will work.

Thanks in advance for your help with this.

 

Has anyone taken off the heatsink and re-applied some arctic silver or other thermal compound? I have two questions:
-Are there any thermal 'pads' connecting the heatsink to any components, or is it purely grease? My Acer has several squishy pads that are one-time use.
-Any lower temperatures?

 

Woops Sorry. lol I have the 90 WATT Slim AC Adapter from Lenovo. Yes only 90 WATTS but it's so slim.

I was wondering if that would be sufficient just to power the laptop (I don't need it to charge the battery!) and without any graphics work. Just normal office and web browsing that I need while on the road. At home I will have the full power 170 Watt for performance and charging

 

Nope. 90W is only good for charging the battery at night when the machine is shut down.

 

Answered at W520 Installation/Setup Questions - Lenovo Community

 

Actually I am not interested in charging at all. For me it's enough the battery will stay at the same percentage and not drop while the 90W will just be good enough to power up the machine when I'm on the road (no graphics apps or anything special).

 

Good evening,

Thinking about buying one and have a question about CTO models.

Do all of them have 4 sodimm slots and raid controller regardless of how do I configure them? I am planning to buy it with 4gb and 1 drive but would like to upgrade up to 16gb and buy ultrabay adapter and make raid there later. Will it work?

Thank you

 

All of the W520 models have 4 dimm slots on the motherboard; however, the dual-core models have two slots that are unusable. As for RAID, you have to order it at purchase, or else they will leave out the controller (and there's no way to simply enable it on a non-RAID laptop; you would have to return it to Lenovo to get a different laptop).

For 16GB RAM and a second drive, you'll need a W520 with at least the 2720QM (though the 2820QM and 2920QM have little to offer above the base processor). If you want RAID, you need to order it (I think it's a free option, iirc), though you don't need RAID to have more than one drive in a computer.

 

Thank you. Yes, raid is free but there is no options to order it with raid and only 1 hdd or with dvd. :-(

 

Does anybody know how to use the B&N discount? I tried creating an account and clicking on the eCoupons but it seems my session keeps timing out for some reason.

 

Might be a connection problem between your computer and the website. For me, all I have to do is log into my B+N account and buy.

 

All of the quad cores have 4 usable sodimm slots.

You cannot buy the W520 with RAID and a single HDD or SDD. They force you to buy a pair. Otherwise the RAID is turned off and they won't allow it to be enabled later. Another asinine move by Lenovo.

Sorry, that doesn't work.

 

A quote from lenovo B&N store with a 10% off code.Finally the price is $1178 before tax
Now I have 3 questions. Thank you guys
1. Does the fingerprint worthy for upgrade?
2. The same question for the 6300 wifi card
3.Is it a wise choice to wait for some w520s from outlet store.is there any chance to get the similar one under $1000 in the near future?
4270CTO ThinkPad W520 - 1 Yr Depot Topseller Warranty
Intel Core i7-2720QM Processor (2.20GHz, 6MB L3)1
ThinkPad PC DOS License12
15.6" FHD (1920 x 1080) LED Backlit Anti-Glare Display, Mobile Broadband Ready
NVIDIA Quadro 1000M Graphics with 2GB DDR3 Memory
4 GB DDR3 - 1333MHz (1 DIMM)8
UltraNav with TrackPoint & touchpad
320 GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm4
DVD Recordable5
9 cell Li-Ion Battery - 55++60
Bluetooth 3.0
ThinkPad b/g/n10
Integrated Mobile Broadband - Upgradable65
4270 : 1 Year Depot Warranty - TopSeller7
Estimated ship date: 8/10/11**** $1,178.10 $1,178.10

Subtotal: $1,178.10*

 

1) The default fingerprint scanner is fine. I use it all the time and it's accurate enough to detect my fingerprint on the first try. The other scanner is one where you place your finger on a glass window, rather than swipe it across.
2) I got the 6300 simply because "why not?". It's only $40, and prehaps you could haggle the rep to give it to you for a freebie if you buy the more expensive upgrades.
3) I doubt that there will be any W520s in the outlet in the near future. right now there are still plenty of W510s floating around. I'd say that you jump on the B+N plus 10% deal, which is basically the same thing I had when I bought mine (I asked my rep to lower the price).

 

How are you able to get the price that low on BN Gold site with 10%. If I add the FHD screen the price jumps to $1299, and you have it at $1,178 with your configuration.

Can anyone help?

 

Just choose the DOS system and the price will be much cheaper about another 10% off

 

Thank you privatejarhead
The fingerprint on w520 seems much greater than the one on x61s.
I'll try the online chat for discount.

 

It's better if you call instead. Phone reps have a bit more leeway when it comes to handing out discounts. I can PM you my rep's info if you like.

 

Thanks for responding to my inquiry, but what's DOS system? I only see two options on the order page.

Thanks!

 

DOS stands for Disk Operating System, and is one of the most basic types of OS to exist. They were standard on computers from the '80s to very early '90s (before Windows and MacOS came out), but some computer comapnies today offer some version of DOS for people who don't want to buy a Windows license (Dell, for example, sells computers with FreeDOS on them). You have to dig deep on a company's website to find them though, since they would rather you buy your computer with a Windows license.

 

Can someone help me with the calibration?
I was looking for alternative programs but had no luck.
I don't know what to do

 

Are you looking for software to go with the sensor in the W520 or another external sensor and software to go with it?

I use Datacolor - Global Leader in Color Management Solutions

 

DOS? Is this 1980?

Kidding aside, how do you select DOS? I don't see any option in the configurator?

Cheers.

 

I want to use the sensor inside the W520. I used the preloaded softwer but it doesn't work that good :/

 

I use the power save (The lenovo software) and 9/15 brithness and I have 2:29 hours left at 47% capacity :S so thats a long way from your 8-9 hours at that setting

Btw my windows image viewer is blue and all my photos get blue as well, I am pretty sure its the calibrator that changes something it shouldnt.

 

My W520's specs aren't exactly the highest, so I think that actually attributes to a better battery life.

If I Youtube a lot on battery, then my battery will only last like 6 ~ 7hrs.

 

In order to install an mSATA SSD, do I need to order my machine with RAID enabled, or is that not necessary? I'm assuming it is not, but I want to verify this before ordering.

 

Good morning,

Can you please elaborate how exactly does it work? Do I need to configure machine (via BN offer), convert it to quote and next give them a call and ask to lower price?

Can you also PM me your reps if possible?

Thank you very much!

 

No, you don't need RAID for mSata SSD.

 

Again, does Lenovo actually have a dedicated controller for RAID or do they just use Intel software?

 

Thank you.

 

Mine is 2720QM and Quadro 1000M so that should be fine for battery :/

One thing I really miss is a profile that is activated when I dock the computer so it goes to maximum power

 

Does anyone know if the smart card reader that comes with the w520 is contact, contact-less, or both? Also how would I use it to login to windows, I do not see this feature in the thinkvantage tool box?

 

Thank you!

 

From the way it looks in the pictures I've seen, I believe that you have to slide the Smartcard into the laptop fully. I didn't order one myself, so I'm not certain. As for logging into Windows, there's probably some software out there that can do that, or I would imagine that Lenovo would provide you the software if you order the Smartcard reader (again, I'm not too sure).

 

I am having a very hard time deciding between the Intel 510 SSD 250gb and the Intel 320 300gb SSD

Price doesn't matter.
First priority is reliability and second priority is performance.

I have heard the Intel 320 is using Intel's own controlled and thus should be more reliable than the Intel 510 which is using the Marvel controller.

However on another forum today I have heard that actually a bug which causes SSD halt was found on many Intel 320 SSD drives !!!

So now I am lost if I should go with the 510 or the 320 ?

Here's a link to a new bug found on Intel SSD drives just a few days ago :
Intel Acknowledges SSD 320 Bug, Working on Firmware Upgrade | PCWorld Business Center

I know already about the SATA 2 vs. SATA 3. But here I am asking purely about reliability issues. The computer is being used for work purposes, need the ultimate reliability.