Lenovo W520 Owner's Thread

Barnes and Noble discount, plus email discount (ask for it now, not on next purchase) totals to around 25% as well.

 

I ordered my W520 on August 1st and the UPS tracking tells me its out for delivery today. My mom ordered it for me and had it shipped to her house, so I'm sitting in her living room in front of a large bay window watching for the big brown truck. Can anyone tell me if this is like boiling water? If I watch for the UPS truck will it not come?

 

From my experiences with boiling water, regardless of my watching it, it boils in the same amount of time anyways. I was practically sitting on the ceiling when I was waiting for my W520 to be delivered on its delivery date, and it arrived at like 6pm.

 

UPS doesn't come to my neighborhood until 5-6pm, no matter what. I was sitting above the ceiling waiting became not only was my laptop dead, but I had to use the family desktop while I waiting (1440*900 19" display? eww...). At least mine came a day earlier than quoted (9 days instead of 10).


Anyway, for those who have problems with Skype recognizing your mic/speakers, all you need to do is go here and update your audio driver to the latest version.

 

Thats kind of funny because UPS always comes to my house at like 6pm too. I live at one end of the city and my mom lives in the middle so I figured they must start at one end and work their way across, but if they deliver everything at 6pm, where do they go all day? I says the truck left the depot at like 8am.

 

I only had to wait until 4pm, but its here!
First impressions, if you have good eyes 1920x1080 on a 15.6" screen is glorious. After reading some other posts I was concerned it might make things overly small but it makes them just right and sooooo much stuff fits on the screen it feels almost like working on my home PC (23" monitor with 2058x1152 resolution).

The build quality of the base feels really great, but to be honest the screen lid seems to have the structural rigidity of a flaccid and opening it from one corner results in quite a bit of flex. My moms cheap $500 acer aspire is sitting beside me and its screen is much more ridged. In the base where the optional color sensor would go there is just a plug, I was expecting a solid piece with that hole omitted entirely. I suppose on the bright side that gives me the option to add one in later if I feel so inclined, but I doubt I will.
The 9 cell battery has a little wiggle but it doesn't seem excessive when compared to my toshiba netbook which has the exact same style hanging extended battery.
Overall it feels nice and solid in my hands and the fit and finish looks great.

I'm typing this right now in a window with a setting sun shining on my screen, but with the anti glare screen at at max brightness I'm having no problem at all seeing which is nice. One thing I am noticing is that while the keyboard is laid out nicely some of the keys seem to require a slightly harder press than I'm used to with my soft touch logitech keyboard at home or the chicklet style one in my netbook and I'm having to go back and re-hit keys that weren't pressed hard enough. Out of the box the multi-touch touchpad isn't very predictable, but is still useable, when doing two finger scrolls. I will say it is more accurate than my toshiba netbook though.

Booting into windows from a cold off takes a surprisingly brisk ~20 seconds including fingerprint login. I got the fingerprint scanner setup and it works quickly and on the first swipe.
I downloaded firefox and once I hit install it took under a second to complete.

Overall I'm very happy (with the sole exception of the floppy screen) with my W520 and just trying to give my objective opinion here for others.

*As I'm typing this the keyboard seems to be loosening up and keystrokes getting more accurate so maybe it just needs to be broken in a little. It may also be that they require a very straight hit and I'm just adjusting to it. I'm still unsure as this post is my first use of the keyboard. The period key is still taking an un-naturally hard press to register though.

 

The keyboard has about as much throw as a normal desktop keyboard, which I feel is very nice. I was thrown off (no pun intended) by it for an hour or so, but I got used to it quickly.

 

Hello again guys
Do you know how to turn off that keyboard bip that turns on when I press more than 3 keys at the same time?
thanks!

 

Mine definitely required more force to fully depress than the keyboards I'm used to, but your right I did begin to get used to it as I used it and I don't anticipate it being an issue.

No but if that's the reason why mine kept randomly blipping at me then I would like to find out as well! I thought it had turrets or something.

I'm curious, does everyone else find their screen case to be as delicate as I find mine or am I just being overly sensitive? it doesn't feel like it would take much pressure applied to the back of it to break the screen which kind of worries me as I was expecting my thinkpad to be built like a tank.

 

Go to Start Menu>>Mouse over "Computer">>right-click>>Manage>>Allow administrative privileges (if it asks)>>Device Manager>>Toolbar>>'Show hidden device'>>Look for "Non Plug and play drivers">>Beep>>right-click>>Uninstall.

To make sure the driver is dead, delete C:\Windows\System32\drivers\Beep.sys

 

You can disable it in bios. You do not need to delete anything in your computer.

 

Hey guys, check out the New HyperX SSD from Kingston. It looks to be a killer drive. This one is a keeper!

Sequential reads 6Gb/s — 555MB/s for all capacities (120 and 240 GB)
Sequential writes 6Gb/s — 510MB/s for all capacities (120 and 240 GB)

See the review and stats...

Kingston HyperX 240GB 6Gbps SSD Review - Kingston Brings It With HyperX - Legit Reviews
Kingston Technology Company - SSDNow Product Information - HyperX SSD Drive

 

The color in the full hd screen is incredible. After looking at it for an hour every other monitor, from my moms cheap acer laptop to my home samsung, just looks washed out and dull.

 

$500 for a 240GB SSD? I'll sit that one out for a bit. Nice to see some more options though.

 

Hi guys!

I have just purchased this w520 from newthinkpads on ebay and im quite impressed with it.

I hav a 3d Vision monitor and nvidia usb receiver which I had before which I would like o get working with this laptop but I have been having trouble getting the drivers to install. They are located in the swtools folder and when I ran the setup file, all it seemed it did is copied a bunch of files to program files folder.

Could anyone guide me on how to install these drivers?

ALSO, I have been searching google for anyone that might have got the w520 to work with 3d vision monitors but i ran into a post where someone was asking about getting it to work with a w510 and the reply was that it has a single link port and was not possible (link - forum.thinkpads.com • View topic - W510 + nVidia 3D Vision kit)

Please say that is not true with the w520?... ;_;

If it is, I have been thinking about getting hold of a vidock, perhaps that will allow me to get 3D working with my monitor? ;S

Any help on getting this working will be very much appreciated! ;O

Sam

 

Hopefully the drive will drop in price this Autumn...

 

Hello W520 aficionados...

After many weeks of sitting on the fence, I finally fell off and decided to purchase a W520.

I opted for the upgrades below, leaving the other options at default, with plans to upgrade the RAM/HDDs on my own. From what I've read, $1,836 after California taxes/fees seems like a pretty good price, what do others think? The extended warranty and accident protection added a couple hundred dollars, but seemed well worth the peace of mind.

I also went with the RAID option since I have no use for an optical drive. I've read that some people are using two SSDs in their machines, but I was under the impression that this could cause problems over time. Is performance degradation no longer an issue?

Lenovo has an estimated ship date of 8/25, but I'm really hoping that it arrives sooner (and without any dead pixels).

 

Still the same SF-2281 controller as the others and I'd pass on SF anyways. Also, don't fall for marketing, sequential speeds don't have a major impact on overall performance.

 

Hi everyone

I posted on lenovo forums but got no response so I'm coming over here to check with you guys.

Does anyone know if my W520/all W520s are compatible with the FHD screen for W520 being sold on eBay, specifically the AUO B156HW01 V4.

My model/machine code is 4284-A99, currently running the most basic HD screen, 1366x768.

If compatible, are there any issues, eg. Having to replace the cables / different mount or frame holding the LCD in the bezel?

I did do a search but haven't found anything conclusive, nor my specific machine code in the FHD LCD screen FRU replacement from the manual.

Also, does anyone have a link to a tested 3rd party ultrabay for 2nd HDD? The original lenovo ultrabay offered locally is kind of pricey at $100+, but I'll get that if there are no other alternatives.

Thanks!

 

I ordered mine on Aug.1, it had an estimated ship date of Aug.12, it shipped on Aug.5 and was in my hands Aug.13, with a perfect 1080p screen without a single pixel out of place.

You should be fine

 

Its sandforce chip like corsair, ocz etc

 

I'm trying to modify a original Intel 6300AGN to work with the W520. Can someone please post the vendor/product and subsystem ID's of their Intel Ultimate N 6300 wireless card? It can be found in the Device Manager on Windows or by running sudo lspci -vnnn | grep -A13 Network.

Thanks in advance.

EDIT: Nevermind. I found it in the Windows driver INF file:

Lenovo:

Code:

; Lenovo_6300_AGN_3x3_HMC
%NIC_MPCIEX_6300AGN_3x3_HMC% = Install_MPCIEX_Lenovo_6300_AGN_3x3_HMC_WIN7_64_MOW    ,   PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_4238&SUBSYS_11118086 ; MOW

Generic:

Code:

; GEN_6300_AGN_3x3_HMC
%NIC_MPCIEX_6300AGN_3x3_HMC% = Install_MPCIEX_GEN_6300_AGN_3x3_HMC_WIN7_64_MOW    ,   PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_422B&SUBSYS_11018086 ; MOW

So, for anyone who needs it:

Code:

Intel Ultimate-N 6300 AGN
 ID        | Generic  | Lenovo
-----------|----------|----------
 Vendor    | 8086     | 8086
 Product   | 422B     | 4238
 Subsystem | 11018086 | 11118086

EDIT 2: DARN IT! The Intel 6300 has a pin on it that disables writing to the EEPROM. My soldering skill are terrible too .

 

I just posted a message on the Lenovo Forum describing issues with SpeedStep, Turbo and being stuck at a particular frequency, as of the (latest) 1.27 BIOS, which is the version now shipping. I would repeat the message here, but it's very detailed and constantly being updated with additional information as I discover workarounds. So, your best bet is to just read the latest version at the bottom of this link to page 3 of the thread:

W520: Speedstep not working properly (on battery)!... - Page 3 - Lenovo Community

 

I'm currently using BIOS 1.26, Power Manager 3.59, and have all my power settings to Max Performance. My i7-2720QM is still capped at 800MHz on AC and battery regardless of what I do, according to CPU-Z. However, running HWinfo64 and Resource Monitor shows me that the processor is running around 3GHz, even when idle. What gives?



All I want my laptop to do is run at 2.2GHZ on idle and full 3.3GHz while under load, on AC. Battery can stay at 800MHz for all I care.

 

Your CPUs have to be at 100% utilization for the frequency to jump up! Try running Prime95 and watch the frequency in CPU-Z.

 

It will sometimes jump up when I ran PCMark7, and often went to 2.9 to 3.2GHz when I enabled Lenovo Power Boost+ in Power Manager. I'm just concerned why it idles at 800MHz and doesn't jump unless I'm benchmarking. So what you're saying is that I shouldn't be worried at being stuck at 800Mhz (for the majority of the time) on AC power?

 

Well, there's no point in running full throttle when there's no need for it. I.e. revving your car engine at a red light.

Also TI-89 Titaniums are awesome. Doom89 FTW. XD

 

No, you shouldn't, unless you have latency sensitive apps where the transition from 800MHz to the P0 state (the highest multiplier) will impact them.

 

Anyone has any idea?

 

The original SATA Ultrabay Adapter III is not $100+ vector1, and it can be found here for $60.

 

Hi Aesdecryption

I'm referring to my local price, quoted by the service centre. I would prefer locally if I'm getting a original ultrabay.

I'm actually more curious whether it's possible to swap my LCD screen out.

If no one knows, how should check? I could open up my screen to check the connectors, but how do I know they are compatible without buying the new FHD screen?

Thanks!

 

I'm sure your W520 can detect other screens that Lenovo use, otherwise you wouldn't be able to replace a broken screen ( here is a video of seperating the LCD screen from the motherboard).

 

What you're seeing is NORMAL! When the CPU is not stressed, it stays at the lowest possible speed. The little spikes you see is probably because a process or program needs a little boost and as soon as it's done, it drops back to idle. The 800MHz issue people refer to is when they put the CPU under load and it still stays at 800MHz. Again, for you at idle it is absolutely normal to stay at 800MHz.

 

I'm considering buying a thinkpad for school and I'm thinking about getting the W520... I don't really need a powerful laptop to run hardcore applications or anything, I just want to get something that I can have for the next 4 years and not feel like it's slow or out of date, I don't think I can get that with a laptop with an integrated graphics card. So I boiled it down to the T520 or the W520 since business laptops are known to have longer lifespans. The W520 really looks nice to me since it can have a long battery life and is capable of beastly things when it's plugged in. So do you guys recommend the W520 for notetaking/gaming for the next 4-5 years?

 

That's what I'm going to use it for.

 

I bought mine mainly for the same reasons. The Quadro 1000M ranks between a Mobility Radeon HD 5730 and GeForce GT 540M, and the Quadro 2000M ranks between a GeForce 9800M GT and Radeon HD 6850M. However, different benchmarks performed on the cards place them between some other cards, so you should read through NotebookCheck for results on the Quadro 1000M, 2000M, and NVS 4200M (for the T520).

The only true difference between the T520/W520 is the GPU. What sort of games do you plan on playing now and in the near future? I say near because even gaming notebooks produced in 2011 will have a difficult times playing games made in 2015, even on medium settings. Unless you'll be playing a lot of modern games at higher settings, you'll probably be fine with either a NVS 4200M or Quadro 1000M; the difference in the 2000M is that it has twice the CUDA cores (96 vs 128), but other than that it's basically a +$200 Quadro 1000M with some extra cores.

 

The main difference that caused me to go with the W520 was being able to go with 16 GB of RAM. The T520 only allows a maximum of 8 GB. While that seems like a lot now, in 3-4 years it wont seem like much.

 

Just to add to that, if someone's looking for a quad-core 15" Thinkpad, the cost difference between a T520 and base quad W520 is either "eh, it's only a small amount more", or the W520 could actually be cheaper, depending on options.

 

Yeah... I figure that if you put on quad core and a good GPU then this laptop will last for quite some time into the future (I already have a good desktop for hardcore gaming, this laptop will be for some lighter stuff like SC2, DOTA2, Diablo 3 and such). The killer battery life only sweetens the deal.

 

No laptop is future-proof. Whatever you get will seem outdated next year - and even more in two years, et al. But put that out of your head - there is nothing you can do about it - other than waiting until then - and then waiting again till the next then (smile). Just buy what you need now and for the time you expect to be using it. If it is the right choice now, it will be right for all that time. When it breaks or the new breed is desired, do the same thing again - until the next time. Select your 510, not on T or W or quad or dual - but on a balance between your budget (both initial and over time of use) what your your notebook needs are and are expected to be be over the life of the notebook. If you pick right, it will always be right. If you pick wrong, it will always be wrong. Whether new and better machines appear after the purchase should be irrelevant to the worth to you of the notebook in your possession.

 

True, OP can also try a different approach to "future-proofing": instead of buying a powerful laptop today for $2x dollars, he could instead buy a decent laptop today for $x dollars, then save another $x dollars for a decent laptop in the next 2 years (whatever will be considered decent then).

The reason I chose to buy a great laptop now is that I don't plan on running intensive applications often; currently I don't use any sort of engineering software (though I may in the future. Even then, the software still won't tax my computer too much), and I don't buy games very often (before buying BFBC2 a few days ago, my newest game was from 2007). I currently have a 2yr TPP warranty on this laptop, and if needed, I'll extend it to another 2yrs in the future, and in case my laptop somehow breaks in the future, there's the possibility to "upgrade" to either a T540 or W540 or whatever.

 

yeh. I think people who really need only 4 GB of ram, an Intel gpu, and any of the available cpu's, are unlikely to require, within the average lifetime of machine use (3-4 years?) 16GB ram, a more powerful gpu, and a quad-core cpu. Those who do absolutely need 16Gb ram, a top-rated quadcore cpu and a gaming-class gpu will get them now - and are likely to find their machines inadequate in even 2 years time.

IMHO, more important choices for 95% of computer users is which screen to go with and whether to go with a SSD. And the warranty (smile). Most of us would not notice which cpu or gpu we have under the bonnet. The screen and the storage technology are definitely observable differences. If some extra gpu grunt is sometimes desired, the Nvidia Quadro NVS4200M is a nice addition to the Intel; for power users and more serious gamers, only the W-series gpu's and the quad cpu's will do (smile).

 

Well thanks to EPP + a coupon I'm getting a W520 for $1470 with all the stuff I want on it... Considering any 1080p laptop with a DECENT battery life costs around $1000 (or more) the $500 is worth the build quality, awesome keyboard, and insane battery life (I hear people are getting upwards of 10 hours with wifi off?) so I think it's a pretty damn good deal for me. Hell the GOOD macbook pro costs around $2400 + tax and people still buy that...

 

What're your specs? I just dropped $1650CAD on a 2720QM, FHD, 2000M equipped machine.

 

I dropped $1500 on the machine, plus $150 for 2yr TPP warranty and lock.

 

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF. And I only have base warranty. Made worse with the Canadian dollar being stronger than the American greenback. T__T

I sure hope that price isn't with the 320 and 12GB of RAM.

 

Lol not even close... I got both aftermarket for $290 for the 320 and ~$50-ish for the extra 8GB RAM, so combining all my total costs (laptop + warranty + lock + taxes on those items + aftermarket parts) was somewhere around $2100 or so. However, the retail configuration of my laptop (with the stock 4GB RAM and 500GB HDD) was $2167 by itself, so really my laptop is worth nearly $2700.

 

Phew. The sales rep said this is about as good a deal I was going to get in Canada. =/
Now all I'm hoping for is no dead pixels... *fingers crossed*

 

Your deal is a pretty great one. As for the pixels, I still don't have a single dead or stuck pixel on my 1080p since accepting shipment.

 

That sounds very high. There was a 25% off sale that ended yesterday. So, with the specs you stated (I'm assuming the rest is stock and the WLAN is the 6300), it would've been like $1,469.25 to order online.