Lenovo W520 Owner's Thread

Is there any software/ driver update to zoom in the camera on the W520? When I use it for video chatting (skype), I look like I'm far away from the camera.

 

Is it possible to overclock a Quadro 1000M ?

 

I've not seen any posts about doing that. Lenovo has even put a setting in their BIOS so you cannot overclock the extreme CPU.

 

I used Nvidias own "Performance thingy" and it made my 3dmark06 score go from 8700 to 9450, havent really tried hard, so its a nice little boost

 

My 3DMark06 score is around 9320 without any tweaking. Your machine is higher spec'd too, so I wonder what's up here.

 

3DMark06 is not multithreaded so your duelcore does better in such a benchmark

 

You should be able to overclock the GPU with something like GPU tool or NVidia's own System Tools.

 

A friend of mine bought a dell xps with 2630qm and 4gb of ram, and ordered an additional 3 x 4gb of ram and i can confirm that all 16gb are usable. Maybe Intel meant 8gb per slot?

 

thanks for the info, but I would be scared to order W520 with 2630QM until someone confirms it working.

I didn't know XPS had 4 memory slots, is it 17inch version?.

 

Which Nvidia "Performance thingy" did you use and which settings did you change?

PS: I did a Google search and found: nvidia_system_tools_6.05.html but it does not list quadro 2000 as a supported product.

 

6.02_nvidia_system_tools.exe

791MHz Core, 911 Memory, 1583 Shader, havent played with it, so might be possible to get a lot more.

 

Has anybody tried a bluetooth mouse and does it work well? If you have, please give me the model no of the mouse

Thanks

 

If you have the money the mouse I live by is the razer naga epic...wireless or hooked up...I love this thing. Use it for illustrator and have all the buttons for the main things I use on illustrator. Awesome mouse and by the way whoever talked about setting up the w520 mouse using two-finger scroll and utilizing thinkpads normal drivers..it made my trackpad mouse freaking awesome. lol

 

i use the logitech mouse keyboard combo at work and it works great. i have a port replicator and a 22 inch lcd so with the keyboard and mouse i don't need a full size pc at work. the logitech has worked great with the built in bluetooth. i did have problems when i tried to use the logitech software.

 

How does the 2 finger scrolling work? Is it a particular download like this one?
two-finger-scroll - Two finger gestures for Synaptics TouchPads on Windows - Google Project Hosting

If you can share a link on how to enable it, that'll be great!

 

You place 2 fingers on the touchpad and move up or down. It is enabled by default.

 

My favorite is Microsoft Notebook Presenter Mouse 8000. Maybe not the best mouse around but best mouse/presenter combo. Great thing if you need to do PowerPoint presentations from time to time.

 

I'm having a weird problem on my W520 where it will intermittently freeze for about 1-2 seconds and then continue as if nothing happened. I can't find a correlation to any particular activity that I'm doing.

Anyone else have this?

 

are you using an ssd? if so there is a registry change that needs to be made. you can google lpm and crucial and i think you will find it.

 

Cool! Thank's for the info guys.

 

Also for two_finger scroll on the right lower task bar there is a icon looks like an Orange hand. Make sure you open and click to make it come on when windows starts. Also in the native mouse drivers turn off palm check and two finger scroll and all the checks for the last three tabs. I will say if you use FireFox you can use three finger swipe to go back and forth like a mac..I will say these changes have made my touchpad almost identical to my old macbook pro. Only downside is the mbp had a bigger trackpad. Love this mod. And I second that for the registry on why ur w520 sticks if u are using a ssd. Also if you go to lenovo website and redownload the rapid boot driver it should make ur system start up quicker. after doing this my laptop with 16gig, ssd and 2920xm laptop went from starting up in one mn

 

In a minute 20 to about 47 seconds

 

Um... That's a pretty bad boot time. About the same as a fast platter drive.

 

Hey guys, I just got my W520 and I already have an SSD ready to swap out the HDD to be the OS drive. I've tried searching the thread but there are just a lot of pages to go through and I've got a few questions to ask before doing anything that might potentially botch up my laptop.

1. Can anyone tell me how to make my recovery disks? And I've heard that I need to use CD for a boot drive and the data in DVDs?
2. Once I'm done with my recovery disks, how do I install the factory image in the recovery disks into my SSD?
3. Is there a guide to teach me how to install/upgrade RAM, swap out the Optical drive bay for a HDD caddy and swapping out the original HDD for a SSD?

Thanks guys.

 

click start, all programs, lenovo thinkvantage tools, factory recovery disks to make your disks. once that's done swap out the hard drive and then change your boot order in bios to boot to cd first. install to ssd and you should be ready to go there. for the ram you have to remove the keyboard for the ram on top and there's a small panel on the bottom for the ram on the bottom. you'll have to google for the guides.

 

Another question,

The 170W power adapter is HUGE. Has anyone gotten by with a small wattage power adapter?

My specs are:
2000M Quadro
2720QM
Intel 320 80GB
5400 RPM 320GB
1900x1080 FHD screen
Intel Ultimate N6300 WiFi

 

You might be able to use the 135W charger, but you can't use your laptop and charge at the same time; it has to be either or.

 

Mmm, but that's for the 135W adapter right? I still can do both at the same time when using the 170W?

 

Yes, I'm on a 170W charging and running on AC right now

 

Nope, standard 7200RPM 500GB HDD.

Would it make sense for it to freeze when the graphics switch from integrated to dedicated with optimus or should it be seamless?

 

I am using a 135W adapter when travelling and it works the same as the 170W adapter I have at home for me. You can charge and use the computer at the same time with the 135W, (at least with a 2820 CPU).

 

i would think it would be seamless. run system update and see if everything is up to date. otherwise i'm not sure what would cause it.

 

What do you suggest the issue is then if my boot time is 47seconds?? I have a ssd and 16gigs of ram and the 2920xm processor...thats the best I've gotten so far and I don't have a crap load of stuff loading at startup.

 

i've worked my butt off trying to get the fastest boot and 43 seconds from the time i swipe the fingerprint reader till i can open a web page is what i get. it takes about 10 or 12 seconds to get to the lenovo spash screen so you only have a 30 second or so boot which is what i'm getting. you can shave off a few seconds choosing a no gui boot and no password but it's not worth it to me.

 

What antivirus are you using? AVG 2011 killed my fast boot times. I'm considering switching to Microsoft Security Essentials.

 

fwiw i'm using vipre enterprise.

 

Guys and gals,

My first post here. Please tell me if I made a good deal here:

This was the original Lenovo I configured about a month ago, but ran $2700. I was looking at the original email with the quote, went to Lenovo's website, and by golly, they were chopping $931.00 off the original price. I found the online coupon for another discount of $218.85 (» LogicBUY - News, Reviews, Deals & Coupons for HP, Lenovo, Laptops, Videogames, Gadgets) and said, "Gee whiz! Let's do it!"

Saved another $40 by reducing the original 500GB HD to 320GB, got free S&H ($10) so all told, I got $1199.85 off the original price. Literally 50% off if I include taxes on the original price.

It's pretty stripped down, but for the price, all the essentials I wanted are there.

1 SYS.4270CT CONFIGURED SYSTEM $1,240.15
The above product code consists of the following component(s):

4270CTO THINKPAD W520 - 1 YR $1,240.15
0A68541 SBB ICI7-2720QM $0.00
45M3090 VBB GENUWIN7PROFES.64 $0.00
0A68625 SBB GW7P64 E $0.00
75Y0162 SBB M W7 XP MD- E $0.00
0A68534 SBB 15.6HD+ (1600 X 900) LED $0.00
0A68893 SBB NVQ1000M GR $0.00
45M4572 VBB 4GBPC3-10600DDR3 1333SODMM $0.00
45M4839 SBB KEYBOARDUS ENGLISH $0.00
0A68526 VBB FINGERPRINT READER $0.00
0A68558 SBB 720P HD CAM INT MICR $0.00
0A69620 SBB I RAID-NOT EN $0.00
0A68552 SBB 320GB HDD7200RPM $0.00
0A68547 SBB DVD RC8XMXDLLRULTEHATA $0.00
0A68529 VBB ECS+4IN1CR $0.00
45M4816 SBB 9CELLLI-ION BATTERY $0.00
0A68904 SBB CPNAMLC+ 170W AC AD $0.00
0A68261 SBB BLUETOOTH 3.0 $0.00
75Y1724 SBB THINKPADB/G/N $0.00
44C7950 SBB INT WRLSSWDAREANTWRK UPGR $0.00
0A68564 SBB LANG PCK US E $0.00
0A68537 SBB FINGRPRNT READER $0.00

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Merchandise Total $1,240.15
Sales Tax $106.97
Shipping / Handling $0.00

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Total $1,347.12

 

That actually looks expensive, but that sales tax looks so low compared to what I have to pay here in Canada.

Edit:
Yeah, just priced it out, $1086.33 here in Canada with SPC pricing. So in America I'd expect something around $1150.

 

Yes, it's 17" and only the quad-core models have 4 (working) slots, same like lenovo.

 

I'm sure all 4 DIMMs on a dual core model are electrically functional, and it's only the CPU that can't handle the other 2 modules.

 

Interesting. Thank you. In New York and we have one of the highest tax rates - 8.25% +
Curiosity: do have VAT up to 30% in Canada, like in the EU?

 

Um... It's worse than an X100e and a 250GB 5400RPM drive on a nearly empty Windows 7. (36.7 seconds). My fully loaded T400 Scorpio Black goes to 62.4 seconds.

The Harmonized Sales Tax is 12% over here.

 

Hmm. I ran all the system updates. I need to figure out what exactly is causing it. IIRC I can still move the mouse, but nothing actually works for that brief 1-2 sec.

 

13% here, so better than the 30%.

 

Hello,

i have 3 years onsite warranty and am considering to upgrade to accidental damage protection and/or 4 years warranty. i got this quote:

41K0489 – to 4 Years On-Site - 108 eur

41K0473 - to 3 Years On-Site with PROTECTION – 78 eur

41K0426 - to 4 Years On-Site with PROTECTION – 233 eur

do you think the PROTECTION is worth of it?

does someone have positive/negative experience with it (e.g. 'protected' laptop damaged and and the repair was refused) ?

thanks

 

that's exactly what mine was doing and the lpm registry change fixed it. it was on a vertex 3 drive though. you might want to try that and see if it helps.

 

Got a like new condition W520 for sale..check out the link.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/not...1080-fhd-blue-ray-3-year-onsite-warranty.html

 

I'm sorry but your price is not realistic. You can buy new W520 in better configuration via BN gold offer for a few hundred $ less. Not even counting Amex $150 off offer and 10% off coupons Lenovo has from time to time.

Of course, you need to upgrade RAM by yourself.

 

. How the hell did you get a blue ray with no camera/bluetooth, none of those were even an option when I got mine.

If you only bought it two weeks ago why don't you just return it under the 21 day return policy?

 

You can buy a blu ray drive off of ebay and upgrade it yourself.
The no camera/bluetooth are special order.