Lenovo W520 Owner's Thread

As per Intel, the 2820 and the 2720 CPUs have the same wattage. The 2920 CPU uses 10 W more and (in the W520) comes with a larger (and noisier) fan.

I have the 2820qm + 2000M and it is very quiet.

(I tried the 2920 + 2000M, but it was too loud for me).

 

for what it's worth the recent bios changes have made the fan much quieter on the 2920. if the machine is under a heavy load for a while it does get a lot louder but i expected that. as delivered, before any bios changes, it was really loud even at idle.

 

thank you

also can anyone say if I will choose RAID option, will I available to use sata ports in NON-Raid mode too? so in JBOD mode? or RAID only?

 

if you buy the RAID equipped W520, the use of RAID is optional. You can choose ACHI in BIOS and use a single drive or JBOD (just a bunch of disks).

 

do U know if they use the same sata 3 controller? in raid version?

I mean if there are some worse / better performance in raid version controller? or it's the same controller, just with some different bios revision?

 

The 2720QM + 1000M will be quieter if Lenovo uses the same heatsink(s) since TDP is not meaningful when comparing power consumption (and hence heat and noise). Both parts will consume less power (despite the same TDP for CPU) than the 2820QM + 2000M and hence why it will produce less heat (wasted energy) and noise (from the fan to eliminate this energy).

 

I'am for sure going to buy 1000M - but not decided about CPU yet, 2820qm or 2720qm - first one have more cache - i'am going to use many vmwares on the notebook (want to use it as desktop replacement), so thought that more L3 cache can help, but in the same case I want silent solution - so here the main question, how more silent 2720qm is compared to 2820qm

 

also as I got there is no way to use in one time msata SSD + wwan? is it right?

 

That is correct. The mSata card is installed in the same position as the WWAN card. You can always obtain an external USB unit from your carrier which to me has always been preferable than the internal card anyway.

 

but what are advantages of the external USB unit?

 

This is getting off topic for a W520 owners thread but using a WWAN USB device offers the max amount of flexibility. Usually those devices from a carrier can be used with a Mac or PC. People that prefer the internal module are typically using a machine for 3-5 years and like the convenience of not having to carry around something they'll break or lose.

 

It addresses the question that you asked. The mSata card uses the WWAN slot position. So, you have a choice to make. If you want to use an mSata card and also be able to use WWAN, you will have to obtain the USB device from the carrier. Verizon, for example, has some really nice USB units, but they also have a 4G mini-hotspot unit that will support 5 wireless attachments from PC. The LTE network here in Raleigh, NC is running around 26+mbs down and 10+mbs up. The Gobi 3000 card is 3G only and you're stuck with using it w/o upgrade. I also found that the external device had better reception than the reception by the internal card.

 

Do any W520 owners with the FHD display wish they'd gone with the HD+? I don't like the idea of downgrading from the 1680x1050 on my current laptop, but I have serious misgivings about buying a laptop with a wide gamut display when I don't need it for photo editing. I know Firefox has colour management, but most Windows software doens't. It seems like I'd be limited to Media Player Classic or WMP with a CPU-intensive colour overlay if I wanted colour managed video playback. No colour management in VLC.

I've been told elsewhere that the oversaturated colours in non-managed apps aren't as bad with a 95% display as they are with 110-120% desktop monitors, but I have a hard time believing it wouldn't bother me. There's also the issue of out of gamut blues going purple with a calibrated display, of course.

 

Fwiw, I have the fhd and wouldn't consider trading for the hd+. this is the best display i've had since my old a31p.

 

Oops, wrong topic. Where's the delete button?

 

I have to agree. The FHD screen is one of the highlights of the entire line of ThinkPads. If you are going to get a 15" you'd be crazy NOT to get it.

 

The FHD screen is indeed amazing. It's incredibly crisp and bright, but I had to increase to 125% or else I couldn't read anything.

 

Guys

Anybody using a bluetooth mouse reliablty with the lenovo 520? I'm looking for one and failed all my attempts to get apple's magic mouse to work

Thanks

 

This.

Twas the deciding factor for me. Initially i wanted something smaller, and lighter... but show me a 14" with a decent screen...

 

i'm using the logitech keyboard and mouse with the integrated bluetooth. once i set it all up i deleted the logitech software. it was causing problems but i don't remember what they were. i've been using this combo since april and it works great.

 

I don't know exactly why, but I find myself using the touchpad more often when before I was exclusively TrackPoint except for extended scrolling.

I've gotten the [Lenovo] UltraNav and TwoFingerScroll settings nearly perfectly set, and the textured surface obliterated the initial starting friction found with smooth touchpad.

 

What is the B+N discount that everyone talks about?

 

Lenovo - Barnes and Noble Gold

 

Thanks for the reply!

 

Hi,

Is anyone running Sandforce SF-2281-based SSDs in their W520? I'm trying to set up my W520 with a Corsair Force GT. I first tried to clone the original Windows-installation over to the SSD. It booted up once, very slowly, and then errormessages after a reboot (missing files or something). Tried to do a clean Windows 7-install, but dosn't help - get a errormessage e.g. with the kernel-file missing.

In addition to the 120 GB Force GT, I have a 240 GB Force 3 in a another computer. Plan now is to try that instead, but just want to check out if there maybe is a more general problem with using SF-2281-based SSDs in this computer.

 

i've run a vertex 3 and i did the initial install with the lenovo restore disks that i made when i first booted the system. i do images once or more each week as a backup. i've found that i have better luck if i secure erase the ssd and then load it into another windows 7 machine so that the mbr partition is set up correctly. if you try to clone without doing this you may or may not get good results because of incorrect alignment. it also depends on the software you use to image. try se'ing the drive and then loading the image after it's been booted in a win7 machine and see if that helps. as ssd will show you whether the alignment is correct. there are also forums at ocz that will show you how to manually set up alignment etc.

 

Will, alignment can give less performance, but the situation now is that the thing will not boot. I just get a 0x00000ec9-error at the reboot during the Windows installation now.

The SSD was cleaned before I tried to use it in the W520.

 

This is precisely what I did on my W520. Using 2 sticks from Lenovo and mixed sticks from Crucial bought separately and it appears to work very well.

However on every Mobo site or OC site, it is strongly recommended you only install matched sets that have been tested together and sold as a set.

I presume the difference is a low clock speed on a laptop chip (mine is an I7 quad core) or on the I7-2600K overclocked to 5.0 Ghz. I presume the extra speed makes the RAM timing and compatibility that much more important.

 

anyone tried to replace stock cpu/gpu compound to some Artic Silver to get lower temperatures?

I read that HP owners with 8560 notebook, got good results after doing it - 5-6 degrees lower.

how good this idea is for Lenovo W520?

 

Just stop by to report my success in replacing the i7-2820QM CPU in my W520 with a 3.7 GHz i7-2960XM CPU. I have posted a lot of pictures here Intel Sandy Bridge Core i7-2960XM. The captions are in Thai but a picture is worth thousands of words. Please enjoy.

 

I repasted the TIM with a Arctic MX-4. It works great. Total time taken to do is 30 to 60 minutes. Please see the pictures in my previous post on replacing the CPU for more idea.

 

what about warranty in this case? i can forget about it?

 

if you get a chance run pcvantage on it and see how it scores. sounds like you've got a smoking fast laptop! i decided to buy mine with the 2920 and 4 year on site warranty. i use mine in my office and in 2 or at the most 3 years i'll upgrade and give this machine to someone else. if you haven't done it yet you might want to try it with a ssd. made a big difference in mine.

 

I believe if you just repaste the TIM, warranty will not be affected because there is no change in hardware config.

I did this (changed a CPU) before with my T500 and W510. I talked to the local service center in Bangkok, located at the IBM headquarter in downtown. They confirmed that if there is no evidence of accident or that an unqualified personnel has tampered with the machine, then all parts in the "original" configuration of the machine are under warranty. If you change the CPU (by an qualified personnel who knows what he is doing), then only that changed CPU will not be under warranty (which makes sense).

 

Acknowledged. I will download pcvantage and come back to show you the picture. My W520 is quite fully loaded with two SSD's already:

 

can't wait to see it. you should have the fastest w520 we've seen!

 

Were there any thermal compound/pads on the GPU memory?

 

Nope. I believe the thermal unit for W520 is the "workstation" type according to the HMM. See pictures here.

 

Downloading PC Vantage is painfully difficult. It's very big 600+MB and there seems to be no reliable download site available. I got stuck half-way and it seems like the original file got deleted/moved somehow

 

Try PCMark 7:

"PCMark 7 includes 7 PC tests for Windows 7, combining more than 25 individual workloads covering storage, computation, image and video manipulation, web browsing and gaming. Specifically designed to cover the full range of PC hardware from netbooks and tablets to notebooks and desktops, PCMark 7 offers complete PC performance testing for Windows 7 for home and business use. "

Download PCMark 7 - Complete PC test for Windows 7 | PCMark

 

I'm thinking about buying the below 520. Its a bit pricier than I wanted but has some things I want like the great display and lots of options.

The big thing I added was the FHD and the SSD because for me it was ~$215 option which is reasonable considering what it would cost me to purchase and install. I'm planning on upgrading the RAM not long after I get it to something like 8 GB.

This laptop will be used for classes, video, and maybe some gaming (not Crysis though)

Any other suggestions?

Intel Core i7-2620M Processor (2.70GHz, 4MB L3)1
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 6412
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
128 GB Solid State Drive, Serial ATA4
DVD recordable multiburner5
9 cell Li-Ion Battery - 55++60
No Bluetooth
ThinkPad b/g/n10
Integrated Mobile Broadband - Upgradable65
4270 : 1 Year Depot Warranty - TopSeller

 

Personally, I went with a faster CPU (2720QM) but no SSD, since the CPU can't easily (or maybe at all) be upgraded, but I can easily get a SSD later on. So I'm kinda trading off current speed for future speed. I also upgraded the wireless to the Intel 6300, which is potentially quite a bit faster than the other options.

 

don't want to be negative about w520, as it's still my #1 product I'am going to buy, but seems it's very big lottery today - to get this machine without any issues. and you'll be happy customer, if you will not have:

1. stucked cpu at 800 or 1200mhz (nothing actually can help, if you are super lucky then bios update + some hacky program from 3d party person may help u)
2. custom shutdowns while idle without bsod (mb replacement may help), you can get it serveral times per day or per week. very nice when u have lot of programs opened and it just getting turn off. at least 10% of machines has this issue.
3. thermal shutdowns (mb replacement may help, but again only if u are lucky)
4. optimus bsods (nvidia driver may help or mb replacement, or you have to disable optimus)

and I'am talking not about once time issues, but about very long threads with no s0lutions till now on lenovo.com forums, and lenovo staff doesn't reply there for months, peoples still buying new machines produced in august and september and they have the same issues, and it's 6 months later since production started. is it really normal situation for Lenovo biz range?

the only competitor - I'am interested too, it's hp 8560w - yes it's bulky, less battery, more weight, same or better build quality - but I don't see any so issues with this machine - seems it's just works. or maybe I'am looking into wrong forums? anyway, just read that HP will discontinue PC production, not really happy to buy product what will has no support/future or it's under big question.

right now I'am trying to get the deal with local shop for test drive of their w520 they have in stock for the few weeks, I just don't want to wait for weeks and months while lenovo change there something, if anything will go wrong. I see peoples who sending their w520 3-4 times to lenovo, without any success. what a time/money waste.

 

Thanks that let me into the BIOS. I'll have the replacement here soon and will let you know about the screen.

 

Without doubt, W520 WOULD be the best 15'' machine IF there would not be the described issue I am suffering too (random shut down). How about Dell Precision M4600?

 

I did small poll to find what is the ratio of good/faulty machines. Please W520 owners - feel free to vote http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/611616-please-vote-do-you-have-any-issues-your-w520.html

 

How do you find if you have Throttling Issue?

 

Download:
Intel® Turbo Boost Monitor

If you see someting like this when the system is busy:
http://www.intel.com/support/processors/sb/img/turboboost1.jpg
(both on A/C and battery) you know it is working.

 

I did install the Turbo Boost Monitor and All I see is energy saver mode, Blue bar stays at the bottom and doesn't even go on top. Both on A/C and battery! How do I change to normal mode?

 

I got the PCMark Vantage score of 16481 (see results at NVIDIA Quadro 2000M video card benchmark result - Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2960XM CPU @ 2.70GHz,LENOVO 4270CTO score: 16481 PCMarks) and
the PCMark 7 score of 4479 (see results at NVIDIA Quadro 2000M video card benchmark result - Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2960XM CPU @ 2.70GHz,LENOVO 4270CTO score: 4479 PCMarks.
The machine is in optimus mode. Its full specification is

ThinkPad W520 (4270-CTO) Core i7-2960XM 2.7/3.7 GHz | 16GB G.Skill DDR3 PC3-10666
256GB Crucial M4 & 256GB Crucial C300 RealSSD's | Ultrabay Blu-ray Burner
Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 | Ericsson F5521gw WWAN | NVIDIA Quadro 2000M
15.6" FHD 1920x1080 | ThinkPad Battery 55++ (9-cell) & Battery 27++ (9-cell slice)

I'm not familiar with PCMark so I really have no idea on the scores. Comments please!