Lenovo W520 Owner's Thread

Probably because I sometimes shove it in my bookbag sans laptop case along with books, and I bike on rough terrain occasionally?

 

thanks !

sweet !

I installed one for a friend on a E6510 w/ i7-640m and it blazes

which is why I am pretty sure I am getting one

heard nothing but good about the M4 online too

specially with the 009 firmware update

although sticking to the 002 is still very good perf.

 

Has any W520 owner repasted and noticed a dramatic temp drop over the stock ?

 

Hi, I just ordered a W520 with a dual core i7 2620M processor. Can anyone with this processor comment on its stability/reliability? Do people know if throttling/random shutdown problems present in other systems also occur in the dual core version? thanks

 

1. anyone used their w520 on the airplane in econome class? is it ok there to use it?
2. what about charger on the airplane? will it work, or not power enough?

 

No issue at all. Works perfectly! I have 256GB M4 in the primary bay and another 256 C300 in the ultrabay!

I repasted with Arctic MX4. Temperature drops but not that dramatic.

 

Throttling on battery occurs, nothing else that I know of, though.

 

If the person in front of you does not recline their seat it will fit on the tray table as long as you don't mind the screen being only slightly canted back. If they lean back their seat, then forget about it unless you hold it in your lap. I usually get upgraded to First Class, so I only tried this once in coach. I also travel with a 13 inch Macbook Air, and if all I need to do is internet surfing and email I will tend to use this on flights.

I believe the W520 takes too much power to run off an airline power port. It might charge fine, but I have never tried it. On long flights I use a battery slice and usually have plenty of battery life, even for Atlanta to Hawaii.

 

Hello everyone, i now finally have a W520 after thinking and waiting quite a long time. I didn't had time to test everything but it seems all great (except speakers!);

So surprised by the huge size..! At first i didn't get Optimus to work, but i noticed i didn't install the last DirectX (fresh Windows 7 install) so i did and now i seems working, so was that the reason?

I want to add an SSD to it but it seems complicated to find the right one..? I put my Vertex 2 inside and it seems not to be liked much, which brand appart Intel does well here? EDIT: Crucial M4 so? What else?

Last thing : I don't have the fingerprint reader, can i ask for it and how much would it be (approx)?

 

Eh, they're speakers in a business laptop, don't expect much. Headphones sound much better anyway

15" and 6lbs is pretty normal; actually, it's the smallest and lightest of the current workstation laptops.

Not sure about the Optimus issue however, as mine worked out of the box. IMO, it might be better just to manually switch the GPU (Intel on battery, nVidia on AC), since there will be less program conflicts. While Optimus has gotten better, it's still not perfect.

I've seen good things about the Crucial M4 (and C300, if that's the model number). Just avoid anything from OCZ and others that uses defective Sandforce chips.

Big question is what are you looking for? SATAII or III? As for SATAII, the Intel 320 is actually a nice piece of hardware, albeit with a slight markup due to brand name. Crucial is another great SSD maker, so I'd definitely consider them as well.

Not sure, as in the US, all W520s come with a fingerprint reader.

 

Yeah but there's much better speakers, even on much cheaper notebooks!

I was surprised (still now) cause i never had bigger than 12' laptop, also it's 16/9, makes it looks larger/bigger somehow...

That sounds like a good idea, how do you do that? In the Thinkpad battery manager?

Ok i'll try to watch over Crucial!

It'll be 128GB max, and honnestly, SATA2/SATA3, there's no difference for "usual" use so i don't care!

My unit came from the US and it doesn't have it, surprising indeed! By the way, how long (with 9Cells battery) can it 'sleep'?

PS: 1920*1080 is just crazy on a 15' when coming from 1680*1050 on a 22'!!

 

Except that cheaper notebooks tend to be consumer laptops, which are geared more for entertainment. For example, the Dell XPS 15 is cheaper, but also has amazing speakers (a friend of mine has one, nice notebook).

Welcome to the big boys' club

No, you have to change the GPU in the BIOS (at the Lenovo startup screen, hit F1). Then go to Config > Display > Integrated/Discrete Graphics.

You could look at the 120GB version of the Intel 320; however, it's considerably slower than the 160gb version (one of the main reasons I got that). Whatever equivalent Crucial has will be great too (sorry, haven't kept up with SSDs after buying mine).

Never slept my system for long, but active runtime (Intel GPU, 100% charge) should last 7-8hrs with light usage (non-Flash internet, Office, etc)

I know lol... It took awhile to adjust from 15" 1366*768 to 1080p. The default DPI was at 125%, which made text feel like 768p, but I changed it to 100% and got use to the smaller text.

 

Just like to say that Battlefield 3 runs beautifully on the 2720QM + 2000M. 30FPS on 1920x1080 at auto settings.

 

Regarding the speakers, I feel like for an extra $20 they could have put better ones in there. I know it's geared towards business, but why not at least include decent speakers?

Regarding the size, the 16:9 does make it seem a bit bigger. My previous laptop was 15.4" 16:10 and it seems smaller, even though "volume-wise" the Thinkpad is a bit smaller (and a bit lighter). I think you notice the wideness more than the height, and 16:9 is wider than a 16:10, even though it's shorter (when opened).

 

$20 should give other manufacturers better hinges too, no? Anyways I paid $20 to get a logitech USB speaker upgrade. The w520 speakers are basic like a lot of other laptops.....yes, those Dell xps ones are rockin. But having things like a good keyboard makes up for it.

 

huh ?

thinkpad hinges are worth a zillion dollars and have kept the company afloat all these years.....

silly

 

Damn, i really don't get that Optimus ! I installed steam and DOD Source, i see that Steam is already in the optimus list, still it detect and use the Intel GMA... Why?!! EDIT: Oh i just see now that steam.exe is by default on High performance in the optimus list, so why the hell it doesn't get on?!

 

I don't have mine yet, but can't you right click on the .exe / shortcut and choose to run it with nvidia gpu ?

*saw a review video and looked like that was possible....

 

I'm opting for THIS or the X220. COuld someone tell me how 125% DPI scales with the HD+ (1600x900) resolution, in Windows (or possibly linux)? I haven't really tried scaling in W7, been on linux till now. Hope for some response before monday, have to make my decision then.

A HD+, 4GB quad core 9 cell setup costs me roughly $3500 in Norway. Sort of sucks, but 3 year on-site service is included.

 

is that $3500 USD in Norway ??

 

I guess we've just seen the same video! Well NO i can't, i'm trying to reinstall drivers now, optimus's one are included in nvidia drivers package? By the way, is there a way to make the text grows IN ALL APPLICATIONS at once? EDIT: Ok for optimus, i installed last drivers and seems ok now, dunno what i did before..! Though not sure it's normal it's on for Firefox while no flash video's playing..?

 

Sorry it took so long to post this been busy, but about the comparison between the give of the 1600x900 screen compared to the FHD: I didn't notice a difference. Obviously I didn't measure it myself I just pressed on it a bit with my finger but I didn't notice anything comparing the two screens together. I will say that I think the FHD screen does indeed look a lot better.

And here is a post from another forum and I was wondering if anyone knew a solution about it or has had experiences with the internal microphone in this laptop with a program like vent or something, I don't mind buying a new one if I need to but I would rather not waste money.

Thank you for the help.

 

Err, seems I got the exchange rate mixed up - it's closer to 3000 (2800USD)

I'm going to use it as a laptop in school, and dock it at home ($3100 with dock....)

Can get X220 + IPS + dock for $2400, but money is not the issue.

 

which quad cpu ??

 

2630QM.
And the 1000M of the Quadros.

Kind of sucky specs for such a hefty sum of money, but it's a thinkpad!

Anyway, my question was DPI-scaling. How does it work?

 

Some programs mistakenly assume that there's only one graphics adapter, and assume that the integrated GPU is the primary adapter. This leads to confusion on the program's behalf, but generally actually runs on the NVidia GPU. As long as the program doesn't lock out settings, you should be good to go.

 

I installed and launched the Pantone Color Calibrator but when starting the process (by closing the screen) there's an alarm sound and when i reopen it, message says there was a problem with startin the device, anybody had that? By the way, whats that Intel Management & Security Status? Dunno where it did come from and what it's for..

EDIT: Ok, after a search i'm finding that i should see some LED on the supposed color calibrator, i only have the plastic part, but why the hell is it there then? Otherwise, got new issue, yay! IN STEAM; THE VOLUME BUTTON ACT LIKE KEYBOARD KEYS!!! They are took as C & D key, how do i fix that?

 

I've noticed this too on my T400 and W520, but only in some games. I think it might be games using DirectInput, which is hotkey-unaware.

Volume keys outright don't work in Shadow of Chernobyl, but I don't think that's a Lenovo issue.

 

I just tested and it's same in other games i wanna play, it see those keys as B, C and D... No way to change that? If i could make them seen as () or [] for example, that would be much better...

 

Pretty sure it's not possible.

Adjust volume in the menu screen maybe?

 

Which menu are you talking about? By the way, how do i make the play, stop, etc.. func keys works with iTunes, VLC, MPC..?

About using a 3G Sim : I found out that ExpressCard with 3G Sim slot exist, it might be better to buy that rather than a PCIe card which cost muchhh more, but not sure of the result?

And i don't know what's wrong with IE9 but it's not working well, taking about 13% of the processor, making it freeze while i have only 4 tabs with apparently no heavy flash or even none at all, while on my desktop with a Core2Duo (supposed to be 7x slower) it never does..?

 

Ok, Crucial M4 is on the way, i'll have it in my hands tomorrow! I'm not testing the DisplayPort connection, at first i could duplicate screen with a Sony FHDTV but not anymore? When i select duplicate now, it just turns off the TV...

EDIT: If i start the thinkpad on "Discrete Graphics", no problem, duplicate screen works, if i start on Integrated, i think it worked too... So again the Optimus ! I found out to figure out anyway (still a pain, ask me if interested).

But THIS is with last driver from NVIDIA WEBSITE. If using Lenovo's, none of the mode worked! Tomorrow i'll do a fresh install on the SSD, AFAIK installing the optimus driver package from Lenovo's is enough, no need to install their Intel HD & Quadro drivers, as they seems included in the Optimus package? This is not very clear...

 

I meant the ingame menu screen, so it doesn't accidentally issue a command you don't want it to. iTunes doesn't like global hotkeys, VLC probably can but I've never tried, same for MPC, foobar2k will by default (I think, I may have enabled it and forgotten about it), and Winamp has a checkbox for it.

As for the IE issue, check your addons.


Anyone else running the BF3 beta?

I'm getting 30FPS +5 (in the subway), -5 (outside) at 1920x1080, all medium, and with a GPU overclock from 550/900/1100 to 683/1100/1365.

HWMonitor showed a max of 92C, which is the highest I've seen so far, and I'm running level 64 fan. Granted, I play a few hours straight at a time...

 

Nice ! Don't cook that cpu tho' lol

let us know how it goes....

btw real 'fresh' install or from lenovo backup discs/image ?

I am still waiting for my W520 to ship

Will order a M4 when it does....

 

No it's my own Windows 7 Ultimate SP1! I did it (on Crucial M4 so), now installing apps. Sadly i have to report that i had to install some of the Lenovo apps more than once cause it didn't work (?).

It seems the best to do is just install the network drivers and update with the Thinkvantage Update System. Still i'm being annoyed ATM, i don't see the optimus icon in the tray and don't find the place to activate it ?

Last time, it came itself after the driver install... I'll come back later to extend my report (if there's more to say)!

 

makes sure you have it set in bios as well..

 

I haven't seen an Optimus tray icon so far, just the standard NVidia one.

An aside,
Has anyone noticed that the memory clock and shader clock sliders in GPUTool don't seem to actually overclock? The stability test FPS only changes with GPU clock.

 

Dang! That's hot. How playable is it at 25-35 fps? I start getting annoyed at anything less than 30.

 

I'm used to lag; played through Crysis on 18FPS average on the T400. 30 is fine for me, it goes to 45 if I shrink to 1366x768 windowed. It's the stupid lag that makes me angry. An apparent seven shots from a sniper rifle one meter away won't frag the guy. RAGE.

That said, the higher resolution really helps when you're trying to identify a prone enemy far far away as sniper rounds start raining down on you.

 

Well, let me mention i don't even have the NVIDIA tray icon..! Where's the place you can enable/disable it? And how did you install video drivers?

The W520 drivers page gives 3 package : Intel drivers, Nvidia drivers, and Optimus drivers. The one you're supposed to install depends on which BIOS video mode you chose.

So if you use Optimus, you're supposed to install Optimus driver (should say package) only, that's what the Thinkvantage updater tells you anyway. And that's what i did.

And that's how i don't get neither Control panel nor Optimus tray icon! Last time i guess i install the Nvidia package and that's why i got it. If you could confirm...

OH! About the M4 SSD: You see the rubber pieces around the HDD? With them, the M4 hardly fit. It'll be hard (maybe dangerous for connectors?) to put it out.

 

No idea... I installed the 285.38 beta drivers off of NVidia's website so I wouldn't keep crashing in Battlefield 3.

 

Yeah sorry, forgot to mention that. I'm using just one of the rubber pieces. Tightening the screw keeps it in there pretty securely.

 

I just took a look at the maintenance manual.

Appears they are making totally different rubber rails, one kind for hdd,

and another for ssd....

pics:

 

Was there a question or are you just commenting?

 

The intel 510 ssds fit in the metal cage and use the rubber spacers that came with the standard hdd. the ocz vertex 3 ssds won't fit the cage but will fit with the rubber spacers and no cage. They are the only two that i've tried.

 

I can report that my 320 plays nicely with the HDD rubber spacers. I don't understand why there needs to be two different spacers for the same laptop, especially since HDDs/SSDs are the same 2.5" form factor and nearly the same thickness.

 

I prefer the rubber rails over the plastic ones. The plastic ones have a hard time staying on - regardless of drive.

 

I'm not sure if this applies for SSD's, but for HDD's there are 2 designs of the rubber hard drive rails. One is for standard thickness 9.5mm drives, and the other are for 7mm "thin" drives (which are usually found in the thin laptops, eg. T420s). If you ordered your W520 with a 320GB HDD you probably got a thin drive, if you ordered a higher capacity HDD, you got a standard thickness drive.

I asked about it on the Lenovo forums here, and apparently they thought it was a common issue because I just noticed they added it to the knowledge base.

The standard sized rubber rails are available from Lenovo for ~$25 or you can get them cheaper on eBay, which is what I'm planning to do.

 

+1 x 4

 

I also downloaded drivers from Nvidia (not beta, but still higher version than Lenovo's) and everything was better indeed BUT there are some "issues": Look at the apps used by Optimus (using the icon i said or dowloaded "Optimus test tool"): You'll see that many things turn the graphics on while it doesn't with Lenovo drivers, for example IE, firefox and more..! I can't get how Lenovo didn't update those drivers since april while so many issues have been found, that's a total shame for such laptop!!!

If i put the rubber only, it fits yes, there's room in fact so it still moves... So i still don't know what i'm gonna do with that, maybe i can find the SSD rubber on ebay for cheap..? EDIT: No, there's none apparently.

Well sadly the Crucial M4 is slightly larger than the HDD, enough to make the whole thing not fit...

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I just downloaded TPFanControl (W520 edition, http://www.staff.uni-marburg.de/~schmitzr/TPFanControl4W520.zip). The guy made two smart mode "Quiet & Cool", and i read that it's supposed to correct the W520 crazy fan bug issue. If you didn't notice : The fan goes up (like maximum) for not even a second but it's about every 3 seconds! Since i'm using i have it on my legs at the moment (and that i have a SSD also now), i turned on TPFanControl and put Cool mode on. It's night so they're not a sound around. But i'm hearing that the Fan is still crazy , even with TPFanControl ON..! I'll see if it changes after some time...

EDIT: Ok now i've installed NVIDIA last beta drivers and it's different. Shouldn't the Quadro wake when you watch some Bluray RIP (h264 video with high bitrate)? It doesn't now, and therefore it plays not well... I just found out that it's set on integrated graphics (as well as VLC) and both are grayed, i can't change the setings... EDIT: Went back to 280xx and all is fine.

If you need the optimus tray icon, open NVidia control panel, look at the menu at top, clic on desktop and the option will be here (maybe not for Lenovo driver so, only "true" Nvidia"). A last (funny) thing : I insalled IE9 through Windows Update and just saw in process manager that it's the x86 version! Of course i'm using Windows x64 as well as most of you. Isn't that strange..?