Lenovo W520 Owner's Thread

Still have yet to get mine to work. I bought a DisplayPort -> HDMI cord, worked on 2 of the 4 TV's in the house, and the one where my office is does not work. I read up that the problem is, is that the voltages are DisplayPort are *slightly* lower than HDMI, thus if the TV does not like the slightly lower voltage the direct conversion won't work. My solution for the time being is DisplayPort -> DVI (Active signal Conversion) -> HDMI, which makes a fully compliant HDMI signal, but its video only so I need headphones or speakers coming from the laptop if I do this.

Just a heads up for the trouble I ran into.

 

Is there someone playing GTA IV ELFC here? Initial games works well with everything at maximum but it's not same for EFLC : I have to disable shadows and use medium settings to get something closely equal... Since it's same graphics, i don't get it?

 

When playing games on my thinkpad, I was wondering for some time why i was experiencing slowness. Shadows should defintally be downed, but make sure you are not using vertical sync either.

A huge thing for me i just realized is that i should not be playing games at the FHD resolution (1920x1080) but on the lower 16:9 ratio 1600x900, which still looks great but nearly triples my framerate in some games.

Not sure if you are trying to max out on a FHD screen, but I figured I'd let you know my experiances.

 

Are you sure it's running on the Quadro?

 

Come on, of course it does! As said, only EFLC act strangely, auto detect graphics set everything to max for both games but EFLC is much slower...

I just tried lowering resolution, indeed that's a change. But that doesn't explain why in GTA IV i'm FHD max everything and 40FPS and here 1/4 of that 30FPS...

Other question : Why pressing mouse button doesn't wake the W520 from sleep? And can i disable the annoying pop up when turning on/off wireless? Asked before but no answer.

 

Can't wait for my W520 to ship! Here's my new system:

• Lenovo W520
• Core-i7 2860QM (2.50GHz, 3.6GHz turbo mode, 4 cores, 8MB L3 cache)
• 4GB RAM (1 DIMM)
• Separate 4GB DIMM ordered from Lenovo but not installed (cheaper that way)
• NVIDIA Quattro 1000M Graphics w/ 2GB DDR3 memory
• 15-inch FHD (1900 x 1080) LED display
• Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
• 320GB 7200rpm HDD
• 9-cell battery
• Wifi/BT/Camera/DVD burner/Fingerprint reader
• 3-year Pick-up/Return Warranty
• 1-Year Computrace Lojack Subscription

Total price: $1583 plus tax with free shipping. Seems like a great price to me. I very nearly went for a similarly spec'd Dell XPS 15, which would have been a couple hundred bucks less expensive.

My plan was to spend the extra $56 at Crucial.com to upgrade to 16GB RAM, but after reading a bit on this site I've learned that some W520s have 2 DIMM slots while others have 4. While buying mine over the phone, I indicated that I was planning to use 4 DIMMs, and the salesperson didn't comment on whether mine had this capacity, so I assumed it did. Is there a way for me to know whether it does?

Also planning to swap out the 320GB HD for an Intel SSD if it isn't too technically difficult for me to do so.

 

how did u get so good price?

 

The price using the current "weekend" deal on the Lenovo site is about $100 more than I paid. I called Lenovo and said that price was a bit more than I could afford and asked whether they had educational pricing for the school where I teach. The salesperson said that would only get me a tiny discount but that he could find me a better price if I did the Lojack theft option for a year. I went for that and got the price indicated.

It also helped the price that I got only 4GB RAM plus a separate 4GB stick from Lenovo for an extra $31. Still comes to 8GB RAM (2 DIMMs) with the same matched pair from Lenovo, but it's over $100 cheaper since I'm installing the second one myself.

 

You're ok on FOUR memory slots. The quad cores come w/4 slots and you're getting one of the big dawg cpus

 

Guys

can the w520 take two ssd's in total? I want to add to the 160gb ssd that came with the laptop

thanks

 

Yep, just replace the ODD.

 

I currently have the SSDSA2M160G2LE. Don't know if that is sata 1 or sata 2

to get equvalent performance, can someone suggest an ssd which is a little cheaper. can't afford the intel

 

Have you looked at the Intel 320 series (successor to the X25 series)? they're around the same $/GB as the X25. Alternatively, you could look at Crucial SSDs. I can't recommend looking at any Sandforce-based drive (OCZ, and basically all other SSD makers) as they are highly unreliable compared to Intel or Crucial (OCZ has a 6% failure rate compared to Intel/Crucial .5%).

 

6% vs 5% only? Not big difference then!?

 

6% vs. 1/2%

 

Hey, guys. I have a few questions I was hoping someone could answer.

1) With a RAID 1 set-up for data redundancy (say, two 500Gb drives), if you remove a drive and replace it, how long does it take to rebuild the array?

2) Can you continue to use the computer while the array is re-building, or is it simply unusable until the array is re-built?

3) Can you remove a RAID 1 drive temporarily to load a DVD reader/writer into the UltraBay slot to install software, and then return the second drive after the installation is done?

Any information on these issues would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

Sweet, thanks .

 

You might want to read up on RAID, the different versions and what their numbers mean. Google, Bing and wikipedia will answer your questions.

 

I've already done some basic research. I know there are two types of hardware RAID that can be enabled on the W520 (RAID 0 and RAID 1). I know that I am interested in RAID 1 for data redundancy. However, I am also interested in learning the practical ramifications of having two mirrored RAID drives on the W520 laptop. If you know the answers, the insight would be appreciated. Google, Bing, and Wikipedia aren't really helping me much in that regard, and the subject is quite technical enough as it is.

 

1. RAID 1 is a mirror. The "rebuild" will take as long as it takes to copy the data to the new drive again. If there's 20 gig, no time at all. 350GB is a different story. So it depends.

2. Yes.

3. No.

 

The reason I ask is because I currently have a T500 and a Blu-ray drive, and I understand the Blu-ray drive, while not the full 12mm thickness of the W520's UltraBay drive, will still work in the W520. It would be nice to be able to use the Blu-ray drive for loading disc-based software or creating boot and restore discs, rather than have to buy a separate external USB drive for that purpose.

I take it from your answer to 3 above that this wouldn't work?

Why won't it work? It seems like if a RAID1-enable computer will work with only one drive when the mirror drive has failed, that it should also work with a DVD drive in the Ultrabay?

 

Because the system is looking for the second RAID drive in the UltraBay, not a DVD.

 

There is a NEW W520 BIOS update 1.33 out today:

"all of the speedstep/throttling/turboBoost problems are fixed in BIOS 1.33:"
Thread:
BIOS 1.33 Posted - Lenovo Community

Readme and Download:
http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/downloads/detail.page?LegacyDocID=MIGR-77033

 

Thanks for the heads up. Does anyone know when the new Power Manager is going to come out that takes advantage of the vague mentions of "heavy software" and "65W AC adapter" ?

If I am reading between the lines correctly, the combination of this BIOS and a new coming version of Power Manager will allow you to run a W520 with a 65W or 90W power brick. This will of course be interesting to W520 travel professionals everywhere.

 

All of them huh? Might just move off of 1.26 then...

 

This update made a HUGE difference for me. System keyboard doesn't feel as sluggish anymore and I can boot up on battery and plug in after a while without any slowdowns.

 

According to "someotherguy" from Lenovo, regarding the "65W" in the readme:
"It's a goof. That particular fix applied to other systems, not W520. I requested BIOS release team to fix the readme."
http://forum.lenovo.com/t5/W-Series...rly-on-battery-BIOS-v1-26/td-p/504029/page/25

 

I'm not so sure about that. I haven't forgotten his post at Re: Why can't the W520 run (reduced) on the 90W P... - Page 2 - Lenovo Community which might have been an NDA slip.

At least I hope it was. It doesn't seem likely he just made that up on the fly.

 

Yeah - there is no technical reason why the 90W adapter couldn't be made to work with the W520. This would be nice. The 90W adapter is very small and light.

 

If they do indeed have a 90W solution coming in a BIOS and Power Manager version, it would mean you could use the slim travel adapter in an airplane on long international flights. If it's technically possible, that would be a big incentive and selling point.

 

I'd still like someone to explain me why maj+echap shortcut never work on chrome..? And why after waking from sleep i can't change lighting in any ways..?

 

I installed the BIOS 1.33 update and I could see turboBoost is working on A/C but it still not working on Battery! Is the TurboBoost should work on the battery as well?

 

I updated today, Turbo works fine on battery. Though word of caution, battery life does go down since the CPU is uncapped (and does not always run in low frequency/voltage mode).

 

I ordered my W520 on Sunday, got an estimated ship date of 11/29/11, and they shipped today. What a great surprise!

 

anyone can say up to what percent they can discount W520 at ongoing holidays? Just not sure, if to order now or to wait a little? anyone can say from the previous experience?

 

Not sure since I never bother with sales. I used the Barnes and Noble discount, email promo, and haggling over the phone to get 24% off mine. However, that's about as high of a discount you'll ever see on a laptop, so don't expect 30+%

 

FYI, Lenovo is running another special offer...

"Use eCoupon THINKNOV10 to save up to 12% more on select ThinkPad laptops! Offer ends November 16."

Go to: Lenovo.com > Shop > Deals & Offers > ThinkPad Beat the Rush Sale

The offer is good through November 16, and it can be applied to custom configurations of the W520.

 

What did you pay for your W520 delivered?

 

Somewhere around $1770 with tax ($133). Retail configuration of my laptop (minus the extra 8GB RAM and the SSD) was $2167 before taxes.

 

has anyone tried skyrim with this laptop yet or is willing to?

 

Guys

I had the SSDSA2M160G2LE SATA II that came with the laptop but wondering if I would have much better IO performance if I upgrade to a SATA III SSD

Any thoughts on which brand should I select? Are Intel and Crucial pretty much the only reliable ones? I see 120gb available for under $200

Thanks

 

sam008 - you'll never know the difference.   keep what you have.   it's a great drive.

 

I'm testing Skyrim now, L.A Noire too (have to boot discrete for that), people said i should be in 1600*900 so avoid lag but well go in resolutin settings (windows) and see : below 1920*1080, it's directly 1280*1024, not even 16/9! Even though updated display driver... W.T.F LENOVO ?! I'm saying that cause skyrim fullHD on the W520 lags a lot often not begining). Also, what are those calibrated profile (ICM file) how do we install? Does nothing here...

EDIT: Ok i see, i have all resolution choice when i boot optimus. Great, so i can't even stay in discrete boot, i'll have to reboot and change everytime i want to change damn why i can't get all resolutions in discrete mode?

 

They most likely don't mean you should change your Windows display resolution. They're talking in-game resolution change. Go to the video options in Skyrim and change the resolution for the game.

 

The fact is, in Skyrim you can get only resolution that are "known" by Windows. Anyway, it was a driver matter, fine after update. So if you boot discrete graphic, you have to update even though in optimus mode you were up to date... Anyway those Quadro M are definitly not for game, they weirdly work, for exemple disabling vsync doesn't change anything, using low textures instead of high = same! Oh and i can't boot L.A Noire with the Nvidia card while booted optimus, even though i used Nvidia Inspector and set both launcher and exe to graphics enabled... Do you know how that program works? Yesterday i had Skyrim in the list, today it disapeared... Did you someone overclock his Quadro 2000M via this app and if so to how much?

EDIT: Ok i've been playing it for about 5hours now and it runs very well i'd say, everything at maximum expect disabled AA and 1600*900. I though it runs not well at first cause it was indeed laggy, maybe some parts of the game have some things that makes it so... But i only got that once!

 

@hrana

You mention in your sig:

>awaiting Panasonic Blu-Ray slimline writer

Could you send me a link pls where you have ordered this from? I have just placed my order for a W520 and would like to replace the DVD with a Blu-ray writer as soon as I get it.
Thanks

 

I'm overclocking the Quadro 2000M as follows:

Stock: 900/550/1100
Most games: 1110/683/1365
BF3 (above clock crashes once every half hour or so): 1050/650/1300

Done using GPUTool.

 

How's the heat? And FPS increase? If we ever kill gpu cause overclock, lenovo repair can see it or we're safe?

 

"Dear W520 owners, I have just replaced my existing WWAN card with RunCore mSATA and the final proof is that it is running with SATA2 speed."

Thanks for the info. I was hoping it would be SATA3.

 

I have Quadro 1000M and FHD on my system. When I watch dark full screen image or video and go back to light background, I see a few second transition lag from dark screen to light screen. Does any one experiencing this? Is it normal or is there any setting to make the transition seamless?