Question about T-520's Intel SSD....

Hi there,

I am going to spare everyone a long introduction, but I discovered this site a few months ago and it has helped me SO much in deciding what laptop to purchase. I do alot of music production and my laptop decision started with a Macbook Pro then went to an Alienware m14x and finally I have decided the best fit for me is the T-520. The only thing about it I have been unable to find out (even from Levono Tech Support themselves) is the exact series of the Intel 160 gig ssd you can configure it with. Anyone here have an idea?

Much appreciated!

 

The tabook gives the FRU 0A33983. A quick google search says it's the X25-M.
See what others have to say about this. Where's Erik when you need him?

 

The early batches were Intel X25-M G2's but I think lately they're being replaced by the Intel 320 series on more recent orders.

 

i've seen X25-Ms with early august date codes and 320s with late august date codes.   most CTO systems made past september should come with 320s but there's no guarantee.

both are excellent drives no matter which you get.

 

I have a T520 the disk drive is listed in device manager as an INTEL SSDSA2BW160G3L. I'm pretty sure this translates to a 320 series.

 

^^^ I looked that up and it does indeed to be the 320 series...

Intel SSDSA2BW160G3 160 GB Internal Solid State Drive - 50 x OEM Pack SSDSA2BW160G3 - Buy Intel Solid State Drives | PCNation.com

Think I will be ordering mine this upcoming week! I chatted with a rep today and I am going to call him back when I am ready, I am going to want to put a second hdd in the optical bay for storage and he is going to make sure I order the right stuff....thanks for you help!

 

Is it worth getting the cheap hdd from the manufacturer and instead of the 160 gig Intel 320 series buy the Intel 520 series and put it in myself?

 

That's not a bad strategy, but keep in mind you'll need to re-install Windows in some manner. If you do go this route, I might suggest a mSATA drive, then you can keep the platter drive in the main bay. That's if you don't need WWAN.

 

What is the best way of installing windows 7 onto a blank ssd, the T-520 does not ship with a Windows 7 disc does it? Assuming I order it with the cheapest hdd then buy an ssd to put in as the main drive and the hdd in the optical bay, what's the best order of doing it all? If it is too much of a pain in the , I am just going to order the ssd from Levono, that way the OS is already installed on it and just buy a hdd and put it into the optical bay...

 

That's what I did. Easy.

The computer does not ship with Windows 7 discs, but you can burn recovery discs to CDs / DVDs to return your system to original factory state. So, I believe you can use those to get your SSD to the from-factory state.

 

rkj,

How do you find the speed of that ssd as your use it on a daily basis?

 

Though my observations are only qualitative, I find that start up and shut down times are very good, and programs launch very quickly. For example, if I want to open Microsoft Excel, it is ready to go in less than a second. Even large programs like Autodesk Inventor launch much faster than I've experienced on any computer with a HDD.

Also, without the tick of the HDD, the computer runs very quietly, since the only moving part is the fan, and that is usually very quiet unless you stress the CPU.

 

do you have a second hdd in the optical drive for storage or is the ssd the only internal drive you have?

 

I don't have a second drive right now. I have about 100GB used on the SSD.

I have a USB HDD for backup, video files, and stuff I don't use frequently.