ThinkPad W530 Questions

Hey guys, just a few questions about the W530 before I pull the trigger.

Does the internal HDD bay use SATA 3 or SATA 2?

I assume the ODD uses SATA 2? Would I be able to swap the ODD for an HDD if I could find a caddy? Where could I find a caddy?

What's the color calibrator? And when configuring online, why do i only have the two options "No color calibrator" and "No color calibrator w/bezel"?

Where can i find a good miniDisplayPort to HDMI w/multi-channel audio adapter?

What's the battery life like with the 9-cell? The website says "up to 22 hours" but I'd like to know real world. Wifi browsing test?

Whats the stock PSU? Cause the lenovo chat rep gave me a quote, but added in a 65w travel adapter. Would that work with the W530?

Should I buy now or wait until next month? There's a bunch of coupons and stuff if I order by this Wednesday, and i can get what i want for about $1,700. Didn't know if i should buy now or wait?

Thanks guys.

 

The W520 has SATA3 for both the primary bay and the Ultrabay, so I'm guessing that the W530 would be the same.

Yes, you can swap the ODD for a HDD. You can get a caddy from Lenovo (expensive) or Ebay.

It's for calibrating the display, apparently the W530 calibrator won't be available for a while.

My W520 gets 10 hours browsing without Flash (rated for 10.8 hours battery life), so I'm guessing the W530 would be somewhere in the ballpark of 9 ~ 11 hours doing the same thing.

 

holy $#!T that's awesome about battery life and the bays. I want to make sure the bays are, in fact, sata 3, though, so I'm gonna do the lenovo chat thing online.

EDIT: the lenovo chat rep said they are both SATA II
EDIT 2: The User Guide for the W530 seems to say the ultrabay is SATA III, but I can't tell. I doesn't give specific specs for either bay, but it says "Install a secondary hard disk drive through the ThinkPad Serial ATA Hard Drive Bay Adapter III" Don't know if they bay adapter is the third model or what.

I realy want at least one to be SATAIII. It looks like on the configuring tool on their site, in the primary drive, you can get a SATA3 SSD. Mind you, that might mean SATA 3.0Gbps, not SATA III 6.0Gbps. I need someone who has one to tell me.

Also, one more question (technically two): Whats the stock PSU? Cause the lenovo chat rep gave me a quote, but added in a 65w travel adapter. Would that work with the W530?

EDIT: One more: Should I buy now or wait until next month? There's a bunch of coupons and stuff if I order by this Wednesday, and i can get what i want for about $1,700. Didn't know if i should buy now or wait?

 

Lenovo chat reps are usually misinformed regarding this kind of stuff, unfortunately.

The bays should be SATA 3, no reason why they wouldn't be considering the chipset supports them and they were there in the last generation.

The PSU is 170 W for the W520, probably the same for the W530 since they look the same minus the keyboard. A 65 W power supply doesn't work at all with a W520, so I don't think it will with a W530 either.

What are the specs you want?

 

Here's the copypasta:

I'll be upgrading the RAM on my own, as it'll be cheaper. Might put a second HDD in the ODD bay, but that might not be til next year, if ever.

And last questions, as I'm not sure: Should I get the 9 cell or 6 cell battery for the notebook? Or should I get the 6-cell with a 9-cell slice? Mainly, how does the slice charge? through the computer when the computer is plugged in or what?

And I would assume there won't be any heat problems with this notebook? ThinkPads are supposed to be made extremely well, right.

 

i picked the 6cell for my w530 cause i'm sick of batteries sticking out past the frame of the laptop. i hope it will be sufficient

 

Congrats on the new purchase. I recently ordered and subsequently cancelled an order for a T430 to purchase the W530. There's just no way I was going to live with a sub-par screen...I needed that FHD in the W530 baby!

Specs:

Code:

2436CTO	ThinkPad W530 - 1 Year Depot Warranty

Intel Core i7-3610QM Processor (6M Cache, up to 3.30 GHz)

Operating system		Genuine Windows 7 Professional (64 bit)

Display type		15.6" FHD (1920 x 1080) LED Backlit AntiGlare Display

System graphics		NVIDIA Quadro K1000M Graphics with 2GB DDR3 Memory

Total memory		4 GB PC3-12800 DDR3 (1 DIMM)

Keyboard		Keyboard Backlit - US English

Pointing device		UltraNav without Fingerprint Reader

Camera		720p HD Camera with Microphone

Hard drive		500GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm

Optical device		DVD Recordable

Express Card Slot & 4-in-1 Card Reader & Smart Card Reader

Battery		6 Cell Li-Ion TWL 70+

Power cord		170W Slim AC Adapter - US (2pin)

Bluetooth		Bluetooth 4.0 with Antenna

WiFi		Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 AGN

Integrated Mobile Broadband upgradable

Language pack	Publication - US English

Ordered the following memory from Crucial...

Code:

Qty: 1 CT3291640
     Part Number: CT2KIT102464BF160B
     Price: $173.99
     Description: 16GB kit (8GBx2), 204-pin SODIMM  Upgrade for a Lenovo ThinkPad W530 (Quad Core) System
     Line total: $173.99

And needed this card for all my eSata HDD's...

Addonics Product: 6G 2-port eSATA ExpressCard 34


Lastly I'll be reinstalling Win 7 Pro on my Intel 520 SSD 480GB. Should be ready to rock and roll!

 

This is a Canadian student site. I think you can do better than what you are being offered by Lenovo.

 

Is this directed at me or sanza? Cause if it's at me, that's over budget. I don't need the k2000m. I don't think it's worth it. And entering the coupon code on page 2 of this thread brings the cost down ever further. I went from $17XX on the normal site to $14XX on the student site with the coupon code.
The sales rep said the six cell can last up to 7 hours, so I'm not getting the 9 cell, as it sticks out of the laptop

 

My Intel graphics failed as I was checking battery life, but I can tell you that on the Nvidia card with the 9-cell battery, I can play DVDs for approximately 4 hours with the screen brightness all the way up before it runs out of charge. As that is more of a worst-case scenario for mobile use, that should give you an idea of the effective battery life for things like web surfing. As soon as I get the CPU replaced, I'll do another battery test with web browsing on Intel graphics.

 

That's best-in-class right there. Thanks. Don't worry about the other test, this notebook will be mine

EDIT: looking for info on the 6-cell. Misread your post. The 9-cell sticks out and im worried about that in a backpack/bag, and I think it looks kinda ugly. Don't know though.

 

Well, the 6-cell battery is 57 Whr & the 9-cell is 94 Whr, so by that extrapolation, the 6-cell should last approximately 60% of the 9-cell. In this case, that amounts to around 2 and a half hours of full-brightness DVD playing on dedicated graphics for the 6-cell. Of course, using the Intel graphics, lowering the screen brightness, and doing something less video-centric (such as web surfing or taking notes) would all increase that number. As an example, the last notebook I had (containing Nvidia graphics without Optimus) could play a DVD for 2 and a quarter hours on battery but could web surf for 3 and 3/4 hours.

 

....I should probably get the 9-cell....

Do you find it sticking out bothers you?

 

Not really. I'm a little more careful when I put the notebook down back-edge first, but other than that, it doesn't make a difference.

 

I like the fact that it sticks out since it gives a nicer grip when you pick up the laptop from a table or need to use it while standing. I have a Wenger Pegasus bag, my W520 fits perfectly with the 9 cell. And as a good estimate, you are probably going to see a power usage around 10 W surfing on wifi, and Wh/W = battery life in hours. I also have a T420s at work, and it lasts MAYBE 5 hours (44 Wh battery) surfing the web on wifi, though I've never really tried since I tend to run the stuff I need to work all the time on it.

 

How did you know your Intel graphics died on you? Mine have been acting kind of funky as well (they never seem to be on, for one). Not sure if it's just because of my power settings or something serious.

 

My sympathies, for sure. I hope you'll keep us abreast of how you'll handle this. Do you have on-site?

 

How heavy is it (with bag and power brick inclusvie) please?

 

The specs for the laptop are in the file at http://www.lenovo.com/psref/pdf/tabook.pdf

 

That's a good question, try using this to check the Optimus status: Optimus test tools finally in users hands - News - LaptopVideo2Go Forums

Or you can go into the BIOS and enable only integrated graphics to isolate them. I'm going to do some tests on my W530 tonight also. My battery life has been fluctuating a lot (not getting the 9hrs or so it used to predict on idle)