Thinkpad T510 Owners lounge

The verticle viewing angles are about what you'd expect from any other laptop, passable but nothing great, about average. The horizontal viewing angles are better then most laptops.

You should be more concerned about the color gamut of this screen. It's Adobe RGB. If you want it to look "normal" you'll either have to install newer Nvidia drivers and dial back the vibrance or color calibrate it and use as many color managed apps as possible. Anything else and you'll get nothing but over saturated colors.

I have the FHD, fully color calibrated, and when editing photos (color managed)..... well, it's pretty dang good.

 

Hello!

My T510 finally arrived (after almost a month!!!) and so far it's pretty nice!
I just have one big problem that I can't seem to solve.
I have the HD (not full HD!) 15.6'' with 1600x900 resolution and my eyes start hurting after only a few minutes.
I already reduced the brightness of the screen.
I also played around with the fonts (went back to Windows XP's Tahoma font) tried different (= smaller) resolutions.
I'm not sure if it's ONLY the resolution, though.
I live in Japan and got a Japanese OS. Then I used a program to get my native language on the OS.
As it's original a Japanese OS there were a lot of the Western standard fonts missing like "Arial", "Tahoma" etc. I suspect that the weird characters (that look squeezed together too much and fat!) might be due to that! Maybe Windows 7 is using a weird font as default.
Changing the fonts for symbols, menues etc. didn't work!
Can I change that anywhere else?
Or can anybody else confirm the same problem so that I can at least be sure that it has nothing to do with the OS being in Japanese, but the resolution?

I'm thankful for any help!
And my eyes will be thankful forever!!!

 

Reduce both the resolution and the brightness, try 1366x768 res and 12-13 brightness, it should help your eyes.

 

As far I know laptop's screen has only 1 native resolution chaging it to a lower resolution will make it even worse... it will be a bit blur.

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

tsunatuna - could you provide us a screenshot ?

By the way did you order HD or HD+ ? Besides FHD there are 2 more

 

tsunatuna

Don't forget to run the Clear Type Tuner. It may help you.

 

Actually I found a pretty cool solution for the problem.
It has nothing to do with the laptop, but with Windows 7 (or Vista) in general.
If somebody has similar issues, they should have a look at this:
Windows Aero (Tahoma Font) - Neowin Forums

The problem was not the resolution, but the strange font!

 

Hi every one,

I just received my T510. i7 620M. Very solid Machine.
I found out that after first boost, I have 81 processes. Is this too much? Will it slow down my notebook? for the people who do a clean reinstall windows, how fast it become after? And all the program installed by lenovo, witch one is necessary?
By the way I don't have any Windows CD include. There are recovery partition, can I just reinstall only windows from there?

Thank, I know it is a lot of question. This is my first time buying Lenovo.

 

With an i7-620m and 4GB RAM, you can handle a lot of processes without slowing down, 81 isn't too much. Right now I'm at 104. And you have to burn your own recovery disc, I highly recommend doing it.

 

Ordered new T510 for 1151$ ( with tax) with following config.

Intel Core i7-620M Processor (2.66GHz, 4MB L3, 1066MHz FSB)1
Genuine Windows 7 Professional 6412
15.6" HD+ Anti-Glare Display with LED Backlight and WWAN Antenna
NVIDIA NVS 3100m Graphics with 512MB DDR3 Memory
2 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1067MHz SODIMM Memory (1 DIMM)8
None
320 GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm4
Multi Recorder Optical Drive (12.7mm)5
6 cell 2.6Ah Li-Ion Battery - Dual Mode60
None
Intel Centrino Wireless-N 100010
Integrated Mobile Broadband - Upgradable65
4313 : 1 Year Depot Warranty - TopSeller7

 

The sheer number of processes is completely irrelevant. It only matters what they are doing, such as using memory, CPU, etc... The default processes are not much to be concerned with.

I always clean install (even wrote a guide about it, see sig), and I believe it makes the machine faster. However, that is dependent on how much other junk software is installed. These days there seems to be less junk software, so it's up to you if you want to take it on.

The only necessary thing I would install are the network drivers and the thinkvantage systemupdate 4.0. That will download and install the remaining drivers and tools you need.

You cannot reinstall from the recovery partition. See my guide (even though it is for Vista, Win7 is the same). You can find places to legally download the Win7 DVD. Since you already have a license for it (it came with your laptop), this is not illegal.

 

Can you suggest a site where I can download legally Windows 7 professional?
Thank you very much, I will do clearn install.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/win...-7-download-links-just-like-vista-before.html

 

Ordered my T510 10 days ago and this morning it's Out for Delivery, so I'm hoping that means it's coming here.. today, right? SO EXCITED! Getting it for college, first thinkpad! I'm a bit late for the party but I'll post my impressions once I get some use of it.

 

Is it just me or does the 65W charger run EXTREMELY hot? Is this normal?

 

Would that cause any damage to the laptop? Also, does anyone find their touchpad suddenly disabled randomly?

 

I’d like to share a few thoughts on my new T510:
When I made up my mind to replace my mid-2007 2 GHz Core Duo 2 MacBook with a Windows machine, I immediately looked to Lenovo, as I lusted after the built-like-a-tank reliability that ThinkPads are known for, along with the equally famous high quality keyboard. I also looked at HP, but Lenovo won out due to my attraction to its IBM roots and my expectation of high-quality build standards. I was looking at various configurations of the T410 and T510, when July’s T510 ‘Web special’ provided too much temptation for me to resist. I use it for web surfing, streaming HD video, and MS Office - pretty light stuff. Here’s my configuration, followed by a few comparisons:

T510 config:
Intel i7-620M
Win 7 Pro 64-bit
HD+ Screen 1600x900
nVidia Discrete Graphics
4GB RAM 1-DIMM
Unltranv/Fingerprint reader
Camera 2.0MP
500GB HD 7200
Exp Card + 5in1 Card reader
Bluetooth
Intel Centrino Ultimate N 6300
9-cell battery
MS Office 2010 Professional
Norton Internet Security

Build quality:
I set my old ThinkPad T22 side by side with the T510, and the comparison was mostly favorable. The T510 has an excellent keyboard, just as good as my circa 2004 ThinkPad T22. I actually enjoy typing on my T510’s keyboard, and I find the touchpad implementation very functional. My MacBook’s has a decent chicklet-style keyboard, nothing special. I love Macs, but it’s annoying that their notebooks don’t include a forward-delete key.

While the keyboard is great, I have problems with the T510 outer shell. It’s made of plastic that flexes too much for my liking, especially the right palm rest area, which not only flexes but creaks when I rest my hand on it or otherwise come in contact with it. I realize that modern ThinkPads have an internal roll cage for structural integrity -- however does that mean Lenovo is unable to design an outer shell that is rigid enough to 1) not creak, and 2) provide a feeling of solidity and quality? Of course it is easy for me sit here and type these sentiments. I imagine there are many design trades that must be made to balance performance/structural integrity/weight/price/etc. That being said I expected all the high-touch areas of the ThinkPad to ooze the strength and feeling of quality that the keyboard provides. Some of the Aluminum body notebooks I’ve touched have felt very solid and unyielding.

Screen:
The screen is good enough. It makes my (non-LED) MacBook’s screen look yellowish. For my needs, it is bright and clear. I wish there was a higher resolution screen option that was not so expensive and had normal color rendering; from what I read the high gamut FHD displays color differently than the norm and I was concerned I might regret the FHD screen choice. So I saved some money and played it safe. I’d appreciate the extra vertical resolution though.

Speed:
T510 is sort of disappointing speed-wise, with my two year old MacBook just as fast doing many basic tasks. Years ago (1997?) at the place I worked they got in a few Dell machines with the brand new “Pentium” CPU. They were still running Windows 3.1, and I tell you they were fast – everything we did with those felt instantaneous. But of course they had to upgrade to the next Windows which was slower and needed more CPU power, etc., etc. So I am always comparing system responsiveness to that ancient Windows 3.1 machine, crazy as that sounds.

Heat:
The T510’s heat management is very, very good. It only heats up if I am streaming HD video or something similar, and then it just blows hot air out the side, no big deal. It has not become uncomfortably hot (yet) on my lap. My MacBook is a totally different story – it gets hot with almost anything I do with it, the fan cranking up on high at the drop of a hat and the bottom getting too hot to rest on my lap.

Stability:
In the first week, the T510 gave me a BSOD and several unrequested shutdowns after I apparently put it to sleep too many times; I would come back to it turned off, then it would let me know it was shut down improperly last time; many other errors on powering up during the first few weeks as well. After three years of Mac OS X being as stable as a rock, this instability is disappointing. Has the Windows world changed so little since last I lived in it? The only software I have installed since receiving this machine is Adobe Acrobat Standard 9.0. I wonder how much Lenovo’s third party utilities enhance or detract from system stability? Additionally, I do realize I am coming back into the Windows world right in the middle of the 64-bit transition. Most likely these factors are meaningful with respect to overall system stability.

Battery/Battery Life:
I chose the 9-cell battery and have been satisfied with the three-plus hours I get from it. I do wish it didn’t have to stick out so awkwardly, and I don’t like the fact that it doesn’t fit snug into its slot. But I knew that it would stick out, and I think it’s a reasonable price to pay for its extra capacity.

Overall, I am pleased with my T510. It’s not perfect, but no laptop is. I wish the Windows world had caught up to Macs in stability, but oh well. I continue to enjoy my T510.

 

Nice review, thanks for posting.

Only a few comments:
- Streaming HD video is not "pretty light stuff" (neither is web browsing, which most people also put into this category). It's not really a major complaint, I'm just tired of people lumping everything other than gaming and 3D rendering into the "light use" category.

- Since Windows XP, and especially Vista and 7, stability issues are 100% the fault of drivers. Windows cannot become any more stable unless driver writers do a better job. With any new-ish machine, drivers are always going to be new and have bugs. It's still good practice for Windows machines to reboot every so often (1x a week or so), but sleep modes are more reliable in Vista and 7. Apple doesn't have the same stability issues partly because they have very strict control over the hardware and drivers, and have a more limited set of hardware they need to support.

 

Thanks for those comments. I poo-pooed my T510 usage as light use because it seems this board is full of power users who game, program, etc., and compared to them what I do feels like fluff. Your points are well taken; thanks to Flash, just regular web browsing can be very taxing. I also appreciate your points on Windows stability. Windows is so very much more open, we are indeed at the mercy of driver writers. Since I have installed all available updates (including a BIOS update) a few weeks ago, stability has been just fine. I will be making it a point to shut down or reboot at least once a week.

 

Just pulled the trigger on a T510 after a good long search for laptops. The matte screen is really what clinched it because I hate glossy screens. I'm hoping it will perform well and last. Will post my thoughts on it when it arrives!

 

Excuse the intrusion. I'm not an owner but hope to be by year's end.

Would appreciate some input on configuring my T510.

1. Need only integrated graphics for how I use my computer (and prefer the longer battery life), but appears that Lenovo allows only discrete graphics with the FHD display. (Don't know if it's a technology thing or a sales/marketing thing. Dell allows either with FHD.) With the discrete graphics machines, sometimes Lenovo lets you choose between the 65w adapter and the 90w adapter. Sometimes only the 90w adapter is offered. With discrete graphics is it important to go with the 90w adapter, or does it not matter?

2. Have a Goldilocks issue: HD+ is too big and FHD is too small. Need the real estate offered by FHD, but concerned some text might be too small. How well does the FHD display work when the DPI is bumped up and other adjustments are made to increase the font size?

3. Going with 4gb of memory. Is it worth paying to go with 1 dimm to allow for adding another 4gb later if needed? (I'm a developer - function, not graphics. Usually I'll have open Outlook, Firefox, IE, one or two instances of Visual Studio, a text editor and one or two connections to remote servers.) Also, any concern dropping in a matching Crucial or Kingston memory module with whatever comes with the T510?

Thanks.

 

Go with FHD. I have a W510 with FHD and have increased the DPI with pretty much no problems. Once in a while you will run across something that's too small, but you will still be able to read it. All major applications correctly support DPI scaling, so you shouldn't have to worry about any of those, and the text looks a lot smoother when scaled up a bit.

 

Thanks. That's just the reassurance I was looking for.

 

I am also a developer I choose i7- 620, HD+( because i am not a graphics developer), 2 gb of Ram intially with NVIDIA Card.
Don't buy Ram from Lenovo. Get whatever ram is installed by default. Then go to newegg.com or amazon.com and buy 2 sticks of 4 gb each.
It would be much cheaper and you would get a better configuration with less price. Also sell your 2 gb stick on ebay.
I ordered corsair Ram 8 gb for 212$ only. Now i think its for 196 $ with shipping.

 

I've overclocked my NVS 3100Mfine although the one problem is that i dunno about the amount of heat it produces. Right now i'm running it with furmark for a 20 minute stress test and overclocking using eVGA Precision.
In the attached pics you can see my system specs and also what i've overclocked it too. I've done a stress test to 20 minutes now and it's stable usually 10 minutes can tell if your gpu is running stable though so it's all good.
Picasa Web Albums - linkinparkfan007 - Tech Stuff
just check out the last 3 pictures for my system specs and wei, and gpu overclock.

 

Why are you not tracking temps? That's pretty easy. Download RealTemp or something so you can make sure you're not burning up the chip.

 

I am tracking temps using core temp using the cpu meter gadget. I got approx 51 degrees ish since furmark was only stressing one of the 4 threads. Also there doesn't seem to be any software the has GPU temps.

 

That's why I suggested Real Temp, It does have GPU temp monitoring.

 

GPU-Z is another program that can provide you GPU temperatures as well as graphic card information such as BIOS version, vendor info, CPU clocks etc.

 

I am getting BSOD randomly on my T510. Any ideas how to trouble shoot this.

 

If the BSOD is due to the NVIDIA driver (nvlddmkm.sys) then your best bet is to downgrade to 8.16.11.8898 as the new graphics driver is said to be buggy. This problem is also present for T410 systems with the 3100M card - see thread response for link to the driver.

 

Can you please tell How to check the cause of BSOD?

 

Normally BSODs give you a description of the failing driver. I'm going to use nivlam's BSOD as an example, you can see in the Technical Information below that "nvlddmkm.sys" was the cause of the crash.

Other ways includes the Reliability Monitor (Win7) and Windows Event Logs but you can also use third party applications to pinpoint the cause quickly. There's a number of suggestions made from forum users in this thread which maybe of interest to you - thread.

 

sanb111-

Do you find there is enough vertical real estate on the HD+? My interest in the FD is not about colors, etc, that graphic designers care about. With the switch to HD screens with a 16:9 screen ratio, I'll be losing significant vertical space from my current WSXGA+ and former SXGA+ going back to 2002 (from 1050 down to 900), which means a lot more scrolling while coding. The FD vertical resolution is 1080.

I'll check into swapping out all of the memory as you suggest. I'm planning something similar with the hard drive, going with the cheapest then installing the Intel SSD when the next generation comes out (and the bugs are fixed) in a few months (although the blogs seem to have gone silent in the past few months on a release date/pricing).

 

Thanks @Hearst555! i Will Try those options.

@gleapman FD screen is 200 $ more than HD+. So, i thought not to buy it. I will buy 1-2 monitor with better resolution for that price and use the set up as dual monitor. Actually my requirement was good machine config with some portability.

 

I will be getting my T510 with FHD today. Does anyone know how to profile / calibrate the display? Can I download a profile somewhere? I dont have a color calibrator, I am not a graphic artist but would like decent color reproduction on the screen.

 

i've used all of them. Using a avid overclocker on the pc i've used cpu-z, rivatuner, gpu-z, realtemp, speedfan, coretemp and all i can get is the cpu no gpu :/
Maybe there isn't a temp sensor for the NVS3100M

 

I got my T510 yesterday. Everything is great. The only problem I have is that the notebook came with 32bit Windows. I would like to install 64bit Windows Ultimate. Does anyone have recovery disks? I can pay a small amount for it.
I tried calling Lenovo but was unable to reach a human as the calls were getting dropped constantly.

 

Your best bet for accurate colors is to get a calibrator. You can find them for prices that aren't too bad.

 

A recovery disc won't let you reinstall clean, if that's what you want. You can legally download clean Vista discs from here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/win...-7-download-links-just-like-vista-before.html

Also, you can use the same license/key you currently have. Check out my clean install guide and ABR tool for info on how to do it.

 

Thanks. That's what I did to install Win 7 Ultimate. Worked like a charm

 

Hey all,

I'm on the verge of buying a T510 and was wondering about sound quality. After searching this forum, it seems that most people think that the speakers are just ok and to use headphones if you like your music. I'm not an audiophile that buys 500$ cables, but I do like to listen to music through good equipment like Sennheiser headphones. There isn't much on this forum that I could find about how clean/good the signal from the headphone jack is. I'd appreciate any info from any T510 owners about the quality of the signal from the headphone jack. Is there any pop/crackle/hiss? Thanks in advance.

 

The headphone jacks on the ThinkPads are usually fine, I use my Sony MDR-570 headphones to the jack all the time and found no hissing or pops while listening to my music. Obviously the end quality is largely dependant on the headphones you have, Sennheisers are quite good as I use those on my iPod.

The built in speakers are tinny on the ThinkPad though, they're well below par compared to similar offerings such as the Dell Latitudes in my opinion. The ThinkPads don't usually fare well in the multimedia stakes (that's screen and sound quality).

 

I got my t510 and I was expecting switchable graphics, what a disappointment :\

 

Hey guys! I just recently bought an HP dv6t Select Edition and the display is very washed out. I am looking for a replacement display for this laptop, and it would be great if you guys could comment on the color reproduction of the t510. Thanks in advance!

EDIT: Infact, any information/opinions on the display would be greatly appreciated!

EDIT2: Oh one VERY important thing: my display has a left connector so i would need the same kind for a replacement screen. Does this laptop's screen have a left connector aswell?

 

Hi guys, I'm considering a T510 and have just read through all 60 pages(!). Good information in this thread, and thanks for those who have posted their opinions of their machines.

I'm not doing much in the way of graphics, but I must have Google Earth. Does the integrated graphics do a good job with Google Earth?

Thanks.

 

That should not be a problem.

 

Hey guys. Just wanted to post that I received my T510 today, so far pretty happy. I'll try to post a mini-review sometime when I'm done playing around with it.

Specs:

Core i5
Windows 7, 64 bit
15.6" screen HD+ @ 1600x900
4GB Ram
nVidia 512MB Quadro NVS 3100M
500GB Hard Drive
Intel 6200 Wireless Adapter
9 Cell Bat

I'm trying to go through a list of things I should do or check, and I've come up with a few (that may be of use to anyone who will get a T510), but can anyone let me know about anything else I should do or check?:

1. Make sure the system starts up fine
2. Once in, make sure everything you ordered is there (GPU, RAM, etc.)
3. Check for dead pixels on the screen
4. Check for the infamous keyboard flex or high wine sounds
5. Install Lenovo/Windows updates
6. Make back-up disks using the Lenovo utility

Other than that, it should all be gravy I assume? Now I just have to load all my files and programs on to this thing. First laptop of mine, bought for a major school project (i.e. working 8 hours a day on reports, and some medium-intensity CAD work). Happy so far, hopefully the T510 lives up to my expectations and the overall praise I've been hearing.

 

The FHD screen has fantastic color reproduction but you really need to calibrate it and color manage it because it's wide gamut. The HD+ screen is still good from what I've read and you can get away without calibrating a little easier.

The display port out (which can be converted to hdmi or dvi) and vga out is on the left side, is that what you need?

 

Thanks for the info!

By left connector, I meant where the screen itself connects to the laptop. I am looking to replace the current screen in my laptop, and the screen for the Thinkpad T510 seems like it would fit.

 

guys i have serious problems with my thinkpad t510, i recorded a vid about that: YouTube - thinkpad t510 case problems

do you know how to fix this? string sound is very annoying when typing..