Thinkpad W530 with K1000M Quick Review

I just received my Thinkpad W530 a few days ago. It is a huge improvement over my previous 5+ year old laptops. The setup I bought is listed below.

Processor: Intel Core i7-3720QM Processor (6M Cache, up to 3.60 GHz)

Operating system: Genuine Windows 7 Professional (64 bit)

Operating system language: Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 - English

Display type: 15.6" FHD (1920 x 1080) LED Backlit AntiGlare Display, Mobile Broadband Ready

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 with Fingerprint Reader for Color Sensor, Smart Card Reader

Camera: 720p HD Camera with Microphone

Hard drive: 500GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm

Optical device: 2nd 320GB HDD, 7200rpm with Bay Adapter

System expansion slots: 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

Integrated WiFi wireless LAN adapters: Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 AGN

Integrated mobile broadband: Mobile Broadband upgradable

Language pack: Publication - US English

Microsoft productivity software preload: Microsoft Office Home and Student 2010 - NA English

Additional software application preload: Norton Internet Security 2012 - 15 months

The WEI score out of the box is below:

Base Score: 5.3

Proc: 7.6
RAM: 5.9
Graphics: 5.3
Gaming: 6.7
Primary HDD: 5.9

I installed a MyDigitalSSD Smart 128GB mSATA drive as the boot drive and 16GB of Samsung Low Voltage 12800 RAM. I ran updates on Windows and ran all of the Lenovo updates, including the Nvidia Driver. I also implemented a 4GB RAMDisk for temporary files. The resulting WEI score was:

Base Score: 6.6

Proc: 7.6
RAM: 7.7
Graphics: 6.6
Gaming: 6.6
Primary HDD: 7.8

Not too shabby!

I don't have before and after for 3DMark 11 or PCMark 7 but here are the links to the current scores:

3DMark

PCMark



Initial Impressions:

I haven't played around with the system too much. I have spent most of my time tweaking Windows 7 and doing updates and the above benchmarks. I haven't used many laptops, so my comparisons are to 2 old laptops; an Acer Travelmate 8200 and a HP dv9000.

Build quality: This Thinkpad is by far a more sturdy design than my other 2 laptops. I have noticed a creaking noise when picked up by the front right corner with the display open. I think it is coming from the ultrabay adapter, but I am not sure. The right side of the base does flex a little under medium-hard pressure. The left side feels extremely solid, with the exception of the very front left corner (where the smartcard reader is), which flexes slightly under pressure. The display lid is very sturdy. My old HP display wobbles when I walk by the table it is on. The W530's display stays very firmly in place when open, even if I shake it.

Size: After reading about all of the "Ultrabooks" out there, I thought this laptop would be a bit bulky. Compared to my other 2 laptops though, it is quite small. It is noticeably smaller than my old Acer, which had a 15.4" 16:10 display. The W530 is about 1" shorter in width, .25" smaller in depth, but about .5" longer in length. It obvious going to much smaller than my 17" HP. It also feels significantly lighter.

Display: The display is beautiful. I don't have any measuring equipment for the display and I am not an expert on displays, but in my opinion and side-by-side comparison with my 17" HP, this is a great display. It is considerably brighter than both of my other laptops. The colors and contrast are much better than my old Acer, but only slightly better than my old HP. I bought my HP refurbished with a panel upgrade that was never offered on the original dv9000. Horizontal viewing angles cover the full 180 degrees. Vertical viewing angles are another story. Contrast is quickly lost and colors change slightly as the screen is tilted away from perpendicular to the line of sight. Most laptops have this issue, unless they have an IPS display.

Unfortunately, the company that sells the color calibrator that can be integrated with the W530 is sold-out, and so is Lenovo. Oddly, they were still offering it on the W520 when I bought the W530, but I was told by the online sales assistant that is a bigger 2011 year model calibrator, and the one for the W530 is a smaller 2012 model. I configured my model so that I could install a calibrator later, if they ever become available.

Performance: See Benchmarks at beginning of post. Based on the 3DMark score, the Quadro K1000 fits between last years fermi-based Quadro 1000M and 2000M. I imagine driver updates over the next few months will bump it closer to the old 2000M. Watching the 3DMark11 benchmark run was brutal at 4-6 FPS. Upgrading to the K2000M would be wise if you plan on using the W530 for gaming. My needs are for non-intensive 2d and 3d modeling. The HD4000 graphics would probably suffice for me, but it is nice to know there is more graphics power available if needed in the future.

Battery Life: I have not recorded the battery life yet. Has anyone done this with their W530?

UPDATE: I just ran Prime95 with RealTemp twice (battery and plugged in) to monitor CPU temps and evaluate if there was any throttling.

Pluged In: The Max CPU temp reached was 80 C. I did not notice any throttling. The speed peaked around 3500 MHz and slowly declined to roughly 3200 MHz as the peak temp was reached. The laptop case heated up a bit a top, and more on the bottom, but not to an intolerable temp if used on lap (test was done on a desk). Also, the fan became noticeable, but not obnoxiously loud. The fan under light load is only slightly louder than ambient noise, to the point where you don't notice it unless you are listening for it.

Battery: The Max CPU Temp was 60 C. The Max freq was 2200 MHz, with each successive test that RealTemp ran running slower than the last. I imagine Lenovo designed the laptop to run the CPU slower on battery. The battery meter estimated 1 hour of battery life on full charge right after the test began. The fan did spin up a little during this test, but did not become much louder than when under a light load.

Note: Core #2 and #3 averaged around 5-6 C hotter than #1 and #4. I imagine there is a reasonable explanation, such as being closer to a component on the die that gets even hotter (L3 Cache maybe?). Any ideas?

 

My first battery life measurement is complete. My 6-cell battery lasted roughly 3hrs 10min. During this time I did the above mentioned prime95 test, watched ~1hr of streaming videos from Hulu, and surfed the internet. The prime95 test consumed about 15% of my battery in about 10 minutes. Also, my screen brightness was at 12 (out of 15).

 

Thanks for this review - my build has just barely made it to "sent to manufacturing" status. your review is helping the wait!

How is the 170W power brick size/weight-wise? are you traveling with your W530? I guess your W530 also seems quite light because you opted for the 6 cell battery (as did I).

Did you do a clean install to the msata or a lenovo EE rescue and recovery? there are some threads about how the rescue image might be better (battery life and temps).

(sorry for the 20 questions, just excited!)

 

The power brick is big. It's the biggest power brick I've ever seen. It's about as thick as the W530, about 3" wide, and 7" long. I'm guessing the weight is between 1-2 lbs. It would be inconvenient to travel with unless you are using a backpack.

I will be traveling with the W530 on vacations and business trips. Fortunately, the power brick can be stored in my luggage.

For the SSD, I used "Paragon Migrate OS to SSD" software. I used the recovery partition to build a bootable USB recovery drive (I don't have a DVD drive), but for some reason the USB drive wouldn't boot. I can't remember the error message. Anyway, I couldn't find a quick answer to why the USB drive didn't work, and I was anxious to get the SSD running, so I found the Paragon software to be a quick solution. I thought about a fresh Windows 7 install, but I didn't want to lose some of the Lenovo software/features.

I haven't run any Storage specific benchmarks to see if there were any ill effects, but everything seems to be running fine. I would hope that software with the specific purpose of migrating an OS to an SSD would do it correctly. But, you never know...

I am concerned of what might happen if I remove the system partition off of my HDD. It didn't get transferred over in the migration. I will have to look into it more. I also used this guide to help me tweak windows for better SSD optimization.

 

As crazy1 said, it's a relatively huge power brick (just smaller than an actual brick).

Having both the W520 and W530, they're both pretty similar externally, with the same weight, construction, and display options. Only major difference imo are the keyboard and internal hardware.

 

just curious what does your memory speed show - 1333MHz or 1600MHz?

 

If you have to go to like a Starbucks and plug it in is it embarrassing to take out the power brick? Don't know if I could do it (if I decide to order one)

 

With the 9-cell, you have 7-8 hours of battery life using the Intel GPU. You don't need a power brick.

As for Starbucks, screw them. Never like their overpriced coffee nor stereotypical customer base anyway . /rant

 

If on battery are you stuck with the Intel GPU only or can you switch to the Nvidia GPU while still on battery?

So I take it from your second answer that YES it's embarrassing to use the power brick in public

 

You can either have the W530 use the Intel GPU only, nVidia GPU only, or keep Optimus enabled. I tend to switch manually via the BIOS, because I don't like how Optimus treats the programs/games I use.

As for "embarrassing", I don't see why computer looks are that important. I mean, a computer is just a means to an end, not an end to themselves. It'd be equivalent to a DIYer asking if a particular style of hammer would get him laughed at; doesn't make sense at all, so long as it's functional. I wouldn't know why anyone at anywhere would laugh at a W530, considering it's likely to be much more powerful than anything they own, computing-wise. I love my W520, and it's pretty unique on my campus, since everyone either has a Latitude, Precision, or MBP.

As another rant, I'd be the one with the final laugh because while I may not have a fashionable computer, I at least have a degree that'll get me a job (engineering) instead of wasting my life away as a "struggling writer or artist" wasting my money on fashionable toys and over-priced coffee. If a person chooses their tools based solely on what's popular at the time, they are bound to fail. Fashion is a fad, all of it. Something looks great one day and everyone must have it (90s beige desktops, for example), and today they're ugly and you wouldn't be caught dead using one, and so on. But back on track, if fashion is important and computing power isn't, a workstation laptop probably isn't for you.

Anyway, Keruig makes for better coffee anyway, at $0.50/cup.

 

I'm not talking about the actual laptop. I think the Thinkpad is cool. My last laptop was a Thinkpad years ago.

I meant the huge power brick (if you need wall plug power to recharge or use it like in a coffee shop).

 

As always, there is a silver lining. If you find any MacBook wielding hipster sneering at you, your ThinkPad power brick is for sure big enough to club him to death .

 

Eh, a power brick is a power brick. Assuming that you can keep it on the table (instead of leaving it mid-air), there shouldn't be a problem. If you hang it between a table and outlet, it'll put stress on the cable.

As for if it's embarrassing, the same argument applies as my last post. The W530 needs the 170W brick in order to perform to its fullest potential. If you try using a 90W brick, it'll only charge the laptop when it's closed, since it's not powerful enough to keep the battery charged when using the nVidia GPU and quad-core CPUs.

 

OK people are misunderstanding. When I said "power brick" I meant the AC adapter brick.

 

I'm assuming you're talking about this?

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

yes

 

The memory runs at 1600MT/s. I have verified this with CPU-Z and AIDA64.

 

It's really up to how you use your laptop in a coffee shop, and how long you hang around inside a coffee shop as to whether you need to bring your power brick. I would imagine the battery would be sufficient for most people.

You can even use your removable battery as a weapon against "any MacBook wielding hipster sneering at you."

 

Ability to use both CPU and GPU at the same time, while still charging the battery, comes at a price. Other mobile workstations with 40W+ GPUs, that will not throttle the CPU or GPU when both are used, all have quite big power adapters (and often larger body than W530 too).

"Embarassing" is really a strange word here.

Btw. if you don't use the CPU/GPU much, you probably won't need to charge the laptop in Starbucks anyway. Or can get the extra battery, which is about the same weight as the adapter.

 

...Or you could also get a slice battery. Lenovo advertises 22 hours of battery life with the 9-cell + slice.

 

Or you could try the W530 first and see what kind of battery life you get under your personal norm.

I am already seeing some reports of good battery life.

 

Mine shows between 4-6 hours with the 9-cell battery using Nvidia K2000M graphics only, depending on activity.

 

That's pretty consistent with the previous gen (4 hours on 2000M)

 

Thanks for the early review crazy1, while we're on the subject of quick reviews here's a link to the youtube tour I did for the W530

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcDAOY9i2JI

Not a detailed review, just an overview more than anything. The guy above me has the W530 and will be doing that

Oh, nice move on the mSATA SSD there, much better results with that on board.

Wish I'd taken a picture of the W530 power adapter when I had it as it is rather "exceptional". It's a brick alright.

 

The brick is no different from the W520 and there a gazillion pics and comments on it. In about 4-5 years someone will build a house out of discarded 170W AC adapters.

 

I started collecting them last year. How'd you know what I was going to do?

That power brick is the only thing I suspect I will not like about my W530 when I get it. That and the gaming performance. But I'm thinking I'll make an eGPU in a little padded briefcase kind of box to carry it around to LAN parties, like you'd see a bomb in the movies. And I'll make it look like a movie bomb with a clock and random wires.

 

For as far as I know you can still use the 90 W adapter, but it won't charge under full load.

 

Have been getting settled into my W530 since Tuesday. I didn't bother with a Windows Experience Index until after I upgraded.

Now I get:
Processor: 7.7
Memory: 7.7
Graphics / Gaming: 6.9
Primary hard disk: 7.9

I ran a Geekbench and it came out with something like 11136 for the score.

I've otherwise avoided benchmarking. Portal 2 has run at default settings (1920x1080, no AA, otherwise high detail as far as I can recall) with no problem. Minecraft was its usual complicated self - I keep having to tell it to run with Nvidia but when it does it runs fine. (Using the tekkit launcher may be complicating things further).

I've got Adobe products installed, have just installed Painter 12 today and had a play with that - have installed Sketchbook Pro but not done much testing with it yet.

As a random example, I decided to try and see how a 40"x60" ~600DPI Photoshop file was handled - it seems pretty well indeed. Of course this was only opening it blank, navigating around and putting down some pen strokes. The input was laggy, with an airbrush. To be expected when the file size is in gigabytes...

Painter 12 is, as I expected, a lot choppier. I had a play with a 20x12" 600DPI file, and it was pretty unpleasant depending on how far I pushed the brush sizes. Even on a 2880x1400 ish file, the watercolour drying was sluggish - but that seems CPU limited and I don't know what kind of CPU I'd need to make it work instantly - if that's even possible.

Overall it's performing exactly as I hoped - fingers crossed that this continues!

I can't compare keyboards with the older Thinkpad models, but can compare it with the x121e's precision/chiclet version. This is a much nicer keyboard by comparison. There is a bass clack to the keys which might annoy some people, but I enjoy it. On the x121e I found I constantly caught my fingers on the keys, where here I don't find myself landing on key edges. The improved size of the PgUp/Dn keys around the cursor keys is a boon over the x121e - even if still not a preferred config. I'd also like a separate numpad for certain programs, but I knew that was absent going in.

The screen... my goodness the reds are crazy. I keep going to adobe's site (and royalmail's) to look at the reds. It's possible they're 'off', but I don't have another monitor in memory that offers the same colour coverage that I can compare with anecdotally. To compare it to the Dell 15z, visually the Dell was more impressive at first glance - perhaps the glossier screen did it. However, actually looking at the colours the W530 puts out makes me very happy. I don't have a Spyder to hand, and won't be attempting the after-market colour calibrator install if such an option becomes available so this is just gauging from sight.

Tip for people looking to install RAM into the slots under the keyboard: Make sure your screwdriver is magnetic to some extent. Mine weren't magnetic enough, which led to trouble getting the keyboard screws out - so I struggled getting the keyboard off - resorting to tipping the laptop on its side to unscrew and let gravity do the work. Reseating the keyboard was also ... nervewracking. If you're a happy upgrader then it really is very easy - I just don't like digging around in my shiny new expensive equipment.

Overall: Big thumbs up so far. I have yet to get into any blender work on it, but it's really performing as I expected - possibly better than in terms of gaming with the caveat I don't need bleeding edge quality / high benchmark scores. Will get Diablo III / The Secret World soon/tomorrow to see how more recent games perform. (I also haven't upgraded the graphics drivers... if it ain't broke and all that...)

 

You've tested this with the W530 and it works with the 90W? The W520 doesn't.

 

No, I got it from another topic on this forum.

Once I get hands on a W530 I will definitely stick the 90W adapter of my T61 in it to try. Would be a nice bonus in backpack weight.

 

It's hearsay then.

It would be great if you could use a 90W adapter for travel purposes but I seriously doubt you can, since the 170W brick is still the AC adapter that ships with the machine.

 

It's been reported to work for some Sagers as long as you dont plan on doing anything too intensive. It might work on the W530, maybe...

Sent from my HTC PH39100 using Tapatalk 2

 

Won't fit unless you modify the key on the connection barrel.

I literally sold my W520 due to the literal "brick." It's ridiculous for travel.

 

You have it turned around. The 65W, 90W and 135W barrels can be inserted into the W520 or W530 port.

The 170W keyed barrel can only be inserted into the W520, W530 and the 170W docks.

 

Thanks Andrew. I actually watched your video a week ago, as I anxiously awaited delivery of my W530. It's a good quick tour of the system.

 

Great post privatejarhead.

 

Yes it will. Thors.Hammer is right.

The notch in the connector prevents the 170W from being plugged in notebooks that don't have a cut-out in their DC connector.

But even that can be fixed by cutting out that notch. I wouldn't know a reason why the 170W could not be used with a X230 for example.

 

Weight combo with brick is about the same as my t61p FWIW

It's a space suck though. They should just disable the gpu when you use the 90w adapter..can't be that hard...

 

If it gets 4 hours on a 9-cell with the GPU, it should be able to run and charge from the 90W adapter when not stressing it.

 

It's a brick indeed. But really, W520 is not 11" laptop. Far from it.

I would have hard time figuring out whether a closed backpack contains a W520 with some other stuff, a camera, etc, or the same AND the powerbrick. It's relatively heavy either way. But you can get the work done with it.

 

I don't know what kind of camera you use, but mine is both bigger and heavier than the power brick.

 

Semi-Pro DSLR + batterygrip + f2.8 zoom lens...

 

Yeah, really. All of my artsy/writer friends are a waste of life anyway. They're always complaining about the price of everything (islands off of Fiji, the price of Beemers, Beverly Hills taxes), always borrowing money (from producers, etc.), and always worried about their job security...never mind that the least paid of my writer friends has been earning between 900,000 and 1.5 million for the past 17 years.

Wouldn't it be nice if all of us were engineers...on the easy road to "success". I think so. But seriously, the industries that you are talking about are filled with people who get jobs based on an amazingly high degree of precision. Writing a screenplay, for instance...writing it well...for it to actually get made into a movie, is an amount of linguistic and grammatical precision work that an engineer could never fathom actually ever employing in 90% of cases. As an engineer, you send out resumes, and most likely get a job just based on that. Yeah, I know it's not always that easy. But it can be. If you just drop your expectations a little here and there. And feeling good about what you do is good. But don't sit there in some high place disparaging people whom you can't understand because you've never been in their shoes, and don't really have the guts to be in those shoes.

It takes years of writing to be a good writer and get paid. Not like engineering. You go to college, get an education and you'll most likely get a job. Most good/published/professional writers spend another eight (depending on their medium) or so years, after graduating, writing until they are even good enough to get paid for it. Engineering, you graduate...you're good enough.

Yet, you don't see writers talking about how easy your job actually is...or is going to be. So, have a little respect for people you don't understand. After all, they might some day end up getting paid ten times your salary.

And coffee is a waste of money, no matter what the price is.

 

I'm a writer too, and I get paid for it. Not millions of dollars, but it still brings in a nice supplementary income.

I'm not saying that writing is an easy job or looking down at it. Steven King is a successful person, for example, and I know I couldn't match him if I tried. Likewise, he probably doesn't know how to design or build a robot (what I want to do hopefully). However, my Starbucks rant is directed towards the droves of teenagers or young adults that give up any realistic jobs to focus on their writings, which "will change the world" (so I hear). The problem is that with every good actor or writer, there's probably a few hundred crappy ones that'll never make it anywhere. That's great that your friends are near-millionaires or millionaires, but those are rare cases, just like how computer people who beat the odds to success (Gates, Jobs, Wozniak, Zukerberg) are also rare (most people who drop out of college don't start empires).

And no, after graduation, you have to keep your skills fresh, just like everybody else.

 

I really don't think he was going after writers and such altogether. It seems like he was more so targeting the whole "hipster" crowd. If that is in fact the case, then I completely agree with what he is saying. No offense, but I think you need to be early twenties at the oldest to understand the madness going on with that subculture.

 

^^^ Yep, exactly. Though I do believe we're going off-topic on this thread a little too much >.<

 

Just about to say that as well, although I do love ranting about them lol.

On-topic: Probably going to order my W530 soon before the discount is up. Anyone think the upgraded processor is worth it for the small price premium? Or will the 3610 do fine for normal needs for a college kid in engineering?

 

You'll be fine with the 3610QM. Only practical difference between that and the 3270QM are a few features such as visualization technology and some other business features.

 

Alright thanks. I'm not doing any VM's or anything so I'm hoping I'll be alright. I figure I should probably upgrade the RAM to at least 8 gigs aftermarket though.

 

In spite of the tangent this thread has wandered off on... thought I'd post some follow-up thoughts about the W530.

Have had a few days to try out the gaming capability. Firstly, heat and noise are great. I get no "heated key" syndrome on the keyboard, nor even under the unit behind where the graphics card is. The only place I get heat - that I've noticed - is where it's supposed to be: the exhaust vent. The fan noise is obvious when you kick in discrete graphics, but quite massively reduced over - to compare - a Dell 15z. I have earphones in so I notice it even less.

General performance in Diablo III at 1920 is flawless. I've played into Act II so perhaps I've not seen anything taxing but it's been fine.

The Secret World - well, the game runs fine. I have been warned by the patcher to upgrade my graphics drivers - which I duly ignored. This might have come with weird side effects but it's more like oddly repeating sound. Basically nothing I can blame directly on the drivers even - Funcom game and all.