Thinkpad W550s Owner's Thread

Still trying to make a decision about getting w550s, but just two more questions.

1. Does the w550s take a 9.5 mm HDD? The tabook says on 7 mm but I thought someone said it could take 9.5 mm drives.

2. What is the default scaling Lenovo sets for the 3k screen? My vision is limited but I know that screen is brighter with higher contrast so hope it will do okay for me with high enough scaling.

Thanks.

 

Thank you! The turning off of the Active Protection System completely cured my lagginess. Both in loading websites and in typing characters into websites such as this one. I have a large SSD so don't need it anyhow. I was about to turn the machine back to Lenovo it was so bad. Thanks again.

RE: it does take a 7 mm. I have not tried to shoehorn a 9.5 mm in there, but would guess you are better off putting in a 7 mm.

 

Hello,

I am looking to purchase one of these machines but I have a few questions regarding the w550s use for applications like 3DS MAx and Maya. It has been some time since I last bought a laptop and I will be using this for 3D animation, 2d animation software and pixel art work. I will not be rendering or modelling.
I travel quite a bit and it would be nice to work in a library or cafe without people frowning at your laptop that sounds like a space shuttle ready to take off under heavy load.

I would appreciate anyones experience.

 

Your welcome I was glad to help out.

 

Can anyone comment on how the 3k display looks when used at 1920x1080? I'm thinking about getting one of these with a 3k panel because I want IPS, but HiDPI scaling doesn't really work that well in linux yet.

Also - is the 3k display wide gamut like the FHD displays in the W520's?

 

No. The 3K display does cover sRGB 99 %, but not AdobeRGB like the W520 FHD display.

 

Thanks for verifying that. This is actually what I was hoping for. I like wide gamut, but only if it can be 'turned off' with an sRGB mode like Dell's ultrasharp monitors have.

Do you know how 1920x1080 would look on this display? Would it look fine because of the pixel density of the panel, or would it look blurry/fuzzy?

 

It will look slightly blurry if you set it to any other resolution than 2880x1620.

 

Damn, even with a display that is around 200 dpi? I really wish lenovo would offer a FHD IPS option.

 

Ordered a W550s...then stumbled across this thread. Now I wonder if I made the right choice. Since it hasn't shipped yet, I might be still be able to cancel it and maybe switch to a W541?.

I am coming from a HP Elitebook 8540w which I have very much liked and is totally bullet proof (went clamoring down a set of marble stair case once and other than a few scratches was totally fine). However it's constantly overheating and turns itself off more often than not. So time to upgrade to something similar. I get a decent discount through my employer/college, so Lenovo is cheaper than HP or Dell business class notebooks.

I had ordered a Y50-70 UHD through their outlet last week for $600 which was a pretty good deal I thought until the unit arrived. Since I am an amateur photographer, the moment I turned on the screen, it got packed back up and shipped back to Lenovo (should have done my research first but the deals I get are always quite temporary so I have to commit pretty quickly.

Reading this thread I am worried that the W550s is really going to struggle w/ Photoshop ( I still use v. 6). There seems to be repeating theme here of it struggling to run smoothly and run demanding apps. Notebookcheck had given the 550s a better review than the 541 and I also like the ideal of fairly light and mobile device that has a long battery life.

I know nothing about computers and you guys seem to have some pretty good insight. I am looking for something that has a good screen, will run Photoshop w/ no issue, and will last me 5 years. The w550s seemed to run fairly cool and in my limited experience w/ laptops, overheating becomes the limiting factor within a few years. I got the 5500, 3k non touch, 8gb 1 dimm, 16gb ssd, & batt upgraded all the way for twice what the Y50 cost me.

So this is my really long winded question asking you guys if you think I should get the 541 instead of the 550? I appreciate any thoughts you have on this. Thanks in advance.

 

Given the very slight difference in weight and you not desiring a touch screen, I would definitely get the Quad Core W541. My W550s is not bad but definitely doesn't keep up with my W520 with Quad Core and 32 meg of memory when I am using Adobe software. I use Lightroom not PhotoShop but Adobe is famous for their resource hogging software.

 

Pkincy,
Thx for your thoughts. I appreciate it. My worry w/ the W541 is that the case has gotten some really mixed reviews ( here, here, and here for example). The 550 seems to be a much better case and runs cooler. I won't be working w/ massive files in photoshop and my current HP 8540w handles most of those files, though somewhat slowly and will over heat. The Hp is an i5 m520 at2.4 ghz, w/ 4 gb of ram. Won't the w550 feel much faster than that for me even though it might be slower than the w541?

 

Yes, if you are happy with the dual core now, the W550s dual core will be fine. It is not substantially slower than the W520, which has the Quad Core and 32 meg of memory. I suppose I am simply used to driving a Corvette and now have a Camaro.

 

So I clearly know very little about computers. Use them everyday and can find my way around photoshop, but other than that....

I ordered the 550 w/ the 16gb SSD w/ the regular (what you guys seem to call platter) 2.5 HD. Clearly from this thread, it seems that getting the m2. 42mm 128 gb and putting the operating system on it is the way to go. Why and what is the point of selling a 16gb version then? did I pay for something that I will end up just taking out to replace it w/ the a 128 gb version? I take it you can't really fit W8.1 on 16gb?

 

There are 2 M.2 slots. You didn't need to order the 16gb module. You can stick W 8.1 on a 32 gb but not 16.

 

Given the cost of SSDs today, why have a small SSD and a large platter. Simply buy a 7 mm SSD and put it in your machine in place of the platter.

A very simple conversion.

 

I think that will depend on what you are using photoshop for. Photoshop can be really demanding depending on how many layers your using, the size of the images and how complex the effects and filters that you will be using. Even some desktops can be slow with it depending on how you are manipulating the pictures.

This laptop is older, but the heating and noise is said to be fine, but the battery life is rather poor. However, it's screen covers the adobe and srgb gamut if that is important you:

http://www.notebookreview.com/notebookreview/samsung-ativ-book-6-review/
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Samsung-ATIV-Book-6-Touch-680Z5E-X01US-Notebook.103287.0.html

I will buy another Thinkpad if they ever decide to install it with quad core ULV.

 

Well they delayed the shipping by another 5 days. Urgh! Contacted customer support and they threw me a bone (albeit a small one) to make up for the wait.

Found this very helpful in prepping for installing the m2. drive when I have all the parts. I assume the T44o process is similar to the w550 other than where the actual slot location is.

http://blog.laptopmag.com/install-m2-ssd-lenovo-t440s

 

What bone did they throw you? I installed my two 128GB M.2 drives into the W550s I got this weekend. No problems.

 

Good to know they went in easily. I am sure I 'll screw things up when I attempt my installation, so I might bother you for some troubleshooting!

I ordered my 550 on the 13th, got an initial send date of the 24th, which was just relisted to the 29th. I web chatted w/ them and they gave me a small rebate for the delay. I am dealing w/ an issue w/ Sears, and their customer service is unbelievably horrible , so w/ that context, the fact that 1) a lenovo rep was avail right away w/out having to be on hold for 20mins, and 2) the rep had the ability to give me a little something to make up for it, was much appreciated.

 

After 3 months with my W550s and finally opting out of my 2 month trial using the world's worst OS (8.1) and reloading to as delivered the Win 7, I can say I am a bit happier with the W550s, but clearly you need to have the Hard Disk ThinkVantage Active Protection System disabled to avoid terminal lagginess, but as I have an SSD that is no problem.

I did get the QHD which is not really a ready for prime time monitor. The scaling in Win 8 and 7 is horrible and the text is too hard to see at 150% and you use to much real estate at 200%, plus the scaling is worse. So stay away from the QHD and save some money. I do use 2 2770 QHD 27 in monitors for my Desktop and at a 27 inch monitor QHD is perfect, just not on a 15.6.

I also got the touch screen. Without an OS to use it I suppose all it does is get the screen really dirty.

The screen. Horrible and unusable unless you are a glossy screen user. The beauty of my old Thinkpads is the matte screens. I use the Laptop in an easy chair near the window and the W550s is just not particularly usable. Bad like my iPad with any light source nearby. Woe be to Lenovo giving away their advantages over the consumer laptops.

I don't know if the normal FHD non touch monitor is matte finish but for your sake I hope so.

 

Got my 550 in today. So far so good! Well sort of...Bought a 128 gb m.2 ztc card. Opened up the lappy and installed instead of the 16 gb the comp came w/ which I moved to the other open slot. Closed it back up and tried to use EasyUs Todo to clone the hard drive unto the sd card. The cloning software picked up the 16 gb card but not the new one. Opened up the lappy again, and moved the cards, and again the software picked up the 16 gb but not the 128 one. I am really new at this, so if anyone could tell me what I am missing, I would greatly appreciate it. I was trying to follow the instructions to the letter from this:

http://blog.laptopmag.com/install-m2-ssd-lenovo-t440s

Of interest (possibly) is that when I check the Lenovo Support software, it detects the drive in the check up tab but lists it in red.

 

This is going to be a bit of the blind leading the.....well you get it.

Go in Control Panel. Go to Administrative Tools. Go to Computer Management. Click on Data Management. You should see your C Drive with the R&R partition and your main data partition. You should see the 16 GB. You should see the 128GB. Right click on it and mark it as active. That should do it.

I would not bother the computer by having the 16 GB in their unless is has some partition Lenovo put on that you need. Frankly with the cost of SSDs today, I just put a 960 GB SSD in place of my main platter drive and am done with drives for a while.

 

The blind leading the stupid....

Alright, found the Disk Management (using 8.1). Found the drive and it is listed under disk 1 and indeed listed as "offline". Does it need to be converted to "dynamic" or "MBR" before I do a cloning to it? Thanks for your help. Greatly appreciate it.

 

This question exceeds my knowledge. I know it needs to be made active and MBR can't hurt even if it isn't your normal boot drive.

Based on this page: http://www.onlinecomputertips.com/pc-hardware/basic_dynamic.html

Dynamic would not be the correct answer, but that is just me asking Google.

Sorry

 

Thanks again for your help Perry. Got windows to the SSD drive and it started right up. Time to desktop screen was 22 secs from the platter drive. Will have to check now that I have it on the ssd.

 

Looking forward to hear an ex w520 user that turned to the w550s..

 

Am retiring my beloved but bedraggled HP Elitebook 8540w for 550s (8.1) that was delivered this morning. Found this thread while searching for a way to deal with some - but not all - app dialogs being so small as to be nearly unreadable. Other apps display OK but their input boxes may overlap the caption text, or the "Browse" button isn't big enough for its text. Odd stuff that I've never run into with my home Windows 8.1 desktop (older hardware.)

I have fiddled with resolution, scaling, app DPI scaling, magnifier, W+/-, and so on, and nothing seems to be a perfect solution - either one thing or another is broken.

Has anyone run into this and is it related to Windows 8/8.1 or the display on the 550s, meaning that if I roll down to Windows 7 will I still have the issue? Or, will Windows 10 possibly address it?

 

First Time poster..

Just picked up a W550s. Maybe somebody can help me out. It has the touchscreen 3k lcd. However the lcd doesn't seem that bright. Brightness settings are all the way up. I thought initially it was windows 8.1. So I did a bootable usb drive w/windows 7 on it and have same issues. If you take it outside you can barely see the images on the screen..

My older dell has a brighter screen then this model laptop. All the reviews say the screen is supposed to be super bright..

Anyone else have this issue?

 

Looking forward to hear about that brightness issue (if it is..)!

 

I have the 3k LCD with touchscreen and it's bright all the way up. Get it replaced under warranty if you think it's dim.

 

Hello everyone. Could someone that has not messed with disks and ssds, tell me what drives are showing in explorer? I'm showing a Windows7_OS (C: and Lenovo_Recovery (Q:. Don't remember seeing the Q: at the beginning. I do not see the 16g sandisk card. In the storage snap-in I can see disk 0 all good and disk 1 as basic, 14.91 gb online, Healthy (primary partition) but with hashes in the data area and cannot assign a drive letter. all right-click options are grayed out except delete volume. I was trying to replace the 500g hd with a W-D black2 dual (120gb ssd+1TB disk). Managed eventually by using minitools' Partition wizard to clone the 500g to the same partitions with 94gb main partition instead of 486gb. kept the System_drv & lenovo_recovery the same. but it just show a j in left upper corner on boot. same result trying to boot to the recovery. I do have acronis 2015, so, next step is image backup. and restore to the wd. But noticed back on page six of this thread that soundchaos said "create a recovery USB drive" on his new m.2 card. How did you do that? I've been unable to do anything except factory restore the original HDD. Any advise will be appreciated.

 

Hey,

I have several problems with my new W550s and found this thread, so I figured I might ask here, maybe someone knows a solution or faces the same problems.
I got the 3K IPS one without an OS installed.
First of all, when I've got the notebook several weeks ago, I installed Windows 8.1. I'm also running the newest BIOS / UEFI (whatever it's called now lol).
It ran ok, but I noticed that I can't watch videos on twitch.tv smoothly on High / Source quality setting, which is quite annoying for me. Chrome uses nearly 100% of the CPU and everything starts to lag, which is really annoying.
Maybe somebody here can check whether they have the same problem. I have it on Youtube sometimes too, especially when a HD video is running and I hover over the video with my cursor (so the video menu appears). Generally all flash stuff is really bad and causes a lot of lag on websites on this machine.
Also I sometimes have lag when scrolling through long websites and the machine generally feels quite laggy sometimes, even when doing not a lot.
Now, I'm used to a really big Quadcore i7, r9 290 graphics card gaming machine, so I wonder whether this is kind of normal and I'm just used to something else, or if there's something weird going on.

I (clean) installed Windows 10 and the problems persist. But what's even worse is that I now have something which I can only describe as sounding like "electric noise" or coil whine. The sound of it changes from a very quiet, deep buzzing noise that I can almost only hear when I hold my ear directly to a keyboard to a reasonably loud, high pitched peeping, whining noise that can be heard in quiet environments. This change of the sound happens as soon as I do almost everything on the notebook (live typing or changing tabs in my browser).

I've had an old T61 before which had the same problem with the exact same kind of noise, apparently it's from CPU power management or something. On the T61 it only happened when it was running on battery though, on the W550s it doesn't matter - the sound is always there. Is this something I have to live with? It's kind of annoying, especially for such an expensive machine.

Maybe somebody can share their experiences and opinions about this and help me.

Thanks!

EDIT: Here is a recording of the noise https://soundcloud.com/sirpumpkin11/thinkpad-w550s-noise-problem

 

In my experience the lagginess, particularly in scrolling in Chrome and typing on these forums or in webpages was caused by Thinkvantage Active Protection. Once that is turned off (I have an SSD) the lagginess disappears.

Also the scaling for the high resolution is horrible in Windows 7, 8 and 10. I also had trouble seeing the small type, so I am running it at 1080p resolution which means I wasted money on the monitor but it works very well at that resolution.

 

Hi everyone,

Just wondering a couple of questions. I am looking for a portable workstation and althought I knew about the w550s before, I didn't pay much attention to it until today. I know the P50 is coming soon, which would be some .3mm thicker than the W550s.

I wonder: Should I wait for the P50? How thick is the w550s with the 3cell external battery?

Also, I plan on maxing it out like I did with my current W530. I got a K2000m, i7 3470, 32GB RAM, 256mSATA + x2 1TB HGST 7k2000 (Samsung's 2TB did not exist when I got my two internals)

If I understand this thread well, the following are true:

* The W550s is a solidly built machine. This solidity is comparable to to what machines? W530? T400...X301?
* Even with the best i7 you can get for it, the processor would not be as dandy as any quad core processor after Ivy Bridge.
* Graphics card compensates a lot for the lack of oomph in the CPU, however.
* Battery life is great, even under load, and even with the 3cell external (assuming one has the 3cell internal installed)
* QHD screen can display almost completely the sRGB colour space

I am a Capture One Pro (Think of Lr but more efficient) and Premiere Pro heavy user. I edit and grade films mostly with 1 30" 2560x1600 monitor (Displayport) and a second 24" 1920x1200 (VGA) plus laptop display.

I am looking for a machine I can do some light editing, light grading, while on location. The W550s would leave my W530 at home, safe, and would be the on-site production machine. It is highly likely that all video projects would need to be edited and finished with the W530 and the threee monitor combo (it's way faster when you see all your tools) so the W550s should get me as far as editing and light grading.

That being said, the W550s SHOULD be able to run Capture One Pro without a hitch...

Am I looking at the right machine for my work?

My planned W550s set up would be to have a m.2 256ssd and a 1-2tb spindle for primary storage and carry an external 1-2tb hdd for back up. 32gb or 16gb of ram? I'm inclined to get 32GB but I read in previous posts some people believe that is unnecessary for this machine or that this machine would not be able to take full advantage of that.

 

Given your set of requirements, I'd venture a guess that something with a full-blown CPU - such as possibly the upcoming P50 - would be a better fit.

My $0.02 only...

 

I suppose I agree, however: I have a W520 loaded and a W550s and use LR and CS. The processor in the W550s is certainly less powerful than the quad core and it is noticeable. However there are gains to be had from that fact. The super small brick and the forever battery life make this a true portable. It is lighter and thinner than the W530/W520 and that is good when not at home. Although I initially missed the CPU power, I learned that the pluses actually out weighed the lack of pure CPU power. If I was really looking for on the road power I would likely get the P50, however if you can make do with light cpu work on the road you will be happy with the W550s. It is plenty stout while being light and a lot cooler on your lap than any quad core. I have the QHD touch screen but operate it at 1080p since I can't see the smaller print, but do like the touch screen addition and the QHD does well in 1080p and the scaling is good in Windows 10. So it is simply a toss up.....portability, weight (and the small brick is a lot of that) but slightly less cpu power.

 

Hi Perry and ajkula66,

Thanks for the reply.

I think portability is 1st priority on what I would call the "W530 companion". I wouldn't be able to finish any video related work on site without 2 extra monitors (at least in a timely manner) and I imagine that playback and cutting and transitions from Premiere Pro are not as intensive as doing more things like grading/correcting on the Quadro 620M. I assume this card WILL help somewhat with PPro work.

As for C1 or Lr (although I do have my points against Lr), My current screen modded X201 can manage those easily, even Photoshop and some large-ish files. SSD and RAM really do count on stills work. Video, as you may know, is way more complex and def needs 2 extra drives (SSD or HDD) and good video card.

I have been looking at the Dell XPS 13" 2015. Very sleek, very cool. I guess if I could consider using a machine like that (and the 95%+ sRGB gamut coverage is a major plus) I could consider the W550s as a serious machine as well, albeit larger.

Shame Lenovo hasn't paid as much attention to colour space coverage as it did in the past with the W520/W30 FHD displays.

What programs you use from the CS suite and how, Perry? If you don't mind me asking.

 

hejj everybody

i have a Problem with my new w550s. Today i installed the newest synapticsdriver for my Workstation. now i have two different mouse sizes. if im in the Windows 8.1 Metro ui i have a normal sized mouse. if im in the Desktop mode i have a very tiny mouse, just like it would not be scaled to 200%( i have the 3k Display). The Mouseposition seems to be right, i can hit all links etc without pointing somewhere else. it is really just the size. i noticed the mouse size changes after i first scrolled in the Desktop mode.

Does anyone of you know where i can make sure the mosue is also on the Desktop scaled to 200%?

thanks , regards phil

 

That's an odd problem to have. Glad I stayed with windows 7, not so much scaling issues. And if theyre are issues, its pretty consistant.

Maybe you should upgrade to windows 10. There no desktop and tablet mode, just one in the same.

 

Received my W550s four days ago. I ordered the 3K option with the extended battery through my workplace.

First impressions:

1. Extremely lightweight compared to my existing T530, but that is to be expected.
2. Extended battery provides a nice tilt/stand.
3. Screen is very, very sharp and on Windows 10 the scaling issues are mostly gone (all bets are off if you attach an external monitor though).
4. Battery life - easily 11+ hours. Tested it myself and it outlasted me for the entire day.

The bad:

1. The lid. Without a latch you need two hands to open it as it will lift the bottom of the laptop.
2. The finish. I'm all for the matte black, but this laptop has some strange powder like coating (I'm assuming, to assist with grip) but its a magnet for fingerprints. Same for the palm rest.
3. The keyboard. I never thought I would be saying this about a thinkpad - and I never had to complain about it across the 6 I have owned, but the keyboard needs a special mention.

* The back-light is not even
* The keys have very delicate (by that I mean, cheap) feel to them, like they will snap off in a second.
* On my unit, they would occasionally get stuck at random on the lower right corner. Thankfully it didn't trigger any repeated characters, but as a touch typist its a very jarring experience when the key doesn't bounce back up.
* The keyboard is extremely noisy; but its not a solid mechanical noise but a very poor sounding plastic noise.
* Since they added the numpad (people still use those?) the keyboard now sits off-center which means you have to place the laptop to the right of your lap (or sit to the left) so that the keyboard is at the center. I don't know what customer focus group told them to add a numpad, as it really ruined one of the best things about the thinkpad experience.

Due to the keyboard key stuck issues I have sent it back for repair or possible replacement with a T450s.

The first time I have ever had a poor experience with a thinkpad, and that too with the bloody keyboard!

But hey, at least the touchpad buttons are back

 

I wouldn´t have done that. The keyboard replacement is easy, and Lenovo might have send you a new keyboard if you asked them. Keyboards are Customer Replaceable Units.

 

Since the unit was sourced from my workplace, I had to send it back through the IT department and they contacted the vendor.

I received it back a few days ago and am happy to report the keyboard issues have been resolved. I guess it was just a faulty unit.

However, I would have gladly paid more for a version without the numpad and the keyboard in the center of the laptop - as it has been since the beginning of time on thinkpads. Not only has my typing accuracy gone down, but I cannot comfortably type on this machine for any length of time due to the wrist placement.

I guess its just another thing to get used to.

I just hope somewhere down the road there is a T460s or something in the works with a similar 3K/4K screen; and a decent put-it-in-the-center keyboard.

 

Well the honeymoon is over - today the screen had a vertical yellow line. Really surprised at these issues (keyboard, and now the 3K display).

Its back for repair - but this time I'm going to be looking for a replacement.

 

I'm looking for some information on rear battery options for the W550s. Lenovo's website isn't very helpful.

Will either of the six cell batteries sit flush with the case or do I need the three cell battery for that?

What's the battery life like with the internal 54Whr battery and the 23Whr 3 cell rear battery?

I'm hoping to get 5 hours usable life but don't want a protruding battery if I can help it.

Thanks.

 

The 6 cell batteries do not sit flush with the case. You need the 3 cell for that.

The internal battery has a capacity of 44 Wh, not 54 Wh. The battery performance it delivers in combination with the 3 cell depends on wear and usage. If the batteries are still in pristine condition and you are just surfing the web, with energy saver mechanisms on, I guess you will be able to get around 6 hours out of them.

It really depends on the screen though. The 3K screen burns a lot of energy when used on full brightness. I guess the FHD TN screen might be better for the battery life, but its also much worse in quality.

 

Second that, if you are using the 3k screen with basic web browsing and 75% brightness, you will probably get around 4-5 hours, but if are on the 1080p, it will be closer to 6 hours. The 6 cell battery is what I use mainly though (10 hours on max brightness, close to 15-16 on lower brightness, either way its all day), and the largest of them does not bump out very far (and its out of the bottom, not the back), its just enough to make the laptop have a nice comfortable tilt for typing when on a flat surface.

 

Just got my w550s a few days ago. Still within the "special holiday return" period, and not sure yet if I'm going to keep it.

When running on battery ("balanced" power scheme), some operations seem super laggy. Starting Quicken takes forever, and some reports/screens are choppy when I scroll & suffer from slow redraws. Starting Thunderbird & Firefox simultaneously took > 10secs, slower than my old W500.

Is there any way to see/change which graphics processor it's using? I assumed it was using the integrated graphics while on battery, and was going to try forcing it to use the quadro. On my w500, there was a graphics switch menu option on the thinkpad power widget... but I think the power widget on the w550s is the stock Windows 10 one.