W530 After Market Shopping List Suggestions

Hello everyone,

A few days ago, I posted an after market shopping list on the lenovo website to buy the ideal upgrades for the lenovo w530 I plan to purchase. I have received many helpful tips from the lenovo members. Since then, I have updated the items I plan to purchase, and I just wanted to see what the members of the Notebook Review have to say about the items I have chosen.

I am primarily going to be using the w530 with the Adobe CS 6 Production Suite to edit hd video, photo & vector art production, some sound design, and occasionally broadcast.

The updated list is as follows:

1.) Crucial M4 CT512M4SSD1 2.5" 512GB SATA III MLC 7mm Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Newegg.com - Crucial M4 CT512M4SSD1 2.5" 512GB SATA III MLC 7mm Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

2.) Crucial 16GB kit (8GBx2), 204-pin SODIMM, DDR3 PC3-12800 memory module **I'm getting two of these kits for a total of 32G RAM**
16GB kit (8GBx2), 204-pin SODIMM, DDR3 PC3-12800 upgrades for Lenovo ThinkPad W530 (Quad Core) Laptop/Notebook, CT3291640 from Crucial.com

3.) Panasonic UJ240 6x Blu-ray Burner BD-RE/8x DVD±RW DL SATA Drive (Black)
Amazon.com: Panasonic UJ240 6x Blu-ray Burner BD-RE/8x DVD±RW DL SATA Drive (Black): Computers & Accessories

4.) Datacolor Spyder4Elite Display Calibration System
Datacolor Spyder4Elite Display Calibration System S4EL100 B&H

5.) Viewsonic VP2365-LED 23-Inch Wide e-IPS LED Monitor (Black) **I'm buying 2-3 of these along with a lenovo docking station**
Viewsonic VP2365-LED 23" Widescreen LED Computer VP2365-LED

I'm hoping to gain more perspective from the members of Notebook Review, so I really would like to know what you think, if you have better suggestions, advice, or anything at all that might help me make the right choices.

Thank you.

 

You can get RAM cheaper on Newegg. Here's some CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8G) SO-DIMM 204-Pin DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)

And i have no clue how great of a screen a viewsonic is. Maybe they're the best ever but I might try to get something better. Mind you, you're buying a bunch of them so I'm sure money comes into play.

 

The latency is a little more aggressive with those Corsair modules compared to the Crucial. Not sure if that'll annoy the Gen 3 Intel memory controllers or not. Has anyone used these in W530's yet? Otherwise that's a nice price savings compared to the Crucial!

 

Yikes, that monitor. A Dell Ultrasharp U2711 can be had for $675 + tax (or thereabouts) when it's on sale, and a single one of those is almost equal to 2 of those in pixel count, and is MUCH better in colour gamut. I got my Dell Ultrasharp U2312HM for $179 + tax and I believe that it is at least comparable to that Viewsonic.

 

Definitely not worth the cost for a little better latency, since it has no real life performance benefits.

 

The cheaper modules have a lower latency and yes, I agree with you. My point, however, was whether or not the slightly lower latency IC's used on the Corsair's would cause any issues with latest i5/i7 CPU's. Possibly someone using the Corsairs could run a nights worth of Memtest and make sure no errors are occurring?

Also noticed that the Corsair's are standard 1.5v while the Crucial's are 1.35v.

 

Hey K_Wall,

Thanks for the link. Yeah, I actually considered the corsair as well, and what I got from the lenovo forums is that it works just as well as the crucial, but they also told me good things about crucial ram.

My rationale for picking the crucial was just because I chose a crucial ssd, and I thought it would be good to match the ram with the ssd in hopes of getting some kind of deal or discount with crucial.

But of course, it remains to be seen whether I'm correct in that or not.

As far as the viewsonic, I've never even heard about the brand myself, and was just checking around the web for cheap ips panels. There are a lot of websites giving it praise for its accuracy in colors, etc., at the low price point, which is fairly attractive to me.

 

Hey Sanzaborn,

I'm also not sure how the crucial will affect the new ivy bridges in the w530's, but so far, people in the lenovo forums have been telling me that the w530 is handling the corsairs well.

But of course, it remains to be seen as to whether this will hold true in the long run.

There is an even bigger price discount when looking at the GSkill memory, but so far, I haven't heard anyone endorse the GSkill; its always been between crucial and corsair, and if I can work some kind of deal out with crucial when I buy their ssd and ram at some kind of discount, I will go with the crucial all the way. I'm hopeful that this is the case.

 

Hey kirayamato,

Thank you so much for turning me on to the Dell Ultrasharp U2312HM, it looks like a great IPS panel at a very good price, and something I will definitely, definitely consider against the viewsonic.

The Dell Ultrasharp U2711 is quite out of my price range, however, but maybe one day if I have the dough for something more than a basic IPS panel, I'll look into it.

But again, the Dell Ultrasharp U2312HM looks really cool, and I'm really glad you recommended it to me. Thank you.

 

Hey sgogeta4,

Do you think the better latency would be worth it in my case, since I'd most likely be processing & encoding a bunch of hd video with the machine?

Curious to know what you think because I really have no idea.

 

That would be really nice if someone did a thorough test with the corsairs, we'll just have to wait and see. I just know that for now, people in the lenovo forums have highly recommended the crucial. And as I've said before, if I can work some kinda deal out while I'm getting the crucial ssd, I might as well go with the crucial ram.

The corsair's 1.5v vs. crucial's 1.35v is also something I've been wondering about. I'm curious to know how this would affect the machine overall in the long run. I have no real technical knowledge about the matter, but less voltage seems better to me, although I have no idea whether the difference is even significant or not.

 

All I can contribute on the RAM front is that I have been using an x121e since August last year with Crucial RAM in (as matched from their site) and it has worked without any problem whatsoever.

I doubt you'll go far wrong with either brand, I'm just happy to trust crucial's matching system. The less I have to worry about (beyond installing the stuff) the better!

I understand the logic re: crucial m4 ssd - I'm more or less going to do the same. 32GB Ram upgrade with a large [crucial] ssd. Supposedly there is a firmware update to the Crucial m4 SSDs that boosts the speed significantly too. My main alternative is to go with the very reputable [and in turn more expensive but 'get what you pay for'] Samsung 830 series of SSDs. Apple is using Toshiba and Samsung in its new round of macbooks, and most people are crossing their fingers for the Samsung from what I've read.

 

I have a question of my own to ask. Does the W530 have SATA III/6.0Gbps in both the primary drive bay and the ultrabay? Because the sales rep told me that they are both only SATA II, people on here are saying that the W520 is SATA 3 so the W530 should be too, and the tabook says nothing definitive, only

I also don't know what it means by "supports the second disk"(there's only one bay and the Ultrabay, right?).

Anyone with insight into this who would like to share, please do.

EDIT: now another sales rep tells me they are SATA II/6.0Gb/s. I'm gonna say he's right. So what does it mean by supports second disk is the only thing I need answered.

 

I suggest you call the rep back and tell them to look up SATA on wikipedia. Sata II, as I understand it, does not operate at 6Gb/s.

Serial ATA - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I am operating under the assumption that the primary drive is SATA III, and would be quite shocked if it wasn't. The optical drive bay (which is where your secondary hard drive would go if you configured RAID on the web site...note it replaces the optical drive option on the configurator) could feasibly be SATA II, I can't confirm anything there as I haven't ordered with RAID.

That said, rumours abound that ordering with Lenovo's RAID system results in a different motherboard, or at least a different specification of some kind. (emphasis on rumours, I can't confirm) That said, I can't imagine raid systems in which one drive might be operating at 6Gb/s while the other operates at 3Gb/s. They're technically possible, but limiting to the slowest drive's speed.

These are just some inferences. I hope someone with a W530 can help before mine arrives. They seem to make it such hard work to order from them with any certainty over the actual product you're getting, it's madness.

 

I think the first rep i talked to got confused that I didn't use SATA II but I used the actual number '2', so when I said 'SATA 3', she thought I meant 'SATA 3.0Gbps'. I think she just got confused cause i wasn't using roman numerals. Either that, or I got confused with how we were typing it.

The people around here say that on the W520, both drives are SATA III, and that it stands to reason the same can be said for the W530.

The last rep I was in the chat with typed with confidence (or with what reads as confidence) that both are SATA III on the W530.

I'm going to assume they are both SATA III until someone here says otherwise.

 

I have learned with Lenovo you never really know until someone I trust does the test. Sales reps are the bottom of the trust chain.

 

Still waiting for someone to do that, Mjölnir

 

It's fairly safe to assume the primary and secondary bays are SATA III. Both Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge platforms allow for 2x SATA III connections, I don't see why Lenovo wouldn't use both, especially since SATA III is backwards compatible. I asked my sales rep if the mSATA slot supported SATA III and he said it was only SATA II, so you are not losing one of the SATA III connections to the mSATA slot.

As for the RAID setup, all I know is that the W520 did not support RAID if you didn't purchase that configuration. The W530 is likely the same. You can't just put a drive in the optical drive bay and run RAID 0. There will be no option for it in the BIOS if you don't purchase that option. It was mentioned in the storagereview.com forums after they reviewed the W520.

For my W530, I opted for 4x 4GB 1.35V 1600Mbps Samsung sticks and the 128GB MyDigitalSSD Smart mSATA drive for a boot drive.

 

Someone had confirmed this. However, I just use JBOD. I don't fully understand RAID, so I just use my drives as separate drives.

 

I second the U2312. For the price, it was an excellent buy for me to match with my x220.

On a somewhat related note, I am thinking about purchasing a W530 at a later date. However, I have a question regarding the optical drive options. I assume that if I opt for the bay expansion with a hard drive that the option would be in lieu of the optical drive, which means that I would not have an optical drive as a spare in case I needed one. Do most people just leave-in the optical drive then and purchase the bay expansion / HD after market?

 

That wording is confusing, but that assumption is correct, you don't get an ODD if you order it with a HDD in the Ultrabay. I think most people leave it in because Lenovo charges ridiculous prices for it, and not for the ODD per se.

 

That is what i'll be doing, so I'm going to say yes.

 

Hey Nephand,

Thanks for the response. Yeah, we pretty much agree on how to go about things because my other choice was also to go with the samsung 830.

However, the price significance between the samsung and the crucial were so drastic, that I didn't mind spending a few more dollars to match the crucial ram.

But I understand that that was an alternative choice as well, just like how I see it.

 

Hey K_Wall_24,

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but doesn't SATA III depend on what kind of drive you install in there?

What I mean is, for example, the main ssd boot drive I plan to use:
Newegg.com - Crucial M4 CT512M4SSD1 2.5" 512GB SATA III MLC 7mm Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Says SATA III on there, but if I choose another drive that is SATA II, then that's what it will be, right?
As far as I understand what SATA III is, its what transfers data out of the computer to another, and sata III is the highest at the moment, right? So it would seem to me that it would depend on what the drive is that you put in there that makes it sata 2 or 3, I think. I just know for sure that the w530 supports sata III drives, and that's what I'm going to be putting in.

And yeah, I think "supports a second disk" refers to the main drive and the ultrabay. I'm going to be putting a cd/ bd re/ dvd rw drive in the ultra bay:

Amazon.com: Panasonic UJ240 6x Blu-ray Burner BD-RE/8x DVD±RW DL SATA Drive (Black): Computers & Accessories

because I need the ability to burn bd & dvd for work. I think they need to write "supports a second disk" just incase you plan to put an hdd, or an ssd in the ultrabay for storage. For me, I'll just be using a 2TB external to save everything on, no biggie.

...or maybe I'm not all that sure what you're asking... maybe I better re-read your question... I think others may have answered it much better than I ever could. (F for Effort!) heh

 

Hey tongdakfiend,

Yeah, thank goodness I posted on this forum, otherwise I would've never known about the dell U2312.

That's also, what I'm doing with the optical drive. Hell, for me, even if I WANTED to over pay lenovo for a BD RE/ DVD rw drive, I coudln't because they don't give me that option. The default optical drive is necessary to reinstall windows 7 after I upgrade to an ssd boot drive, I'm sure.

Oh, and a little note: one rep told me that its gonna cost you like $30 to get the windows 7 disk that comes pre-installed in your w530. I have no idea if he knew what he was talking about or what, but I was appalled.

So a question for you who have up graded your w530 with an ssd already:

Did you really have to shell out an additional $30 for your windows 7 disk?

If you did, I would imagine that I would do the same when I talk to the sales rep when I order the w530.

 

If your motherboard only supports SATA II, and you put a SATA III drive in, it will only run at SATA II speeds. A SATA II drive in a SATA III connection will only run at SATA II speeds. Kind of like USB 2.0 vs USB 3.0.

 

I've owned a W520 and now I have a W530, and neither of them came with Windows disks. However, I don't remember ever being offered the option to buy one. Both laptops came with software on them that lets you burn your own recovery disks.

 

Hey JTPickering,

Yeah, I just came across this:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/642274-hearsts-guide-clean-installing-windows-7-thinkpad.html

...and I think it pretty much clears up the issues I was concerned about...
...or maybe I was just too lazy to burn my own recovery disk

But yeah, I think I know what's up now... Thanks for the response, though.

 

this is another one i found on Lenovo TKB about Prepare an usb thumb drive, to boot windows 7 in UEFI mode

i used the same method to make a clean install of Windows 7 on thinkpad w530 using a new samsung 830 SSD.

Another thing if you want to upgrade the memory ram with 2 memory DIMMs you must install them under the keyboard.
here Here are the
(Geekbench results adding 16 GB of RAM using slot 0 &2)
when i used the two slots under the keyboard.


when i used the same steps As shown here
i got this Geekbench results of 16GB of RAM using slot 0 &1




Good luck

 

thanks famhandi, i was wondering about that lenovo w510 link myself, i just saw it on the lenovo forums

i think the w530 has different slot numbers. when i remove the memory cover on the back of the laptop, there are labels "DIMM 3" and "DIMM 4", so probably the ones under the keyboard are 1 and 2. that w510 link must not apply anymore

 

I would get an mSata SSD and leave the HDD in.

As for the memory; I would go with the standard voltage ones. Not higher, not lower. But that's my gut feeling.

Since the QM77 chipset offers 2x SATA II and 2x SATA III, I wonder where the fourth SATA went?
1xHDD bay
1xODD bay
1xmSata slot
1x...!?

Should have gone to an eSataP port

 

There is a eSATAp port, pretty sure.

 

Ok, where?

I don't see any:

 

Oh what, there isn't one... my bad. Why would Lenovo cheap out on that when there is one on the W520?

 

What's the port between number 3 and 4?

 

thats another usb

however, the port above the #8 card reader, is an express card slot that isnt listed...

 

Yes, and one can put a flush eSata Expresscard/34 in there. But no eSataP to be found in the flush /34 variety.

Between 3 and 4 is another USB yeah.

This is from the W520;


The eSataP is marked there. The 1394 not however. But the difference in ports is clearly visible.

 

Is the wireless card user-upgradeable? I'm wondering if you could put in an aftermarket Bigfoot card.

 

Why does that pic not have an "eject" button on the optical drive, nor a drive activity light? Did they put an Ultrabay adapter caddy in there?

 

It isn't an optical drive. Der.

 

I just question because it clearly states 10 is the optical drive in that picture. So must just be a caddy then. Herpin' the derp.

 

Like Marketing has the technical skill needed to differentiate a 12.7mm hard drive adapter from a DVD drive.

 

What, both of you are crazy! It's a floppy!

 

Finalized Shopping List

Internal Upgrades:

1.) Crucial M4 CT512M4SSD1 2.5" 512GB SATA III MLC 7mm Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

2.) Crucial 16GB kit (8GBx2), 204-pin SODIMM, DDR3 PC3-12800 memory module **I'm getting two of these kits for a total of 32G RAM**

3.) Panasonic UJ240 6x Blu-ray Burner BD-RE/8x DVD±RW DL SATA Drive (Black)

External Accessories:

4.) Datacolor Spyder4Elite Display Calibration System

5.) Dell UltraSharp U2312HM 23" LED Monitor **I'm getting 2-3 of these**

6.) Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Desk 3 TB USB 3.0

As always, any thoughts or suggestions on the products & upgrades I have chosen are greatly appreciated...

Thank you all very much.

 

My only concern is with the Blu-Ray, and I'm not very knowledgeable in this, but would the bezel just pop off the old drive or what? And would the eject button line up?

 

From what I've been told from other forum members, they say that the w530's optical drive's size, connections, etc. are pretty much the same as the w520's. And if that's true, I'll just use what's been effective in the past.

I got the idea to get this drive from this guy:

Primitive But Effective: Lenovo W520 and a Replacement Blu-Ray Drive

...he makes a good case for this particular item, does a pretty good demo, and the price point is very good, so I decided to go with it...

 

Thank you for the link, very helpful for my own purposes in addition to answering my concerns on your purchase. Carry on.

 

You're quite welcome. Glad my quest has helped yours as well. Namaste.

 

I ordered the W530 without an ODD.

Do you know where I can get the bezel and mounting rails so I can use an aftermarket Blu-ray drive?

 

Option 5 below needs to be updated to two U2711's.

Size matters.