W530 Owner's Thread

I understand where you're coming from. When my W530 needed service and was in the depot for a month, it took 3 weeks or so before I talked to someone who really knew what was going on. I don't blame the service reps for this, since they were all friendly and could only pass on what others told them. But there should be much better communication between the front end (customer contact) and the back end (manufacturing, repair depot, etc.) so customers are better informed.

 

Lenovo seems to be having challenges managing their parts pipeline. Materials management is important and they got a lot of egg on their face when they attempted to launch the X1 Carbon. That was a disaster. Heads should have rolled.

Our internal corporate order are also being affected by the "shortage" for the W530.

 

Can someone guide me in buying an msata drive for my W530 (yet to arrive)? I have zeroed in on two of them. One is Crucial 128GB and second one is Mushkin 120GB. Both have received great review with the Mushkin slightly edging Crucial in performance. I understand that with the msata being SATA 2 the increase in Mushkin's performance is not going to help in anyway.

1. Does anyone know what's the formatted capacity for both Mushkin and Crucial? The Crucial one is 128GB which is 8GB more than Mushkin. This is somewhat attractive to me since I'm going to use the msata as my OS drive, and any extra space is always good considering the free space that I'm supposed to maintain for performance reasons.

2. Does anyone have any experience with Crucial msata drives? I've heard that there are a lot of firmware issues with it, that makes the drive to disappear quiet often. Has anyone tried it with W530 and had any bad experience?

3. Can someone post the benchmarks results (crystaldiskinfo or as-ssd) for both the Crucial and Mushkin msata drives under W530?

 

Crucial recently released a new firmware for the M4 mSATA (and 2.5") SSDs to address this problem - I believe it is 04MH. I bought a 256GB M4 mSATA for my W530. Since the W530 has yet to arrive, I can't tell you how it performs, but, as you said, the mSATA slot is SATAII so, there should be be little or no difference between the Crucial and other options.

My desktop MB has an mSATA slot so, I put the M4 in it to format and flash the new firmware to get to get to get it ready for the W530 (if it ever arrives). Unfortunately, I can't remember what the formatted size was and I have removed it from my desktop machine.

 

The reps are probably giving you the information they have at hand. Life isn't perfect.

 

Yes, but, the right hand has no idea what the left hand is doing. I don't blame the reps, I blame the company.

There is, apparently, no communication between manufacturing and sales/service. I don't want perfection, but customers should expect accurate information. This is not an industry-wide problem. I have had no such issues with HP or Dell. They provide accurate production/shipping information (even when shortages arise). The recent problems with the X1 Carbon and now the W530 only serve to underscore that Lenovo has big organizational communication and supply-chain management shortcomings. Their way of addressing these issues is to continually provide totally inaccurate information to customers and hope that we don't notice.

 

I don't think one person's experience is a solid foundation to make overly broad generalizations. I've never experienced any such issues. Based on that experience, Lenovo must be perfect. Spend some time in the Dell and HP forums. You'll quickly find they're not perfect either.

If you want everything to line up perfectly, then buy a pre-configured machine, though that will likely cost you more. The reality is most machines ship on time. Some like yours do occasionally get delayed for numerous reasons. It's not fun, but your choices are to wait or cancel and get something else.

 

LOL - One person's experience (mine) is not enough to make "overly-broad generalizations." Apparently, my opinion is not valid because is does not jibe with yours.

Read this thread for many people's experience with Lenovo shipping delays and runarounds going back many months.

W-series shipping thread-2012 edition - Lenovo Community

It's a Lenovo Community forum. Is that good enough for you? Oh, it's not? How about this one?

Lenovo customer service complaints, reviews, ratings and comments

Hmm, seems my "one person's experience" is shared by many more.

I am glad you are happy in your blissful world where Lenovo is perfect. I have purchased Lenovo/IBM Thinkpads for many years and have recommended them for company purchases. Whether or not you have personally experienced any problems, many others have and choose not to ignore them.

Clearly, we have differing opinions based on our recent experiences. Let's just leave it at that.

 

Why? Fighting is so much more entertaining.

There's nothing wrong with having differing opinions, but even if you add yourself and others who've experienced a delay, you're drop in the bucket compared to the number of people who've ordered a W530, most of whom are probably happy campers. Occasionally, there are hiccups, but again, I don't think you can conclude from that small sample group there's a systematic problem. There are more people who post they've ordered and had a good experience than those who do not, it's just the people with a problem tend to be more vocal and people remember it more. Believe me, I am under no illusion everything is perfect with Lenovo. I hope everything works out with your order.

 

I bought a 256GB Crucial m4 mSATA SSD for my W530 based on reliability stats from SSD Write Endurance 25nm Vs 34nm Regarding firmware, I recently updated mine to the latest firmware that's supposed to address some stability issues. The Windows-based firmware updater did not work (I think as a result of the UEFI-based BIOS), and so I made a bootable flash drive instead. The update process was fast and easy. I haven't had any problems with the m4 since I installed it, so I don't think you'd have anything to worry about.

 

It isn't one persons experience. Our experience backs hoopster99. By our, I mean my companies orders.

I'm now wondering what the real story is. I find it hard to believe there was a rush on FHD screens.

And I mentioned the X1 Carbon launch. That was certainly FUBAR.

 

Thanks. Some people have reported overheating issues with Mushkin lately. So either way both drives have some kind of problems. If crucial is more reliable than mushkin, I'd probably go for it as reliability more important for me than speed.

 

Intel 520 series is also very good as is the Samsung 830 and 840 PRO SSD drives. I would recommend Intel,Samsung and Crucial as the best consumer SSD drive manufacturers at the moment. If your looking for the fastest drive, the Samsung 840 PRO looks like the fastest consumer SSD in it's class at the moment.

 

True, but I'm looking for msata at the moment. For full blown SSD's i've decided not to look for anything other than Samsung 840 Pro's. Just waiting for it's price to drop. Intel msata's are crazily expensive for me. I'm yet to find a samsung msata. My only choices best choices are crucial/mushkin and that's what i'm not able to decide between. In the meantime if I'm planning to use msata for OS/apps, do you think a 64GB drive is enough instead of a 120GB?

 

That will depend on how much stuff you have to install. I find my 80GB to be plenty, but I don't also don't install a ton of software. If you've got a bunch of games and such, the bigger drive might be a good idea.

 

I too don't have much apps but someone told me that atleast 30% of the disk space needs to be left unused else performance will be impacted.

 

I recommend Crucial M4 mSATA SSD 128GB (about $100, free shipping).

 

Is that a good drive? I hear a lot of firmware related issues with it by many users lately, which is why decided upon mushkin but that too suffers from overheating issues it seems.

 

I recommend based on my actual experience over the last few years (with various SSD brands, both 2.5" and mSATA). You decide.

 

Awesome. Thanks. I'll go ahead and get this one. By any chance do you have the benchmarks for it on the W530? Also where do you see it for $100? On amazon I see it for $114+tax.

 

Last I looked, Newegg had it for $99 + free shipping. You can also check at Crucial. If you're not in a rush, it helps to shop around.

 

Finally got my W530 shipped. Now hunting for better deals on memory and SSD's...

 

While waiting for my W530, I got very lucky on some good deals on RAM and SSDs. 16GB (2x8GB) Corsair Vengeance 1600 MHz - $72 (Newegg 10% off coupon deal); Samsung 830 256GB SSD - $159 (Newegg 2-day sale in November); Crucial M4 mSATA 256GB SSD - $169 (Amazon matching Newegg). Can't find those prices now, but, maybe there will be a New Year sale.

Of course, you may prefer the Samsung 840 Pro SSD now as it appears to be the new performance king.

 

I missed the Samsung 830 deal badly in November. Now I don't find any 830 deals at all. The 840 Pro is crazily expensive. Will have to wait and see if I can find anything

 

Samsung 830 is getting harder and harder to find (and buy at reasonable prices). Soon, only 840 and 840 Pro will be available if you prefer Samsung. (I've been using an 840 since it first came out.)

The Crucial M4 is still a solid choice, and prices are coming down nicely.

 

Are you satisfied with 840? I hear some bad reviews on it especially in terms of reliability (because of TLC) and slower write speeds. If I have to choose between 840 and Crucial, i'd choose 840 because of it's lower power consumption, which as said by someone significantly improves the battery life.

 

I am. Nothing wrong with TLC.

(Not all reviews are "reliable." Sometimes, "bad reviews" reflect on the reviews themselves.)

 

None of the reviews can predict reliability. That is determined with time and the drives haven't been on the market long enough.

 

Thanks. I'll probably go with one 250gb 840/Crucial 256gb and one 256gb 840 pro...

 

I've got a 240GB Intel 520 in my desktop machine and I really like it. You can occasionally find deals on those as well. Intel really dropped the prices after they discovered that they offered "only" 128-bit encryption instead of the 256-bit encryption that was advertised.

 

It does throttle the CPU to 1.2 Ghz on battery, but that should not affect photography usage. Also, you can use Throttlestop to re-enable default CPU clocks on battery.

The screen is very nice. It should be calibrated, but as you're ordering a unit with the calibration sensor, you are already addressing that.

 

I want to upgrade to w530+k2000 instead of my working t510 and w520 on my job.

Is it possible to completely turn off integrated intel graphics as it was possible on w520?

 

Yes, it's an option in BIOS, just as it was for previous models.

 

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Here is the graphics option in my W530, it is the same as the W520.

 

I just bought my W530!! Specs are below. Machine comes on Monday!

Lenovo ThinkPad W530 i7 3920XM FHD 32GB RAM 256GB SSD K2000M | eBay

 

That's some loaded workstation! (I'm in deep depression now. )

 

Yes, but it really is for working. I'm a 3D modeler, and I'm going to try to use it for very high quality renderings. Such a good deal compared to buying from Lenovo (saved like $1000 before tax) that I maxed everything out except the hard drive. And I bet you I'm still going to have issues ...

 

I zeroed in on the crucial m4 128gb msata for my w530. I hear that the vendor does not include the screws for installation. Does the W530 need any screws for msata? If yes, from where can I get the same?

 

I installed the 256GB Crucial M4 mSATA in my w530. Although no screw is included with the mSATA card, there is a screw in the W530. The M4 has two holes on the end of the card opposite the connector. In the W530 there is a post and a screw. Remove the screw, insert the card into the mSATA connector and push it down into position with one hole in the card aligning with the post. Insert and fasten the screw in the other hole and you are done. No screws are needed.

BTW, if you are installing an OS (replacing the hard drive that comes with the OS with an SSD as I did), the Windows installation CD sees the mSATA SSD as drive 0 and the drive in the drive bay as drive 1. I initially installed the OS on drive 0 (mSATA) instead of the Samsung 830 SSD in the drive bay. Since in my case, both were the identical size (238 GB according to Windows), I misidentified the drives. I wanted the OS on the SSD in the drive bay (SATA III) instead of the mSATA (SATA II drive). There was a noticeable, if small, difference in boot times between the two; maybe a couple of seconds.

 

No screws are provided in the Crucial mSATA SSD package. Each ThinkPad has a screw in the mSATA/WWAN slot.



See the screw cap at the bottom of the photo? The other thing is not a screw: it's a gray plastic dome that fits tightly into the other hole of the mSATA SSD board.

 

New W530 on order. Real pleased by the final price the rep on the phone was able to get me.

Three questions for the board.

1) Any advantage to upgrading the Micro Hard Drive to something greater then the 16GB mSATA that comes with the machine.

2) I don't really want to go through the hassle of a clean install to remove all the bloatware. How much is left over if I just "unistall" Norton and the trial Office. ( I will be using Office 2007). Will I really notice the difference.

3) What is the word on using The PC Decrapifier Wipes Unwanted Junk | The PC Decrapifier. And what programs would you authorize it to remove?

 

Did you opt for the mSATA SSD cache? Well, stick with that 16GB. There is no need for a "big" cache.

You upgrade the mSATA SSD to, say, 128GB only if (i) you want to make that SSD the boot/OS/programs drive, or (ii) you want to add another (fast) storage drive.

I'd remove the following:

• Lenovo Welcome
• Lenovo User Guide
• Lenovo Solution Center
• Lenovo Message Center Plus
• Access Connections
• Lenovo SimpleTap
• Norton Internet Security 2012
• Skype for Windows
• Evernote
• Intel Small Business Advantage
• RapidBoot HDD Accelerator
• Symantec VIP
• Windows Live Essentials
• Microsoft Office 2010 preloaded
• Corel WinDVD
• Corel Burn.Now Lenovo Edition
• Corel DVD MovieFactory Lenovo Edition

Minimalistically, the ones to keep are:

• ThinkVantage Power Manager
• On Screen Display

After creating the recovery discs, I do a clean Windows 7 install with the required drivers, then selectively install the Lenovo applications. I also carefully manage the startup list.

Before other applications, my system's "disk" footprint is about 20GB.

(Original post here.)

 

Thanks. That helps.

 

Does anyone know about the endurance of Samsung 840 series (non pro) ssd's? I know it's too early to ask, but some of the reviews mention concerns about reliability of this drive over a period of time. I'm planning for an all-SSD solution for my W530. I bought two 256GB Pro versions and will be getting an msata for OS/Apps. One of my SSD's is already shipped. Now I'm kinda thinking of cancelling the second SSD and planning to get a 500GB non pro version, thereby skipping msata altogether, but just worried about the non pro version's endurance, since it only comes with a 3 year warranty and low grade NAND, compared to the 5Yr for Pro version. Any ideas?

 

Samsung 840 Pro SSD 256GB for boot/OS/programs in main bay + Samsung 840 SSD 500GB for user files in UltraBay caddy adapter + regular backups of user files to an external hard drive.

That should be really good. Especially with the third component.

 

I had been thinking about going the SSD route but the few computer repair guys I spoke with all say they have seen a few catastrophic (as in no data recovery) but that they have almost always manged data recovery from bad HDD. That said I have had two HDD go bad.

So my big question is would I, as an average user, notice the difference in a W530 between a 500 GB SSD and 500GB HDD 7200rpm? I was told the 16GB mSATA Solid State Cache Drive should minimize any difference.

 

Thank you. Most helpful.

 

Yes, drastically. (A pragmatic balance would be 128GB SSD boot/OS/programs drive + 500GB HDD storage drive.)

The SSD cache should help.

Any drive, spinner or solid-state, can "go bad." You have to protect your precious data, regardless. (I keep a "me-happy-with-this-system" image and a series of regular backups of personal files.)

 

Caches do minimize the difference.

However, catastrophic data loss will occur when there is no copy of the data. It doesn't matter if it's a HDD or SSD. If you don't duplicate your data, you are going to lose it eventually.

 

mSATA will only help out the programs you use the most. The differentlce between SSDs and HDDs are night and day performance-wise. Not only in seq read/write, but also in random access (which is what makes a SSD feel so "snappy").

Anyway, HDD or SSD, everyone should always keep regular backups. That will make sure you don't loose data in the event of failure. Anyway, I think he forgot to mention that getting data off a dead HDD is very, very expensive...