W530 Owner's Thread

How do you go about doing this?

I've been running the standard Windows profile since I bought my W520, curious about how this .icc looks.

 

Just at work but I'll post about this a little later, I highly recommend you do it, the factory icc profile is WAY off.

 

@privatejarhead - OK I am back in the office so i'll type out the instructions, Windows 7 made it a bit tricky.

Ok here goes (HOW TO ENABLE COLOR MANAGEMENT in WINDOWS 7) for W520 and W530 FHD Profiles:

First you need to save the profile (W530) from this link: http://www.notebookcheck.net/uploads/tx_nbc2/Monitor_25.06.2012_1.icc

Edit: Found out the FHD W520 profile is slightly different so I will provide a link to that one for you: http://www.notebookcheck.net/uploads/tx_nbc2/ThinkPad_W520_1920x1080.icm

Right click the link and select "Save link As" save the file as a *.icc file.


----
Right Click your Desktop and select "Screen Resolution"

Click "Advanced Settings"

Select "Color Management" Tab

Click "Color Management" button

-----
This is where it can get a little confusing but I will try to make it clear.

Now that you are at the "Color Management" window, go to the "Advanced" Tab

Press "Change system defaults..." button

Another "Color Management" window will open that looks just like the window you were in before, the only difference is that this one is called "Color Management - System Defaults"

Now go to the "Advanced" Tab in this new Window.

Next to the "Calibrate display" button there is a little square tick box which says "Use Windows display calibration", normally this does not have a tick in the box. Please tick this box and then press "Close"
----

You will now be back at the "Color Management" window, not the "Color Management - System Defaults" window.

In the "Color Management" window go to the "Devices" Tab

Place a tick next to the "Use my settings for this device" box.

Below go and press the "Add" button.

Browse to where you saved the .icc profile you want to apply and select it.

Now select your profile and press the "Set as Default Profile" button. If all has been done correctly you should notice a very big difference on how your colors are displayed. It should be a difference for the better.

If you want to toggle between having your profile ON or OFF, just tick or untick the "Use my settings for this device" box.
----

If you have been used to using the display with poorly calibrated colors, the new colors will come as a bit of a shock to your eyes but trust me when I say they are much more color correct for the W530 FHD display than the factory profile which is not even calibrated for the display. - Now I noticed you are going to use it on a W520, I think the displays are the same. Could check notebookcheck for a profile made on a FHD W520 but I think they share the same display. - Edit: I have provided you the link to the FHD W520 icc, looks like they may have a slightly different display after all...

You will notice that depending on your profile, if you are using the Windows 7 theme, the greys around boxes are really grey now, not a light bluish grey.

 

Wow, that is a pretty big shock ..... Just switching between that .icc and the default one does show some massive differences.

Looks pretty nice though. Thanks!

+1

 

I agree there is a big difference, I think it's an improvement to the over saturated default.

The best solution would be to calibrate it with a profile made just for your screen, it's worth it.

I need to look at buying a new calibrater.

 

Eh, if I suddenly designed to earn my paycheck from A/V work, then perhaps. But CompSci only cares about resolution .

I think there are some decent calibrators out there for ~$90USD, last time I checked. X-Rite ColorMunki Smile Color Calibration Solution CMUNSML B&H

 

I got my Spyder 2 Pro working on Windows 7x64 so I have made a custom icm profile for my W530 display. The W530 profile from notebookcheck was not bad, for sure better than the factory default but it was still out by a bit for my display.

Colours look great now with the custom profile. Makes a big difference for anyone doing photo A/V work or even just watching movies on your laptop, the skin colours, sky etc look much accurate.

 

Hi All,
I just received my W530 a couple of weeks ago.

I do have a couple of questions if anyone else is having similar problems.
First my laptop keeps turning itself on in the middle of the night (9:30 pm - 11:00) and doesn't shut itself off until the battery is near dead.

Checking the system event log it indicates Wake Source: Unknown

I already had the wake timers disabled in the power profile and had the system set to sleep if the lid is closed but this doesn't seem to be working.

Any insight into what might be causing this would be great. I've already gone through the normal list, disable lan/usb wake, disable automatic windows updates, gone through the scheduler events and check everything to make sure that "wake computer" is not checked. I've also checked powercfg for "waketimers" and "wake_armed" and both are blank.

My second issue is that when my laptop is connected to the docking station it wont stay in sleep. I start sleep (FN+F4) the system appears to go to sleep but will them immediately wake back up. I have two different docking stations and have the same problem on both. Now if I disconnect the laptop before its gone completely to sleep it will stay asleep so I know it has something to do with the docking station.

Any insight would be appreciated.

Angelica

 

This is for those that are dissatisfied with the keyboard layout on the W530.

I have to admit that while I like the feel of the keyboard lenovo's layout leave a lot to be desired.
High on my list of dislikes is the placement of the home and end keys.

I came from a sony z series where the home/end/pgup/pgdn keys where Fn+ arrowkeys in the lower right corner and while the arrowkeys are in the same place the home/end keys are stuck all the way up top.

I would have like to mapped the arrow keys the same as the sony but it appears that the lenovo hardware wont send a keyboard scan code for Fn+ arrowkey keyboard combinations.

The solution that I have come up with is to use AutoHotkey and add a mapping to the pgup and pgdn keys.
Since I can't use the Fn key I used the windows key so it works likes this

Win+PgUp = home
Win+PgDn = end

Both the shift and control modifier also work.

These could also be mapped to the arrow keys but I use the Win+arrow keys for moving application windows on a multi-monitor setup.

For anyone that want to try it below is the Autohotkey script that does the remapping.

Hope this helps some of you.

Angelica

;Beginning

#pgup::send {home}
+#pgup:: send {shift down}{home}{shift up}
^#pgup:: send {control down}{home}{control up}
+^#pgup:: send {shift down}{control down}{home}{shift up}{control up}

#pgdn::send {end}
+#pgdn:: send {shift down}{end}{shift up}
^#pgdn:: send {control down}{end}{control up}
+^#pgdn:: send {shift down}{control down}{end}{shift up}{control up}

;End

 

If you have some time, would you mind to make your custom profile available? (or maybe you can also PM it to me, if that's possible, I'm fairly new to the forums here so not sure how the messaging works). That would be very kind of you.

As I wrote earlier I'm now using the profile I found on NotebookCheck and I'm fairly happy with it (but then I was initially also happy with the default profile of the W530 before I tried the one from NotebookCheck - I just wasn't aware of how much better things could get ), but I would still be interested to give a try to another profile to see if things can get (even) better. Of course I'm aware that your profile was calibrated for your particular screen and might not work as well on another screen.
Anyway, thanks for that if you have the time.

 

I have PM'ed you.

Well if you recently purchased your W530 then maybe my profile will be more accurate... Not sure. The reason I say this is due to production line variances, if both our panels came of the production line around the same time it would stand to reason that my profile may better match your screen but this is just a guess. The best judge will be your eyes, I know I prefer my custom profile to the notebookcheck one but like we mentioned before, the notebook check version is far better than the default factory one so if you can't have one custom to your screen it's much better than nothing.

 

For those of you with mSATA cards who are also thinking of getting an SSD or already have one but also have a standard HDD in your Ultrabay, you may be interested to know that you actually can tell the mSATA express cache system which drives you want it to monitor and can exclude drives.

It's very easy, just type "eccmd ?" without the quotes in an elevated command prompt screen.

It will give you these options:

ECCmd [-NOLOGO]
[-INFO | -PARTITION | -EXCLUDE | -CLEAREXCLUSIONS | -FORMAT | -PRELOAD]

-NOLOGO - No copyright message will be displayed.
-INFO - Display ExpressCache activity information.
-PARTITION - Create an ExpressCache partition.
[DriveId] - Optional drive ID
[PartSize] - Optional partition size in MB
-EXCLUDE - Exclude a drive from being cached.
DriveLetter - Drive letter
-CLEAREXCLUSIONS - Clear all cache exclusions.
-FORMAT - Format the cache volume.
-PRELOAD - Preload a folder or a file into the cache
FileName - File or folder name to be cached
[UsageCount] - Optional file usage count.

As you can see, if you had an SSD as drive C: and a platter HDD as drive F: you could just type " eccmd -exclude c: " which will mean you at least still get the benefits of fast mSATA drive caching for your HDD but don't have it slowing down your SSD from being able to run at full speed, seeing that the mSATA drive is normally slower than most modern SSD's but still much quicker than 99.99% of platter HDDs. This way you get the best of both on your dual drive systems.

A very fast SSD and a HDD that is going to be much faster when it comes to accessing frequently used files on it, due to the caching.

There is even an option to pre-load files of your liking into the mSATA cache so they don't get kicked off by other files if the cache becomes full.

 

Hey Flickster,

Do you have the FHD screen on your W530? Would you mind PMing me your profile too? : )

Also, I may be blind but i can't find the custom profile on notebookcheck >.>

 

I updated the ICC profile - I ultimately decided not to do a clean install - takes a lot of time.

Regarding the NBCheck profile, maybe I am crazy, but the grays look slightly brown/reddish. Anyone else see this? The improvement is vast, but a better profile might suit. I even tried the W520 profile, which had a green tinge on this W530 display. My, the difference was huge - the colors were so saturated - rich, but garish to a degree. Loving this thing. I love the keyboard - got used to it on the x120e

 

Looks like most people are experiencing the same results me and Nibor2 experienced with the notebook check icc/icm profile, it seems a little warm (redish) but still better than the very over cool factory profile.

My custom profile seems to fix this and be just right, least for my display and Nibor2's. It is made for the FHD screen. If someone has a place I could upload it too I will be happy to do that. Until then I will just e-mail it to anyone that wants it. Just PM me if you want it and I'll e-mail it to whatever e-mail address you provide.

 

For some reason the forum doesn't allow me to PM you, maybe i don't have enough posts or something?

Anyway, maybe you could upload it to Dropbox?

 

Not a problem i'll use my Skydrive and you can download it from there. I don't like how you need to download an application for Dropbox. Microsoft seem to have a good solution with this Skydrive and I am told it's built into Windows 8.

Anyway here is the link to my custom W530 FHD colour profile, should be a big improvement over the standard, especially in the contrast area and correcting the cool (bluish greys).

https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=974EC8A99D5A6D96!126&authkey=!AAt1a4VCHTUwzNs

 

Cheers! That works much better for me than the other one posted here : )

Also, you don't need the app to use Dropbox, it just makes things more convenient, but you can just use the web interface as well.

 

Awesome glad my profile worked better for your screen, seems that way for everyone that has tried it so far, so going on that I would recommend everyone with a W530 FHD display still using the factory profile or without a custom icm file give it a go.

https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=974EC8A99D5A6D96!126&authkey=!AAt1a4VCHTUwzNs

It really made a big difference for me and if you do the occasional photo editing it's important to work on accurate colours, of course this does not replace a custom icm for your own screen which is the only way to go if your doing lots of photo editing but it sure beats the factory profile.

 

It should be a good idea to post your ICM in a separate thread: T/W530 FHD Color Profile (along with basic instructions). A mod may decide to make it sticky.

 

Good idea Kaso, I'll do that.

 

Can anybody run their Windows Assessment and tell me what they got for their graphics using Intel 4000 and than switch to Nvidia K200M and tell me what did you get.

I get a pretty low score.

 

I don't think you can switch between what GPU is used whenever you want, well without going into the Nvidia control panel, Optimus drivers do it on the fly, depending on the GPU demands of the application. Unless you go into your Nvidia control panel and force the selected application (.exe) to run on the K2000M.

I think when you run WEI it switches to the dedicated GPU, if I remember correctly I got 6.9. Make sure the Power Plan mode selected is "Maximum Performance" in the Lenovo Power Manager before running the test.

What score you getting?

EditL - You can force it to use the Nividia GPU by default by changing the 3D setting in the Nvidia control panel from "Auto-Select" to "Performance" - however I am not sure that is needed when running WEI, I think it swaps over automatically.

 

I get a 5.8 for Intel and 2.4 for Nvidia. What the heck lol

 

Well something is not right there, you should be getting around 6.8 - 6.9 for your K2000M GPU.

Like I said before, make sure your connected to your 170W power supply and "maximum performance" power plan selected before running the test.

Close all other applications that you can in the background and run the test.

First run the test with all your Nvidia control panel options set back to default and see what you get as the Optimus driver should swap to the dedicated GPU by itself.

If you don't get a good score with factory default settings on the Nvidia control panel, try setting the default 3D settings to Performance rather than Auto-Select, that should force the system to use the K2000M, but like I said before it shouldn't be needed. I get my score using Auto-Select. Same GPU and i7 3820QM CPU.

Let me know how that goes, 2.4 is totally not what you should be getting.

 

Zamizzle, Have you tried updating drivers?

 

Hi,

Don't know if it's the same issue but I got constantly a 5.9 mark on the graphics index where I should get a 6.9.
I have a W530 (2438 CTO) with K2000M ( Optimus enabled, latest drivers 9.18.13.697 ) running on a Win 8.

I can't figure why I cannot get the same results as you guys.

From the previous posts, it seems that WEI bench does not require to perform any prerequisites in order to detect the K2000M so I am a bit clueless at the moment.

any ideas ?

Thks,

Pat

 

Ok just got home and checked my WEI score for my K2000M W530 and it's 6.7 not 6.9.

I get a 6.7 score under both "graphics" and "gaming graphics" this is on Windows 7 Pro using Nvidia driver version 296.88.

 

Hi folks, another Lenovo newbee here.

Ordered my W530 from Computer Upgrade King late last night for $1,525.00, shipped and taxed, with delivery estimated between November 16 - November 19, in the following conf:

Operating System:
- Windows® 7 Professional 64bit
Graphics:
- Intel HD Graphics 4000 & 2GB NVIDIA Quadro K2000M
Display:
- 15.6" Full HD LED-Backlight/95-percent color gamut
- 1920 x 1080 Native Resolution
Audio and Speakers:
- Integrated Speakers
Networking, Wi-Fi, and Wireless Options:
- 802.11b/g/n wireless LAN
- BluetoothTM 4.0
Battery:
- 9-cell Lithium Ion
Power:
- 90W AC Adapter
Camera:
- Integrated Webcam
Ports, Slots & Chassis:
- 1 Firewire
- Microphone input port
- Headphone output port
- 2 USB 3.0 ports
- 1 USB 2.0 ports
- Rj-45 LAN Port
- 4-in-1 Media Reader (SD/SDHC/SDXC/MMC)
- Fingerprint Reader

I've also got the following coming at the same time:

SAMSUNG 830 Series 2.5-Inch 256GB SATA III MLC
Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-7PC256B/WW

Kingston ValueRAM 8GB 1600MHz DDR3 (PC3-12800)
Non-ECC CL11 SODIMM Notebook Memory (KVR16S11/8)
(4 each for a total 32gb)

I got a pretty good deal on the ValueRAM and other W530 users don't seem to have had any issues using it. We'll see how that goes.

I'm also wondering if the 90 watt brick puts out enough power under load, but I'll call Computer Upgrade King Monday and ask them about that.

Also, not sure if this model comes with cc, but I wasn't too worried about that because I already have a standalone xrite dtp94b that I use with my EIZO monitors.

I guess the only real question I have at this point in time is what I'm going to need to physically install the SSD. Not sure if laptop is going to show up with a caddy or not, but again, I'll check CUK.

Anyway, thanks for the great (and useful) info that's already here!

Cheers,

Jan C.

 

To answer your questions:

The 90W power supply will not even run the W530 with K2000M GPU. I am told the only thing the 90W power supply is good for when it comes to the W530 is to charge the battery while the computer is OFF but it will not charge the battery while the computer is ON hence being of little use. Like most of us you will have to unfortunately live with the 170W PSU.

To install your SSD you won't need anything if all your doing is replacing your factory HDD, you simply slip out the factory HDD from it's caddy and slot your SDD in it's place. However, if you wish to then use the factory HDD as a storage drive like many users including myself do, you will then need a Ultrabay caddy, I got my caddy from NewmodeUS who makes a nice all metal caddy with a HDD activity light and the same finish as your W530, or you can get one direct from Lenovo, there is also the cheaper e-bay option but you get what pay for, some are better than others.

Make sure to calibrate your display the factory icm profile is terrible.

If your not doing a clean install of Windows. You can use a USB3 external 2.5" drive housing (only $20) to connect your SSD to. Install cloning software like Acrnois True Image and have it turn one of your USB sticks into recovery boot media. You can then boot from the USB and clone your factory HDD onto your SSD. After this you can simply turn OFF your laptop, swap the drives and away you go, it's that easy.

I recommend the factory image, it has all the drivers you need already installed and some factory tweaks on the windows services side to help the laptop boot quicker. There is only a few bloatware items installed, nothing that can't be quickly removed and most of the Lenovo utilities are very handy, especially the power manager. I removed things like Norton AV, Splashtop, Sugarsync, Nitro PDF and Lenovo Simple Tap.

 

Quick question lads,

Is there anywhere I can get instructions on upgrading the BIOS using a USB stick on boot, if that's possible or do you have to burn a CD? - If a CD is the easiest way, I am fine with that but would prefer to use a USB stick if it's just as easy.

Not going to do it right now but I don't like upgrading BIOS from inside Windows hence the reason for my question.

 

About to pull the trigger on the W530 unless something great comes up. Had a feasibility question. I'm planning on doing the following:

Purchasing from Lenovo online store:
CPU - Intel Core i7-3820QM Processor (8M Cache, up to 3.70 GHz)
GPU - NVIDIA Quadro K2000M Graphics with 2GB DDR3 Memory
RAM - 8 GB DDR3 - 1600MHz (2 DIMM)
HDD - 500GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
Optical Drive - DVD Recordable
Total - $1,663.78
Buying separately:
512GB Samsung 830 Series SSD (Will replace with 500GB 7200rpm Drive)
Add 180GB SSD or 1TB 7200 RPM HD in Optical drive
Add 16 to 32 GB of RAM

My questions:
Will it be possible for me to do as I've said above (install a Samsung 830 series 512 GB as my Primary disk in place of the 500GB my laptop will ship with?
Can I put another SSD or a full TB with atleast 7200RPM in place of the DVD Recordable optical drive?
I want to upgrade the RAM to 16 or maybe even 32GB for excellent AE/Premiere performance. What clock freq RAM do you suggest/does it matter? If I want 32GB in total, how much should I get from Lenovo and which RAM do you suggest I add.
Any other suggestions on improving this build? Other brands you would recommend looking into?

 

Yes.

Yes, by using an UltraBay caddy adapter.

You can consider Corsair Vengeance 2 x 8GB. Get two pairs and you fill the 4 RAM slots with a total of 32GB.

Don't buy SSD and RAM from Lenovo as part of your CTO (i.e. get the minimum). Shop at reputable online vendors.

 

I agree with Kaso,

Buy the least possible ram from Lenovo, it's a rip off. Get some Corsair Vengeance mem, most people highly recommend it or if you can't find that I can recommend memory from Crucial, which is what I use.

Stay away from Geil ram if you can, I had to replace all of my Geil memory due to a faulty stick and if you look online they don't seem to have the best reputation. Their QA is not to the standard of the other top players like Corsair, Crucial etc. I swapped my Geil for Crucial and no more BSODs, system works perfect.

SSD wise I hear the Samsung drive is good, that or Intel 520 or Crucial, can't go wrong with either of them.

Do you really need to buy a 512GB SSD? They are still very $$$. Normally a 256GB SSD is more than enough to fit most peoples OS and frequently used programs which is where the quick load times will come in most handy. If you need storage then get a 1TB 7200 HDD and stick that in your UltraBay using a caddy. You can put all your photo's, videos etc on that drive.

I do a lot of photography work but not much AE video editing, however I know that video files can be very large and you definitely want quick read/write access to them while editing hence I can understand if you go for a 512 SSD however just think about your work process. Can you copy the video files you are going to be working on directly from your camera/source onto your SSD and once you have finished editing move them to your 1TB HDD for storage? Depends on your work flow.

 

Today was the first time I used Microsoft Lync with my new W530 and I had the volume maxed and I could barely hear the person I was talking to. System sounds (like email notifications) are very loud with the volume turned all the way up but not a voice coming through Lync. I use Lync all day, everyday so wearing a headset is NOT an option!

When I look in the lync settings under speakers, it only has one option "realtek audio". I do have dolby installed. Is anyone familiar with Lync who can help me? I don't want to return this laptop over this issue but I need this to work correctly. My old laptop (in my sig) has amazing speakers and I would only have to turn the volume a quarter to half way to use Lync and it was very loud.

UPDATE: I discovered that Lync has a separate volume located in its options. I never had to change this volume with my other laptop and truthfully, I didn't know it was completely independent from the main laptop speaker volume. I turned up the volume slider in the Lync options and now I can hear fine with the main volume at half to three quarters. In the Lync options it still only gives me the choice of realtek audio and not dolby.

 

Just upgraded from a T61 to the W530 with the FHD screen. While the screen is definitely much brighter and move vibrant, comparing the two laptops, text on the T61 seems sharper than the W530. I'm currently using Flickster's custom profile and have played with the ClearType font settings. Is anyone else experiencing this or have an idea of what else I can try? I'm hoping I just get used to it but so far that hasn't happened yet.

 

/offtopic
Samsung already released the new SSD 840 series.
Look for the Samsung 840 Pro, they have amazing write speed.

Don't buy the RAM from Lenovo. Buy Corsair Vengeance DDR3 from any store out there. You can get better and cheaper RAM that way.

 

ok...I'm being stupid or something, but I can't seem to find the base drivers on Lenovo's driver's page. I installed the Intel chipset drivers, but I can't get my USB 3.0 ports working...the drivers claim they're only for Windows 7
In Device Manager, it claims the base drivers and PCI device are unknown, even though wifi works and the screen seems to be high res.
Anyone else upgrade to Windows 8 already and not have this issue?

p.s., can't believe the Win8 upgrade blew away all my Program Files directories...guess MS really wants you to get rid of your cruft

 

Bring that up with Steven Sinofsky.

 

I don't think he cares right now...probably vacationing on some beach somewhere.

So anyone w/ Win8 who can look in their Device Manager and not have question marks under Other Devices? What the heck is Base System Device on a W530?
I think the nVidia 2000M Optimus thing is also disabled...it shows up as "MS Basic Display Driver" under display adapters.

 

The "base system device" error is normally your card reader, the way to check is to select "hardware ids" under the device tab in driver properties. Punch the hardware id into: PCI Vendor and Device Lists and it will give you the info you need.

For the card reader it is normally:

Hardware ID:

PCI\VEN_1180&DEV_E822&SUBSYS_21CF17AA&REV_05
PCI\VEN_1180&DEV_E822&SUBSYS_21CF17AA
PCI\VEN_1180&DEV_E822&CC_088001
PCI\VEN_1180&DEV_E822&CC_0880

0xe822:
Chip Description: Ricoh PCIe SD/MMC Host Controller
Driver: http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/mobiles/8ass82ww.exe

Lenovo provide the driver in your W530's SWTOOLS\DRIVERS\multicard folder, "risdxc.inf" is the file you are after. Simply select add hardware the option that lets you find the driver yourself, then point to the risdxc.inf file and add the driver.

That should get rid of the base system device issue, least it does on windows 7 and that is assuming it's the card reader causing the issue but you can double check by looking at the hardware id.

 

Thanks! Just the technique I needed.
I needed the Ricoh card reader driver as you guessed, then the Smartcard reader, then the Intel management engine, then the HW Radio driver.

Only things left for question marks are an unknown device with this ID:
ACPI\VEN_LEN&DEV_0068
ACPI\LEN0068
*LEN0068
which googling around seems to be the power management driver which Lenovo hasn't made available for Windows 8 yet???

And the Trusted Platform Module 1.2 which also doesn't show up on Lenovo's site.

Almost back to normal. If I didn't have to install Windows 8 to run the Win8 SDK, I honestly wouldn't recommend install Windows 8...pretty much hate it so far....what a dumb idea to get rid of the program/start menu from the desktop...you can buy an app to add it back, but it shouldn't have been yanked in the first place

 

Glad I could help Kenyee,

Startdocks Start8 seems to be the best app so far to get the start button back, sure they will make millions of the one product, they should send MS a big thank you. - wish I had thought about putting together a small dev team just for that.

Regarding needing to run Win8 just for the SDK, you don't. Run windows 7 as your native OS, then install VMware Workstation 8 and install Win8 as a VM, should let you do just about everything you can do on a native Win8 PC and your software won't know the difference.

If not you could install Win8 on a external USB3 drive and simply boot off the USB or HDD drive when you need to use Win8, Lenovo make it easy by just pressing enter on boot and then selecting what drive you want to boot from. If you use a USB stick just make sure to use the fastest thumb drive you can find, if not use an external USB3 HDD caddy and put it on an external drive.

 

Lads I use Lenovo Access Connection software to manage my wireless, I believe it's better than the Windows built-in solution. I just have a question regarding "Intel My Wi-Fi" how do I use it or activate it? I can't see anywhere on my laptop to control it.

Edit: All good, looks like the intel my-wifi dashboard is not installed by default, just need to go to add/remove programs and double click on Intel PROset Wireless then select "change" and put a tick under my wi-fi dashboard. Now you can launch it from the start menu or from Lenovo Access Connection.

 

If you happen to use an UltraBay HDD caddy adapter to house the stock HDD (which is most likely SATA 3.0 Gbit/s), could you run HWiNFO64 and see what device speed is reported for that drive?

In some situations (the inconsistency is the confusing part), the device speed is shown as 1.5 Gbit/s. The same drive, when kept in the primary bay, is shown correctly as 3.0 Gbit/s.

Flickster?

 

@Kaso , I know I sound carzy answering my own question - I was just looking for a way to control "Intel My Wi-Fi Technology", If you install Lenovo Access Connection and go to advanced view, under tools it's greyed out by default, so I was looking for a way to use it. Turns out you need to install the additional software by going to "programs and features" in control panel and selecting change on the "Intel PROset/Wireless..." software. You can then tick both the "Intel My Wi-Fi Technology" options which installs the software required to use it. It's handy if you wish to quickly connect to a printer, any wireless device etc or share your connection, all without needing a router or access point. A better solution to creating an Ad-Hoc network which works in a different way.

 

Can you help with my UltraBay question immediately above? (As I recall, you're using an UltraBay caddy adapter.)

 

Sure can mate, I missed that before.

I have the same report using both HWiNFO64 and CrystalDisk. I also get SATA 1.5Gb/s reported on the factory Toshiba 500GB drive, not that I think it's an issue as SATA version 1.0 or 1.5Gb/s apparently allows for transfer rates of up to around 150MB/s when over-heads are taken into account which is slightly more than what the Toshiba drive can do, so it won't be bottlenecking it.

What I wonder about is, I thought the mSATA port only supported SATA2 3.0Gb/s speeds not SATA3 6.0Gb/s speeds yet it reports to be running at 6.0Gb/s. I believe the UltraBay can support SATA3 speeds, just the factory HDD doesn't.

Edit:

Ok it looks like the reason why the factory Toshiba HDD only runs at 1.5Gb/s is because it's all the drive supports even if the UltraBay will support higher speeds, check out the attached image HEX value.

 

Appreciate your feedback. Nice find regarding that chart.

Yes, it's not that SATA 3.0Gb/s or 6.0Gb/s would make any difference to a spinner drive. The confusing part is that HWiNFO64 reports 3.0Gb/s when the drive sits in the main bay and 1.5Gb/s when it sits in the UltraBay. The frustrating part is that the label on the drive says 3.0Gb/s -- Marketing wins again! (The situation happens with certain drives, and not some others.)

Common knowledge is that the main bay and the UltraBay support SATA 6.0Gb/s interface, whereas the mSATA slot support 3.0Gb/s interface. Programs such as HWiNFO report the device characteristics.

 

Cheers for the info Kaso. HWiNFO64 reports my mSATA drive running at 6.0Gb/s which does not sound right, like you I thought the max for the mSATA was 3.0Gb/s.

The tool I used to look at the actual HEX values for the drives I have installed and what speeds they support was Intel's SSD Toolbox. It seems to read what the device itself supports, is that what HWiNFO64 is doing when it reports the device speed or is it actually reporting what speed the device is running at? which could be different to all the modes supported by the drive.

If I look at my intel 520 or mSATA drive, they have a hex value of 1 next to Gen 1, 2 and 3 signal speed, meaning the drives support all three modes even if the interface does not, the toshiba seems to only be Gen 1 which would explain the UltraBay speeds but not the reading you are getting from the primary bay. Also makes you wonder about the labeling, who to trust, the label or the software...