Lenovo W520 Owner's Thread

[efrsysop]

Hey everyone.... I've been following this forum for about a month now, finally registering to add some information to the community. Definitely a big thanks to everyone posting here providing all this info.


- I did not order the RAID enabled and as many others have reported it is not available in the BIOS. I even have the Lenovo Ultra Bay Caddy, and inserting that into the bay (With a HDD installed) does not make the option visable in the BIOS

- I purchased the Kingston HyperX 1600Mhz /8GX not realizing it was XMP memory and can confirm CPU-Z is reporting 667Mhz for a total speed of 1333. I have placed an order on buy.com for the new HyperX PNP 1866Mhz memory and should have it tomorrow, I will report back my findings

- I have the Intel SSD 510 250GB drive installed in the primary bay and it is running at 6.0 Gbps. Also the warm reboot option has not shown itself with my machine HOWEVER, I like the gentlemen at Storage review am running a much later BIOS:

UEFI Bios Version 1.21
UEFI Bios Date 3-30-2011
Embedded Controller Version 1.09

This is the BIOS that shipped with my machine ordered on 4/13/2011 shipped 4/20/2011 arrived 4/21/2011. Specs provided below...

The other consideration for the warm reboot issue is that I have set the BIOS to UEFI Boot only and installed Windows 7 fresh. This was a bit of a challenge as I needed to customize the folder structure on the USB key as well as add a .efi file from a current windows install or from the install.wim file. More info can be provided upon request.

I am experiencing one issue with BSOD when I install the Biometrics driver, I will continue troubleshooting that tonight.

I also ordered the Panasonic UJ-240 bluray burner for $124 from Centrix International and it works perfectly.


Here are my specs:

1 SYS.4270CT CONFIGURED SYSTEM $1,864.75 $1,864.75
The above product code consists of the following component(s):
1 4270CTO THINKPAD W520 - 1 YR DEPOT TOPSELLER WARRANTY $1,809.55
1 0A68261 SBB BLUETOOTH 3.0 $0.00
1 0A68287 SBB NO MSSDRIVE $0.00
1 0A68540 SBB NO MODEM $0.00
1 0A68542 SBB ICI7-2820QM IHD GR200 $0.00
1 0A68545 SBB 4GB DDR3 SDRAM1333MHZSMM $0.00
1 0A68547 SBB DVD RC8XMXDLLRULTEHATA $0.00
1 0A68553 SBB 500GB HDD7200RPM $0.00
1 0A68558 SBB 720P HD CAM INT MICR $0.00
1 0A68561 SBB SMART CARD READER $0.00
1 0A68564 SBB LANG PCK US E $0.00
1 0A68599 SBB PCK MOW EXCEPT CH HK JP $0.00
1 0A68625 SBB GW7P64 E $0.00
1 0A68765 SBB WLAN MP 1X2/2X2 HALF (H1 $0.00
1 0A68768 SBB WWAN MP WWAN RD FULL F1 $0.00
1 0A68771 SBB MECH MPARTS $0.00
1 0A68782 SBB GEO LABEL US WLAN BL $0.00
1 0A68809 SBB 15.6FHD LED B-L,11NWWN,C $0.00
1 0A68894 SBB NVQ2000M GR $0.00
1 0A68903 SBB COLR SENSOR $0.00
1 0A68904 SBB CPNAMLC+ 170W AC AD $0.00
1 0A68945 SBB CLPLW520 WLAN/WWN/WPN $0.00
1 0A68946 SBB REAR CLPL W/ COLOR S $0.00
1 0A68951 SBB NVGRQ3TPM/AES $0.00
1 0A68966 SBB 2ND GIL(ICI7 VPRO Google Page Ranking $0.00
1 0A69620 SBB I RAID-NOT EN $0.00
1 0A71377 SBB SLBIDTP00002BFORROW170W $0.00
1 0A71678 SBB MS LABEL (W7ST/EE 2.0) $0.00
1 40Y9135 THINKPLUS TS AND CS COMMERCIAL $0.00
1 40Y9135 THINKPLUS TS AND CS COMMERCIAL $0.00
1 41C9169 LENOVO THINKPLUS EXTENDED SERVICE AGREEMENT - 2 YEARS - PICK-UP AND RETURN $55.20
1 44C7950 SBB INT WRLSSWDAREANTWRK UPGR $0.00
1 44C8401 SBB ENERGYSTAR 4.0 TIER 2 PACK $0.00
1 45M3090 VBB GENUWIN7PROFES.64 $0.00
1 45M4572 VBB 4GBPC3-10600DDR3 1333SODMM $0.00
1 45M4805 SBB IN.CENTADV.-N+WIMAX 6250 $0.00
1 45M4816 SBB 9CELLLI-ION BATTERY $0.00
1 45M4839 SBB KEYBOARDUS ENGLISH $0.00
1 75Y0162 SBB M W7 XP MD- E $0.00
1 75Y0175 VBB COLORSENSOR $0.00
1 75Y0571 SBB WIMAXOPTIONUSCLEAR $0.00
1 75Y2143 SBB FCC LABEL $0.00
1 0A68526 VBB FINGERPRINT READER $0.00
1 0A68528 VBB ECS+4IN1CR+SCR $0.00
1 0A68535 SBB 15.6FHD (1900 X 1080) LED $0.00
1 0A68536 SBB FINGERPRINT READER $0.00

Qty Product Code Description Unit Cost Total
1 433830U LENOVO THINKPAD MINI DOCK PLUS SERIES 3 - MINI-DOCK $215.99 $215.99

Qty Product Code Description Unit Cost Total
1 43N3412 LENOVO THINKPAD SERIAL ATA HARD DRIVE BAY ADAPTER III - STORAGE BAY ADAPTER $47.96 $47.96

Qty Product Code Description Unit Cost Total
1 0A33058 DISPLAYPORT TO HDMI ADAPTER $22.49 $22.49

Best,
Spencer

[gottagetta]

On these electro-forums it's anathema to quote oneself and a number of others at length, regardless of how pertinent the discussion.

I see. So would this be the original meaning of anathema, "something lifted up as an offering to the gods", or the more modern use, "a thing detested or loathed"? I just want to know where I stand.

[bherila]

@efrsysop... Don't want to quote the whole post, but is that

1 SYS.4270CT CONFIGURED SYSTEM $1,864.75 $1,864.75

including the mini-dock, HDD caddy, and everything?

[efrsysop]

@efrsysop... Don't want to quote the whole post, but is that



including the mini-dock, HDD caddy, and everything?

No that is just the system, the dock, caddy, and DP-> HDMI were extra at the price listed. I wish that was for everything, but I got a decent deal on the machine itself... At least I keep telling myself that

[Thors.Hammer]

Lenovo's forum was designed to be a peer-to-peer forum with some Lenovo involvement and was not intended to be an official support site with dedicated Lenovo employees answering every question. With only 24 hours in a day, Mark and the handful of employees who help out there have to pick and choose what they answer to make an impact on the issues with the most members affected.

On occasion, Mark will visit here and TPF if we point out a particular issue to him, but if you want a personal response from a real Lenovo employee for a specific issue that isn't covered in one of the three forums, I suggest you call support.

Thanks for the response, but I don't think it's quite that simple in some cases. There are broad issues that don't need a personal response but do need an explanation or fix. For instance, the RAID option on the CTO buying site really required a change and they've done that though I would not have implemented the change they did. Further transparency on why they won't ship RAID capable systems with a single hard drive would show more community spirit.

Another example is the W520 docking station support for attached monitors. Why is it Lenovo hasn't answered the key question on this issue? If they are researching the problem, say so.

Silence doesn't cut it.

[erik]

the problem with publicly stating if/when things are being researched is that it sets an expectation by customers as to when a solution should happen.   many times that timeframe is considered immediate with no elbow room whatsoever.

silence doesn't always mean nothing is happening in the background or that complaints aren't being read and logged.   besides, last i checked, microsoft (or any other company for that matter) doesn't pop into forums to announce every little big/issue/error investigation.   they typically announce a fix instead.

[m.antonius.primus]

I see. So would this be the original meaning of anathema, "something lifted up as an offering to the gods", or the more modern use, "a thing detested or loathed"? I just want to know where I stand.

The best way to determine meaning is by use. Maybe it's both. "Thou shalt detest it as dung, and shalt utterly abhor it as uncleanness and filth, because it is an anathema." So quoting yourself is like offering sh*t to the demigods of the forum.

On a different note, I'll be sending my XMP Hyperx back. I'll wait on the trial results of several users who bought the new PnP in order to decide what best suits my W520.

[Thors.Hammer]

the problem with publicly stating if/when things are being researched is that it sets an expectation by customers as to when a solution should happen. many times that timeframe is considered immediate with no elbow room whatsoever.

silence doesn't always mean nothing is happening in the background or that complaints aren't being read and logged. besides, last i checked, microsoft (or any other company for that matter) doesn't pop into forums to announce every little big/issue/error investigation. they typically announce a fix instead.

Ok, thanks. That's probably a bad example because it's a relatively new discovery and probably does need time for research, formulating a response, and getting it through legal review.

A different and maybe better example is the ongoing dialogue about screen quality. There are several views on this issue. Matt Kohut mentions in Inside the Box SATA 3.0 600MB/s on ThinkPad Notebooks that it's been discussed and covered already. I have looked but I don't see where that's the case. Maybe I missed a comprehensive discussion that goes beyond the widescreen ratio move.

Everyone has read about the shift from 16:10 to 16:9 and how the notebook makers had no choice. However, people want to know why other LCD characteristics have declined in terms of quality. You can compare the ThinkPad LCD screens over the past 5-7 years and see the issues quite easily but where are the answers from Lenovo on that? Offering the IPS screen on the X220 doesn't answer this for a T410 or T420 owner.

[grau]

Hi Hrana,

Yes, I was required to order 2 drives. It was $100 extra. I see it like this...

Lenovo-branded UltraBay caddy = $60
320GB 7200RPM SATA drive (WD @ NewEgg) = $54.99
RAID-enabled W520 = Priceless?

I don't see it was that outrageous of a price increase as I had originally perceived. However, for the SSD RAID crowd this could be seen as a waste of money.

you wrote that you ordered 2 HDs. Did you get an optical drive as well? It didn't allow me to select one once I selected the Raid option.

[erik]

@Thors.Hammer - that i'm not sure.   my only thought regarding the blogs is that it could be an ill effect from ad-nauseum bickering about broken this, flexible that, and poor-quality insert anything here.   that's not to say there aren't viable issues or things to complain about.   it's just that the constant influx of complaints can make one numb after a while.

the X220 IPS offering might not solve issues for T410/T420 owners but it's a glimmer of hope for the future.   one can only hope that the shift to 16:9 by panel manufacturers saves enough costs to make modern IPS offerings equally affordable.   that's what i'm hoping for, anyway.