Lenovo W520 Owner's Thread

[kevinlau]

Hi Hrana,



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.

The DVD drive is not included when you configure RAID cuz you can not have RAID and DVD drive at the same time. The 2nd disk in a RAID occupies the ultra-bay slot, so you will need to get an external DVD drive if you are using RAID. So Lenovo figures is better they keep the optical drive and not include it.

[Thors.Hammer]

@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.

They could put the issue to rest by explaining the business and technical drivers for screen quality, the supply options they pick from for mass production, and how they arrived at the decisions they made.

They could further put it to rest by doing what HP did. Offer a DreamColor screen but at an increased cost.

My point isn't really about the screen issue. It's about social networking, transparency, and community. It requires investment. When you go dark on an issue, you lose credibility. Or in some cases it invites endless speculation.

[maaku]

@niriven, @Fezza458: The best option if you just want to add another stick is to buy it off one of the members here who are doing a full upgrade. When my system arrives sometime in May I'll be selling the stick, probably for a few bucks less than what the Crucial stick is going for, shipping included ($30-35?). I'm sure others here would be willing to do the same.

@gottagetta: yes, unfortunately. You bought the XMP-enabled RAM. The W520 BIOS doesn't recognize the XMP functionality, so they default to 1333Mhz. Others here have made the same mistake See if you can get them swapped for the non-XMP RAM (same price), which should work at 1600Mhz, although we're still waiting for confirmation on that.

You could also buy the 1866Mhz Kingston RAM as some others are doing here, but that'd be pretty pointless if they only run at 1600Mhz (Intel says that's the cap for this chipset), and even then they might be slower if the timings aren't optimized for that speed.

[birlan00]

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 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.
...........................................................Spencer

Hello,

I have W520 i7 - 2720QM (4276-37U)
With UEFI BIOS date March 02 2011 and version is 1.06

Intel 510 SSD will work with on machine ?
I don't want to buy one if I'm not sure ( I cannot return it) I'm from another country

Thanks

[Thors.Hammer]

Have any of you used the W520 in a W510 dock? Any adverse affects?

[schreibman]

Well, my ship date, which was April 22, has dropped off the web site, and in a chat with Lenovo they indicated it may have shipped, (Yes, I have 2 day shipping) so I am getting anxious.

I ordered an OCZ 120 GB Vertex 3 SATA 120G from Amazon ( $301.25), after RMA-ing my Intel SSDMAEMC080G2C1 80 GB Internal Solid State Drive after reading performance reviews here and other places.
The issue is that Amazon is lookin as FAR OUT AS JUNE 6! for delivery.

Update -
Vertex 3 arrived yesterday from Amazon, and Lenovo
Lenovo apologized for the change in ship date, and credited me $100.00, bringing my config down to $1,447.10




4270CT CONFIGURED SYSTEM 05/04/11 $1,547.10 $1,547.10
0A68541 SBB ICI7-2720QM
45M3090 VBB GENUWIN7PROFES.64
0A68625 SBB GW7P64 E
75Y0162 SBB M W7 XP MD- E
0A68535 SBB 15.6FHD (1900 X 1080) LED
0A68893 SBB NVQ1000M GR
45M4572 VBB 4GBPC3-10600DDR3 1333SODMM
45M4839 SBB KEYBOARDUS ENGLISH
0A68526 VBB FINGERPRINT READER
0A68558 SBB 720P HD CAM INT MICR
0A69620 SBB I RAID-NOT EN
0A68552 SBB 320GB HDD7200RPM
0A68547 SBB DVD RC8XMXDLLRULTEHATA
0A68529 VBB ECS+4IN1CR
45M4816 SBB 9CELLLI-ION BATTERY
0A68904 SBB CPNAMLC+ 170W AC AD
0A68261 SBB BLUETOOTH 3.0
45M4804 SBB IN.CENT.ULTIMATE-N 6300
44C7950 SBB INT WRLSSWDAREANTWRK UPGR
0A68564 SBB LANG PCK US E
0A68537 SBB FINGRPRNT READER



Also, I am ready to RMA the Intel SSDMAEMC080G2C1 80 GB Internal Solid State Drive.
Based on some other posts, looks like (?) folks were havin delays in fufillment?
If so and anyone is interested in it, I paid $179.98, just make me whole + whatever it costs to ship (say 10 bucks?), let me know before I send it back to Buy.com.

[efrsysop]

Hello,

I have W520 i7 - 2720QM (4276-37U)
With UEFI BIOS date March 02 2011 and version is 1.06

Intel 510 SSD will work with on machine ?
I don't want to buy one if I'm not sure ( I cannot return it) I'm from another country

Thanks

Honestly it's hard to say. I don't want to give you the wrong information and have you be stuck. I haven't seen much talk about the warm reboot issue other then the one person over on Storage Review. It might have been an isolated issue or it might be related to the BIOS. The fact that I am booting strictly UEFI could also negate the issue for me. At this point I would hold off until more people post their results, or Lenovo posts the updated BIOS and embedded controller firmware.

Based on the information available right now it seems that the issue has nothing to do with the drive itself. SO, if you have another use for the drive or don't mind sitting on it until Lenovo posts the new update (assuming you even have a problem) then you could go ahead and order it now.

Hope that helps....

[birlan00]

Honestly it's hard to say. I don't want to give you the wrong information and have you be stuck. I haven't seen much talk about the warm reboot issue other then the one person over on Storage Review. It might have been an isolated issue or it might be related to the BIOS. The fact that I am booting strictly UEFI could also negate the issue for me. At this point I would hold off until more people post their results, or Lenovo posts the updated BIOS and embedded controller firmware.

Based on the information available right now it seems that the issue has nothing to do with the drive itself. SO, if you have another use for the drive or don't mind sitting on it until Lenovo posts the new update (assuming you even have a problem) then you could go ahead and order it now.

Hope that helps....

It is a huge difference in speed between Intel 510 SSD and HDD?
Could you give me an example ?

Thanks

[hrana]

It is a huge difference in speed between Intel 510 SSD and HDD?
Could you give me an example ?

Yes... there is a huge difference. Earlier in this thread I linked an Anandtech review of the Intel 510. It has benchmarks and plenty of analysis. Googling it might be easier.

[Thors.Hammer]

Hello,

I have W520 i7 - 2720QM (4276-37U)
With UEFI BIOS date March 02 2011 and version is 1.06

Intel 510 SSD will work with on machine ?
I don't want to buy one if I'm not sure ( I cannot return it) I'm from another country

Thanks

Sounds like there's a minor problem with the drive on reboots. See Restart Quirky with W520 and Intel 510 SSD - Lenovo Community

Looks like the drive works fine for cold boots and shutdowns.