Lenovo W520 Owner's Thread

[Out of the Maelstrom]

Does anyone know if the FHD screen is 6 bit or 8 bit? Where to find such information? The Tabook doesn't tell.

[infinus]

I purchased the battery slice around the same time as the W520 and have to say, it makes the W520 feel much heavier than I would have liked. From the default factory installation of windows with no tweaks, the battery indicator shows anywhere between 9 and 11 hours for me. This is with both the battery slice and the 9 cell battery. If I do nothing, it hovers over the 11 hours, once I start any programs or surf the web, it goes down to 9 hours.

The slice does not fit snugly under the W520. It moves slightly when tugged or pushed, in the same way the 9 cell battery does not fit snugly. Whenever I move the laptop, I have to support the slice to make sure it does not break up the tiny spring that holds it in place.

When I had a slice briefly I was getting 18 hours of battery life, I get just shy of 9 with just the 9 cell alone. My power plan though is set to minimum performance (max battery) while on battery though.

[sgt_deacon]

Does anyone have any recommendations for how to charge the battery? If I am not going to be running on battery should I charge it to 40% and take it out or what? Also what's a good charge amount for when I will be needing to run it on battery for longer, 90%? Also when I first get the laptop should I charge it to 100% then use it to 0%, or do you not need to do that? This is my first laptop so I'd like to not mess up the battery.

[kirayamato26]

Does anyone have any recommendations for how to charge the battery? If I am not going to be running on battery should I charge it to 40% and take it out or what? Also what's a good charge amount for when I will be needing to run it on battery for longer, 90%? Also when I first get the laptop should I charge it to 100% then use it to 0%, or do you not need to do that? This is my first laptop so I'd like to not mess up the battery.

Li-ion batteries don't like to be over or undercharged. My suggestion would be to not run the battery under 10% unless you have to, and stop charging at around 95% max. If you do not suffer from throttling with the battery out, then you should store the battery at 40% charge in a dry and cool place away from sunlight if you really want to maximize the lifespan of the battery. Don't ever run a Li-ion battery to 0%, it damages it a lot. I think a lot of forum members have their charging thresholds set to start charging 35% and stop at 95%.

[Stark Raving]

Does anyone have any recommendations for how to charge the battery?

Here's a great guide from one of the other forums:
Notebook Battery Guide

[infinus]

Does anyone have any recommendations for how to charge the battery? If I am not going to be running on battery should I charge it to 40% and take it out or what? Also what's a good charge amount for when I will be needing to run it on battery for longer, 90%? Also when I first get the laptop should I charge it to 100% then use it to 0%, or do you not need to do that? This is my first laptop so I'd like to not mess up the battery.

I'll say what I've said in numerous other threads. I believe that if you aren't using the battery, it's worthwhile to store it partially discharged. Most guides will recommend 40%. If you are actively using the battery capabilities of the laptop, I see no reason to not just fully charge. Are you giving up a few cycles by fully charging? Perhaps, but you bought it to use it right? Why give up 30 minutes of possibly needed run time? There isn't really any hard data that says you gain any significant cycles from a 95 vs a 100% charge, and you bought it to use it. If you use it on battery, and in a year or two the battery isn't what you need it to be, you buy a new one. Sometimes it's just not worth micro managing everything.

That's my personal opinion though, I'd say, read the guides, make your own choices, none of the solutions mentioned is wrong by any means.

[B'midbar]

If you travel a lot, dust does accumulate in there; moreso than if it were a flush fit.

Why does everyone think this is a big deal? I guess you guys keep your desk clean, too.

[Kuroi-Tsubasa]

I've been having problems getting Skype to work correctly using the built-in mic and speakers. Speakers and mic are recognized as Conexant 20672 SmartAudio HD and my laptop properly recognizes them (Under Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Sound > Manage audio devices, the mic is picking up my typing and I can also hear sound from the speakers from music, Youtube, etc). Skype, however, will not recognize my mic nor speakers. Can anyone help with this?

[zHaNgers]

hey Privatejarhead,

I am having the same issue as you. Do you like your W520? I just got mine on 6/13. Two days before you. I cannot get the internal microphone working. Yesterday I reformatted my laptop and now it is running smoother but it seems like there's a lot of drivers problems for this laptop. And they didn't mail me any drivers discs which is a pity.

[Kuroi-Tsubasa]

I don't think that any computer company ships out driver (or OS) disks anymore, not just Lenovo. And yes, I like my W520. I'm only having a problem with Skype; everything else works perfectly. I might update my BIOS to 1.26 over the next weekend, however.