Lenovo W520 Owner's Thread

[pkincy]

It is probably bad form to have 2 consecutive posts but here goes.

A separate issue I ran into with Lenovo on the blogs. For those of us that plan on using cloning software to move our HDD partition info to a new SSD and than format the HDD either in an enclosure or in the Ultrabay Caddy.

The target drive for the cloning operation must be in the Lenovo laptop on the original HDD position. (I don't know how this will affect adding a small ssd on the PCIe card).

I replaced my 80 GB original HDD in my T61 this summer with a WD Scorpio Black 320 GB drive. Not wanting to fool with the DVD/CDs created when my Lenovo was new I bought Acronis. Whether I was lucky or actually read this detail earlier I don't know, but my cloning went very well.

Apparently if you try and clone from an internal drive to an external and than swap the drives the laptop won't boot to the new drive once you swap it in. If on the other hand, you move the original HDD out to an enclosure or caddy and than clone from that location in to the new drive in the original drive bay it writes the boot record differently and will work.

Nothing anyone needs to worry about unless adding an SSD and than only if adding it by cloning software.

Perry

[halobox]

I have not used the cloning piece of TrueImage Home. I always use backup and recover. It has never failed me.

If you haven't already destroyed the source (that's a tip folks) could you try a backup then a restore?

[E30kid]

I can't wait to see reviews for this laptop. I want to see how the Q2000M performs.

[NotebookNotNetbook]

I am thinking of getting a w520 and have a few questions:

1. Does anyone carry the machine around a lot? What do you think about the weight?

2. What is the battery life like for the quad core version? If the battery life is poor, how annoying/heavy is it to carry around the power adapter?

3. Is upgrading to the 2000 graphics card worth the money?

4. If I go with an optical drive now, how hard is it to switch it out for a second hard drive? I'm not afraid to play around in the insides of a machine, but haven't done so for many years.

5. What is a color sensor?

6. Are there any good discounts/coupons running right now?

7. How did you get ahold of a Lenovo rep to get a good deal?

[gnimble]

I am thinking of getting a w520 and have a few questions:

1. Does anyone carry the machine around a lot? What do you think about the weight?

2. What is the battery life like for the quad core version? If the battery life is poor, how annoying/heavy is it to carry around the power adapter?

3. Is upgrading to the 2000 graphics card worth the money?

4. If I go with an optical drive now, how hard is it to switch it out for a second hard drive? I'm not afraid to play around in the insides of a machine, but haven't done so for many years.

5. What is a color sensor?

6. Are there any good discounts/coupons running right now?

7. How did you get ahold of a Lenovo rep to get a good deal?

I have roughly the same questions too. I'm interested in this model and would appreciate the answer as well.

[k2001]

Replacing the optical drive with an hdd should fairly easily. If you can replace a regular hdd, the ultrabay drive should be very similar.

[wtlloyd]

So where's the wide-gamut screen option? Photographers don't need to accept less, there are other makers out there who "get it"...

[Kaso]

W520 FHD 1920x1080 95% color gamut. It's B+RG LED. Same situation as W510. No RGB LED (full gamut), no IPS (wide viewing angles), unfortunately.

There are the Dell Precision M6500 and the HP EliteBook 8740w to consider.

[halobox]

So where's the wide-gamut screen option? Photographers don't need to accept less, there are other makers out there who "get it"...

I doubt you'll find many photographers, including me, that do all of their work on a single laptop without the benefit of a good external LCD panel.

[cpm22]

Just wondering if people have seen any reviews of the W520 other than Keith Combs'? I haven't.... Why aren't there any other reviews? And how did he get to review it so early?