W530 Owner's Thread

[cantthinkpad]

Some initial impressions, after having the W530 for ~6 hours.

Thought I would hate the feel of the keyboard compared to the T60p, huge fan of the old keyboard. But turns out I like the W530 keyboard just fine so far, more time will tell. Some layout quirks that will take some getting used to, but I'm just referring to the feel of the keys and the ability to fly on it. It's also quieter which I really like.

Not as enamored with the FHD display as I was hoping. Will see how tomorrow goes. The vertical viewing angles are kind of abysmal in my opinion, especially when looking at a downward angle. The viewing angles on the T60p are outstanding by comparison. I really didn't expect to take a step backwards with this expensive display. When browsing I don't find the contrast of the text to be very good / not as easy to read as I hoped, even though the size of the text is just fine IMO. (maybe I'm too picky). Colors are a bit too saturated for my taste, but it does have some wow factor to it.

The max brightness level is extremely bright, much brighter than the T60p. The T60p could definitely use more brightness, where the FHD has brightness to spare (or to light up the room). Kind of nice just to know you have it, but more comfortable with brightness scaled back a few notches.
I wish there was a way to look at the T and W series at retail stores before taking the plunge.

Back to the keyboard again. Thought the backlighting would be kind of gimmicky, especially since I don't genaraly look down. And perhaps it is kind of gimmicky, but I must admit I like it a lot (could still get by just fine without it).

Don't have a known need for the discrete K1000m graphics just yet, kind of a long story how we ended up with the W530 after initially planning to get the T430s. Maybe the difference in performance between the K1000m and the intel HD4000 doesn't justify the $ for the K1000m, and perhaps new buyers should consider either the K2000m or go back to the T530 with HD4000. But that comment is not based on knowledge, just speculation. I'm hoping someone will take the time to show some rendering or other applicatioins where the K1000m kicks butt over HD4000, but I'm not holding my breath.

Build quality seems fine so far. Typed on an E430 at an officemax a few weeks ago, and the whole keyboard panel was spongy, very cheap feeling. Not a problem on the W530, it is impressive so far.

No regrets, there are always trade-offs. But if I were doing it over again, I might consider saving some serious $ by getting the T530 with HD+ display and no discrete graphics (and avoid the 170W brick), and use that $ to upgrade in 3 years instead of 4.

[Thors.Hammer]

Not as enamored with the FHD display as I was hoping. Will see how tomorrow goes. The vertical viewing angles are kind of abysmal in my opinion, especially when looking at a downward angle. The viewing angles on the T60p are outstanding by comparison. I really didn't expect to take a step backwards with this expensive display. When browsing I don't find the contrast of the text to be very good / not as easy to read as I hoped, even though the size of the text is just fine IMO. (maybe I'm too picky). Colors are a bit too saturated for my taste, but it does have some wow factor to it.

Do you have a 15" Flexview on your T60p? Some of those panels were fabulous. They will spoil you.

[jcvjcvjcvjcv]

Had to type on a European keyboard this week too. Had the same problem.

Yep. Some US-Qwerty is available here, but online shops don't label the stuff properly, so you might think you order a US-Qwerty one and get a EU-Qwerty in the mail.

Even Dell here sticks some of those odd 'Dutch' layout keyboards on their laptops. I know someone who got that on a high-end Latitude. Dell refused to replace the keyboard, but after threatening to return the entire unit he had the right keyboard the next day

[cantthinkpad]

Do you have a 15" Flexview on your T60p? Some of those panels were fabulous. They will spoil you.

How can I determine what panel I have? It is a 15".

And I miss the old aspect ratio, huge mistake to shorten the height on laptops IMO. I'm an Apple hater, but don't they maintain a slightly better aspect ratio (if you like taller screens)? ( but still not like the T60p ratio)

[galin]

How can I determine what panel I have? It is a 15.

Give this program a try.

HWiNFO64 Download

[Thors.Hammer]

How can I determine what panel I have? It is a 15".

And I miss the old aspect ratio, huge mistake to shorten the height on laptops IMO. I'm an Apple hater, but don't they maintain a slightly better aspect ratio (if you like taller screens)? ( but still not like the T60p ratio)

What model T60p is it?

[cantthinkpad]

What model T60p is it?

Haven't tried the download yet, but the model # of the T60p is Type 2008 - FM7.

Has anyone ever done a direct comparison of the 14" HD+ display with the 15.6" FHD display? One of the main reasons I didn't go with the T430s was the concern with the 14" displays. The reviews were mostly not good, and the only 14" display I could see in person was the E430 (which has 1366 x 768, not the the 14" HD+, and was not very good at all IMO).

Again, no regrets, because having some additional screen real estate is always good, despite the size and weight. But might feel a little better about it if I hear that the FHD display is a lot better than the 14" HD+.

Is the K1000m very well suited for video editing? Or does video editing depend more on the processor and RAM? Trying to think of a way to compare the HD4000 with the K1000m, in an application that the KM1000m should be a good fit. Figure if the K1000m doesn't help much there, then I have my answer.

Overall I find the W530 very comfortiable to use. The weight isn't so bad even with a 9-cell. Will check out the battery life soon. Keyboard is smooth and quiet, still like it a lot after a day, but removing the cap-lock LED was a stupid move, and I'm still trying to get used to the Home / End / Insert / Delete keys.

Back to the display viewing angle (again) ....this is how I deal with it now, and I think after a week of this maybe I won't think about it anymore.

To get the best look, the screen is just about perpendicular to the line of vision or tilted back slightly. However if the screen is perpendicular, even if I just change from slouching to not slouching, the screen already degrades a lot from that small change in height. So instead I tilt the screen back quite a bit, because it is much more forgiving there. Tilting it back a lot may not work so well when there are bright lights overhead. And if you need to share a presentation with people standing around you, the screen needs to be tilted way back.

Edit: oh, by the way, how do I stop the wireless mouse from waking up pc in standby?

[bladrak]

do any of you use TPFanControl with the W530 ?

I can't stand noise

[Kuroi-Tsubasa]

Didn't notice any noise on the W530 (or my W520, in fact).

[Kaso]

... But might feel a little better about it if I hear that the FHD display is a lot better than the 14" HD+.

A lot better.