Help me configure my W520 :))

Alright, so I may be ordering the W520 today. Just to give a background on what I am doing with this laptop...I will be running typical mechanical engineering programs (AutoCAD, Solidworks, etc). I will also watch movies through it on it and hook it up to my flat screen (in the dorm). I will be running Photoshop, iTunes, typical media stuff. Who knows what else I might end up doing with it, but thats the idea of what I will be doing. I would consider the T420 if it had an HD screen =(. A few important questions:

Can I make this laptop last me all four years?
Is it worth it to spend 2300+ on a laptop??
How should I configure this laptop and keep it under $2000 (I can go over if needed)?

Starting price for me is $1299 with Intel Core i7-2620M Processor (2.70GHz, 4MB L3) and $1499 Intel Core i7-2720QM Processor (2.20GHz, 6MB L3)

 

Physically it will last 4 years. Graphics cards tend to get outdated in 2 - 3 years.

If you get it, the 2 things I would go for are the 1920x1080 screen and the quadro 2000. Without the better quadro card, the T-series is a cheaper better option.

Also, if color accuracy is a concern then the HP 8540w with dreamcolor maybe a better option even with the older chipset.

The w520 is not stating whether this is a 95% gamut panel or not even though the w510 does -- its a strange oversight.

 

I appreciate the help, what processor and how much ram would you go for?? Also, can graphics cards be replaced in this laptop?? I am not willing to wait for the HP right now, and I won't be spending big money on an old model laptop

 

You know what, I didn't see this T520, this looks like a really good option as well

 

The TABOOK.PDF states 95% Gamut. I wonder which one is right. The tabook has been wrong before.

 

ntel Core i7-2720QM Processor (2.20GHz, 6MB L3)
Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64
Microsoft Windows 7 XP Mode - English
15.6" FHD (1920 x 1080) LED Backlit Anti-Glare Display, Mobile Broadband Ready
NVIDIA Quadro 2000M Graphics with 2GB DDR3 Memory
Color Sensor
8 GB PC3-10600 DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM)
UltraNav with TrackPoint & touchpad plus Fingerprint reader
720p Camera
Internal RAID - Configured by Lenovo
Primary SATA RAID 1 - (2 HDDs required)
Dual RAID HDDs, 320 GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
Express Card Slot & 4 in 1 Card Reader
9 cell Li-Ion Battery - 55++
Country Pack North America with Line cord & 170W AC adapter
Bluetooth 3.0
ThinkPad b/g/n
Integrated Mobile Broadband - Upgradable

Seem like a good setup for 2250??? Also what would you recommend on the Integrated wifi adapters (is the stock thinkpad one ok?)

 

education discount, same laptop above for $2024 =))

Sorry for all the questions, but I believe it comes stock with a 128gb SSD unless you turn Internal RAID on, which is better and what is necessary??

 

Yea 2720 is quad so a slightly better option.

Get the 1 slot 4gb dimm option. Get the other memory from a cheaper site.

SSd get elsewhere. $1 / gb or so should be the goal.

Don't do raid yet. Speeds up access but complicates disk restores.

 

ok, so do the 2720 quad core, 1 slot 4gb of memory, order SSD from somewhere, NO RAID, NO DUAL HDS, am I right? and how can I order the computer with no hard drive at all?? I'm confused.

Also, where do you recommend I get the memory, what should I look for, and what SSD brand and from where?? I hate to do this in pieces but if it really save me a $100+ I suppose I can do it.

 

It will come with a hard drive one way or the other. You can't have zero hard drive. Choose a size you like and put it in the ultra bay as extra storage when you upgrade to SSD.

 

ok thanks, so just to recap everything, the processor I picked is fine?, 4gb of ram, get another 4gb of ram for about $50 from another site. get the 320 or 500gb HD and add an SSD from another site. Am I right?

It seem like getting an SSD from another site isn't going to save me much, a 128gb SSD is like $250, its $252 on the lenovo website, but how much memory do I really need on an SSD if I have a 320 or 500gb hardrive??

 

Not at the moment, but SSD price will continue to go down. The Lenovo SSD is no the latest and fastest. I guess it's a question of whether you are willing to wait on SSDs.

 

hmmm ok, well what would you suggest regarding the hard drive/ssd and memory? Should I just go for the RAID and two HDs for now...?

 

I don't see the point in RAID on a laptop unless you have specific needs. The best value option for SSD is to get a hard drive now and shop for a SSD in a few months time.

The 128 GB SSD on Lenovo should be a sumsung drive. It came out in late 2008 if I am not mistaken.

 

ok, so how does this look? I will upgrade to an SSD whenever, how much GB do I need on an SSD? Should I do 8gb through Lenovo or another website?


Intel Core i7-2720QM Processor (2.20GHz, 6MB L3)
Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64
Microsoft Windows 7 XP Mode - English
15.6" FHD (1920 x 1080) LED Backlit Anti-Glare Display, Mobile Broadband Ready
NVIDIA Quadro 2000M Graphics with 2GB DDR3 Memory
Color Sensor
4 GB PC3-10600 DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz SODIMM Memory (1 DIMM)
UltraNav with TrackPoint & touchpad plus Fingerprint reader
720p Camera
Internal RAID - Not Enabled
500 GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
DVD recordable multiburner
Express Card Slot & 4 in 1 Card Reader
9 cell Li-Ion Battery - 55++
Country Pack North America with Line cord & 170W AC adapter
Bluetooth 3.0
ThinkPad b/g/n
Integrated Mobile Broadband - Upgradable

$1853

 

Everyone tells me I should do raid...so maybe I should go ahead and do it, and just upgrade to 1 ssd down the road..but I am no expert

 

It's always cheaper to do memory upgrade yourself. I don't have experience with RAID. If you have lots of very large files to move around, you should benefit from increased transfer rate. SSD's are better at normal tasks due to higher ramdom read and write speed.

 

RAID certainly sounds sexy, but I opted for the option of RAID ready not configured.

I truly don't think RAID is necessary for a non enterprise situation.

Get a HDD and move it to the Ultrabay and put an SSD in the HDD slot.

In fact get Acronis True Image and if you don't need all that space yet simply clone the main drive over to the HDD every week and you are totally protected.

If you use the space in the other HDD switch out the drives in the ultrabay once a week to clone the SSD for backup. Backup the HDD to an external.

Of course with USB 3.0 using an external drive as backup won't be nearly as painful.

Perry

 

RAID is sexy if you have two 750GB 7200rpm drives in the set. They cost a lot less than even a single Intel 160GB SSD.

It will be interesting to see some benchmarks unless someone already has that on tap.

 

The ssd will still respond much quicker, raid only adds latency and sequencial read/write is not an issue for a ssd.

 

ok, so no raid, just a 500gb 7200rpm HD from lenovo will do just fine, however I still need to know what size SSD I need?

 

Enough to hold the OS and key applications. You should also avoid filling a SSD to almost full. that may impact longevity.

 

60GB or 96GB SSD will do as main HDD.

You can use your 500GB hard drive from USB 3.0 using hard drive enclosure will solve day to day operation without any problem.

 

There we go, appreciate the help. I don't quite understand the second part though about using hard drive enclosure, but I'm sure I can figure it all out. Glad I got this all figured out....HD and SSD it is

 

hard drive enclosure allow you to connect your laptop internal drive to USB i.e. connect your 500GB drive into enclosure socket & connect USB cable to computer... very simple once you search online for enclosure

 

That is if you don't want to give up the ultra bay optical drive. Otherwise the ultra bay hdd adapter is a more elegant solution.

 

You're not going to find a good SSD for $1/GB quite yet...

 

Does anyone know if the W520's NVidia Quadro 2000M video card will be a problem with the GDDR3 128-bit memory bus? One would expect GDDR3 256-bit memory width.

Will this be a serious bottleneck, or is GDDR5 / 256-bit memory overkill for the GPU?

 

Adequate SSD (e.g. from Kingston 128gb one going for $134) is better than no SSD. If you go up to $1.5o/gb you can get access to the better ones.

The point is not to pay Lenovo for an inferior drive. Especially since installing a hard drive is fairly trivial in thinkpads.

@OP -- Ideally get at least 128gb SSD if you are going to one (worst case a nice one will be $2 per gb -- just look for good deals on the INtel or Crucial or Vertex 2/3 SSDs). These days Windows plus Office and a few simple apps is going to take up at least 40gb.

128gb will let you have room to put in at least some of your more frequently used applications or games (maybe 2 or 3) and see the benefits of SSD. The loads times ... are eye opening.

 

The point wasn't which config was faster. Some people still might choose to put two 500 or 750GB 7200rpm drives in place because the I/O will still be good for many applications and it's a stop gap measure until 400GB SSD drives are affordable.

They will of course be noisier, generate more heat, and be slower but there's certainly more capacity if someone needs it.

In short, flexibility if so desired.

But you're right, if money is not object I'd go SSD all the way.

 

What is the best configuration to have a lot of hard drive space, even if it is to the detriment of performance?

If I choose Raid 0 and the 500GB option, is that two 500GB drive (and 1TB of drive space)?

Is the ultrabay something that can be configured in the initial purchase, or do you buy it separate and swap out the DVD drive?

Thanks,

Jason

 

Raid 0 will preserve 1 TB of space from 2 500gb drives and increase performance. However, if one drive fails -- you lose data on both drives.

From what I can tell from their site you have to do the swap out of optical drive manually -- worth talking to them about however.

 

thanks for the response. Ok so just to keep things clear, get the 500 gb HD from lenovo NO RAID, and buy the 128 gb SSD and install??

One last question as well, is the thinkpad bgn wifi good enough, or is really necessary to pay 50 for WiMAX?

 

If this is your first notebook I think should take some time to really think about what you want. The first notebook I bought was a beast, but it wasn't exactly what I wanted (too heavy, too fragile, and a lap burner). If this isn't your first enjoy your purchase it does sound pretty sweet.

 

Get the Intel 6300 at least -- WiMAX will matter if it's being rolled somewhere near you soon.

Here are some deals you can look at:

Intel X25-M 160GB SATA 2.5" Internal SSD for $265 after rebate + free shipping

Amazon.com: Intel 320 Series 160 GB SATA 3.0 Gb-s 2.5-Inch Solid-State Drive - Retail Box SSDSA2CW160G3B5: Electronics

Now if you don't want to deal with it, you are basically paying lenovo $50 - $100 to do the install. Also the intel drives are on the pricey side.

Note if you use LOGICBUY10 -- it gives 10% off your total order as well -- which brings the price premium of the Intel SSD by $36.


Crucial will tend to be cheaper.

Also double check what kind of OS and recovery disks they are giving you. If they dont give you those then you will to have to buy windows for the reinstall into the SSD -- they likely provide something but be sure if you are going to reinstall onto an SSD.

 

I have been researching for literally months, this is the perfect match for me

 

thanks appreciate the help. I would like to keep it all under 2100 dollars. its about 1850 for the laptop itself with the specs I would like, plus 50 for another 4gb RAM and then I will choose my SSD from there, maybe a 128gb, $256 for a SSD on top of the laptop is a bit much for me at this point

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/not...5-internal-ssd-135-95-ar-shipped-buy-com.html

Not as fast but still pretty cheap.

 

@Kawasaki268F: No need to buy Windows 7. You already pay for a license to use a copy of W7 in your W520 CTO. Check elsewhere in the Lenovo subforum for the procedure to install W7 onto a new drive.

 

there we go thats what I am looking for, thanks!!

 

Just ordered 3 sticks of memory to go with my 1 stick on the CTO.

About $46.50/stick with Crucial discount code of 5%. Unfortunately in Ca I had to pay tax but most won't. Crucial does have a specific part for the W520 listed.

CT1934343 4GB, 204-pin SODIMM It is the 10600 at 1333 Mhz match to what is in the W520.

Perry

 

where can i find a crucial discount code?

 

5% and I got it by going to techbargains which redirects you to the Crucial site.

Perry

 

awesome...thanks!