I bought this machine from Amazon in early April 2011, so I've been using it for nearly 3 months. I'm a software developer.
It is a great machine with a few minor negatives. First the negatives:
1) Even with the docking station (highly recommended) it will drive only two external monitors, for a total of three if you count the internal screen.
I don't consider this a fatal flaw, as I use a Displaylink device to drive a third big monitor
2) You don't get RAID on this model if that matters any more
3) Yes, it could use an SSD drive, but that would add a lot to the price
Positives:
1) Very fast processor. It typically runs all four cores at 3 Ghz and can run a single core at as high as 3.3 Ghz
2) Expandable: I immediately put in 8 more GB of RAM for 16 GB total. Note I had to remove the keyboard to get to one of the extra RAM slots no big deal
It also has an Ultrabay be sure to get the $60 hard disk adapter and I threw in another 500GB 7200RPM drive.
3) It has 2 USB 3 ports, as well as 1 eSATA/USB combo powered port. This means I can boot from an external 2.5 " hard drive via a special cable (sold on Amazon).
4) It has an mSATA slot for an internal WAN modem OR Micro SSD card nice!
5) The screen is high resolution and very bright LED back lit. I can easily see it outdoors
6) Rugged, durable build. Good thermal design runs cool.
7) Three year warranty
There are many more positives, but suffice to say that this is a great, not perfect, but a great machine.
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I recently purchased this laptop as my photo editing portable workstation and would like to share with you some of my opinions even if maybe it's still early since less than 2 weeks passed by.
CPU: very very fast, you can really tell the difference from older PCs, Canon 5D Mark II 21 Mpixel RAW files rendering was almost on the fly.
RAM: 8GB seems enough but there's still plenty of space for expansion up to 32GB which probably I'll do once the prices drop down.
HDD: think this is probably the only bottleneck (or at lest this is what I understand using the Windows index). There's still the possibility to add an SSD.
Nvidia Quadro 1000M 2GB: still have to test it with some 3D applications, Optimus seems to work well under Windows, still have to find a way to use it under Linux though.
Fingerprint reader: really nice, it even allows you to turn on the computer and login automatically swiping your finger just once. (I didn't manage to make it work on Linux yet but maybe there's a workaround)
Camera: seems quite good also in low light situations.
Speakers: they seem quite low, but apparently it should be something related to drivers or internal settings and not physical limitations since on Linux or VLC I can boost up the volume over 100%.
USB ports: nice to have 4 of them, but it would have been nice also to have some of them on the right side since 3 of them are placed on the left and one on the back.
Color Calibrator: I've found out sadly it's not present in this specific model, but it is as an option.
Keyboard: comfortable enough but not as good as the Sony Vaio, weird position for the Fn (swappable with Ctrl key from BIOS) and Del keys.
I'd also like to replace it with the Italian keyboard but I don't know where I should get the replacement part nor the price.
The screen looks AWESOME and it's very good it has 15 levels of brightness so it can be extremely dim for the night or very bright for viewing under sunlight.
I haven't tried the Display Port since I have no device to connect it to at the moment.
Thermal design:it is absolutely the coolest laptop I've ever had.
170W Power adapter: a HUGE and HEAVY brick but it does its job, just wish they could build a smaller one.
The top cover of the screen is covered with a weird material which easily collects dust.
Battery life: still have to test it in a better way since I've been using this PC mostly at home, but when I took it with me out I have to say it surely lasted WAY longer than any other laptop I've ever had even if it is so way much powerful.
Overall I'd really recommend this laptop to anyone looking for a mobile workstation to work with graphic and photo/video editing or in any case for a laptop with a very good processing power and long lasting battery life in a 15.6" form factor.
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Not much more to say what the first reviewer hasnt already mentioned.
I used a Macbook Pro until now (which had after < 2 years of use enough bugs for 3 laptops fan out of control, cd/dvd drive broken, etc.), and I dont regret switching to the W520 (I own a W520 for a month now). I am doing a lot of Matlab image processing on my laptop, and the performance as well as screen resolution / quality is great (upon purchase, Lenovo lets you choose between 3 different screens with different maximum resolutions i chose the highest resolution 1920 X 1080; also they let you choose between 2 different gpus). One unique thing to mention is that you have full control over which graphics processor (integrated vs. Nvidia gpu) your laptop uses when, and for which application separately i think this is kind of new and unique.
The only thing that bothered me initially was Lenovo's trackpad, which doesnt come close to the comfort of my Macbook pad. Normal cursor control is ok, but e.g. two-finger scrolling is almost impossible. After my initial disappointment, I got really hooked to using the red lenovo track point. It takes one to two days to get used to it, but once you have the hang of it, it's much more convenient for cursor control, scrolling (instead of 2 finger scrolling, one uses the middle button above the trackpad), etc. than the track pad. So no complaints there. And if you want to do e.g. technical drawing, you may want to use a mouse in any case...
One thing more that took me a bit of patience to figure out was the fact that by default the operating system shuts down and 'unmounts' the physical cd drive when not in use. This is a good feature as it helps saving energy. However, it interferes with the installation and usage of virtual drives (e.g. Daemon tools). Anyway, I figured out that you can easily disable this CD drive auto-shutdown option. So if you have the money stop looking. This is your machine.
Honest reviews on Lenovo ThinkPad W520 427637U 15.6" LED Notebook - Core i7 i7-2720QM
I purchased a W520 after researching quite a few laptops. On paper, this laptop has it all...powerful processor, 4 dimm slots and support for 32gb memory, good discrete graphics options, excellent display, great battery. You name it, this laptop has it.
That said, I believe Lenovo is skimping on parts, QA, or engineering (perhaps all of the above). I have owned this laptop for little over a month and already run into two nasty defects:
First, the speakers on the laptop work intermittently. It turns out the speaker wires are routed directly over the cpu/gpu heatsink and have no heat shrink protecting them. When the proc and gpu are going full tilt, the heatsink melts the coating on the wires and they short-out. Thankfully someone posted excellent info on the matter at . What I find annoying is this problem was first reported in May 2011 and W520s are still being shipped without heat shrink protecting the speaker wires. My laptop was assembled in February 2012. Eight months after the problem was reported, my laptop shipped with a known and easily addressable defect.
Second, my W520 suffers from the 'sudden shutdown syndrome'. This is a problem in which the laptop will shutdown and reboot sporadically once or twice a day...no BSOD or any other diagnostics. It behaves as if someone yanks the power suddenly. This problem was first reported in June 2011 and has gone unresolved since. There are over 100 pages of forum posts dedicated to it on the Lenovo Support forums:
Certainly both of these problems may be addressed by replacement hardware. What irks me is that this is Lenovo's top-of-the-line, flagship laptop, and it seems they don't care if they are shipped with defects. I would be less upset if they put genuine effort into identifying the design flaws, replacing existing flawed parts, *and shipping updated/fixed laptops*. Instead, they are still shipping flawed laptops and are putting minimal effort into isolating the design flaws. Yes, a Lenovo staffer pops onto the forum every now and again and says they are working on it, but it wreaks of minimal PR / damage control. If they were genuinely serious about addressing the defects, they would ship a tested, functioning replacement laptop to those affected, and send all of the faulty laptops directly to engineering for analysis. Instead they have cherry-picked one laptop at a time, and often these have been the laptops that shutdown sporadically once every week or so. My own laptop shuts down once or twice a day. I coordinated with a Lenovo employee, offering to send it directly to their engineering team for diagnosis. I made the offer two weeks ago, have followed-up multiple times, and still they have not taken the laptop. Simply put, they hardly care about addressing the issue.
I know this likely comes down to a business decision on Lenovo's end. If design flaws only affect 1-2% of their shipped laptops, perhaps they feel it isn't worth the effort to diagnose. Personally, I prefer companies that prioritize their customers' satisfaction. For that reason, this will be my last Lenovo purchase. I would advise others to stay away as well.
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I own this laptop for almost a month now. This is fantastic machine and most definitely one of the best investments I have ever made in a computer equipment.
Strengths:
1. Built tough! One of those coveted designs that age gracefully.
2. Amazing hi-resolution bright colorful screen. Your old laptop will feel like it is from the dawn of computer age after using this for an hour. Please see in person before you buy if you have bad vision. The font size is very small at the highest resolution. Also the screen is non-glossy. Actually this is reason #1 why I chose this model. Plus you can view it from virtually any angle without loss of detail.
3. Fast switchable graphics.
4. Fast processor. Takes anything you throw at it without a squeak. Resource hungry programs like Photoshop pop-up just like Notepad.
5. Very very quiet and runs extremely cool, which is surprising considering such a powerful configuration.
6. Long battery life which again is pleasant surprise.
7. Comfortable keyboard, a bit loud but not too much. Maybe too deep for some tastes, especially for those coming from Vaios and Macs.
8. Built in light on top of the screen is more convenient than backlit keyboards. Again matter of preference, but can you read documents with backlit keys?
9. Fingerprint reader actually works like a charm and is quite useful. You can boot the machine into any user account with just swipe of a finger.
10. High fidelity speakers. I saw many complain about low volume, but remember this is a business laptop not a DJ equipment. The sound quality is brilliant when properly configured using SmartAudio. Small advice -do not install McAfee Total protection as your security program (weird connection I know). It will interfere with your streaming content big time, resulting in stuttering sound. I was a subscriber with McAfee but had to switch to Norton just because of that. Funny thing is that Lenovo technician suggested that the stuttering happens because the computer is so much faster than my internet connection (???) and suggested to upgrade my home internet to T3 as the only solution?!
11. Expandable with second hard drive, >32G memory
12. 3 years Lenovo warranty
13. Builds muscle while on the go.. Don't get me wrong, but from the looks of it and the weight this machine has a musculine appeal so no complaints here. It's a workstation, not an iPad.
Weaknesses:
1. Very sensitive CD-rom eject button which I always hit unintentionally.
2. Trackpad is not very sensitive and has rough texture. Gestures such as multi-touch scrolling and zooming are jerky and pain to use. Perhaps it will become better when texture wears off?
3. No HDMI output.
4. Mediocre hard drive (bottleneck WEI 5.9). You can replace with 500G SSD soon as prices drop to a reasonable level
5. Oh and what's up with 56K modem? How many of us travel to Amazon jungle for business? And those who do, can't they buy a card modem separately. I would appreciate some modern appliance instead.
Overall strengths by far outweigh minor weaknesses and that is why I give it without hesitation 5 stars. I would like to congratulate Lenovo on another fine piece of equipment. This is my second Lenovo in a row...Keep up the good work!
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More observations 11-24-11:
1. Noticed that the system takes up a lot more disk space than justified by installed applications. The "culprit" is Lenovo's Rescue and Recovery. I found out that the backup files (RRbackup*) occupy whopping 80Gb of space on the main drive and it grows fast out of control! If you store your files and programs safely elsewhere you may choose to delete this file to recover some space. The issue is well covered in ThinkPad forums and I take no legal responsibility for this advice:)
2. The multitouch scrolling works much better when your fingers are aligned horizontally on touchpad although still not adequate. Hope Lenovo upgrades the touchpad in the next edition.
3. RAM upgrade is a snap and well worth it. One empty slot is at the bottom and another under keyboard. Removing keyboard may seem overwhelming at first but actually was very easy and safe to do. There are two screws in the memory compartment on the bottom marked with keyboard symbol. Once unscrewed the keyboard slides right out by pressing it down-forward. If done carefully, you don't need to disconnect the cable to install memory.
