I am looking at a W530 for school (engineering major) and I want to know how heavy it will be to carry around. I know what the specs say, but it's hard to tell what they are including in that weight and whether or not it is accurate. I used to carry around an R40 with a total weight of 8lbs+ with battery and ac adapter, and it didn't bother me with a backpack. I am planning on getting a pretty nice backpack as I know I will have to carry around books and what not.

I am also tempted by the lighter T430, but it's not quad core and the GPU is not as great.

So:

1. What is the total combined weight of your W520 + battery (9 cell preferably) + AC Adapter?

2. Do you think the T430 would be sufficient for computer engineering and CAD software such as autodesk inventor?

I'm not worried about the weight of the W530 as it is essentially the same as the T530.

What gives me pause is the size and weight of the AC adapters. 135 watt is big, but the 170 is huge for portable carry.

I'm likely going with a T530 to get a 90 watt power adapter.

It all depends on whether or not you NEED the quad core processor. If you need it, your only option is the 135 or 170 watt adapter as those will ship standard with the quad core processor machines. If you want the 90 or 65 watt adapter option you'll need to go with a dual core machine.