ajkula66, yes I did read the endurance history of the 830 and decided to pull the trigger for that since I could still find one. If I find another one I might get it for the ultrabaym unless I feel confident about the mSATA models and then might as well keep the optical drive. Wish Samsung comes out...

Samsung 830 256gb on its way. Will let you know when I have it in place of original HD ... or standing by for an ultrabay adapter.
All the best,


Visitor
W520, X201s, X60s (Before: X31, T42, T23 )

tinue, that was one very clear and precise explanation especially having added the "Edit" part. Thank you so much ! My guess (and my risk) is that even though my HD's rubbers will be a bit loose with the 7mm SSD I may still be able to insert something to hold the unit more tightly given the rubbers'...

basketb, you're right, the manual does mention spacers. My W520 though came with a hard disk instead of SSD so no spacers but rubber rails to keep the HD in place and minimize vibration. With the Intels it would be a perfect fit, but the Samsungs are 7mm, both the 830 and the 840-Pro. The fact that ...

ansible212, thanks for the tip. As far as performance alone, do you find the 840-pro much more appealing than the 830 so to justify the risk of spending for a Samsung equipment that is still not-proven in terms of reliability ? I would consider taking such risk if it means less time in finishing vid...

One thing about the Samsung 830 is its 7mm form factor which would produce a 2.5mm gap when replacing a regular 9.5mm HD in the W520's main bay. I wonder how important this would be and if an adapter should really be necessary or else it could live with some tape fill-in or other material. Visitor W...

I'm in the same boat, inclined to get a Samsung SSD, either the 830 or the new 840-Pro. The one thing that is not clear to me is how the W520 will handle the fact that the 830 is 7mm instead of 9.5mm. How is the resulting gap addressed ? Is an adapter required, and if so where to get it ? Or would s...

Hello there, After a long wait, my long longed for W520 is finally home, and I'm very glad I was able to still get one of these machines which suit my needs in a much better way than the newer W530. Mine has the 2860QM chip with the 1000 quadra graphics card in a 1920 screen. My main use is editing ...

davidhbrown, thanks for the link and the very interesting article. Still it is not clear to me if and when an i5 chip would do faster rendering than an i7, which i5 would that be and if we have such option in a W520 Thinkpad. I would like to ask you a couple of questions regarding your machine model...

I'm still in the process of deciding for a W520 model as I've realized I do have a need for the fastest possible CPU (video rendering). I'm trying to spot one with the i7-2860QM cpu which from reading earlier posts would be the fastest (Turbo Boost up to 3.5 ghz) given that the i7-2960XM had its Tur...

Thanks for clarifying it, Indicium, I understand it now.

Visitor
(X201s, X60s, previously: X31, T42, T23)

davidhbrown, I'm interested in your experience with the 2820QM cpu as I'm about to buy the same W520 model. When rendering video, have you tried to switch to the integrated graphics instead of the discrete NVidea ? Would that reduce heat so as to allow for more CPU power ? I understand that if repla...

ZaZ, that is a sound advice, I'll try to find a store with a 1920 display in 15 inches. I currently use an X201s Thinkpad that has a 1440 resolution in a 12.1 screen and I'm good with it. For comparison, I have an X60s with a 1024 resolution but I feel that text is better on the X201s because it has...

Indicium, I find it intriguing that the 2760QM with 6gb L3 is newer than the 2820QM with 8gb L3, after all the nomenclature goes up 26xx, 27xx, 28xx, 29xx ... But from the chart you've indicated it seems clear that the 2760 has some 100ghz performance edge against the 2820. But since I'm not buying ...

Cola, you made an excellent point about the display. As to the CPUs, isn't the 2760 a MORE powerful processor ? Or maybe the difference in L3 cache would affect things ?
Thank you very much for helping.

Visitor (X201s, X60s, previously: X31, T42, T23)

I'm looking at these two models : W520 4276-39U (i7 2820QM) 2.3 ghz cpu 8mb of L3 cache W520 4276-3KU (i7 2760QM) 2.4 ghz cpu 6mb of L3 cache Is there any significant difference between these two models regarding performance, heat, RAM, screen, etc ? A second question: I'll be using this (hopefully)...

Hey DaveO, I too would love to have 16gb RAM in my X201s, and I find it intriguing that it would work along with a HD but not an SSD. Couldn't it be a BIOS issue, or SSD firmware ? As to the 32-bit 3GB limitation, one could use a recent version of the SuperSpeed RAM DISK software which rescues the "...

Thanks once again, Tony. It looks like I have the right directions now. Next step is dedicate a calm morning and proceed with backups and do the SSD plunge. I can't wait to get rid of rotating disk paranoia and enjoy the extra speed. When I accomplish the move I will write back with any observations...

One question, Tony : with the Intel cloning software can I clone the internal HDD onto the SSD inside an external enclosure, or else I should do it reversely starting the system with the HHD inside the enclosure with the SSD already inside the X201s ? I remember this order-of-things having been disc...

Thanks Tony, I wasn't aware of that, will check Intel's software.

Thanks EOMtp, I'll have a look at Paragon's utility, sounds like a good time saver.

Thanks for clarifying. As far as things such as firmware and BIOS, is it imperative that I do any of them for the X201s and/or the SDD before attempting the installation ? Mine is a 2010 machine, haven't done any BIOS upgrade. Also, in case I keep the original HHD for backup, what would happen if I ...

Hi all, I have an Intel X-25M 160gb SSD which I would like to replace my X201's HD with. I've read about alignment issues which would recommend making a fresh re-install of Windows 7. But the thought of having to re-install and re-configure every single application in my system is discouraging. So, ...

I've had an X31, still have an X60s, and last year added an X201s. I miss the ruggedness and the keyboard tactile response from the X31, as well as the thin bezel and the dock available for that series, plus the dedicated firewire slot, and the dedicated ATI graphics card. I still use the X60s for s...

OK, I solved the issue for my needs. So for anyone out there who also feels hesitant let me share my experience: 1- Remember, the notebook in this case is a second-hand Lenovo X60s running Windows XP Pro, outside the US. 2- The original HD is 80gb and was without the service partition, so I wanted t...

Hi, I understand the reinstall will erase all current data, but again back to question (5): Should I tick BOTH options ("rescue media" / "recovery disks"), or only the second one to ensure that I get 1CD and 1 DVD instead of 8 CDs ? Will this second option alone(recovery disks) also include a bootab...

Hi all, I know there are dozens of threads on this subject but so far my long browsing hours haven't clarified a few things. The scenario: The X60s that I bought used came with a non-factory installed version of Windows XP Professional 32-bit. But the original Service Partition is there (Disk Manage...

True. Look in the camera's configuration menu for some option such as "DV", "digital out", "video out" or something like that in which there will be some choice to be activated. Then you can capture the video using Movie Maker or better software like Vegas. The firewire network is something else, no...

Very good points made. FredGarvin, I agree that SDD reliability has yet to prove itself, it's a very recent technology. What has so far been considered is that, like RAM, SSDs have no moving parts which is something typically prone to failure in HDs. So we "believe" that by replacing an HD with an S...

I believe that, like me, many X6x users are still in the dark when it comes to maximizing storage performance, so I'm sure it would be of great benefit to discuss experiences and alternatives. The obvious thought is SSD, a solution that not only improves performance but also relieves mobile users fr...