Thinkpads Forum

hi folks

i wonder if someone could tell something about the comparison between the w510 and the w520 systems in general? regarding cpu, gpu and ram performance benchmarks it is clear which of the systems leads but how is about connectivity, workmanship, screen, mobility etc?

as i have reviewed diverse forum posts of both of the two machines and I have slightly the impression, the previous w510 systems are maybe a little more reliably. am i m wrong or it is true there are some (significant) differences?

thanks for sharing your experinces!

I used the W510 for about a year, before switching to the W520. Build quality is identical (at least to me), and the machines look nearly identical. The W520 will leave the W510 gasping in the starting blocks with identically clocked processors, due to the upgraded chipset. By the same token, the battery life of the W520 is considerably longer than the W510 (also due to the chipset).

The W510 has the touchscreen that the W520 does not, which if you are going for the quick upgrade to Win8, might be an issue. I personally can't see it as one, in the year I had the W510, I think I used the touchscreen twice (and I am a ardent iPad user, so it wasn't like I wasn't familiar with the use of one).

I had more problems with SSDs than with the computers. I am now running all Intel SSDs, because of some Bricking of other brands that caused data loss (and my backup routines are much better too). The W510s are now on loan to my wife for her PhD ChemEng work, where they do quite well. I haven't let her use the W520s because that would mean I would have to get two more...