Thinkpads Forum

Hi people,

I am a satisfied user of a second hand W500. I installed a samsung SSD on it and it works like a charm. However, some weeks ago it started to get dangerously warm (80 degrees centigrade), and although I ordered it to be cleaned and adjusted, I'm afraid about the future. I live in Madrid, and now we got a sensual temperature of 42 degrees centigrade under the sun and more.

Finally, my beloved W500 is not totally suitable for presentations and demos over the desk because of its dim panel.

I am thinking about a serious backup if not a substitution. I am thinking on a second hand W510, with a better panel and improved CPU and GPU, as my first option. I'm not sure if the change is worth of a 390 euro compared with my W500, but here it is not easy to find second hand, well refurbished thinkpad W. I rather would prefer to find W520, but it hasn't been possible at acceptable prices (giving its intended refurbished quality).

Another option I'm considering is W540. I don't like the new keyboard (compared with the old style) and my hardware specialist showed me the quality of the internals of an X1 carbon. As far as I have read here, thinkpad components quality has decreased quite a lot in the last two generations, specially because of the silly ultrabook trend but not only. I'm even considering to save several good old thinkpads, since this decreasing trend doesn't seem to reverse in a foreseeable future

What I really want is a durable workhorse. My prior thinkpads are what they were famed of: quite indestructible and reliable. I don't mind to spend more money (let's say, with a limit of 1.500 euro unless it is fully justified) in such a workhorse, and for that I'm considering HP elitebook 8560W or 8470W because of their construction qualities, although their keyboards are not totally satisfying (specially 8560W, with a surprising keyboard distribution).

As you can see, keyboards are specially important for me. I write a lot and I am very focused on its responsiveness and touch. But I value even more the reliability of a laptop, since I am really tired of non-reliable ones.

After presenting my case, I would really appreciate knowledgeable advices about the three options I presented above. I favored specially W510, but I would like to be sure that it is really an improvement over W500

Especially in hot climates, it is very important to look after the thermal paste between CPU/GPU and the fan.
It's easier to dry out in such conditions, thus causing over-heating.
Remove the fan, clean it up with Isopropyl Alcohol (a.k.a. Isopropanol), then apply AS5 (Arctic Silver 5) as described here:
http://www.arcticsilver.com/pdf/appmeth ... d_v1.1.pdf
And make sure to keep the fan-openings free of dust-bunnies!

Thanks for the quick and precise answer!

In fact, I am going to translate it to the specialist I mentioned above.

After the last overheating, no more lap topping for me. Always over a hard surface, even sandwiched between the lap and the laptop, in order to avoid dust as much as possible.

Anyhow, what do you think is the best option? A W510 would be justified because of the increased specs, specially about the panel?

Thanks in advance

Power-wise a W510 can be a big step over the W500, since the high end models came with Quad-CPU's, also the Nvidia graphics will be an improvement over the ATI card.

However, the screen ratio is different, the x510 generation switched from 16:10 to 16:9 aspect ratio. Meaning you will get a lower vertical resolution.

W500 had CCFL panels with a resolution of 1680x1050 or 1920x1200 , W510 will be available with LED panels with 1600x900 or 1920x1080 pixels. LED panels will be brighter.

Which resolution you have in your W500? Could you post the 7 digit code model number? It can be found on the bottom of the laptop.