Thinkpads Forum

I just ordered a W510 today via http://visaperks.ca and its Canadian CAXVISAJAN10 coupon code - got me around 35% off the web price I think. CAD$1589 + tax for i7-820QM, 2x2GB, 500GB 7200RPM, FHD 95% gamut screen, 9 cell, BT, Centrino 6300. Upgrade to 3 year warranty was another CAD$177.65 + tax (had to call that in, wasn't available online for some reason). I'm told it'll ship in 5 weeks, but I'm happy with the price. This round of visaperks stuff ends the end of the month. I think I'll upgrade to 8GB RAM with another 2x2GB bought locally for around CAD$110.

Anyway, I started getting a bit curious about the new 135W AC adapter (part # 55Y9317) that's required for the W510. After some searching I finally found some specs here:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 74503.html

Here's the comparison to the Thinkpad 90W AC adapter and the 170W for the T700:

90W: 30x50x126mm, 360g - 2 prong - $45
135W: 35x80x165mm, 830g - 2 prong - $100?
170W: 40x85x170mm, 830g - 2 prong - $120?

The 135W is a monster! It's significantly longer and wider, and worst of all, almost 1/2 kg (~1 pound) heavier than the 90W. It's basically the same dimensions as the 170W adapter for the W700. This alone has me seriously considering switching to a T510. Plus the T510 has an advertised extra ~3 hours of battery life (7.8 vs 4.9 hours for 9 cell, see tabook.pdf).

Anyone know if the dimensions and weight of the 135W are accurate? I'm hoping for some Lenovo typos. The photo of the 135W in the tabook makes it look deceptively normal-sized.

I wonder if the 90W adapter can be used with the W510, if only for light use or battery charging...

Maybe I should just cancel the whole thing and stick with my 5 year old T41 and its 72W adapter

I ordered a W510 last night too through visaperks.ca
With the discount, it's a great price for a just-released computer this early in the product-cycle.
I ordered it with the 128GB SSD, so I probably won't receive mine for 9 weeks

The Visaperks warranty page is still being updated, so like you I had to phone in for the 3-year warranty upgrade and was quoted $209 + tax. I'm not sure if this was because the sales rep was quoting me a non-Visaperks price, or if the W510 has a more expensive warranty. I checked the warranty price on the W500 and it's only $177.65 on the Visaperks site.
The helpful sales rep said that I have 90-days after receiving the laptop to extend the base warranty, so I'm going to wait until then and hopefully Lenovo will have their website sorted by then.

As for the AC adapters, the W510 has Quad-core processors vs the T510 Dual-core processors, so there's going to be more power required. Also the graphics card is more powerful, and the high-resolution screen is going to draw more power and even more if you get the multi-touch. I'm not surprised that the W510 requires a larger adapter and has a shorter battery-life. It's a reasonable trade-off for a workstation-class computer. If your primary decision factors are mobility and battery life, I would recommend the T-series or X-series.

Let's see if anybody does a test with 90W adapter, how it works together.
I have Thinkpad T60 which came with 90W adapter, friend had Thinkpad with 65W adapter - I took it and suprisingly it worked. Battery was charging even when fully utilised and set to maximum power. I can guess the charging would be slow, but if that's that case of W510 with 90W, it would come handy for travels.

I used to have an AC adapter for my old IBM Thinkpad 560, used it to charge my T42, it worked for a few months, then the AC Adapter died because of apparent overheating (overloading?). Lucky i was around when it happened, there was a burning smell from the burnt out AC Adapter, not sure if there was a fire risk...

mspacek wrote:Anyone know if the dimensions and weight of the 135W are accurate? I'm hoping for some Lenovo typos. The photo of the 135W in the tabook makes it look deceptively normal-sized.

I have one in-hand and weighed it. Including the cords, the 135w adapter is 1 lb 6oz, or 624 grams. The box is 6" x 2.5" x 1.375" (15.2 x 6.3 x 3.6 cm). So it's pretty big, but still fits in my roller bag computer pocket with the w510.

I have to say that I'm interested in the W510 for running large memory intensive, multi threaded VMware images but the size of the power brick puts me off. I travel quite frequently and having to lug around a large heavy brick is a pain, figuratively and physically.

I was kind of hoping the slimline 90W adapter would be sufficient but perhaps not. Perhaps the brain bods at Lenovo could come up with a more efficient, smaller package like the slim 90W one.

I suppose it's always a trade-off, in this case the power of a workstation class laptop .vs. mobility. But like most people I want it all....!

GMA

There are reports that the 90W AC adapter will work, though the W510's battery might charge slower, and performance might be throttled:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=84627