W520 slow refresh rate? Videocard problem?

[geluidsgolf]

Hi all,

I have a new W520 and I have the feeling my refresh rate is not that right.. when I scroll up and down trough internet sites it's not going fluently...

I was thinking that maybe im running my intel video instead of my nvidia?
I have the NVIDIA control panel active in my tray, does that mean my NVIDIA optimus 2000M is active?
How can I check that?

Any other users with this problem?

Thanks alot for helping out.

[jcvjcvjcvjcv]

Anything from Adobe active? After all, if someone makes stuff that crashes and slows down everything...

Somewhere in the Lenovo provided driver you can enable a small icon that will either be gray (nVidia card off) or colored (nVidia card on). I don't really know about the factory supplied install, but when installing it yourself the nVidia card will be turned on for almost anything, including a blank page in IE or FF, or even the Lenovo Power Manager...

[davidhbrown]

Just scrolling web pages sounds more like how the browser is configured than a video card issue. Honestly, unless you're digging deep into the newish 3D capabilities of HTML5, there's not much on a web page that should trouble the Intel 4000 video.

In Firefox, for example, there's an option in Advanced/General to turn it on or off. It should be on by default. If you're feeling geeky, you can go to the URL about:config and type "scroll" in the filter area. Look to see if any of them are bold, indicating they aren't the default.

Similarly in IE, it's in Internet Options / Advanced, near the bottom of the "Browsing" options.

In Chrome, it's a hidden / experimental feature you can enable if you go to chrome://flags

Some mouse drivers can also interfere with smooth scrolling.

[geluidsgolf]

Hey all thanks for the replies..

So I have been digging a bit...
I have a 2nd monitor connected to my laptop...

It seems that the 3D settings for firefox and chrome are set on the intel integrated and also when I go to physx config my main laptop screen (which I mainly use for browsing) is set on Intel HD graphics...

I can't seem to find a way to switch this... Is it even possible?

[geluidsgolf]

I found the problem.. The optimus mode slows down your browser a bit cause it enforces the Intel videocard when connecting a 2nd monitor to the VGA port.. It seems that this card is not powerfull enough to browse fluently...
Im not saying it's really bad but it's not as responsive as im used to (even my x61 but on a lower resolution is more responsive on sites then my W520)

Disabling the optimus and switching to discrete graphics fixed my issues...
I use this laptop for audio design and sequencing as well and this is also much better without latency...

thanks to everybody!

[mpcook]

With my W520, I have found that when I use an aero theme, I get a bit of video sluggishness, whereas when I switch to a non aero theme, the issue goes away. This is with video extended mode across a DVI and a VGA monitor with discrete video enabled. Check your Windows theme and try a non aero theme. I really don't care much about the theme, I use a black background and few frills anyway. I have not yet tried this with Optimus enabled, will give that a try too, although I use this docked most of the time and with AC adapter the rest, so I don't worry about battery life.