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Archive 2012 · Opinions on Lenovo W series laptops?

stebesplace
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p.1 #1 · Opinions on Lenovo W series laptops?

I've been a thinkpad guy for the better part of 11, 12 years now way back with T20's, and well, the following:

T20, T21, T23, T43, and finally, my trusty R61 which I've been using since Feb '08. So I am partial to thinkpads obviously. Would I like a nice Macbook Pro? Yeah, why not, but I am not the kind fo guy that likes to plunk down well over 2K for a laptop. Now with that being said, it's easy to get macbook pro prices out of new thinkpads, especially in in the W line of things.

I'm speaking more to the used/refurb market however, where one can get a W520, 1GB Nvidia Quadro 1000M, 8GB RAM, SSD, the silly 1400x900 display that people seem to be going with (my R61 I got custom with the 1680x1050 resolution. I can find these laptops for as cheap as $700 with i7 quad procs.

Point being, seems like amazing bang for the buck. The only thing I lose is resolution, and for the performance, I'd be okay with that unless I find a model with higher resolution for not much more.

For those that have the W series, how do you like them? Compared to older models, and certainly compared to other line items like the T series. I'm not concerned with size, since the specs are about the same as my R series. And I'm not worried about weight, again, my R is heavy. I do want something that's a tank, and can hold up to the abuse my thinkpads often get.

I'm just at a point where to do anything serious on the R, would require me to plunk down $150 for 8GB of RAM, and some upgrades to my HDD, though still be bottle necked with my processor. So ultimately cheaper to sell this R, and get a new to me thinkpad.

Thanks!

Jan 04, 2012 at 02:26 AM

TrojanHorse
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p.1 #2 · Opinions on Lenovo W series laptops?

You'd have to pry my thinkpad out of my cold, dead hands... but I just got a new T420 and that 1400x900 resolution is annoying.

The W seems like T on roids. Assuming you're not going to lug it around too much, if you like the T, the W should be that much more betterer.

Jan 06, 2012 at 01:39 PM

stebesplace
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p.1 #3 · Opinions on Lenovo W series laptops?

Yeah my old R here is a real beast that I can't part with quite yet. I mean, 1680x1050 on a laptop that's now 4 years old is pretty amazing. I can't stand 16:9 on laptop screens, so I'd have to get the next bump up in resolution, which unfortunately, is still 16:9 though gives me more vertical at least.

For me to upgrade my R, to 8GB of RAM would be around $56 (I have an amazon gift card), combined with a 120-160GB SSD, would probably allow me to squeeze another year out of this thing.

Jan 06, 2012 at 01:44 PM

TrojanHorse
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p.1 #4 · Opinions on Lenovo W series laptops?

Get a big enough SSD and you can re-use it when you do upgrade, so that's not exactly wasted money! They seem to be reasonably priced right now, unlike hard drives.

My 6 year old Dell has 1600 x 1080 but unfortunately I was suckered into paying for the high glare screen. Looks great in a pitch black room though.

4 i5 cores on a new machine though... very snappy compared to the core 2 duo that I upgraded from. I believe there are even a few i7 laptop cores that hyperthread to 8.

Jan 06, 2012 at 04:16 PM

stebesplace
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p.1 #5 · Opinions on Lenovo W series laptops?

Well I was holding out to see what Apple released this year with Ivy Bridge. If the new Air's were upgraded to quad cores, and could go to 8GB, that'd be awfully tempting. Otherwise, I'll stick with my trusty Thinkpad until a refresh with IB makes it all worth it later this year. I think with a new SSD, and some more RAM in this old thing, I should be able to keep face for a bit longer. And to think, at the time I bought this, it was top of the line, 2.53GHz C2D, less than half the price of a comparable Macbook pro @ $998. Whew how times have changed.

Jan 06, 2012 at 04:19 PM

RustyBug
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p.1 #6 · Opinions on Lenovo W series laptops?

I've been looking at the W520 also ... T60 currently. Orderded an UltraSlim Bay to swap out with the OD ... thinking SSD/HDD combo. Waffling between now and waiting for new stuff this summer ... tossed Dell Precision workstatio in the mix as well (built in CF card reader is attractive) with Dell wide gamut screen, etc.

"Workstation" with IB looks attractive ... if I can hold out that long.

Jan 06, 2012 at 09:44 PM

stebesplace
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p.1 #7 · Opinions on Lenovo W series laptops?

RB, I have a UBIII adapter in mine to have a second HDD in there, with an SSD up front. It's a lethal combination however, drains more battery life. I do have a 9 cell in here now, which helps though. So keep that in mind if you have a 4, or 6 cell. I have a 60GB SSD up front now, with a 320 GB WD Black acting primarily as a photo storage.

The combination works great, until you realize you need to burn a disk, which for me, is about 5 times a year, if that. But when I need to do it, I really need it.

Long story short, I'm going to be upgrading to a 120-128 GB SSD to accomplish two purposes. The first is to give me a buffer room of about 40-50 GB, and the second is to allow me to get some longevity out of the larger drive. The 60GB is not nearly enough. I really wanted a separation of my photos from everything else. So with the 120 GB drive, 60-70 is for my personal files, music (I stream most of my stuff anyway), docs, design business files, apps, and os, as well as lightroom libraries. Then I have my 320GB (which I might get a 750) which acts as my primary photo storage. I then have a 1TB drive acting as a main backup and clone for both of these drives. This way, with the extra room on the SSD, I can copy a new wedding set (30GB) over for editing on the SSD which gives me the performance I want, and once done, move it to my internal 320.

Anyway, that's my temp setup until I expand HDD's internally here from the 320 to a 750 or so. I personally like to have a laptop that has all of my stuff with me wherever I go, thus the dual drive setup. You can't to RAID in these though, so keep that in mind. Maybe on the newer ones you can't, just not the old 60/61 series.

Jan 06, 2012 at 09:52 PM

RustyBug
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p.1 #8 · Opinions on Lenovo W series laptops?

Raid is an option with the new ones ... but you have to order it that way up front with both drives @ install, iirc.

Keeping an OD in the car/bag/desk is no biggie ... used to do that in the old days when I needed to swap between OD/FD ... eazy/peazy.

Jan 06, 2012 at 10:11 PM

stebesplace
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p.1 #9 · Opinions on Lenovo W series laptops?

OHH, also to keep in mind. I ordered a generic caddy off eBay which was a piece of junk, and would cause all sorts of issues when the computer was sleeping, or booting. It was so bad, I ended up tossing it out. I ordered a second, more "robust" caddy, which actually looks like a clone of the ODD, button and all, and fit really well in the 12.x mm high tray opening. The first was 9.x mm and was too small. So as you are looking, keep that in mind.

Jan 06, 2012 at 10:17 PM

RustyBug
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p.1 #10 · Opinions on Lenovo W series laptops?

+1 @ cheapie ... I've got an OEM, from thinkpaddepot on order.

Jan 06, 2012 at 11:31 PM

Arka
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p.1 #11 · Opinions on Lenovo W series laptops?

I use a T420 and a MacBook Air... I use the T420 more since it is my work computer. Though a decent machine, the trackpad is simply horrible. There is simply no comparison between it and the MacBook Air. Though the T420 supports basic multitouch gestures, they for some mysterious reason don't work half the time.

Jan 11, 2012 at 08:46 PM

stebesplace
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p.1 #12 · Opinions on Lenovo W series laptops?

^ Yeah I tried out the W series trackpad and was shocked how sh*tty it was. I mean, nothing beats the Mac for trackpad use. I hate trackpads anyway, though gestures on the mac sure are nice. I prefer my "red nub"...

Jan 11, 2012 at 08:48 PM

TrojanHorse
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p.1 #13 · Opinions on Lenovo W series laptops?

I only use the nub as a last resort and the trackpad as a super last resort... I have a small laptop mouse I use 99% of the time.

Jan 11, 2012 at 11:34 PM

Arka
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p.1 #14 · Opinions on Lenovo W series laptops?

I consider the eraserhead trackstick to be unusable for serious processing (actually, I just find it to be unusable period). I used to carry a mobile mouse around until the last few generations of huge glass multitouch trackpads used in Macbooks from '08 onwards. It never ceases to amaze me that a quality brand like Lenovo can't give me a decent trackpad, or a tablet PC with Wacom Penabled drivers properly installed.

Jan 12, 2012 at 11:27 PM

HerbChong
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p.1 #15 · Opinions on Lenovo W series laptops?

i do almost all my serious processing of my images on my laptop. that's because my serious processing consists of moving sliders, entering numbers, scrolling, and occasional dust spots. i hate trackpads of all kinds unless they are very large (like an iPad). the very few times i need to do anything more complex, it's with a Wacom tablet because i need a pressure sensitive stylus.

the trackpoint gives more fine control over position and direction at the same time than anything except a tablet with a pressure sensitive pen. when i used to do serious cartography, i would do all the detailed tracing and editing on my laptop specifically so that i could use the trackpoint. even a stylus on a tablet was insufficient control.

Herb...

Jan 13, 2012 at 01:23 PM


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