W Series ThinkPad Laptops

[#1]

the web site says the W500 comes with the ati mobility GLV5700 card (actually i believe it should say the V5600) but i have received a W500 and both are configured with ATI mobility Radeon HD 3650 and the mobile intel 4 series express chipset....i returned and reordered another laptopand it happened again

Why does lenovo not ship the W500 with the V5700??   What am i missing?  someone please help explain why I am not getting what lenovo ispromising to deliver

[#2]

The 3650 is a v5700.

you get it and the Intel because it has swichable graphics

[#3]

All,

Yes, the card is sometimes mis-identified.  A technical tip is being published to address this and will update this thread with a link, as it will provide more details.

In the interrim, right click on desktop, choose graphics properties , then open the ATI Catalyst Control

Look at the Icon in red in the bottom left.  If it says ATI FireGL, then you have  the V5700,  and if it says ATI Radeon, then you have the ATI Radeon HD 3650.

 UPDATE - HERE IS A LINK TO THE TIP REFERENCED

Mark

Message Edited by Mark_Lenovo on 10-07-2008 02:42 PM

[#4]

thanks mark....mine does say ATI FireGL...

BTW, this is sweet laptop and i am soo suprised that vista ultimate is wayy faster than xp pro 

[#5]

I guess I am having a problem understanding this.. I ordered a V5700 but get the 3650. Is there a preformance difference between the two? Only it says the 5700 is a premium card but the 3650 is a budget card.. Can we get some clarification?

[#6]

Did you not read the thread?

There's a clear explanation on how to check what video card you actually have, if you have a W500 it's the FireGL card.

This happens because the driver's INF file doesn't have correct text strings next to the given PCI ID for the video card.  Those familiar with drivers know that you can make them "say" whatever you want in device manager.  It's possible to "hack" the drivers (by editing a text file) so your video card is called SUPER DUPER OMG FAST CARD LOL if that's what you wanted.

It's not a big deal, Devicemanager just says the wrong thing.  It will probably be fixed down the road.  Get over it.

[#7]

Mark,

Any update on the tech tip?

Matt 

[#8]

I am in the same boat as the others on this thread.  My FireGL V5700 is being mis-identified as a HD3650.  I have confirmed via the Catalyst Control Panel that it is in fact a V5700.

However since it is mis-identified a key piece of software for our company will not function.  Solidworks requires openGL to function and needs a workstationl video card.  Since the HD3650 is a not workstation card Solidworks will not operate correctly.

I will be returning several W500's if a fix is not forthcoming.  Contacting support has been useless.

[#9]

cvantilborg,

I currently have SW'08 installed on my W500.  I am getting the misidentified HD3650 card, but it is performing like a FireGL card just like you describe.  In solidworks, If you go to TOOLS>OPTIONS>Performance>  just make sure "use software openGL" option is NOT checked.  Checking it will actually disable the hardware acceleration and make everything very slow to rotate.  In order to toggle this option you need SW opened but no other documents within SW opened.  

Matt

[#10]

cvantilborg,

On further exploration, i realize that i actually cannot enable 'realview" graphics within solidworks.... which should be able to be turned on if the card is indeed a FireGL.

Matt