W520 or not

[safetyfirst]

Hi I'm new here.

I'm planning to buy a new Thinkpad, preferably a business unit, but was scared by that long post about random shutdowns of W520. Looks like it's not an uncommon problem.

Had two Thinkpads before, T42 and T60p. Both were used extensively for a combined 7 years. T42 was almost flawless for over 3 years (and still working in good condition now). T60p had some heat issue after 2 years and I had to open the machine to clean the fan twice in the last 2 years. Other than that it was stable. So I had good faith in Thinkpads, until I read that post. It seems that other comparable laptops also had problems, like Dell M4600.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

[ExJamJus]

safetyfirst,

I've been using the W520 previously for 6 months ... Did not have any random shutdown issues with it...

I upgraded the RAMs to 4 x 2gb and a OCZ Agility 3 60GB with 500GB HDD on the HDD caddy ... running Win 7 x64 Pro, did not have any issues at all...

Also its already 2012, if you can wait, I would suggest waiting for the IVY bridge chipsets, Wonder how the next generation of W series can do ....

[safetyfirst]

Thanks, ExJamJus.

I realizd that only people with faulty machines would complain. People who got non-faulty machines just sit there happily. But since I travel a lot, I can't afford the time and effort to get a faulty one fixed, if it could be fixed at all.

I also did some research on other brands, but seems no good choice exists ...

[ThorsHammer]

I think the percentage of machines with the defect must be rather small. I just happened to have one.  The most annoying aspect at this point is that it is unresolved.  And it's been a year.

I decided a while back not to buy another one until the root problem was identified and a solution disclosed.  That hasn't happened. 

It also means I won't jump into the pond first when the W530 comes out.  I will wait several months after that to see if it shows up in the new Ivy Bridge platform.

[Rumle]

I had the same worries when I got mine, at first the random shutdown post on this forum was a real scareaway Since its so HUGE a discussion. After a while I concluded that in fact it might be a smaller percentage cursed than what it looks like on the net. Since as you say, people with no problem does not post much...

ThorsHammer.

I have a w520 from December its i7 2860 and there for a new(er) CPU. Have there ever been reported problems with that line of CPU's? If not, that my imply that newer machines does not have the problem??

[ThorsHammer]

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Rumle wrote:

ThorsHammer.

I have a w520 from December its i7 2860 and there for a new(er) CPU. Have there ever been reported problems with that line of CPU's? If not, that my imply that newer machines does not have the problem??

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I hope that is true.  If the issue is resolved, Lenovo should replace any machine affected by the issue. People need to trust that the machine they have isn't going to suddenly reboot with no warning.

I wonder if Lenovo has identified the root cause at this point. 

[ExJamJus]

Thors, no update on the W520 random shutdown thread? Have you tried sending the unit in for service to get the hardware checked? tried replacing the rams (sorry I can't remember if you did or did not)

[ThorsHammer]

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ExJamJus wrote:
Thors, no update on the W520 random shutdown thread? Have you tried sending the unit in for service to get the hardware checked? tried replacing the rams (sorry I can't remember if you did or did not)

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What are you asking in the first question?

Regarding sending in things for service, heck no.  I sold my first W520 because the fequency was at 4-6 weeks.  The second machine arrived unable to boot. That was returned.  I am not buying another one but that doesn't mean I won't keep the visibility up so that Lenovo discovers a root cause and fixes it.

Replacing RAM does nothing.

[safetyfirst]

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ThorsHammer wrote:

I think the percentage of machines with the defect must be rather small. I just happened to have one.  The most annoying aspect at this point is that it is unresolved.  And it's been a year.

I decided a while back not to buy another one until the root problem was identified and a solution disclosed.  That hasn't happened. 

It also means I won't jump into the pond first when the W530 comes out.  I will wait several months after that to see if it shows up in the new Ivy Bridge platform.

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Thanks, ThorsHammer

So did you buy a new laptop other than W520, or not buy any new machine at all?

[Chatbox]

I got my W520 last Friday, built last Tuesday.  Having used it for an entire week, as well as stress tests, I've not faced any issue (except RAM module wasn't properly inserted by me when I did the 4x8GB memory upgrade.  Re-sitting the modules then cleared the issue).

Happy camper here.