Thoughts on ThinkPad Edge E520 laptop or other options for student

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alexx

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Topic # 96541 30-Jan-2012 14:48

Thinking about the E520 offer here:
http://shopap.lenovo.com/nz/en/deals-and-coupons/laptop-thinkpad-deals/edge-offer/

15.1" (1366x768) LED Backlit Display, Intel Core i7-2640M Processor, 6 GB PC3-10600 DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz, AMD Mobility Radeon 2GB graphics, 500GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm for NZ$849.15 +GST.

This appears to be special offer running out today and I have 2 daughters starting Uni and needing laptops, so I thought I'd get some advice here first.

Decent sized display is probably more important that portability, so not looking at netbook options.
Thoughts? Recommendations or alternatives?

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freitasm

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Reply # 574960 30-Jan-2012 14:54

I'm currently using the E320, and if the E520 is like this one, then you should go for it. I'm enjoying it very much.

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alexx

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Reply # 575036 30-Jan-2012 17:53

Thanks freitasm, I've used Lenovo before at work - T41 and T61, but no experience with the recent E series models. Correction to the above spec - E520 is 15.6" screen - not 15.1".

In the end I decided to go with the E520. The confirmation e-mail says 5-7 days for delivery. Is that typical?

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kyhwana2

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Reply # 575037 30-Jan-2012 17:56

Cant say anything about that model in particular, but I have a lenovo thinkpad edge 11" (Got a friend to buy it for me in HK, they never released it here) and it's been excellent so far.

If you're going to be hauling around a laptop a lot, I would go for a 11/13" one. Much easier to carry and whip out on the couch or at the pub, etc. (And at school, I imagine!)

freitasm

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Reply # 575045 30-Jan-2012 18:32

alexx: In the end I decided to go with the E520. The confirmation e-mail says 5-7 days for delivery. Is that typical?

Pretty much...

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farcus

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Reply # 575059 30-Jan-2012 19:15

The confirmation e-mail says 5-7 days for delivery. Is that typical?

I ordered from Lenovo over the xmas holiday season and they advised 5 - 7 days for delivery.
It arrived in five.

alexx

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Reply # 583874 20-Feb-2012 13:53

I ordered the e520 laptops on the 30th Jan and they arrived today... so much for 5-7 days for delivery. Was hoping they would arrive in time before one of my daughters was heading down to Uni in Wellington.

Did anyone else with the Thinkpad Edge laptops have a problem with a cracking sound that sounds like a dud speaker, but persists when headphones are used?

Found a thread here it seems like it might be a driver problem and wonder if anyone here has had the same problem.
http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-Edge/E520-popping-noise-before-and-after-audio-is-played/td-p/651167

I might try seeing if there is an update for the e520 conexant drivers. I can find them on the Lenovo site, but I'm not in front of the laptop now, so can't compare. I've only checked the one laptop so far, so will find out if the other one has the problem tonight.

In addition I selected the Bluetooth mouse option and installed the mouse drivers from the cdrom and now I try to add the mouse and get an error message about an unsigned driver. The instructions were pretty horrible, so perhaps I did something wrong. Is this a problem others have had too?

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freitasm

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Reply # 583899 20-Feb-2012 14:25

You should open Control Panel and run the Lenovo Software/Drivers update application. It's pretty good on my E320 and they have released a few updates in the last six months.

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alexx

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Reply # 584285 21-Feb-2012 00:49

Tried the Lenovo update and the Conexant drivers were already the latest version 8.32.27.00 found here:
http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/downloads/detail.page?DocID=DS013842

I tried rolling back the driver and then updating to the latest again, but that didn't help. Then completely uninstalled the driver, rebooted and reinstalled. At the moment it seems to alternate between silence and scratching/popping sounds.

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alexx

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Reply # 584748 21-Feb-2012 19:20

alexx:

In addition I selected the Bluetooth mouse option and installed the mouse drivers from the cdrom and now I try to add the mouse and get an error message about an unsigned driver. The instructions were pretty horrible, so perhaps I did something wrong. Is this a problem others have had too?

Mouse problem solved - checked the mouse with Linux and no problems so obviously a driver problem, so uninstalled the Lenovo mouse drivers that I'd installed earlier. The standard Windows 7 drivers are all that is needed.

In case someone else gets a Thinkpad Edge laptop with Windows 7 and the Thinkpad Bluetooth Mouse - model MOBTC9L in this case - ignore the part in the instructions about installing drivers from CDROM and instead just go to Devices and Printers -> Add a device then switch on the mouse and press the Bluetooth pairing button and add the mouse when it is discovered by Windows 7 - no special drivers required.

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alexx

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Reply # 586373 24-Feb-2012 17:28

alexx:
I've only checked the one laptop so far, so will find out if the other one has the problem tonight.

The second E520 seems to be fine and I was able to compare the two after booting with a KNOPPIX CD. The second laptop had sound working under KNOPPIX, but the first one doesn't so perhaps a hardware fault. Called Lenovo support and it looks like it will be treated as a D.O.A. (which means a replacement) warranty claim, so hopefully that won't take too long.

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alexx

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Reply # 596352 17-Mar-2012 01:34

Update on the Lenovo Edge E520 saga.

The first one went back to Lenovo and the replacement arrived on Monday and works fine.
I shipped the second one to my other daughter in Wellington last week and she is happy now.

Some thoughts...
* Delivery slower than expected... more like 20 days, rather than expected 5-7.
* One out of two, out of box failures.
* Lenovo 0800 support number system frustrating in more ways than I care to list.
* When you make a claim you must fax the proof of purchase (even though they e-mail it to you).
* Then they give you another 0800 number to ring...
* The pc is full of bundled software you didn't ask for, e.g. Nortons, Office 2010 trial and other adware.
* Making windows recovery media took 4 x DVD... perhaps could have used a CD for the first disk.
* Lenovo documentation not good (see comments on Bluethooth mouse above).

On the positive side...
* Once you get to talk to a real person on the end of the 0800 support line they are courteous and helpful.
* No problems getting Lenovo to accept the warranty claim (just a couple of days waiting approval).
* The E520 performs well and is good value at the price offered.

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farcus

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Reply # 596353 17-Mar-2012 01:53

must say that this is somewhat different to my experiencing purchasing from lenovo - and I have purchased several over the past decade because I have been so happy with the product and service.
I have never experienced the slow deliver that you have. Maybe it is related to the specific product you purchased.

One of the things I like about lenovo is that they have significantly less dross installed compared to other laptop companies.
I have never had one piece of adware on any of the lenovo laptops I have purchased - most recent being last Dec.
I wonder if things have changed since then.

freitasm

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Reply # 596364 17-Mar-2012 08:18

I acutally had a Lenovo desktop here which developed a PSU fault after about six months. Contacted service, and being this a US-sourced Lenovo, it was covered by a worldwide warranty. The problem is the model not being available in New Zealand/Australia made it hard to find replacement parts - in the end they just replaced it with a new box (the USA one was AMD-based, the A/NZ is Intel).

The main difference is that the USA one came with a built-in AMD HD3000 and DVI/VGA connectors for two monitors, the A/NZ is Intel based, one VGA output only. No big deal, since I never used the built-in graphics, since I installed a ATI HD5xxxx card on the previous one, for better graphics performance anyway.

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mattRSK

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Reply # 596430 17-Mar-2012 11:03

Yeah they are great, I have recently bought an old T61p for uni. It runs everything I need really well.

alexx

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Reply # 596511 17-Mar-2012 17:21

farcus: must say that this is somewhat different to my experiencing purchasing from lenovo - and I have purchased several over the past decade because I have been so happy with the product and service.
I have never experienced the slow deliver that you have. Maybe it is related to the specific product you purchased.

Perhaps being a special offer there was a shortage of some of those models.
In any case, the feedback from others suggests that most are delivered quicker than that.

farcus: One of the things I like about lenovo is that they have significantly less dross installed compared to other laptop companies.
I have never had one piece of adware on any of the lenovo laptops I have purchased - most recent being last Dec.
I wonder if things have changed since then.

Perhaps I should mention that I almost never buy a pc with pre-installed operating system. I'm either installing the OS myself, or it's a work laptop with corporate IT image, so I'm not in a good position to compare with other vendors.

In the end, the most important point is, while Lenovo could have simply told me to return the laptop for repair (return to base warranty), they quickly agreed it was out of box failure and supplied a replacement free of change.

For that reason, I'd consider buying from them again if they had the right pc to suit my needs (and the right price of course).

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