Lenovo ThinkPad W520

I own a Surface Book 2 as well. At work I use MBP 16. And before that I used ThinkPad W520 for 6 years. SB2 is the best laptop. There are issues like glossy screen or not repairable/sturdy/modular like ThinkPad, but ergonomics and performance is just too good.

I bought a Lenovo Thinkpad W520 back in 2012. This laptop has an NVIDIA Optimus chipset, and for 4 years, I attempted to get triple-head support working under Linux (outputting to the laptop screen, and two monitors). Finally, in 2016, I was able to install the NVIDIA proprietary drivers through apt on ubuntu 16.04, and everything worked, including triple-head support. Overall, all the hardware in the laptop is now working perfectly, and has been extremely stable. It took a long time, but I'm glad it's finally working using the proprietary drivers. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten this to work yet using nouveau. I'm currently running Mate and XMonad on X, and I have a feeling it's going to be a few more years before I will be able to run Wayland on this machine.

Four years ago I replaced my desktop and laptop with a maxed-out Thinkpad W series(W520). I7, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, and nvidia quadro graphics card. I keep it docked 99% of the time but I can throw it in a bag and take it with when the need arises. Still working great today.

The Thinkpad W520 is the last workstation version with the better keyboard and the speed to feel comparable to current laptops, and is what I currently use. You can find these for around $300-400 on eBay for 16GB of memory and a SSD drive. Lower if you choose to upgrade those features later. The main drawback is that the W520, and its heftier AC adapter, is heavy. The question is how much battery life do you want. I get around 3 hours with an older battery. I can push out more with different settings. The Thinkpad T520 is probably an option with better battery life, but I have no experience with it. It's likely also significantly lighter since I don't think it requires the larger AC adapter. I'd try the T520 if I wanted something more portable. I'm currently running Ubuntu 14.04 and run Windows in a virtualbox with no issues. I've used this machine since 2015. I don't notice a performance difference between this and my older desktop (2010-ish, 16gb, i7) running Ubuntu 16.04. Edited to add: If anyone from Lenovo sees this thread, I'm snap upgrading if the Thinkpad "retro" is released.

I'll add to the chorus regarding the W5xx series. I have a W510 here that is 2 years old, and has been used heavily all that time. I also have a W520 that is 1 year old, similarly used, and has also traveled overseas a dozen times. No problems with either (both used for various Linux distros). Prior to Lenovo owning the brand, I owned IBM ThinkPads for years. I can testify to over over 15 years of their reliability.

Nobody responsible or competent is scrapping DDR5 computers yet. You can't use other speed standards of RAM in a computer designed for a faster (or slower) standard. If it needs DDR5 it can't use DDR, DDR2, DDR3, or DDR4. I don't think I've ever seen any x86 machine that could use older slower standards. You could use EDO in some FPRAM machines, and FPDRAM in EDO machines at a 15% speed penalty. You can use slightly faster DRAM in a machine that wants slower: later in their lives, I maxed out the RAM in some PowerMac G3 machines that wanted 66MHz DRAM using cheaper, already obsolete, 100MHz DRAM, or 133MHz DRAM in ones that only wanted 100MHz. But only within that standard. It's an idea that has some merit. I still use old Thinkpads that need DDR3 as what would have been prohibitively expensive when they were new is now cheap -- I have maxed-out 16GB X220 and T420 machines, and a near-full W520 with 24GB. But not DDR4, and you can't max out old DDR2 machines as big DDR2 DIMMs always were expensive and still are.

1. Plea to anyone doing TrackPoint projects: consider using a 6mm TrackPoint, which can accommodate an off-the-shelf 6mm Soft Rim cap. See this comparison of the shortening and changing of the TrackPoint cap over time, and you can imagine how the current 3mm caps end up requiring more finger pressure than the 6mm soft rim cap, to get pressure to register: https://saoto28.wixsite.com/trackpoint4life/comparison I own a very nice modern-looking ThinkPad P1, but my daily driver is currently a ThinkPad W520 battleship from 2012, entirely because its TrackPoint is more comfortable to use. (I could acclimate to the P1's chiclet keyboard easily, but the slippery TrackPoint cap was definitely harder on my finger and hand.) On the W520, I can type prolifically, all day and evening, 7 days a week, without discomfort. I don't want to break the TrackPoint soft rim magic that helps make that possible. 2. If someone in the US wants to try to make good soft rim 3mm caps that will fit modern ThinkPads, and save Lenovo from losing TrackPoint adherents, here is a starting point that Saoto kindly shared: https://grabcad.com/library/softrim-trackpoint-cap-for-3-mm-... If you can do soft rim with high-quality molding (not 3D printing, and determine the right materials, and red top), some people are so desperate that they're paying $50+ for a single tiny 3D-printed cap to be mailed from Japan. If I was confident that high-quality caps gave a W520-like experience, I'd gladly pay $100 for 10 o…

Earlier I used FreeBSD on ThinkPad W520 (because keyboard): - https://vermaden.wordpress.com/2022/04/14/freebsd-13-1-on-th... .. and recently moved to FrankenPad T25 that is based on T480 (because keyboard): - https://vermaden.wordpress.com/2025/06/26/freebsd-14-3-on-fr... I do everything on FreeBSD including work. Some of the topics I covered: - Unlock Laptop with Phone - Conferencing and Meetings - Netflix Signal Telegram - Network Management with network.sh - FreeBSD Power Management - FreeBSD Suspend/Resume - Oldschool Gaming on FreeBSD - Minecraft Server in FreeBSD Jails Container - Secure Containerized Browser - Print on FreeBSD - Scan on FreeBSD - Sensible Firefox Setup - Operate Android Device on FreeBSD - FreeBSD Alongside Windows To just name a few ... because I am slowly closing to 200 of these FreeBSD related articles. % ls ~/misc/verblog/POSTS | wc -l 175 Regards, vermaden

When was this? Snap _was_ a bit slow in the early days. It's not any more. I use Ubuntu 22.04, 24.04 and 25.04. Snap is pretty fast these days. I have gone around purging all my custom repos and PPAs, removing those apps, and reinstalling the snap versions. It's just easier and it works. I am running 3 quite elderly Thinkpads in near-daily use: an X220, T420, and W520. All Core i7, all with RAM maxed out, all with SSDs. They are perfectly usable for what I need and they have great keyboards which no more modern Thinkpads do. Ubuntu 22.04 on a 13-year-old Thinkpad loads snap apps in an eyeblink now. I can't detect any delay compared to natively-packaged apps. Yes, it uses a bit more disk space. I used to remove all snaps and then `apt purge snapd` but it's not worth the extra effort any more.

I daily use FreeBSD on 2011 (14 years old now) legendary ThinkPad W520. Details here: - https://vermaden.wordpress.com/2022/04/14/freebsd-13-1-on-th... Article is about FreeBSD 13.1 - but as time passed I followed all new versions and its at 14.2 now. Config did not changed - still running strong.

On what laptop and what distro? Does that PC lack an SSD? I have Ubuntu on a Thinkpad W520 and it does not take anywhere close to 6 minutes to boot, nor does the console lag but it also has an SSD installed.

Probably because I got used to it. I had used 'desktop' in the past - like 1998-2008 - but later as I got laptop and needed to be more 'mobile' the laptop was more desired. Then I 'spent' many years (2012-2022) on a couch with IKEA laptop stand - that worked too. Lately when I have finally done a proper desk again - I added some 'desktop' for either FreeBSD package building with Poudriere or for some casual gaming as AMD Ryzen 1700 with 8C/16T and AMD Radeon 5700 does quite good job at it. ... and I do not use just 'any' laptops. I still use ThinkPad XY20 series from 2011 - they all have that great 7-row keyboard and are VERY usable. As for the upgrades of the hardware - mine ThinkPad W520 can have TWO 2.5 disks at the same time and additional THIRD disk in mSATA port. I also have 4 RAM slots - populated at maximum 32 GB total ... and about a price? Its possible to get one for $200-$300 range. Even if you want something more modern - like ThinkPad T495 with AMD Ryzen - I recently got one for $240 - along with 4 cores and 16 GB RAM. I also got ThinkPad T14 with 6C/12T AMD Ryzen also with 16 GB RAM for $260. These are not expensive toys ...

I’m still on my 2012 W520 as daily driver. Runs Ubuntu 22.04. It’s a tank - it just won’t die. And if something does wear it, it’s easy to repair or replace. I’m actually thinking of purchasing a X220 or X220T as a smaller, more portable model of the same era. To me, this era of thinkpad is the pinnacle of laptop design. Unsurpassed. Robust and practical.

This is why I still use my Thinkpad W520. If I don't need the battery I just take it out until I need it. I hate that we got rid of removable batteries in basically all devices.

Nice. I've used ThinkPads for many decades now. Love the retro look and keyboard feel. Might have to replace my W520 soon...

I use the w520 w/ubuntu 17.04 and love it. 1TB SSD, 12GB ram I think... good times. Would recommend.

I've been using Thinkpads as full-time Linux machines for several years now. Specifically, I've had an R61, T60, X60, T530, X301, and W520. Aside from a rough start getting the X301 set up the way I wanted it, I've been totally satisfied. The Thinkpads I've used have all been sturdy, straightforward machines, easy to upgrade, and well supported by Linux drivers. I'm currently using the W520 as my everyday development machine. It's heavy enough that I leave it in its dock most of the time, but taking it to and from work isn't terrible. It might grow annoying if you had to carry it long distances in a backpack or briefcase. I can't tell you what battery life is like because I'm either hammering the hell out of the CPU or barely touching it, depending on what I'm doing, so lifetime varies widely. The X301 is much slimmer and lighter. Its battery life pretty much sucks, so I swapped the DVD player out for a second battery, and between the two it'll stand 4+ hours of heavy use. I use this machine as my personal travel laptop, and it is also the machine I use for DJ gigs.

i love thinkpads. just avoid buying machines with dedicated GPUs as they tend to fail. my W520 with a dedicated nvidia works like a charm, but i had numerous other thinkpads with a dedicated GPU fail

Lenovo W520 with Ubuntu Gnome. The performance is great, and I haven't had any major compatibility problems. The touchpad is excellent and works great out of the box. Build quality is superb. Some issues though: * battery only lasts around 90 minutes on full settings, and half of that if you're compiling something heavy. This is a used laptop though, so no idea how many battery cycles it had when I got it. * switching to an external monitor is annoying. Out of the box it doesn't remember the display layout settings (mirror/extend/etc). If I switch off the on-board GPU and use the discrete one, the VGA port is unavailable. Sending sound over HDMI doesn't always work. * wifi sometimes gets into a weird state where it can't find any networks. Resetting the driver helps though. * the only available AC adapter weighs a couple of pounds and is huge. Haven't had any luck finding a more reasonably-sized aftermarket one. * the speakers are too weak even on 100% volume.

I have a Lenovo W520 which has discrete graphics, 32GB of RAM (added aftermarket) and it is a beast. I also upgraded the HDD to an SSD and that is something to do right. Some minuses are that the bluetooth quit working with Windows 8, although I got a USB bluetooth dongle. Also I got the dock for the W520 and found it doesn't work ~quite~ perfectly in terms of the USB ports realizing you just plugged something in and connecting on the first time.

I got to try out a W520 recently. It seemed quite nice, and I like machines with a bigger screen but without the numeric keypad (which I generally have no use for). From my point of view, it is a shame the W540 now crams in the numeric keypad. I'd rather have a keyboard with full-sized keys (including shift, control, arrows, etc.) than have the more common cramped style seen with most 15.6" screen laptops.

I have a Lenovo Thinkpad W520 with 32gb RAM and a 2.4gh i7-27600QM, and i'm totally in love with it. If you don't need the portability of ultrabooks (and you can't have it + 32gb at the moment), I would recommend it to anyone. Incidentally, I regularly deploy W530s at work, but usually with 8gb RAM.

I've got a couple recent ThinkPads - (T400 + W520) - running Linux, and love them. My favorite thing is the removable CD/DVD bay, where you can stick in a hard drive caddy and put different 2.5" drives in there. Nice for super-fast (internal SATA) backups to multiple drives. 500G of databases, video, etc. Or for installing an alternate O.S. - so if you want to try a BSD or Linux on its own root drive instead of a virtual machine, it's an easy way to swap out drives. Also because they're so popular, parts are easily replaced. I typed-through the keyboard on my 2-year-old T400S, wearing the matte finish & letters off the keys, and it was only $40 to go to some random shop in Singapore and get them to put a brand new T400S keyboard on it.

I've got a W520. It's a great machine. Love the keyboard! Now for problems. Hopefuly some of these things were fixed in W530? * Bezel is huge! * Larger 170W power supply is very heavy, doesn't work in airplane power outlets. Smallish power cord often pops off. * Installing Crucial M4 SSD for me has resulted in BSODs (on windows). Dual booted to linux mint 12 and that also corrupted. Google for SSD W520 BSOD. Eventually gave up and went back to stock HDD.