Lenovo ThinkPad W520 427637U 15.6" LED Notebook - Core i7 i7-2720QM 2.2GHz

I bought this machine from Amazon in early April 2011, so I've been using it for nearly 3 months. I'm a software developer.

It is a great machine with a few minor negatives. First the negatives:

1) Even with the docking station (highly recommended) it will drive only two external monitors, for a total of three if you count the internal screen.
I don't consider this a fatal flaw, as I use a Displaylink device to drive a third big monitor

2) You don't get RAID on this model - if that matters any more

3) Yes, it could use an SSD drive, but that would add a lot to the price

Positives:

1) Very fast processor. It typically runs all four cores at 3 Ghz and can run a single core at as high as 3.3 Ghz
2) Expandable: I immediately put in 8 more GB of RAM for 16 GB total. Note - I had to remove the keyboard to get to one of the extra RAM slots - no big deal
It also has an Ultrabay - be sure to get the $60 hard... Read more

I recently purchased this laptop as my photo editing portable workstation and would like to share with you some of my opinions even if maybe it's still early since less than 2 weeks passed by.

CPU: very very fast, you can really tell the difference from older PCs, Canon 5D Mark II 21 Mpixel RAW files rendering was almost on the fly.
RAM: 8GB seems enough but there's still plenty of space for expansion up to 32GB which probably I'll do once the prices drop down.
HDD: think this is probably the only bottleneck (or at lest this is what I understand using the Windows index). There's still the possibility to add an SSD.

Nvidia Quadro 1000M 2GB: still have to test it with some 3D applications, Optimus seems to work well under Windows, still have to find a way to use it under Linux though.

Fingerprint reader: really nice, it even allows you to turn on the computer and login automatically swiping your finger just once. (I didn't manage to make it... Read more

Not much more to say what the first reviewer hasnt already mentioned.
I used a Macbook Pro until now (which had - after < 2 years of use - enough bugs for 3 laptops - fan out of control, cd/dvd drive broken, etc.), and I dont regret switching to the W520 (I own a W520 for a month now). I am doing a lot of Matlab image processing on my laptop, and the performance as well as screen resolution / quality is great (upon purchase, Lenovo lets you choose between 3 different screens with different maximum resolutions - i chose the highest resolution - 1920 X 1080; also they let you choose between 2 different gpus). One unique thing to mention is that you have full control over which graphics processor (integrated vs. Nvidia gpu) your laptop uses when, and for which application separately - i think this is kind of new and unique.
The only thing that bothered me initially was Lenovo's trackpad, which doesnt come close to the comfort of my Macbook pad. Normal cursor control is ok,... Read more