I just installed Ubuntu on one. It was running windows 10 before. Took 4gbs out of the ram for just existing. After the switch, it ran like butter. Only took 2gbs
I found mine in a electronics dumpster at work.. i7 2620M 2.7Ghz Did a little work on it. Cleaned it up. It had no ram, hard drive, power adapter, hard drive tray was missing. When I finally got it up and running it was over heating. After a little bit of work to fix everything I installed Windows 10. It's working flawlessly. Great for what I do on a computer. I'm really happy with it. Built very solid. Installed an Evo SSD. 16GB of ram. It's fairly quick.
@@retropcdurham I'm wondering about secure boot support for windows 11? I don't think it has this requirement. I hope that when it officially rolls out that they will relax on that requirement and directx 12. Any thoughts?
@@anonamous6968 I'm not a fan of the cloud OS design and hardware restrictions for Windows 11 at all, they are pro business but very anti consumer. I'm hoping that by 2025 we have truly consumer UX for Linux
@@retropcdurhamAgreed, even though I run into oddly temperamental types occasionally in the Linux world I’m learning and switching to Linux before too long. And so far Linux runs very well on anything I load it on.
I just bought one with the same processor on eBay for $70! Mine came with a case ,dock and battery so I'm pretty excited! The last time I owned a laptop was over 10 years ago.
I upgraded it to i7-2760QM (2.40 x 4). It supports up to 16 MB RAM, regardless what Lenovo says. Great keyboard. It supports up to 3 SSD (counting Ultrabay).
I've had one for 2 years now (and another before but likely the motherboard failed due to damage from the previous owner): Win10 Pro, 16GB memory, 256GB Samsung Evo850 mSATA boot drive, and a 500GB Samsung Evo860 storage drive in the primary drive bay. Pretty solid machine. Batteries are getting harder to find, though.
I saw a video from Laptop Retrospective this week where he showed off some USB-C based charging cables that you could use with an external power bank, a possible alternative battery source for these older systems th-cam.com/video/uZAlsWBXFSg/w-d-xo.html
@@retropcdurham I don't know ! Sorry to point out flaws though, but your vids are awesome, and some small oversights are a bit annoying and might 'scare' people off from watching your great content !
Same machine and OS that Rumpel. A beast. I really love it. I love Thinkpad (I got a X230 and two T400 too) I upgraded it with a WWAN card, and now I'm online on the move
discrete graphics are not in all models. I'm linking a copy of an old PSREF that includes the T520. I think around page 31. You can see which models were iGPU only and which came with the dGPU as well. psref.lenovo.com/syspool/Sys/PDF/withdrawnbook/ltwbook_WE_2012.pdf
@@retropcdurham hey thank you so much! Those P series are kinda rare in my country and I want something that has discrete graphics atleast for CAD editing and stuff.
funny thing, Haskell gen processors were in the transition stage between ddr3 and ddr4. Some integrated processors exist with ddr3. I wonder if I use the right coreboot setup, can I get a Haskell processor working on it?
@@retropcdurham I mean that ddr3 Haskell processors do exist, I've seen them before. If I could find one that uses the ribbon setup maybe it could work?
You can source the fingerprint reader and the replacement wristrest. eBay and AliExpress are probably your best bet to find the parts. Sometimes sellers will even sell the wristrest with the fingerprint reader hardware already installed
@@retropcdurham I'm not someone who needs a fingerprint because I'm a student, but for speed. I don't know if I wrote well, Because I don't speak English fluently because I'm Arabic thank you very much 🌹
i have this laptop i am using it from 2014 and now i upgraded it to 12GB ram 500GB samsung ssd and from core i3 i upgraded it to core i7 2720qm i think its faster than light now.
Hi! I have my Lenovo t520 Laptop with i7 2640m and motherboard based product is 4242A27 i have my 8gb ram running on my system but want to upgrade the Ram more
Hey i got a t520 with a i7-2720qm and 8gb of ram and in the specs it shows both a intel hd3000 and a nvidia nvs 4200m but when i try to chose which to use for my games it only shows me the intel one why
In the Nvidia Control Panel you should be able to force applications to use the gGPU over iGPU. In device manager are both graphics cards showing up without errors?
Mine has 16gb of ram and an i5 6300u as well as a 256gb ssd for 320$cad originally 720$ so any recommended settings for beamng drive. Cause it's been rebuilt with better parts.
@@marekkowalski3814 Yes, you should be able to put any Sandybridge mobile processor that is 45W or under in. The 55W CPUs could overheat in the T520 chassis so best to avoid them
@@marekkowalski3814 They are very similar in performance. If battery life is a consideration then I would go with the HD 3000 integrated graphics, but for full performance the NVS 4200M is probably better since you are putting less heat on the CPU die during GPU rich operations.
@@captainx06 It shouldn't really run any slower than Windows 8, but I've found if all the drivers are not installed (especially the power management driver) you can have some performance issues. For anything that Windows Update does not install, you can try using the Windows 7 driver off the Lenovo support website, or use the tool Snappy Driver Installer Origin which you can download from Majorgeeks
@@mariomirea9736 The 6 row backlit chiclet style keyboard was introduced with the next generation, so a T530 would have it. Many ThinkPad enthusiasts prefer the 7 row keyboard you have with the T520 for a superior typing experience.
It may just be some file corruption. If you have a Windows installation media (DVD/USB) you can start with that in the system and when the install program runs there will be an option in the lower left corner to do a windows repair.
I got this model too..really love it.🤩
This might sound like a sacrilege but it is 2024 and these old Thinkpads run Linux beautifully.
I just installed Ubuntu on one. It was running windows 10 before. Took 4gbs out of the ram for just existing. After the switch, it ran like butter. Only took 2gbs
I found mine in a electronics dumpster at work.. i7 2620M 2.7Ghz Did a little work on it. Cleaned it up. It had no ram, hard drive, power adapter, hard drive tray was missing. When I finally got it up and running it was over heating. After a little bit of work to fix everything I installed Windows 10. It's working flawlessly. Great for what I do on a computer. I'm really happy with it. Built very solid. Installed an Evo SSD. 16GB of ram. It's fairly quick.
Love to hear this
@@retropcdurham I'm wondering about secure boot support for windows 11? I don't think it has this requirement. I hope that when it officially rolls out that they will relax on that requirement and directx 12. Any thoughts?
@@anonamous6968 I'm not a fan of the cloud OS design and hardware restrictions for Windows 11 at all, they are pro business but very anti consumer. I'm hoping that by 2025 we have truly consumer UX for Linux
@@retropcdurhamAgreed, even though I run into oddly temperamental types occasionally in the Linux world I’m learning and switching to Linux before too long. And so far Linux runs very well on anything I load it on.
I just bought one with the same processor on eBay for $70! Mine came with a case ,dock and battery so I'm pretty excited! The last time I owned a laptop was over 10 years ago.
It's great to get the whole bundle like that. Enjoy!
I upgraded it to i7-2760QM (2.40 x 4). It supports up to 16 MB RAM, regardless what Lenovo says. Great keyboard. It supports up to 3 SSD (counting Ultrabay).
Found this GEM at the Goodwill with an I5 processor and 8GB RAM, 500HD, Win 10 pro for $175 , at the Goodwill. Of course I bought it!!!
Great find!
Wow, awesome gold nugget!
Got one on eBay for like 125 cad With the i7 but the rests the same one of my best purchases
I have the T450s 🙏🏽 🔥 machine just got it
I've had one for 2 years now (and another before but likely the motherboard failed due to damage from the previous owner): Win10 Pro, 16GB memory, 256GB Samsung Evo850 mSATA boot drive, and a 500GB Samsung Evo860 storage drive in the primary drive bay. Pretty solid machine. Batteries are getting harder to find, though.
I saw a video from Laptop Retrospective this week where he showed off some USB-C based charging cables that you could use with an external power bank, a possible alternative battery source for these older systems
th-cam.com/video/uZAlsWBXFSg/w-d-xo.html
I got this for with 16gb ram and a core i7 and then upgraded the HDD to an 500G Evo SSD. I'm installing Gentoo at the moment.
SSD makes a huge difference
Can you do a tutorial video about fix Lenovo Thinkpad T520 cannot turn on the power?
There's considerable noise on the left audio channel, no idea what it is, but it's very much there. Like something rattling, or scratching?
Hmm, I wonder if I was rubbing up against the tripod and causing that. Thanks for pointing out, I will keep an ear out for that in future recording!
@@retropcdurham I don't know ! Sorry to point out flaws though, but your vids are awesome, and some small oversights are a bit annoying and might 'scare' people off from watching your great content !
"Yet another Thinkpad" - yeah but a beast. My W520 has 32 GB's of RAM :)
Nice, W series are beasts
I have the ThinkPad W520. I had to tear it down to put in new thermal paste.
I got the same with 8gb ram and 250 gb ssd running with Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.
Nice!
Same machine and OS that Rumpel. A beast. I really love it. I love Thinkpad (I got a X230 and two T400 too)
I upgraded it with a WWAN card, and now I'm online on the move
I have a question, does all of T500 series have discrete graphics card? Particular this one with T520 with all its processor options?
discrete graphics are not in all models. I'm linking a copy of an old PSREF that includes the T520. I think around page 31. You can see which models were iGPU only and which came with the dGPU as well.
psref.lenovo.com/syspool/Sys/PDF/withdrawnbook/ltwbook_WE_2012.pdf
@@retropcdurham hey thank you so much! Those P series are kinda rare in my country and I want something that has discrete graphics atleast for CAD editing and stuff.
funny thing, Haskell gen processors were in the transition stage between ddr3 and ddr4. Some integrated processors exist with ddr3. I wonder if I use the right coreboot setup, can I get a Haskell processor working on it?
I'm not sure that the notches for DDR3 and DDR4 SODIMMS are the same, so physicality could be incompatible even with custom BIOS
@@retropcdurham I mean that ddr3 Haskell processors do exist, I've seen them before. If I could find one that uses the ribbon setup maybe it could work?
@@hissingcattop It's possible, the Coreboot releases should detail CPU supported for each revision
Does it worth it in 2021 for web developing graphics designing etc
It might be limited for graphics rendering
How do I add a fingerprint to this device?
You can source the fingerprint reader and the replacement wristrest. eBay and AliExpress are probably your best bet to find the parts. Sometimes sellers will even sell the wristrest with the fingerprint reader hardware already installed
@@retropcdurham
I'm not someone who needs a fingerprint because I'm a student, but for speed. I don't know if I wrote well, Because I don't speak English fluently because I'm Arabic thank you very much 🌹
i have this laptop i am using it from 2014 and now i upgraded it to 12GB ram 500GB samsung ssd and from core i3 i upgraded it to core i7 2720qm i think its faster than light now.
Awesome!
Hey Meme, do you still have the URL for that CPU? I want to upgrade my laptop too.
How to turn on the keyboard light???
Fn+PgUp on the keyboard will activate the ThinkLight
@@retropcdurham but i asked about keyboard inside light
@@Parisyou T520 doesn't have a backlit keyboard, this option wasn't added until the next generation (T530)
😑
Ok shukrya
wait why does mine have a modem port
custom model maybe?
Hi! I have my Lenovo t520 Laptop with i7 2640m and motherboard based product is 4242A27 i have my 8gb ram running on my system but want to upgrade the Ram more
Hey i got a t520 with a i7-2720qm and 8gb of ram and in the specs it shows both a intel hd3000 and a nvidia nvs 4200m but when i try to chose which to use for my games it only shows me the intel one why
In the Nvidia Control Panel you should be able to force applications to use the gGPU over iGPU.
In device manager are both graphics cards showing up without errors?
Mine has 16gb of ram and an i5 6300u as well as a 256gb ssd for 320$cad originally 720$ so any recommended settings for beamng drive. Cause it's been rebuilt with better parts.
Nice upgrades. Do you still use the optical drive?
@@retropcdurham i still have the optical drive and plan to change with hdd caddy
I love the older Thinkpad series so much, but the displays were mostly of terrible quality😐
What screen is this laptop recommended with and what processor?
For CPU upgrades I would look for an i7-2620QM or i7-2720QM.
For screens the best to get is the 1920x1080 panel as far as I know.
@@retropcdurham, Will this laptop handle the Core i7-2820QM processor without any problems ?
@@retropcdurham Which graphics card is better in this laptop? Intel HD graphics 3000 or NVIDIA NVS 4200M ?
@@marekkowalski3814 Yes, you should be able to put any Sandybridge mobile processor that is 45W or under in. The 55W CPUs could overheat in the T520 chassis so best to avoid them
@@marekkowalski3814 They are very similar in performance. If battery life is a consideration then I would go with the HD 3000 integrated graphics, but for full performance the NVS 4200M is probably better since you are putting less heat on the CPU die during GPU rich operations.
I have the same laptop i5 2ndgen but it is not supporting window 8😢
I'd go straight to WIndows 10, it worked well for me and a lot of the user experience issues with Windows 8 are resolved.
@@retropcdurham ok i'll try window 10
@@retropcdurham brother does window 10 lag?
@@captainx06 It shouldn't really run any slower than Windows 8, but I've found if all the drivers are not installed (especially the power management driver) you can have some performance issues.
For anything that Windows Update does not install, you can try using the Windows 7 driver off the Lenovo support website, or use the tool Snappy Driver Installer Origin which you can download from Majorgeeks
My 520 has a modem.
Is this work for oracle & postgresql?
Should be fine, but you probably want an SSD instead of spinning disk
how enable backlight on this?
Fn+PgUp
@@retropcdurham it just activates a lamp no light to keyboard :( i regret buying this
@@mariomirea9736 The 6 row backlit chiclet style keyboard was introduced with the next generation, so a T530 would have it.
Many ThinkPad enthusiasts prefer the 7 row keyboard you have with the T520 for a superior typing experience.
@@retropcdurham ok thank you
does valorant work in it
Maybe on the lowest settings
@@retropcdurham can u try it ? plssss
@@muhammadamirulshahbinamer9369 I've already donated it but perhaps if I have another of these models in I can test gaming performance
I have the I7, but it wont boot anymore after a disk check. The LEDs flash, but nothing after. Any ideas?
It may just be some file corruption. If you have a Windows installation media (DVD/USB) you can start with that in the system and when the install program runs there will be an option in the lower left corner to do a windows repair.
@@retropcdurham I did this with an ubuntu disk and it's working now
@@Aiden-vj2tg Great to hear!
please tell me
first