3-31-2011 review by storagereview

In terms of storage, the ThinkPad T520 is configurable with either an HDD or SSD as the primary drive. The mSATA port provides a third storage option, and is bootable with a special SSD like the Intel SSD 310, replacing the WWAN module.

For a system with "only" integrated graphics, it still easily beat the overall system performance of the ThinkPad T410 we reviewed by a factor of two. PCMark Vantage scores doubled, coming in at 12,329 PCMarks, even with the base mSATA 80GB SSD.

Test Setup:

• Battery : 6-cell 57Wh
• Connectivity : Intel 82579LM Gigabit LAN, Intel Centrino 6205 802.11AGN
• Display : 15.6-inch Widescreen 1366x768 WXGA LED-Backlit
• Memory : 8GB DDR3
• Operating System : Windows 7 Professional SP1 x64
• Processor : Intel Core i5-2540M 2.66 GHz
• Video Card : Intel GMA HD 3000 Graphics