Thinkpad T520

[Yedidyah Bar-David]

On Mon, Sep 12, 2011 at 04:11:49PM +0400, Michael Vasiliev wrote:
> On 09/06/2011 11:49 AM, Yedidyah Bar-David wrote:
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I am considering ordering a Lenovo Thinkpad T520, and have the following
> > questions. I intend to use it with Debian, can go with Ubuntu if it makes
> > a difference.
> >
> > 1. It has "Integrated Mobile Broadband" and an optional "Gobi 3000".
> > Will they work in Israel? Am I limited to specific suppliers? Is there
> > a reason for the extra $125 for a Gobi 3000, assuming I'll use it only
> > in Israel?
> It is important you check with the cellphone providers about
> compatibility. And then you make sure that the hardware you receive is
> not locked to any US provider.

OK, I'll remember mentioning this in the purchase order, although I
can't believe a decent Israeli supplier will sell a US-only modem without
mentioning that. A Decent one...

> > A salesman now told me that it's not integrated but I have
> > to buy some Erricsson modem (part number 0a36186).
> ׂI think you're being screwed. Gobi 3000 is manufactured by Quallcom,
> it's an integrated add-on card that goes inside your laptop into the
> PCIE slot (not into PCCard/ExpressCard slot on the side). AFAIK, it in
> impossible to install one without full disassembly of the laptop. It is
> a complete communication solution, and no additional hardware is needed.
> While it can be possible to install both cards, depending on your
> configuration, there is only two antennas and both cards would like to
> use both.

I am not sure you understood what I asked about, which I also might have
understood incorrectly. Noone said I should buy both the Erricsson and
the Gobi 3000.

Lenovo's site talks about just two options: Either use the Built In
"Integrated Mobile Broadband", for no additinal money, or buy an extra
"Gobi 3000". The salesman I talked to said there is no Build In
"Integrated Mobile Broadband" - that if I want mobile internet, I have
to buy the Erricsson modem.

What I currently understand (perhaps partially, not sure) is that the
site I looked at is for US, and US versions always have the "Integrated
Mobile Broadband", which do work in the US but not in some other coutries,
and the "Gobi 3000" should work "Almost Everywhere" (perhaps not in the
mathematical meaning of the notion), and the Israeli guy I talked to
talks about Israel models, which do not have anything intergrated, and
for which one can buy the Erricsson modem which works in Israel (and
perhaps other countries, perhaps not in the US).

All of these options are PCIe, built inside the laptop, and require
(partial?) disassembly to install, and so would better be done by the
supplier.

> >
> > 2. It has a "Thinkpad b/g/n" Integrated WiFi and few optional extras.
> > Is there a reason to pay for for one of the options, assuming I do
> > not have extreme needs of either bad reception or high bandwidth?
> > Will any of them work better in linux? FWIW, I currently have a T42
> > with its integrated 2200BG which basically works well, but recently
> > I did not manage to connect to few networks - IIRC I saw somewhere it's
> > a (fixed) bug in the dhcp client but I did not bother debugging.
> I have a Thinkpad W700, which is a somewhat similar model based on a
> different chipset and a previous generation of the wireless core. I
> haven't got to setting it up on Gentoo yet, but it worked reasonably
> well on Ubuntu and yet had no failures in connecting to any properly set
> up network.

Not sure they were "properly set up", they were not set up by me, and
many people used them successfully, in one case an Ubuntu user that sat
next to me (I had Debian Squeeze with some manual configuration).

> 
> Judging from a recent thread on this very list, Micha Feigin
> <michf at post.tau.ac.il> has the same base model (W520) as you intend to
> buy. I suggest you try to mail him for all the gory details.

Look, as far as I know, all thinkpads that ever had built in wifi, worked
well in Linux - if not from the beginning, after some time. My main
concern is why are there several other options in Lenovo's site - are they
only for specific rare needs (e.g. long range/low signal) or I should
spend time understanding them because they might be relevant for me, as
an Israeli user whose only special need is that it works in Linux.

Anyway, ik (Ido Kanner?) already emailed a few days ago to this list
saying that the builtin wifi and the Erricsson modem in a similar model
both work well under Linux, so I think I can safely go on with my order.
I'll of course appreciate more relevant input, especially some that
contradicts my current understanding.

Thanks everyone,
-- 
Didi