Lenovo T520 Maximum Memory: Not 8, But 16 GB!

  • Hardware
  • Published Dec 6, 2012 Updated Dec 5, 2012

Contrary to what Lenovo wants to make you believe, the T520 laptop is not limited to 8 GB of RAM. I own this reliable workhorse and made the mistake of buying another laptop because I wanted something more elegant, but mainly because I need more than 8 GB of RAM. As it turned out, the other machine was not as business-proof as I thought.

Since I had bought an 8 GB module for the other machine I decided to try it in the T520 - it worked instantly and flawlessly with 12 GB in total. That gave me confidence to order a second 8 GB module and replace the remaining 4 GB SO-DIMM with it. Now my T520 is at 16 GB of RAM, twice the amount Lenovo’s specifications state as the maximum.

Noble-Workhorse-vs.-Showy-Interloper by Mike Knell under CC

If you own the T520 and want to extend your machine’s life: spend 80 € for two 8 GB SO-DIMMs and upgrade to 16 GB. If you want to go a little bit further, replace the hard disk drive with an SSD. I can recommend the Plextor M3 Pro and the Samsung SSD 840 Pro (I own the Plextor since the Samsung was not yet available).

I did both, upgraded the RAM and replaced the HDD with an SDD, and the laptop’s new power nearly scares me. Working with virtual machines now is actually fun - it definitely was not, before.

For the record: the SO-DIMM model I used is the Kingston M1G64J90 (8 GB DDR3-1333).

LaptopLenovoUpgrade

Comments

Related Posts

Finding the Perfect Laptop, 2014 Edition

Finding the Perfect Laptop, 2014 Edition
My current laptop is nearly three years old. That is a pretty long time, and I have contemplated getting a new machine more than once in the last years. I even went so far as to buy a more fancy replacement, but that attempt failed miserably. After using the new device for only a few days I realized that I had taken my Lenovo T520’s qualities for granted too much. I had thought a sleeker, more modern notebook would have all its qualities, too, albeit in a more appealing hull. Boy, was I wrong. As I wrote after trying to work on a Sony:
Hardware

Ploopy Adept - Ergonomic Trackball With Hyperscrolling

Ploopy Adept - Ergonomic Trackball With Hyperscrolling
If you’re plagued by RSI symptoms, it’s high time you evaluate alternatives to traditional keyboards and mice. For me, moving the mouse to my left hand nearly twenty years ago (even though I’m not left-handed) seemed to do the trick. Ultimately, though, it proved not to be enough. Much later I switched to a lightweight gaming mouse to reduce the weight I’d have to lug around. That helped, but only for a time. I also experimented with various types of split keyboards. But that’s a topic for another post.
Hardware

Latest Posts

Beautiful Slide Decks from Markdown: Presenting with Slidev

Beautiful Slide Decks from Markdown: Presenting with Slidev
Would you like to get away from PowerPoint and author slide decks in Markdown? Then Slidev may be just what you’re looking for. It’s a web app for presentations. The fact that it’s geared towards developers shouldn’t put you off. After all, who isn’t a developer these days, with AI? Slidev comes with the beautiful Tahta themes and supports features like syntax highlighting and animations. Export options to PDF and PPTX allow for easy sharing. This article shows how to get started.
Applications