Tuning the Lenovo T520 - Upgrading Memory and Installing an mSATA SSD

Hardware
Published Sep 22, 2011 Updated Sep 6, 2011

Disassembling the Lenovo Thinkpad T520 is easy, which makes upgrading the device a simple procedure. As described in my previous article I bought a T520 with only 2 GB RAM in order to replace the shipped memory with two 4 GB modules from Kingston. I also bought Intel’s mSATA SSD 310. This is a short description of the upgrade and installation procedure.

First Memory Module

Installing the first memory module is extremely simple: just turn the laptop on its back and release the two screws pointed at by the red arrows to gain access to the DIMM slot:

Lenovo Thinkpad T520 - installing a memory module

Second Memory Module

In order to gain access to the second DIMM slot you need to release the two screws pointed at by the yellow arrows in the preceding image. Then turn the laptop around and gently remove the keyboard.

The second DIMM slot is below the white cover (red arrow), the mSATA slot below the black cover (yellow arrow):

Lenovo Thinkpad T520 - keyboard removed

Installing the memory module is simple:

Lenovo Thinkpad T520 - second DIMM slot

SSD

In order to install the Intel SSD 310 remove the black cover and carefully insert the SSD into the mSATA slot:

Lenovo Thinkpad T520 - inserting the SSD

By the way, the SSD 310 is unbelievably tiny. Is has barely the size of six keys on the Thinkpad’s keyboard:

Intel SSD 310 on Thinkpad keyboard

Intel SSD 310 Lenovo Memory MSATA SSD Thinkpad T520

Comments

Comments are powered by Giscus. Please enable JavaScript to view them, or view discussions directly on GitHub.

Related Posts

Looking for the Perfect Mechanical Keyboard (Office & Software Development)

Looking for the Perfect Mechanical Keyboard (Office & Software Development)

I am a mechanical keyboard aficionado. I guess this started in the late ’90s when I typed on a Cherry G80-3000-LSMDE for the first time. The low force required to press a key combined with the tiny click when a keystroke registered created a typing experience that was both easy and precise. I have not owned many keyboards that managed to recreate this typing experience (actually none). Here is a little account of my decade-long journey across keyboard land.

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.

How to Enable BitLocker Hardware Encryption with SSDs

How to Enable BitLocker Hardware Encryption with SSDs

2019-10-01: with the 2019 September update KB4516045 BitLocker uses software instead of hardware encryption by default. Likely reason: the security of software encryption can be controlled by Microsoft. Hardware encryption in the drive may be buggy.

Windows Internals

Finding the Perfect Laptop Computer

Finding the Perfect Laptop Computer

For a geek, one of the most fun things is choosing a new toy. I experienced this once again when I needed to buy a new laptop computer. The selection process was a lengthy one, during which I looked at and considered practically every model on the market. The benefits of that are twofold: I get a new device, whose strengths I appreciate and whose weaknesses I accept because I know there is no other model better suited for my needs on the market. You get this: a very personal laptop computer buyer’s guide.

Latest Posts

Changing the Location of PowerShell Profile Scripts

A PowerShell profile is an init script that is executed when the shell starts. PowerShell searches for profile scripts in hard-coded locations. This article explains how to move profile scripts to any directory of your choice.

Changing the Location of the Windows Terminal Settings Files

Changing the Location of the Windows Terminal Settings Files

Windows Terminal stores its settings in configuration files that resides in the Windows user profile. This article explains how to move them to any directory of your choice. Where are the Settings Files Located? The location of the Windows Terminal settings file is hard-coded. The exact path depends on the app variant you installed, but it’s always in the user profile:

Fast & Silent 5 Watt PC: Minimizing Idle Power Usage

Fast & Silent 5 Watt PC: Minimizing Idle Power Usage

This micro-series explains how to turn the Lenovo ThinkCentre M90t Gen 6 into a smart workstation that consumes only 5 Watts when idle but reaches top Cinebench scores while staying almost imperceptibly silent. In the first post, I showed how to silence the machine by replacing and adding to Lenovo’s CPU cooler. In this second post, I’m listing the exact configuration that achieves the lofty goal of combining minimal idle power consumption with top Cinebench scores.

Fast & Silent 5 Watt PC: Lenovo ThinkCentre M90t Modding

Fast & Silent 5 Watt PC: Lenovo ThinkCentre M90t Modding

This micro-series explains how to turn the Lenovo ThinkCentre M90t Gen 6 into a smart workstation that consumes only 5 Watts when idle but reaches top Cinebench scores while staying almost imperceptibly silent. In this first post, I’m showing how to silence the machine by replacing and adding to Lenovo’s CPU cooler. In a second post, I’m listing the exact configuration that achieves the lofty goal of combining minimal idle power consumption with top Cinebench scores.