[HN Gopher] New Lenovo ThinkPad Range with Ryzen 4000 and 4000 P...
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New Lenovo ThinkPad Range with Ryzen 4000 and 4000 Pro Mobile
Author : awiesenhofer
Score : 214 points
Date : 2020-05-07 17:15 UTC (5 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.anandtech.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.anandtech.com)
| ldng wrote:
| Well, I hope those are better under linux than the A485 and
| aren't running as hot and a sluggish wireless driver ... it has
| been a disappointment.
| greggyb wrote:
| My dream laptop isn't there yet, but this is hopeful. I want an
| X13 or T14 with an -H series CPU. I think the X13 is unlikely,
| but Asus has shown us that you can fit a 4900HS into a 14"
| laptop.
|
| It's not an absolute necessity for me. I do my primary computing
| on a desktop, and always offload compute onto it from a laptop
| for anything heavy. It's nice to have some local grunt, though.
| ohazi wrote:
| So I guess that's the new Thinkpad naming convention?
|
| T490 -> T14
|
| T590 -> T15
|
| ..etc
| NullPrefix wrote:
| Previously they matched the numbers with Intel CPU gen.
|
| T420 - Sandy Bridge, 2640M
|
| T430 - Ivy Bridge, 3340M
|
| T440 - Haswell, 4300U
|
| And so on and so on.
| rincebrain wrote:
| Yeah, I believe they're switching to branding similar to the X1
| Carbons across everything, so it'll be T14 generation 1,
| generation 2, etc.
|
| I just hope this doesn't imply they're going to start making
| laptops a lot like other manufacturers (e.g. less durable, more
| soldered down components, ...)
| linguae wrote:
| I can't make any statements regarding quality, but regarding
| soldered RAM, unfortunately this practice has spread outside
| of the X1 Carbon lineup. The ThinkPad X280 and X290 have
| soldered RAM with no DIMM slots, and the ThinkPad T490 has
| soldered RAM but with an extra DIMM slot for some
| upgradeability (compare to my T430, which has no soldered RAM
| and instead has two DIMM slots). There are still some
| ThinkPads that don't have soldered RAM, such as the P53 and
| the P1.
|
| Regarding storage, on the other hand, I don't believe the
| ThinkPad lineup has gone down the road of soldered SSDs, not
| even in the X1 Carbon lineup.
| buggeryorkshire wrote:
| Can confirm, my X1 Carbon doesn't have a soldered SSD. Best
| laptop i've ever had tbf and works wonderfully under Fedora
| 32.
| noisy_boy wrote:
| Yes X1 Extreme as well - two DIMM slots and two non-
| soldered SSDs. Pretty much future proof for atleast 4-5
| years for me.
| solarkraft wrote:
| Looks like a joke. There is seemingly not even one configuration
| with a display resolution above full HD.
| nsriv wrote:
| They're beginning the rollout in the E-series which is their
| budget line of Thinkpads. Not sure what your metric is, but
| getting better than Full HD in a Windows portable for $639 is
| par. (Surface Go 2, being the one exception I can recall).
| pedrocr wrote:
| You can't get it in any of them. The same T series that gets
| a 1440p screen with Intel doesn't with AMD. It's still a
| budget line. Maybe in one more generation we can go all the
| way and get a 4K X1 with a Ryzen.
| acd wrote:
| Great that we now have AMD CPUs in Lenovo laptops.
|
| The Lenovos they should be named AT490, AX490 and AL490 so the
| next Lenovo model would be named AT500 and so forth. Where A
| would mean AMD.
| manishsharan wrote:
| Am I the only one who is upset that Lenovo T series has dropped
| external battery ? I am running Ubuntu on a T480 with an extra
| battery in my bag. I don't think any other laptop has ever given
| me as much joy. And I almost never run out of juice even though I
| always code without being plugged into a power source.
|
| Bring back the external battery !!
| Joeri wrote:
| I find the battery situation very frustrating. They put in way
| undersized batteries on everything except macbook pro priced
| models. Spec-wise a T14 is more than fine, but a 50 Wh battery
| is not enough if you actually use it unplugged for software
| development. You go to the T14s and suddenly the battery gets a
| bit bigger, in a machine that is supposed to be thinner and
| lighter. And if you go to the X or P series it gets bigger
| again. I can't help but think they deliberately handicapped the
| affordable segment of their line-up with tiny batteries to
| upsell people.
| phonon wrote:
| Since they use USB-C power port, you can use an USB-C external
| power bank now.
|
| https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-usb-c-battery-packs-a...
| jamesmunns wrote:
| The workaround for this is that you can now get external USB
| batteries that support PD, and most Lenovos use USB with PD for
| their main charging cable, which means you can carry around a
| device that can charge your laptop on the go.
|
| It's not as slick as the "swap batteries, now you're fully
| charged", but on the other side, the USB batteries can charged
| without the laptop, and you can pick the size you're willing to
| carry around.
| anewguy9000 wrote:
| can any thinkpad owners comment on the random shutdown bug?
|
| https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-X-Series-Laptops/X1-Ca...
| daffy wrote:
| Is there something like the Intel-Management-Engine backdoor on
| this too? Is it possible to replace it with coreboot or
| libreboot?
| pb82 wrote:
| Yes, there's the AMD PSP (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_Pla
| tform_Security_Processo...). It's an ARM core with similar
| concerns, but even less is known about it.
| Skunkleton wrote:
| Intel ME cannot be replaced.
| alexbanks wrote:
| Is it possible to get a ThinkPad without the rubber thing in the
| center of the keyboard?
| snazz wrote:
| You can pull the rubber TrackPoint cover off and disable the
| sensor in the BIOS, but the trackpads on these laptops aren't
| always great (at least if you're used to MacBooks). I've
| learned to like it, but I can see how it might be a dealbreaker
| for some people.
| Mikeb85 wrote:
| Why would you want that? Being able to control the mouse cursor
| without your hands leaving a typing position is great, and the
| entire point.
| soperj wrote:
| it's literally the best thing about a Thinkpad. I turn my
| trackpad off as my first step when getting a new thinkpad.
| daffy wrote:
| I'd rather have one without the trackpad (and the backdoor).
| vinay427 wrote:
| Ha, meanwhile I wouldn't buy a ThinkPad (or any other laptop)
| without it.
|
| As for your question, I've never heard of at least the "real"
| ThinkPad series laptops (X/W/T/...) sold without the
| TrackPoint. Does it really bother you when typing? If it's the
| appearance, you can likely find a black nib for purchase or
| maybe remove the included nib and blacken it out.
| tilolebo wrote:
| I had to disable the track point in the BIOS of my X1 carbon
| 5th Gen, otherwise it would completely freeze the OS on
| Ubuntu 18.04.
|
| I never found a solution for this. I hope they fixed it in
| the newer gens.
|
| The touchpad was also really annoying when I had to select
| and scroll.
|
| Apart from that it was a fine laptop, but IMO the XPS 13 is a
| bit better.
| alexbanks wrote:
| I'd have to try. It seems really awful from a typing
| perspective, but everyone's different.
| bfrog wrote:
| It's excellent for typing, you don't need to leave home row
| dgzl wrote:
| Same. Once I learned how to use it, I can't go back.
|
| Recently my work laptop was switched to a Dell without the
| nub and I noticed reduced workflow immediately.
| oefrha wrote:
| I grew up a fan of the track point, back when trackpads
| were either nonexistent or hot garbage (at least on PC
| laptops). Which is to say I definitely "learned how to use
| it". Then I switched to Mac laptops a decade ago. Since
| then I've got to touch the track point a few more times and
| it felt so dated. People still tout the precision, but I
| can get the same level of precision on a quality trackpad,
| plus much needed fluidity in general, not to mention
| multitouch gestures.
| jaifraic wrote:
| For me, it's not about precision. With the Trackpoint I
| can rest my hands on the Keyboard/Homerow and I can use
| the pointer without having to move my hands at all.
| oefrha wrote:
| That's fair. I personally don't mix typing and trackpad
| usage very much so that advantage is pretty minimal for
| me.
| dgzl wrote:
| I think the advantage is bigger than you believe, and I
| would bet you mix typing/trackpad more than you believe
| also.
| oefrha wrote:
| Could be, but I'm positive that I use gestures more than
| I mix typing/trackpad, so there's that.
| dgzl wrote:
| Overall I think you'd still be faster in keyboard, but
| gestures and such offer a lot in terms of simplicity
| which is a fair trade a lot of the time. If your workflow
| revolves around typing however, I would still put
| trackpoint above.
| dgzl wrote:
| As the other commenter said, the benefit comes from
| keeping your fingers on home-row, not precision.
| minikites wrote:
| You can remove it or replace it with a one in a different shape
| or size.
| randlet wrote:
| I don't use the trackpoint but it's also never presented even
| the slightest issue to me when typing.
| sneak wrote:
| I'm wondering how long, or if ever, it takes for reasonable
| people to resume buying Lenovo products after they got busted
| using a firmware-based rootkit to reinstall their manufacturer
| spyware onto a freshly formatted OS install (the same year they
| got busted preinstalling third-party adware, which resulted in an
| FTC settlement/fine).
|
| Do you wait like a year or three? five? Do you never buy Lenovo
| again? What's reasonable? This isn't rhetoric: I'm legitimately
| asking for a figure, as well as a rationale, because I don't know
| the answer.
|
| Personally I'm in the market for a high end laptop for running
| Linux, and I just couldn't see myself buying something from them
| ever, no matter how good their machines are, because I just don't
| trust _the people in the organization who develop products_ to
| take system integrity seriously enough.
| TheSpiceIsLife wrote:
| I'd have no problem buying Lenovo if that's what my local
| computer store was offering as refurbished reasonably priced
| laptops.
|
| When I was last in the market they were offering HP, so that's
| what I got.
|
| That Lenovo fucked up at some point in the past is immaterial
| to my purchasing decisions.
|
| And I consider myself a fairly reasonable person.
| kohtatsu wrote:
| Thank you for the reminder; I firmly believe in voting with
| wallets, and they haven't done enough to regain my trust after
| Superfish and the BIOS bloat installer fiasco.
| deepspace wrote:
| For me, it is never. I tend to trust people and companies to do
| the right thing, but when they violate that trust, they get on
| my permanent blacklist. I also don't fly United or park in
| Impark lots for the same reason. And I will never again turn
| off my ad-blocker after the Forbes fiasco, despite sites
| begging me to do so.
| wmf wrote:
| You can find a reason to blacklist every company and then you
| can't buy anything.
| deepspace wrote:
| Yes, most companies do something bad, sometimes and I'm all
| for forgive-and-forget if the error is understandable and
| they take steps to correct it. But doing something so way-
| out egregious as installing a rootkit on customer's
| machines speaks to a company culture that makes me
| extremely reluctant to do business with them again.
| McAtNite wrote:
| There's a difference between being nit picky and
| blacklisting a company for being openly hostile to their
| customers. Will I ever create a new Facebook account? No.
| Will I ever open a Wells Fargo account after their habit of
| making faking ones? Nope.
|
| Writing off a company for adding root kits to their
| machines out of the box seems to be perfectly reasonable.
| burnishing wrote:
| Do you use Aspirin?
| toast0 wrote:
| Do you acetylsalicylic acid or a specific manufacturer's
| product?
|
| Regardless, a lot of people would say no to either,
| acetomenephen and ibuprofen have largely replaced Asprin
| for most uses.
| distances wrote:
| I've never had aspirin to my knowledge. I wonder how it's
| possible it's been gone for decades and it's still
| somehow a known product name.
| pmlnr wrote:
| That.was.not.the.thinkpad.line.
|
| Please, ffs, learn the difference.
| sam_lowry_ wrote:
| They had rootkits on Yoga, Ideapad and other fancy models.
| Business-oriented laptops did not have rootkits.
| voqv wrote:
| Wasn't it claimed that did not happen on the Thinkpad lines?
| _eht wrote:
| Wasn't it claimed that it was not happening, generally?
| _eht wrote:
| It's two years. But seriously check out system76 hardware. I've
| been pleased.
| 1MachineElf wrote:
| If system76 would put a TrackPoint onto a laptop keyboard,
| then I'd never need Lenovo again.
| esaym wrote:
| I've thought the same thing. Doesn't IBM hold some
| patent/royalties on the use of a "trackpoint" though?
| toast0 wrote:
| So, make it a extra cost option and have the buyer pay
| for the license?
|
| Or, copy trackpoints from outside of the patent window. A
| 20 year old trackpoint won't be as good as a modern one
| (probably, I'm not a trackpoint user), but it's better
| than no trackpoint?
| [deleted]
| freeone3000 wrote:
| I should be bothered in a theoretical sense, but I'm just not
| in a practical sense. I just bought a Legion series because it
| was the best deal (because Asus doesn't sell in my country). If
| I'm running Windows, I'm going to get random arbitrary bloat
| anyway, so I don't really see the mechanism as important.
| nessunodoro wrote:
| Is there a way to detect such big brother firmware and flash
| it?
| gruez wrote:
| It's a non-issue if you're not using windows. Basically it's
| a windows "feature" where if a certain ACPI table is present
| in the firmware, it will download and execute it. There isn't
| actually any malware/spyware executing on the firmware
| itself.
| airstrike wrote:
| > Basically it's a windows "feature" where if a certain
| ACPI table is present in the firmware, it will download and
| execute it.
|
| What in the actual fuck... this seems straight off a
| dystopian graphic novel
| toast0 wrote:
| The intent is that manufacturers would use this to
| provide critical drivers for windows users. Stuff that
| wasn't on the retail OS cd, but you would need to get to
| windows update. Or something, I dunno. Of course, the
| race to the bottom being what it is, if you can get
| $20/unit to put sketchy garbage in it, it's going to
| happen. Just because you're paying for something doesn't
| mean you're not also the product.
| schoolornot wrote:
| The original intent seems OK. Why the hell does this
| mechanism need the capability to execute arbitrary .exe
| files and not just load the most basic type of driver
| required (INF/DLL/etc. whatever Windows calls it)?
| freeone3000 wrote:
| It's still arbitrary code running as a driver, it doesn't
| matter what form it takes, you can abuse the process to
| host whatever you want.
| mikepurvis wrote:
| A DLL is also executable code; there's really no
| difference between that and running an arbitrary EXE. Inf
| files are slightly different, since they're just text-
| based configuration, but I doubt that you could get your
| theft-recovery (or whatever other) functionality using
| just configuration of something built-in.
| gruez wrote:
| AFAIK the original purpose was for anti-theft solutions
| (eg. computrace) to re-install themselves after a wipe.
| Before this, they would mount the boot drive and rewrite
| chkdsk.exe (which gets executed each boot) with their
| program. That way, their tracking software stays on the
| system even if you wiped the computer.
| bluegreyred wrote:
| Some large motherboard vendors do this too. They'll
| happily drop an autoupdater onto any fresh Windows
| installation booted from the board.
|
| https://www.techpowerup.com/248827/asus-z390-motherboards
| -au...
| sneak wrote:
| https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.en.html
|
| When I play movies I've paid for on my iPad I've paid
| for, if I want to screenshot frames from them to share or
| reference or meme, the screenshots come out as black
| rectangles.
| TheSpiceIsLife wrote:
| Sarcasm: That's because it would be trivial to screenshot
| every frame and reassemble the video from there.
|
| No _fair use_ for you!
| chmln wrote:
| The very first thing I do after buying any laptop is completely
| wiping everything and installing Linux or re-installing
| Windows.
|
| I think it's best to always start from clean slate because even
| 'good' manufacturers put a tonne of shit in there. So in that
| sense, it doesn't really matter what the manufacturer does,
| apart from the terrible decision making that they should learn
| from.
| fhelik wrote:
| They used to use firmware-based rootkit to reinstall their
| manufacturer spyware onto a freshly formatted OS install. So,
| not matter what you do, they will reinstall even if you
| format the hard drive.
| josteink wrote:
| But only if you use Windows.
|
| The person you replied to also suggested running Linux
| instead, in which case you are not affected.
| UI_at_80x24 wrote:
| While that's true for Windows (and I remember the reports
| so not arguing the point); it simply _CAN'T_ be true for
| every OS.
|
| Consider using OpenBSD instead. The barrier to entry is
| higher, but worth it. Hell I'd be surprised if they could
| get that to run on linux without exploiting a 0day. Windows
| tries to be too helpful, and that's where the problems
| arises.
|
| Your point is valid though; why trust them? If you follow
| that train of thought all the way down you'll be forced to
| live naked on a deserted island.
| eropple wrote:
| I wipe machines on arrival as a matter of course, so I never
| _stopped_ buying Lenovo machines, but I only buy Thinkpads and
| AFAIK they were only pulling that shit with consumer-level
| machines (which are already a wasteland across most
| manufacturers--not an excuse, to be sure).
| wrkronmiller wrote:
| > busted using a firmware-based rootkit to reinstall their
| manufacturer spyware onto a freshly formatted OS install
|
| Re-imaging the OS would not help in this case, so you would
| only be protected if Lenovo did not, in fact, put the rootkit
| on the Thinkpad line.
| josteink wrote:
| The other option is not running Windows, the only OS which
| is vulnerable to this UEFI malware injection.
|
| And then you just don't care about stuff like that, because
| it honestly doesn't affect you the slightest.
| eropple wrote:
| TIL - I think I had mistaken it for that period of time
| when they were installing Superfish onto consumer machines.
| Thanks!
| wmf wrote:
| Arguably you might want to buy from the company that had the
| most recent scandal because they're more likely to be on their
| best behavior.
| igneo676 wrote:
| My understanding is that the Thinkpad line is a bit segmented
| from the rest of the company. As a result, those poor decisions
| haven't effected the Thinkpad line. It helps also that I
| immediately switch everything over to Linux
|
| I do understanding that it's entirely feasible for them to
| rootkit Linux from the BIOS and install malware onto their
| Thinkpads but I just haven't seen it happen yet
| aesh2Xa1 wrote:
| Hm, it was a problem on the professional ThinkPad line as
| well.
|
| https://thehackernews.com/2015/09/lenovo-laptop-
| virus.html?m...
| josteink wrote:
| > I do understanding that it's entirely feasible for them to
| rootkit Linux from the BIOS and install malware onto their
| Thinkpads but I just haven't seen it happen yet
|
| It's not actually, because the mechanism which allows a
| vendor to provide "drivers" via UEFI is used by Windows only
| and nobody else. Windows exclusively is the target of such
| UEFI abuse.
|
| Lenovo can put as much garbage and bloatware they want in the
| relevant UEFI firmware-sections, and Linux will simply ignore
| it, like it always have. No root-kit will be triggered.
|
| As a Linux-user you are actually 100% immune against this
| abuse. As a ThinkPad-owner doubly so, since this major fuck-
| up only affected budget/non-Thinkpad product-lines.
| igneo676 wrote:
| For what it's worth, I also own quite a few of their older
| laptop lines (Mainly X230's) and I've been slowly flashing
| Coreboot onto them
|
| I know that's not feasible for their newer lines, which I
| also own
| TACIXAT wrote:
| I'm in the security industry and bought a ThinkPad (X1 Carbon)
| 6 months ago. It has the form factor and specs that I want.
|
| What is the threat model? They will not be using the rootkit
| for hiding useland malware. Are they extracting my documents
| and misuing them? Are they performing MITM on my connections
| and doing something harmful? While the capability is there, I
| don't see the software being used in a way that will
| inconvenience me.
|
| It is a weak point in the system, maybe someone else exploits
| it, but I have so much software that I can say that about. When
| looking at threats the question for me is what is most likely
| to get me owned. It will probably be phishing or a malicious
| document. That's not going to change based on the manufacturer
| I buy from.
|
| If I do get owned by some targeted malware that uses a Lenovo
| driver for priv esc, well they were probably going to get me
| with or without that. As good as it would feel to boycott a
| company with poor security practices, I'm over running
| unrefined System76 laptops.
| kohtatsu wrote:
| Did you miss superfish?
|
| https://www.cnet.com/news/superfish-torments-lenovo-
| owners-w...
|
| It did MITM to inject ads, including adding their cert to the
| trust store to MITM SSL connections.
|
| Of course the software needed the private key to work, which
| they shipped to every laptop and was quickly put online.
|
| All of the sudden banking at coffee shops on a lot of Lenovo
| models was no longer private.
|
| I'm not sure if captured traffic could be retroactively
| decrypted, but I wouldn't doubt it. PFS support probably
| wasn't high on Superfish's priorities.
| dralley wrote:
| Superfish was never on Thinkpads, only Lenovo's consumer
| laptops. The Thinkpad division and the consumer laptop
| division seem to operate somewhat separately.
|
| Not to excuse Lenovo - they fucked up big.
| aesh2Xa1 wrote:
| Superfish was never found, but there has definitely been
| malware installed on the ThinkPad line:
|
| https://thehackernews.com/2015/09/lenovo-laptop-
| virus.html?m...
|
| The firmware rootkit, to my knowledge, has never been
| found on ThinkPads.
| modzu wrote:
| please folks, dont do your banking on open coffee shop wifi
| sneak wrote:
| I do this all the time. My machine has a modern browser,
| up to date OCSP, HSTS already cached, all that. Could you
| please explain to me the danger or threats you are
| warning against?
| CountSessine wrote:
| Honest question - why not? My bank uses this cool thing
| called TLS. What's the threat model here?
| headmelted wrote:
| " Are they extracting my documents and misuing them? Are they
| performing MITM on my connections and doing something
| harmful? While the capability is there, I don't see the
| software being used in a way that will inconvenience me."
|
| Please explain this further.
|
| Not snark, genuinely curious.
| darren0 wrote:
| I honestly don't think most people care about this and have
| already forgotten about it.
| the_pwner224 wrote:
| Until upper management changes. They are the ones who encourage
| this behavior (if not directly, then indirectly so they have
| plausible deniability - see Wells Fargo - but still
| intentionally). Only when they change is there a _hope_ of this
| sort of behavior changing.
| [deleted]
| elric wrote:
| I don't _like_ Lenovo. Their laptops have steadily declined by
| every metric I care about since the X220. But Thinkpads are
| still _better_ (by those same metrics) than anything else I 've
| come across.
|
| Would be willing to buy something else. Anything else. But most
| other laptops out there have even _worse_ keyboards (which I
| deeply care about), terrible form factors, specs that are stuck
| in 2010, awful support /warranty, no Linux support, or all of
| the above!
|
| If someone builds something I'm happy with, I'll buy it. Price
| is not an issue. My laptop is my toolbox. I want it to work the
| way I like it. If it breaks, I need to have fixed preferably
| today, but tomorrow or the day after can be acceptable as well.
| That basically leaves Lenovo & Dell.
| nunodonato wrote:
| System76?
| elric wrote:
| From what I can tell from their website, their idea of
| "support" seems to be RMA. I'm not going to be buying a
| laptop from someone who expects me to ship it to the other
| side of the planet so they can fix it. That's a hard pass
| for me. It's really hard to beat Lenovo (or Dell) next-
| business-day-on-site repairs.
| Joeri wrote:
| Lenovo's on site support is not that great though. I used
| it twice. Once for a broken drive, where they shipped me
| a new drive without any explanation or ever sending
| someone. Second time a broken keyboard a month ago, where
| they refused to send someone because I was working from
| home and not from a business address, and also refused to
| send the part (which is supereasy to install) because it
| was not marked as user-serviceable and then threatened
| they would revoke my remaining warranty if i bought the
| part direct and installed it myself. (I did it anyway.)
| esaym wrote:
| No AMD option, I don't think.
| modzu wrote:
| if only they werent plastic. my laptops would be toast
| after about a year but my mbp is going on 5 (did have to
| replace the screen, but was done under warranty)
| sam_lowry_ wrote:
| The web is full of complaints about System76. And the, they
| have really cheap parts compared to Thinkpads.
| joey_bob wrote:
| I just looked at the System76 laptops, and they are
| strikingly similar to the Powerspec(Micro Center)/Sager
| laptops? Is the resemblance superficial or something else?
| cowmoo728 wrote:
| System76 uses Clevo/Sager laptops. However, they don't
| "just" pull off the shelf computers and put an OS on
| them, they're involved with the design of the laptops
| from the beginning.
|
| This thread has more information from someone who works
| at System76.
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17039414
| [deleted]
| tobyjsullivan wrote:
| It seems to me this would be a function of available
| alternatives more than anything else. Some Lenovo products, as
| best I can tell, make for excellent Linux machines. What are
| the alternatives if that's your criteria? There are
| alternatives which might be acceptable depending on your other
| requirements for hardware, form factor, price, or geographic
| availability. But for some subset of requirements, Lenovo is
| still going to be the best option by a wide margin which is
| going to push someone to making that tradeoff. I don't think
| it's a function of time.
|
| edit: "some Lenovo products"
| javajosh wrote:
| The odd thing is that I don't remember this, do you have a
| link. I mean, I remember the Bloomberg article that claimed
| unauthorized physical embeds on PCBs from China. But I don't
| remember the Indestructible Lenovo Spyware scandal!
| rahimnathwani wrote:
| Nice explanation of how it works:
|
| https://www.howtogeek.com/226308/the-windows-platform-
| binary...
| sneak wrote:
| https://www.zdnet.com/article/lenovo-rootkit-ensured-its-
| sof...
| onemoresoop wrote:
| The trend seems unstoppable, windows telemetry is not
| optional, apple owns your system, google reads theough your
| personal information, etc. Pointing only to lenovo isn't
| better than pointing to this general tendency of collecting
| our data non-optionally
| koverda wrote:
| On a tangential note, I recently switched from an XPS 15 to a X1
| Carbon. The thinkpad is a completely uncompromised device. It
| feels like a laptop from the future, where nothing sucks. The
| keyboard is great, the screen is great, the touchpad is great,
| the keys are all there, it's super light, but super solid,
| there's a bajillion ports. Anyone considering a new laptop should
| give a good look at thinkpads. They also have ridiculous sales
| from time to time - I got my X1C for about 50% of retail price.
| efficax wrote:
| The current line up of X1 Carbons (the 8th gen) are absurdly
| priced! $2279 for a _base_ model with an i5, low res screen and
| only 8gb of ram.
|
| For that price you can get the highest end 13" macbook pro,
| 32gb of ram and 2TB of SSD. baffling
| ghostpepper wrote:
| Unlike Apple, where sales are infrequent and minor, the
| prices on Lenovo's site are much higher than you'll end up
| paying if you wait for a deal (even from Lenovo).
| michaelmrose wrote:
| I think the price is too high especially as you can still buy
| gen 7 which came out last summer fully loaded with 4K screen,
| 16GB ram 1TB ssd for about 2K. 32GB ram nor 2TB ssd are an
| option.
|
| The highest end 13" with 2TB of SSD and 32GB of ram actually
| costs 3000
|
| Reducing it to a TB SSD and 16 Ram leaves it at 2200 for the
| mac.
| aeyes wrote:
| I think what you are seeing on Lenovos page are placeholder
| prices, the device isn't shipping.
|
| Pricing was announced to start at $1499.
| MegaDeKay wrote:
| Are there any particularly good times to potentially catch a
| sale or do they come up at random?
| pianoben wrote:
| Black Friday is a good time. This past November I picked up a
| ThinkStation p720 for like 60% off. Not sure whether laptops
| are discounted to the same extent, but it's worth
| investigating.
|
| At any time of year, see if you are eligible for their
| "Tickets At Work" program which offers sizable discounts.
| They sometimes even stack with seasonal sales...
| GordonS wrote:
| I just had a look (in the UK), and it doesn't look possible to
| go higher than 16GB of RAM, which is a deal breaker for me - I
| regularly go above that when running VMs and containers for dev
| and test work.
|
| For such an otherwise powerful machine, I don't k ow why they'd
| limit it?
| throwaway63839 wrote:
| I have X1 Extreme Gen 2 with 64GB of RAM
| koverda wrote:
| I do development work on it and haven't ran into any issues.
| That being said, if you need something a little more beefy,
| and a little less lightweight, the T line is the next place
| to look. There's also the X1 extreme. However, after the
| XPS15 I wanted something a bit more mobile.
| rococode wrote:
| Didn't fit their desired form factor for the X1, maybe. Their
| P53 line goes up to 128GB RAM and may be more suitable for
| your worklaod (I use an X1 but mostly use remote machines and
| don't need local VMs). I believe the construction is mostly
| the same as the X1 and T series Thinkpads, it's just bulkier
| and heavier.
| organsnyder wrote:
| Yep, that's a good description. I have a P51 and T480, and
| the P51 is basically the same laptop, just supersized.
| aquaticsunset wrote:
| The P series is such a workhorse. If I had purchasing power
| over my hardware at work, I'd crank one of those up and
| replace my workstation+laptop with it.
| pimeys wrote:
| I have a T25 with 32 GB of RAM and there's easily 16 GB too
| much in it. It's only 4 threads so using 32 GB at least as a
| programmer is a stretch.
|
| With 16 cores and 32 threads I'm able to use all 32 GB
| easily. I guess I should run more VMs to really understand
| where people need 32 GB in a laptop.
| vel0city wrote:
| If you're interested in Thinkapds but find the X1 a bit
| limiting, check out the T-series or the P1. They're only
| slightly thicker but often have a much higher RAM headroom
| (and often can be easily upgraded by the user).
| jpalomaki wrote:
| I believe Intel had some limitations on their support for the
| LP-DDR (low power) memory and that's why so many systems had
| the 16GB limit.
|
| On light road-warrior machine like X1 they likely wanted to
| maximize the battery life. And supporting many types of
| memory on same model was not likely an option.
| [deleted]
| smacktoward wrote:
| The X models are designed to be ultraportable, aka as thin
| and light as possible. As a result, they're not great
| machines for people who need lots of RAM, storage, etc.
|
| The P series (https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/t
| hinkpad-p/c/t...) is more the "desktop workstation
| replacement" line; heavier and thicker, but with more room
| for components. You can get those with up to 128GB of RAM.
| notJim wrote:
| 13" MBP is available with 32 GB of RAM now, Lenovo needs to
| up their game :)
| imperialdrive wrote:
| Lenovo has plenty of 32GB Thinkpads... nothing new.
| kube-system wrote:
| My cheap 2 year old ultraportable Lenovo supports 32 gigs
| of ram. And it's DDR4. And they're still socketed.
| combixtreen wrote:
| You forgot about 15" X1E, which is a desktop replacement.
| It's still light and portable but comes with higher specs.
| I have one with UHD screen, 32GB and 1TB. Same weight as a
| 15" MacBook Pro. Configured with an FHD screen, it's
| lighter than MacBook.
| basch wrote:
| also the FHD screen has twice the battery life, if you
| want to make that trade off.
| ghostpepper wrote:
| They're ridiculously light too. I have the 7th with the
| 6-core i7-10710U and it weighs under 1000g (not including
| power adapter).
| GordonS wrote:
| I was hoping for the best of both worlds - something with a
| 14" 3K display, very light (don't care too much about
| thinness TBH), but with a good processor and 32GB of RAM.
| cvdub wrote:
| I regret getting the WQHD (2560x1440) screen on my X1
| Carbon 7th gen. Text is too small to read without
| scaling, and I haven't figured out how to configure
| consistent scaling behavior across Wayland and XWayland
| applications.
|
| FHD is plenty on a 14" screen.
| katmannthree wrote:
| I have a T480s with a 14" FHD (1920x1080) screen and the
| experience isn't good either. Wayland apps work with
| fractional 1.25X scaling but are laggy and have odd
| graphical glitches. XWayland apps are just blurry.
| distances wrote:
| I think 1920x1080 is the perfect native resolution for
| 14", without scaling. It's a bit small on first look but
| you're closer to laptop screen than you're to a real
| monitor, so that turns out just fine for me.
| ggreer wrote:
| I have an X1 Carbon 7th gen with a 4k screen (3840x2160).
| I run it at 2x scaling on Wayland (sway) and I haven't
| had any issues with native Wayland apps. X apps are
| rendered at 1x and upscaled, making them blocky or
| blurry. Apparently there are some apps like Spotify that
| ignore scaling settings and always render at 1x, but I
| haven't run into them.
|
| There is a fix in progress for XWayland scaling:
| https://github.com/swaywm/wlroots/pull/2064
| lower wrote:
| I have the same configuration and leave display scaling
| at 100%, but set the font scaling factor to 1.5 in the
| Gnome Tweak Tool. In this way, all fonts in Wayland and
| XWayland apps have the right size and nothing is blurry.
| Only controls like window borders are a bit smaller than
| intended by the designer, but I actually prefer it that
| way because it's more compact.
| JoshTriplett wrote:
| Likewise (scaling factor 1.4 here). I find that quite
| usable.
| smacktoward wrote:
| The all-arounders are the T series:
| https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpad-t-
| ser...
|
| The AMD-based T495 can be configured with up to 32GB of
| RAM; the Intel-based T490, up to 48GB.
| cmrdporcupine wrote:
| Thinkpad range is great. But I made the mistake of getting one
| of Lenovo's desktop machines (Lenovo Yoga A940) to replace our
| dead iMac, and to give my daughter a system with a stylus etc.
| for doing artwork. On paper it looks good. In practice there's
| been issues. Bleed and dead pixels on the screen, occasional
| reliability issues. Didn't want to pour out the cash for the
| Surface all in one, but kinda wish I had.
|
| Wish the Thinkpad quality would extend to their other products.
| tengbretson wrote:
| Also got the X1 carbon. I have no idea how something that feels
| so sturdy can feel like its light enough to float away!
| koverda wrote:
| Exacty! The build quality on this thing is out of this world.
| Any time I unplug it from the dock and use it in more of a
| laptop mode, I get little dopamine hits all around.
| maxmouchet wrote:
| I'm hesitating between an XPS and an X1. What do you find
| better on the X1?
| combixtreen wrote:
| X1 hands down. I sold my XPS13 and never looked back.
| sp332 wrote:
| You didn't answer the question at all.
| rozab wrote:
| This sort of comment is all over this thread, and it really
| doesn't help me make a decision
| pimeys wrote:
| All X1 Carbons I've owned and the one my partner owns
| have been so nice to use. I mean you just need to get one
| into your hands... The rubbery cover, very sturdy design,
| super lightweight, perfect keyboard, in the later models
| perfect screens too (2k Adobe RGB 100% and HDR just nails
| it).
|
| And you can throw it everywhere, just travel with it and
| use everywhere due to it being so small and nice. And you
| can damage it and probably the floor tiles break before
| the laptop gets any real hit.
|
| Edit: oh and Linux just works so great in any of those
| business ThinkPads. Any linux. I'll go with Arch
| typically, but even more exotic operating systems, such
| as OpenBSD just work with it (running it in one of my
| ThinkPads for some years, and the experience is great).
| koverda wrote:
| the XPS I had felt like a laptop from the past, the X1 feels
| like a laptop from the future.
|
| The XPS's keyboard would multi press, the touchpad didn't
| work great, the hinge made it difficult top open the screen,
| the speakers kinda sucked. Don't get me wrong, it was a nice
| laptop, but felt very over hyped. A death by a thousand cuts.
| I felt a bit let down from what I expected after reading a
| bunch of reviews.
|
| On the other hand, when I finally got the the X1C, I couldn't
| believe that there was so little hype about this laptop. All
| I would ever see online is stuff about macbooks and the XPS
| line, nothing about the X1C.
|
| The X1 is such a solid machine. The interface is completely
| uncompromised, yet it is so light, it feels like I've just
| got a spiral bound notebook in my bag when I'm carrying it
| around. Feels like a leap ahead, rather than two steps
| forward, one step back.
| modzu wrote:
| i sold my xps because the trackpad was glitchy. go to dell
| and count the number of driver revisions. its like a
| perpetual beta product. the nosecam lol. the bezels on xps
| are purdy tho.
| JadeNB wrote:
| Didn't Dell finally fix the nosecam?
| noisy_boy wrote:
| No op but for me the clincher was vastly superior keyboard
| and the expansion capability with dual ssd/dual ram slots
| that made me go for X1 Extreme Gen 2. I have used Dell in the
| past and after using this Thinkpad, I have to admit that I
| find the latter to be of better quality overall.
| ksec wrote:
| I am wondering, are there any Windows laptop keyboard that are
| better than Thinkpad?
|
| Long time ago the Thinkpad Keyboard was the closest thing to
| 2015 MacBook Pro Keyboard.
|
| It is just sad in 2020 we have to look for keyboards with all
| the keys and companies dont mess around with the key travels.
| kockic wrote:
| Based on personal experience from using both Thinkpad T
| series and MS Surface Book, keyboard on Surface Book feels
| even better than the one on Thinkpad.
| filoleg wrote:
| To add to that, trackpad on Surface Book (can only talk
| about the first gen one, haven't tried 2nd or 3rd gen yet)
| is also by far the best trackpad I've ever seen on a non-
| macbook laptop.
| jjice wrote:
| I also love my X1 Carbon. Fantastic machine, and extremely
| affordable on the used market. The only reason I stopped using
| mine is because the BIOS is locked and I wanted to run Linux
| full time, and my model (gen 3) can't be reset like a lot of
| the other models (I can't remember what the process was). It's
| a great machine and after resale value, I spend ~$200 for two
| years of a solid machine, which I consider a win.
| RussianCow wrote:
| Are you saying you sold a two year old machine for $200 less
| than the price you paid for it when it was brand new? How is
| that possible? Even MacBook Pros don't have that good of
| resale value.
| swalsh wrote:
| How is the driver support for Linux?
| Naac wrote:
| Driver support on thinkpads is ( and has always been )
| excellent.
| caycep wrote:
| That may be the way to go but our office cheaped out and got
| discounted T490s. It's a great laptop minus the screen and
| trackpad...but management doesn't want to spend more than $800
| on a laptop
| petschge wrote:
| I have a X1 Carbon that is a few years old now. About 2 years
| ago I dropped it (lid closed) from about 2 feet up (70cm). And
| it hit the tiled floor, pointy corner first. I thought "welp
| here go $2000". But no! A 2x3 mm part of the black surface
| finish chipped of and I see the bare silvery metal now. Oh and
| the tile cracked.
| VibrantClarity wrote:
| A client once brought in a Thinkpad they ran over with a
| truck and the only damage was the soft copper heatpipes and
| fins were bent. I bent it back a little so the fan wouldn't
| scrape and it ran perfectly fine.
| milancurcic wrote:
| Of course these are anecdotal. I got my IdeaPad U430 in 2014.
| Same year it slid off my bunk bed (6' high), first hitting
| the corner of my dresser before it fell on the hardwood
| floor. It cracked its spine in half and got a dent in the
| back of the screen so deep that part of the screen is bulging
| out. I was sure I would be buying a new laptop. To my
| delight, there was no functional damage to it, it's still my
| daily laptop today. My next one will be a ThinkPad when one
| of the components fail.
| Deinos wrote:
| Have a similar, but slightly more horrific, story with a
| Thinkpad X230T. I was working from home after the birth of
| our first child (so... clearly not in my right mind...), and
| I decided it would be a good idea to carry my laptop on top
| of a way too full basket of laundry up the stairs to save an
| extra trip. I wasn't paying attention... tilted the basket at
| the very top of the stairs... and my Thinkpad rolls down the
| stairs along its edges... full steam ... and slams into the
| wall at the bottom.
|
| I pick up the Thinkpad expecting the worst... and the only
| damage was a very slight opening along the seam of the
| external battery... not a scratch on the actual unit
| itself... no components jarred free... nothing...
|
| Been buying Thinkpads ever since...
| adtac wrote:
| the X series and the T series are some of the best laptops
| ever built
|
| unless your work requires you to use macOS, you have no
| reason to buy a Macbook
| tokamak-teapot wrote:
| My sanity requires it.
| shrimp_emoji wrote:
| And, if you use Linux, ThinkPads have a good track record
| at compatibility.
|
| They even have a page with "certified supported" versions:
| https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/pd031426
|
| Recently, they've even partnered with Red Hat to ship
| Fedora on some laptops by default:
| https://fedoramagazine.org/coming-soon-fedora-on-lenovo-
| lapt...
| affyboi wrote:
| I'm switching back to a macbook now, but I used to run a
| T480s with the WQHD screen and it worked really well.
| Good battery life, nice HIDPI screen, super durable. I
| brought it with me when I traveled and everything, never
| had any issues besides scratching the outside surface.
| freedomben wrote:
| Why are you switching back to a macbook?
| foldr wrote:
| The touchpad and display are significantly better on the
| MacBook. Also, Apple sell their hardware products at a
| single, clearly advertized price point. I hate how Lenovo
| make you fuss around with discount codes to get a fair
| price.
| RussianCow wrote:
| > unless your work requires you to use macOS, you have no
| reason to buy a Macbook
|
| If hardware is all that matters to you, sure. But some
| people actually prefer the software experience of macOS to
| that of Windows, for a variety of reasons.
| tincholio wrote:
| I'm running Linux on my X1, works like a charm (and I
| find myself using my Macbook Pro less and less)
| rla3rd wrote:
| i'm running Ubuntu 20.04 on my Thinkpad P2 Gen 2 laptop,
| using the Budgie Desktop. I'd guess my entire workflow is
| 95% the same coming from my MBP.
| asveikau wrote:
| Typing this from FreeBSD on mine.
|
| I used to run OpenBSD on a laptop (not this one) and that
| was great too.
| Insanity wrote:
| You can get Linux on those devices too
| RussianCow wrote:
| That's true, and it's really wonderful that you have that
| option, but it doesn't help if you prefer the software
| experience of macOS and/or need software that doesn't run
| on Linux.
| stratosmacker wrote:
| I just have to say sometimes you can have it all
| http://x220.mcdonnelltech.com/
| ricketycricket wrote:
| Or, perhaps not http://x220.mcdonnelltech.com/mojave/
| modzu wrote:
| what screen? i keep reading anything but the basic 1080 nukes
| battery life? i just cant imagine a laptop in 2020 doing 3
| hours after having a mbp retina for the last 5 years which is
| capable of running all day
| bitwize wrote:
| I've been issued MBPs at my past few jobs. On each of them
| "all day" is about five hours, tops. You must not be doing a
| heckin lot of dev work if you actually get all day out of a
| single charge of an MBP battery.
| cvdub wrote:
| I'd go with 1080p if you're planning to run Linux. See
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23107338
| mdtusz wrote:
| FWIW I have a t480s with the 1440p display and am using
| Linux and my battery life is typically around 6 hours or so
| for regular use. If I start running more dev tools and
| building things it plummets as to be expected, but the
| display really doesn't seem to make much difference.
|
| The biggest thing I miss from my MacBook is being able to
| open it after a week of being closed and still have
| battery. There's definitely something not going into deep
| sleep when I close the lid, but that's probably my fault.
| koverda wrote:
| I got the 1080 screen for battery life considerations.
| Totally satisfied with it, however I haven't spent much time
| on retina screens.
| logjammin wrote:
| Seconded (well, eighth'd, if the rest of the comments are any
| indication). I got a 6th gen X1C at the end of '18 and it's
| brilliant. It'd be neat to have a Ryzen option on them in the
| future, as I have a desktop I build with an AMD CPU and love
| it.
|
| My only complaint about my X1? Windows.
| eps wrote:
| Can it run OK under Windows 8 or 8.1?
| randlet wrote:
| Same. I love my X1 Carbon.
| techolic wrote:
| The keys are all there - laptop review from 2020.
| koverda wrote:
| It's an important consideration!
| blodkorv wrote:
| i have an x1 carbon and i hate it. There is an bug with the
| trackpoint and mouse pad that makes the pointer drift randomly.
| I have had my computer back and forth and replaced everything.
| It still drifts
| [deleted]
| efficax wrote:
| This has been a problem with trackpoints since as long as I
| can remember. Definitely saw pointer drift on a thinkpad
| running XP, and see it today on their latest. Wonder if
| they'll ever actually solve it.
| pengaru wrote:
| Maybe new thinkpads are exceptionally bad, because I've used
| thinkpads daily for decades now and have _never_ had this
| problem. X40, X61, numerous X61S 's, X201S, X220, X230, X250,
| and mix of T-series machines back in the day, not once has
| this been an issue for me. And I abuse these machines to the
| point that I replace the worn-polished and sloppy keyboards,
| and often crack the chassis, they don't live an easy life
| under my hands.
|
| The only remotely related phenomenon I've seen is after
| resting on the trackpoint steadily long enough, it learns
| that to be the new center as it's constantly adapting. So
| upon finally removing my resting finger, it will drift just
| long enough for the adaptive centering to update and the
| drift stops. But that's perfectly normal and very short-
| lived.
| close04 wrote:
| That's something that plagued my ThinkPads since forever,
| made worse when they moved from the rounded trackpoint nub to
| the flat one. Easy fix, take out the rubber trackpoint nub
| and put it back (maybe clean the area a bit). Or disable it
| if you're more productive with the touchpad.
| blodkorv wrote:
| sadly the touchpad is wonky too and sometimes its glitchy
| majormajor wrote:
| This was an eventual issue on my X61 in 2008 and on my
| T4something in 2018. It's a shame. I had to just apply a lot
| of pressure in random directions to the trackpoint to get it
| to stop, periodically.
| koverda wrote:
| The bug with the trackpoint is if you rest your finger on the
| trackpoint. If you lift your finger, it should stop drifting.
| blodkorv wrote:
| no it dont stop when i lift my finger.
| codemac wrote:
| > There is an bug with the trackpoint and mouse pad that
| makes the pointer drift randomly.
|
| If it drifts in a single direction in that time, I found it
| was actually a physical problem and fixed it by cleaning
| around the trackpoint.
|
| I haven't seen this in software though, I currently have the
| X1 gen 6. Which do you have? Which bug is it? I'd love to see
| if there is a way to help.
| blodkorv wrote:
| my track point been replaced and cleaned two times. Its not
| just the track point but the mouse pad is wonky too.
| GordonS wrote:
| What display did you go for?
| berbec wrote:
| I got the 1080p low power. I get 8+ hours of full brightness
| Netflix!
| 2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote:
| I was just on Lenovo's site two days ago looking for new Ryzen
| laptops. Sweet!
| jagger27 wrote:
| Major bummer to see they're still using 16:9 displays, even when
| the lower bezel area could easily accommodate a 16:10 display.
|
| I am however very pleased to see Lenovo embracing AMD in their
| high end products.
| SloopJon wrote:
| For all of its quirks, I love having a 3:2 display on the
| MateBook X Pro. Besides the Surface Laptop and Surface Book,
| there's not much else on the market with this aspect ratio.
| khasan222 wrote:
| 15+ hours of battery life on all of them? I would upgrade my
| machine for that alone.
| ggreer wrote:
| Like most PC manufacturers, Lenovo's exaggerates battery life
| claims. 15 hours is basically if you're idling the machine at
| minimum brightness with bluetooth and wifi disabled.
|
| For example: Lenovo claims that my 7th gen X1 Carbon has "up to
| 18.3 hours" of battery life. Typically my laptop uses 5-10
| watts. It can go as low as 2.5 watts if I dim the screen to its
| lowest setting, close all applications, and disable the radios.
| The battery is 52 watt-hours, so that would be 20 hours of
| "usage" before it runs out of juice. Really though, I get 5-12
| hours depending on what I'm doing.
| selykg wrote:
| This is one of the many reasons I keep buying Apple laptops.
| Their stated battery life claims are usually pretty close or
| at least reasonable enough. Then I hear all these types of
| things about PC manufacturers are it just makes paying more
| for a MacBook a little less frustrating.
| snazz wrote:
| Luckily, there are usually third party reviews with
| accurate battery life claims, at least for more popular
| laptops (like any ThinkPad). You're right that Apple does
| do a good job of accurately advertising battery life. On
| the other hand, since thermals aren't great on most
| MacBooks, some of Apple's performance statistics are only
| accurate for the first few minutes until the processor
| starts to thermal throttle.
| kvark wrote:
| I find the battery life in Lenovo laptops degrading very
| quickly, comparing to Apple macbooks. I used X1C 4th gen as
| well as X1 Extreme extensively, and their batteries are pretty
| close to dead, only delivering ~1-2 hours of work. At the same
| time, I'm typing this from a 2016 MBP, which is alive and well,
| batter is good enough still.
|
| Maybe it's just Linux, which I run on Thinkpads. Overall as a
| system though, the difference is drastic, not in favour of
| Lenovo.
| jpalomaki wrote:
| There has been also complaints that if you have 4K display in
| Lenovo you are loosing quite much battery life. I haven't
| seen any definite tests about this though.
| vzaliva wrote:
| As soon as they support Linux...
| ngngngng wrote:
| Fedora works great on a clean install with no tweaks on my new
| thinkpad.
| m4rtink wrote:
| Yeah, running Fedora on T520, x230 & T460p - all fine. :)
| snazz wrote:
| To be fair, all of those are pretty old (the T520 is from
| 2011), so it's expected that they would work flawlessly---
| it's the very new X1 Extremes and a couple of other models
| that are problematic. For the most part, staying one
| generation back is enough to get very good hardware
| support.
| tssva wrote:
| My current generation T495 works perfectly with the
| latest Fedora and Ubuntu. The last revisions of Fedora
| and Ubuntu work perfectly except for the fingerprint
| sensor.
| flatiron wrote:
| Even on my old ass w540 that finger print sensor doesn't
| really work all that great.
| randlet wrote:
| I've been running Ubuntu 18.04 on my X1 Carbon for the last
| couple of years and it has been delightful.
| vzaliva wrote:
| Maybe it was older model? I've seen multiple complaints from
| people on this thread:
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22969469
| derekp7 wrote:
| Their list of Linux vendor certifications is here:
| https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/pd031426
| mixedCase wrote:
| They're going to be shipping Fedora on some of their laptops,
| although I think not these ones unfortunately.
| isodude wrote:
| You can actually buy one with Ubuntu pre-installed. Check this
| out https://lenovo.com/linux
| nix0n wrote:
| For me that just redirects to https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/
| isodude wrote:
| Well that's great. It should be www.lenovo.com/linux which
| redirects to
| https://support.lenovo.com/se/en/solutions/pd031426 which I
| planned to write first.
| skrtskrt wrote:
| I see the support list, but where can I actually order
| one with preinstall from?
| apetresc wrote:
| Huh? Who, Lenovo or AMD? They both have fine Linux support.
| akvadrako wrote:
| No they don't. The newest X1 Carbon didn't have a working
| microphone in the Linux kernel at release. It didn't work in
| Ubuntu until about a year after it started shipping.
| ldng wrote:
| Not all Lenovo laptop work that well ... A485 support has
| been shitty for a long time.
| nominated1 wrote:
| AMD GPU drivers are still suspect. I LOL'd at this commit [1]
| before reverting it in my local branch and thinking glad I
| went with Intel.
|
| [1] https://github.com/mpv-
| player/mpv/commit/6385a5fd1b8a67c051b...
| grumpopotamus wrote:
| The last AMD laptop I bought froze randomly every few hours
| on Ubuntu, and there is no way to turn on my keyboard
| backlight on my Thinkpad T480 on Ubuntu. I gave up trying to
| fix these problems a while ago, and last time I checked
| nobody had found a fix for either issue for my specific
| laptop models. I'd be very hesitant to buy AMD or Lenovo
| before I had strong evidence that there are no serious issues
| on Linux.
| martin8412 wrote:
| Granted I had to do a firmware update(supported through
| Linux), but I have Linux running on a X395 without any
| problems.
| sam_lowry_ wrote:
| Sounds like the famous AMD Ryzen soft lockup bug. Adding
| something like processor.mac_cstate=5
| rcu_nocbs=0-7
|
| to the boot options solved it for me.
|
| See for instance this:
| https://community.amd.com/thread/225795
| vzaliva wrote:
| What about problems people mention here?
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22969469
|
| I love ThinkPad and planning to buy one soon, but reporters
| of problems with sound and WiFi drivers concerning.
| dgzl wrote:
| I've been running Arch on X1Y2 no problem
| eropple wrote:
| The newer Carbons and the X1 Extreme have had a rougher
| time than most Lenovo laptops. My T480 and T580 were pretty
| much perfect from the jump, but my X1 Extreme remains
| disappointing.
| petschge wrote:
| Recently bought T490 worked with Debian stable out of the
| box.
| noisy_boy wrote:
| I installed Ubuntu 19.04 on X1 Extreme Gen 2 and didn't
| have any issues. Upgrades to 19.10 and 20.04 have been
| painless as well. Everything basically works.
| eropple wrote:
| I have an X1 Extreme Gen 1 and it's had power/battery
| issues since I got it.
| petepete wrote:
| Providing you pick one with intel wifi you'll have no
| problem. As far as I can see, that's the only real
| disadvantage of these AMD models.
| tssva wrote:
| Having an AMD cpu doesn't prevent having an Intel wifi
| chipset. My AMD based Thinkpad T495 has an Intel wifi
| chipset.
| chmln wrote:
| I mean, buying a brand-new device and using Ubuntu 19.04
| with the 5.0 kernel from a year ago and outdated packages
| is begging for trouble.
|
| Since linux drivers live mostly in kernel space, for new
| devices I would imagine a lot of issues would be fixed by
| running the latest kernel or mainline for even newer
| hardware.
| jadbox wrote:
| Are they all just using an integrated gpu?
| slaw wrote:
| T15 should have touchpad in the middle, not to the left.
| greendave wrote:
| Good looking laptops with excellent CPUs.
|
| It is a bit unfortunate that they don't support Thunderbolt
| though. The ability to add an external GPUs/PCIe cards widens the
| horizon a lot for desktop-replacement systems.
| maxioatic wrote:
| I have a X1 Carbon 3rd gen (2015) that is starting to get beat up
| (man is it durable though). I've been waiting to upgrade to a
| Thinkpad with a Ryzen 4000, so I'm super excited about these. I
| might switch to the T series though (for more RAM) and replace my
| aging desktop as well.
|
| As an aside I've been running Ubuntu 16 for the last couple years
| no problem. Recently updated to Ubuntu 20 and it's been great so
| far.
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