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Thinkpad X210

geoff.greer.fm

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Re: Thinkpad X210

#31

Post by saagarjha »

xaduha wrote: post #22
tormeh wrote: post #2

>Linux worked out of the box. I had to install non-free drivers for the Broadcom wireless card, then tweak a few module options to get better power saving. This is not, for the record, "working out of the box".

> This is not, for the record, "working out of the box". I have no doubt that some other distros would work just fine without any changes, you're nitpicking.

I am yet to see a distribution that works out-of-the-box on a wide variety of hardware like Windows does. Sure, there are some distributions that generally work on most hardware, or some laptops that are “optimized for Linux”, but none of these come close to general hardware compatibility.

Re: Thinkpad X210

#32

Post by snazz »

saagarjha wrote: post #6

> Battery life is a little over 4 hours with the flush battery (55Wh) and 6-7 hours with the extended battery (80Wh). Not going to lie, that’s pretty horrible. > Battery life would increase by 50% if I got PC6 or PC8 idle states. The fan only turns on if I’m doing something intensive like compiling go or scrolling in Slack. lol. One of the things that really drives me nuts is my computer’s fan turning on when I know…

If you tweak your power management daemon to force your CPU to stay in the lowest couple of SpeedStep levels, you can keep it much cooler at the expense of performance. This is effectively undeclocking on the fly. When you do something fancy, your CPU clock frequency will increase, but not enough to heat it to the point where the fans turn on.

Most MacBooks doesn’t turn their fans on until the aluminum bottom is tenderizing your lap (and/or melting the table). You could configure this on most non-Apple laptops, too, but running the fans earlier keeps temps down and probably extends the hardware lifetime.

Re: Thinkpad X210

#33

Post by keithpeter »

"The fan only turns on if I’m doing something intensive like compiling go or scrolling in Slack."

Things like scrolling down a recent issue Web site are the main reason I'm not still using a vintage unmodified X200. I realise that the OA quote was probably tongue in cheek but I do find that surfing the Web has become a processor intensive activity!

Re: Thinkpad X210

#34

Post by WebDanube »

Curious about the weight of X210--couldn't find it mentioned anywhere. I'm guessing such a feature-packed device must greatly compromise on the portability factor.

Re: Thinkpad X210

#35

Post by [deleted] »

tormeh wrote: post #2

>Linux worked out of the box. I had to install non-free drivers for the Broadcom wireless card, then tweak a few module options to get better power saving. This is not, for the record, "working out of the box".

[deleted]

Re: Thinkpad X210

#36

Post by [deleted] »

viach wrote: post #20
tormeh wrote: post #2

>Linux worked out of the box. I had to install non-free drivers for the Broadcom wireless card, then tweak a few module options to get better power saving. This is not, for the record, "working out of the box".

> then tweak a few module options to get better power saving What, what these options are? Is there an answer to the mystery of "how to get power management working on a Linux laptop?".

[deleted]

Re: Thinkpad X210

#37

Post by 0x03 »

keithpeter wrote: post #33

"The fan only turns on if I’m doing something intensive like compiling go or scrolling in Slack." Things like scrolling down a recent issue Web site are the main reason I'm not still using a vintage unmodified X200. I realise that the OA quote was probably tongue in cheek but I do find that surfing the Web has become a processor intensive activity!

Only if you enable JS ;)

Re: Thinkpad X210

#38

Post by siscia »

dbg31415 wrote: post #14
mark_l_watson wrote: post #8

I was interested in the hassle for making a payment and buying something from China. Counter to my view of how the world is supposed to work. Payment hassles probably due to buying from a small group of enthusiasts, not a large company. I haven’t done business directly with anyone in China for a number of years (I helped a student on a project about 10 years ago and a media company had me write a simple machine learn…

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14219918#14223933 I bought a NAS off Amazon a few years ago... one of their 3rd party sellers had the same product for $50 cheaper so I went with that. Anyway, what happened next was really amusing to me. I get the product about 8 weeks later... I had tried to cancel because it was so slow, and Amazon wouldn't let me -- they said I had to receive the product and then send it back…

I am pretty sure he was not any kind of seller. I would bet he was the guy who made it. Like engineered it and sold it together...

Re: Thinkpad X210

#39

Post by saagarjha »

Causality1 wrote: post #12

This reminds me of just how much I hate whoever came up with chiclet keyboards and ruined laptops forever.

Of course, with opinionated things like keyboards there will be people who love the exact thing you hate. Me, for example.

Re: Thinkpad X210

#40

Post by viach »

saagarjha wrote: post #26
viach wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> then tweak a few module options to get better power saving What, what these options are? Is there an answer to the mystery of "how to get power management working on a Linux laptop?".

> Is there an answer to the mystery of "how to get power management working on a Linux laptop?" Or even the easier question “how to get power management working on your Linux laptop”?

I seriously think this is the main problem of "Linux on Desktop". Just stop the cooler spinning all the time that's it - Desktop War is won, Win and Mac are packing their stuff and go home.
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