Live data from Hacker News

New Laptop: Thinkpad P14s

domenkozar.com

51–60 of 101 posts

Re: New Laptop: Thinkpad P14s

#51
post #31

Good laptop, but with a few small drawbacks: - No vapor chamber cooling, just regular heat pipes - Monitor has thick borders - Not 16:10 - Fn/Ctrl are swapped (all thinkpad laptops) - Thinkpad's fingerprint readers never worked reliably to me - I personally prefer USB-C network adapter instead of the bulky RJ45 - 720p camera, but most of laptops have a bad web cam... - I assume it will have very average speakers. Usu…

Fn/Ctrl can be swapped in BIOS

Yes, I do this with all work issued laptops.

Re: New Laptop: Thinkpad P14s

#52

If you read this blog post and think "Nice! I will buy the same Thinkpad and use Linux", then be aware that the previous generation P14s has serious issues with power drain in standby[0]. These issues have been not been resolved since September 2020. In large parts of Europe, the second generation P14s is not yet available. So buyer beware! [0] https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Other-Linux-Discussions/T14-AMD...

I had the same issue with the ThinkPad T14 AMD. Left it in my backpack for two days and the battery was completely drained.

What made it worse: Lenovo's own USB-C Gen 2 Dock would refuse to charge the battery when it was drained. I had to borrow a friend's MacBook Pro USB-C charger to get the battery up to a reasonable charge.

(Yes, the dock does provide enough power for charging the laptop.)

Re: New Laptop: Thinkpad P14s

#53
post #10

I have a P14s with a 4750U and it flies through Pop!_OS. Wouldn't hesitate to recommend to anybody.

I've been using the same (P14s w/4750U) with Ubuntu for 4 months with great results. I also have a mini-server with the 4750G, and I'm very happy with these Ryzen APUs so far!

Early on I was using ubuntu LTS and had some issues resuming the P14s after suspend, but now everything works great using the 5.11 kernel (included w/ubuntu 21.04)

Re: New Laptop: Thinkpad P14s

#55

If you read this blog post and think "Nice! I will buy the same Thinkpad and use Linux", then be aware that the previous generation P14s has serious issues with power drain in standby[0]. These issues have been not been resolved since September 2020. In large parts of Europe, the second generation P14s is not yet available. So buyer beware! [0] https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Other-Linux-Discussions/T14-AMD...

I had the same issue with the ThinkPad T14 AMD. Left it in my backpack for two days and the battery was completely drained. What made it worse: Lenovo's own USB-C Gen 2 Dock would refuse to charge the battery when it was drained. I had to borrow a friend's MacBook Pro USB-C charger to get the battery up to a reasonable charge. (Yes, the dock does provide enough power for charging the laptop.)

TBH my Macbook Pro does the same, really annoying when going on holidays and not using a laptop for few days.

Re: New Laptop: Thinkpad P14s

#56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can change it in the UEFI so that Fn acts as Ctrl and vice versa.

> You can change it in the UEFI so that Fn acts as Ctrl and vice versa. First thing I do on every thinkpad. It would be very interesting to know what percentage of customers actually wants that Fn key in that location instead of Ctrl.

My T470 has the Fn on the edge, and Ctrl on the inside. I like it because it requires moving my pinky less to hit Ctrl.

Re: New Laptop: Thinkpad P14s

#57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can change it in the UEFI so that Fn acts as Ctrl and vice versa.

> You can change it in the UEFI so that Fn acts as Ctrl and vice versa. First thing I do on every thinkpad. It would be very interesting to know what percentage of customers actually wants that Fn key in that location instead of Ctrl.

I don't know the percentage, but some do prefer it, and I'm among them.

I'm surprised so many people express any preference, though. My take is that the Fn key is an abomination and it's not present on desktop keyboards so either choice of location is wrong. If I could, I'd remove both Fn and the 'Windows' key. Neither my Chromebook nor the T40-series Thinkpads I first used have these keys, and they are noticeably more comfortable due to the larger Control and Alt keys it permits.

I'm also surprised people complain about this but not about the layout of Apple laptop keyboards, where 'fn' is also in the corner.

Re: New Laptop: Thinkpad P14s

#58
post #51
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fn/Ctrl can be swapped in BIOS

Yes, I do this with all work issued laptops.

But if someone need to type on your keyboard, then they will have problems and this workaround only works with Laptops. You cannot swap keys on a standalone Lenovo keyboard.

Re: New Laptop: Thinkpad P14s

#59
I have one of the newer Dell XPS 15 laptops. Installing linux was a breeze, upgrading the storage and memory took less than half an hour, and the display is gorgeous. The downsides are that it's performance is certainly throttled quite a bit, and it's awkward sitting it on your lap due to its sharp edges and density (far less comfortable than my MBP). It's certainly been a good experience overall, but I think once thinkpad moves over fully to more reliable displays in the 16:10 ratio I'd probably choose those.

Re: New Laptop: Thinkpad P14s

#60

Good laptop, but with a few small drawbacks: - No vapor chamber cooling, just regular heat pipes - Monitor has thick borders - Not 16:10 - Fn/Ctrl are swapped (all thinkpad laptops) - Thinkpad's fingerprint readers never worked reliably to me - I personally prefer USB-C network adapter instead of the bulky RJ45 - 720p camera, but most of laptops have a bad web cam... - I assume it will have very average speakers. Usu…

Large bezels to easily adjust the screen position without touching it, and RJ45? Exactly like I like them. Sorry! %)

Unfortunately, putting a good camera into a laptop is a challenge. With the screens / lids being so thin, nothing really good, like a phone camera, can fit in.

And I also don't trust biometry auth anywhere. Biometry should be a login, not a password, because you can't revoke or replace it.

Post reply on HN