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Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen3 Review – with Linux

ernestas.me

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Re: Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen3 Review – with Linux

#161
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a usually cited concern for so many people and I'm curious to know why because I rarely unplug my laptop, like most people I know.

This mindset is similar to what people with wired headphones think of Airpods et al. It's not an apparent benefit when you're in the bubble of thinking it's normal to have a wire going across your torso all day and hearing the thuds and bumps propagate through the wire to your ears. But when you buy a pair of wireless buds and have them for a week - you don't go back. You've discovered freedom. Likewise, with battery…

> This mindset is similar to what people with wired headphones think of Airpods et al. It's not an apparent benefit when you're in the bubble of thinking it's normal to have a wire going across your torso all day and hearing the thuds and bumps propagate through the wire to your ears. But when you buy a pair of wireless buds and have them for a week - you don't go back. You've discovered freedom.

What is abnormal is that in 2022 people think it is acceptable to be forced to use wireless headphones and have to constantly have to think and worry about keeping them charged, esp when they are used in a context where you quite possibly have them plugged in your ear all day.

Wireless headphones have their place (primarily in outdoor active settings in audio only contexts for small periods of time). But if you are sitting in front of your computer all day, there are these magical devices called wired headphones with infinite "battery life" and world class sound quality that you don't have to worry about being out of charge in the middle of an important meeting. Unlike wireless ones they also guarantee audio always being insync with video if you are watching a video regardless of the type of device/machine/operating system you are using them on, something I have never been able to get consistently working to my satisfaction with bluetooth headphones.

Re: Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen3 Review – with Linux

#162
post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also distinctly remember the unnerving feeling of getting a tingling sensation on my wrists when having a macboook pro charging connecting to mains. I have only used them when clients specifically request it, but otherwise connect them to a workstation of my choice.

Oh, I'm glad I'm not the only person who noticed this - several job laptops (macbooks) have definitely done this to me as well. It's subtle, like your wrist is sticky or being tapped rapidly, but the moment you yank the mains power out from the machine it goes away. Very unsettling (and escalates to painful at times).

I used to experience this as well, on multiple MacBooks across years. It seems to have disappeared when I moved to a non-MagSafe USB-C charging generation of MacBooks (can't say for the latest ones though).

Re: Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen3 Review – with Linux

#163

I've been holding off on purchasing a new Lenovo laptop. Shortly Lenovo will start shipping latops with the new generation AMD Ryzen mobile chips that have RDNA 2 GPUs. [0][1] This is a real game changer. The amount of power and open source VULKAN friendliness is going to be incredible. I look forward to being able to do container work, and emulate Gamecube games all on a single Linux machine. [0] https://www.aroged.…

Fwiw, i have a Thinkpad x395 with AMD Apu. It's mostly nice, but there are GPU driver issues that have been unsolved for almost 3 years now with that generation of ThinkPads (0). Let's hope such issues are sorted out for newer models

(0) https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1870971

Re: Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen3 Review – with Linux

#164
post #10

> 7-9 hours of typing, browsing and some programming. > 3-4 hours of video/audio conferencing or other CPU intensive tasks. This is one of the primary reasons I can't even consider moving away from an M1 Mac. I used to love ThinkPads but not being able to use the machine for 10+ hours without charger is a dealbreaker in 2022.

Videocalls kill M1 Mac batteries too. (Typing this from a 16" MBP M1 Pro that last around 4 hours if you're using Google Meet on it.)

Re: Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen3 Review – with Linux

#165
post #134

> Display: 15.6” FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS ugh :(

Whats wrong with 15.6" FHD IPS displays ? I thought the optimum display chart looked something like FHD 1080P till 24", 2k resolution from 27"-32", and 4K for anything bigger than 32". I have a 24" FHD monitor, unless I look too closely and focus on the screen during coding I don't usually see any pixels. Hating on a FHD 15.6" sounds like a first world problem to me :P

FHD displays need pixel perfect rendering to look really good and sharp. People who buy 1440p or 4k displays are ultimately compensating for a poor quality rendering pipeline (a very real issue on MacOS) that just blurs everything to near-unreadability.

Re: Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen3 Review – with Linux

#166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plastic is made from oil, and has limited recyclability (the polymers degrade so at best you only down cycle). Aluminum is one of the most abundant materials in the earth’s crust, and once refined is basically infinitely recyclable (or so the story goes). Aluminum is also reasonable light and strong, with good thermal properties (if your laptop chassis gets too hot, it has other design issues at this point IMO).

alluminium doesn't grow on trees either. plastic can be (almost) infinitely recycled for industrial use, it's food use that has limited recyclability. also: Macs are very hard to upgrade (sometimes it's impossible to) and become e-trash in a couple of years, while these "plastic" laptops can last a decade before being discarded as junk.

> become e-trash in a couple of years, while these "plastic" laptops can last a decade before being discarded as junk.

My experiences different, I'd still be rocking a 2014 MBP had it not suffered massive liquid damage. All Macs and MacBooks I or relatives have crossed or are going to cross the decade threshold with aplomb.

Re: Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen3 Review – with Linux

#167

I find it rather peculiar that tech folks think a plastic laptop is good build quality considering what we have from Apple and others. I wish more linux laptops had the build quality and support of macbooks. This isn't a rant from an Apple fan, this is a rant from a laptop fan. ThinkPad's aren't good laptops despite what the guy with the pocket protector says. They are flimsy and feel cheap. They still have 20th cent…

"Eraser mouse" cmon? That's one of the reasons why I (and as I've seen many others) prefer thinkpads. Trackpoint, good keyboard, good linux compatibility, upgradeable.

Despide some Lenovo BS plays on firmware etc a thinkpad is still, in the age of making everything fancy looks over functionality, a thinkpad. A reliable product.

I've been trying to find a substitute for years. I can't find one. Macbooks are (generally) good products, but they don't have trackpoints, I don't like their keyboards, linux compatibility is not where I like it to be, and definitely not upgradeable.

Re: Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen3 Review – with Linux

#168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have no issues with thermal throttling or inane power limits on Linux? Which kernel version are you running?

From June last year until February this year, I was running the stock Kubuntu 20.04 kernel on a ThinkPad T14 with no thermal throttling or power limits. I would often have a few Docker containers running, a JetBrains editor (Java, shudder), Firefox with some addons and well over 100 open tabs, Chrome with the devtools open, MS Teams, Thunderbird, and some smaller apps such as Keepass, Telegram, Anki, a dozen terminal…

> RAM (I think only 8 GiB, actually) or CPU (I don't even remember which Intel CPU it had

Sounds like you had one of the cheaper T14's, it's likely you didn't run into any power limits due to that. 1080p screen as well, I presume?

Kubuntu 20.04 and its kernel version certainly throttle power on the higher-end T14's I've seen. If that's lifted then they throttle thermally, unless you manually force both cooling and power limits higher. Windows handles it all tad better, but the battery life is nothing to be amazed of.

Re: Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen3 Review – with Linux

#169

I've been holding off on purchasing a new Lenovo laptop. Shortly Lenovo will start shipping latops with the new generation AMD Ryzen mobile chips that have RDNA 2 GPUs. [0][1] This is a real game changer. The amount of power and open source VULKAN friendliness is going to be incredible. I look forward to being able to do container work, and emulate Gamecube games all on a single Linux machine. [0] https://www.aroged.…

> The novelty (T14s) features ... USB-C 4.0 Gen 3

This one could be a better value compare to the Intel one, if it provides support for Thunderbolt 3 eGPUs.

One downside I can think of is that T14s usually only comes with soldered on RAMs, no DIMM slot, meaning it's less upgradable (say to 64G of RAM). That's why I'm waiting for a new AMD T14 which should come with a DIMM slot and hopefully USB4. And if Lenovo failed to deliver the T14 that I want, then I'll probably just get an E14/old-style XPS13. I don't really need cellular connectivity, fingerprint scanner and backlit keyboard anyway :-\

Re: Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen3 Review – with Linux

#170

> Lenovo is famous for their TrackPoint (that little red thing on the keyboard), but I am not sure if I’ll take the time to learn using it. Who's still using this? I removed the red rubber because it was leaving residue on my screen.

This is a bit like asking "who still uses keyboard shortcuts?" After all, there is really no reason that anyone using Paint in Windows would ever type Alt+F and then A when they want to do a Save As... Right? Sure, it worked for the last 30 years. But come on, who ever would type Alt+F and A? It has to be less than 1% of all the Windows users out there. And our telemetry proves it! If you have a billion Windows users…

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