Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen3 Review – with Linux • Hacker News Board

Re: Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen3 Review – with Linux

#301

Post by CaptainMarvel » Mon, May 02, 2022, 2:38 PM UTC

xfs wrote: post #273

orangepurple wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't use Grub or any bootloader if you can avoid it. I haven't used Grub in 10 years. Load Linux directly as an EFI executable via the EFISTUB approach. You almost certainly only need to run two or three efibootmgr commands to accomplish this. For most people that means only the "Using UEFI directly" section is relevant. https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/EFISTUB S3 suspend was removed as a default option by many hard…

I have used EFISTUB for 10 years but I wouldn't recommend it for the next install. The bootloader is the one arcane place that you don't want to be clever with and get reminded of its presence daily, because once it fails for some reason, it wastes much more time to find and read docs and diagnose than the time saved in boot speedup, because the knowledge to debug it is not something you would remember everyday. And…

I use EFTSTUB with Arch Linux and I agree about it taking up more of your time. However, for me, this was all the very start to first set it up. Since then, it’s been smooth sailing.

I also use multiple kernels and I have had issues with kernel updates, and no issues with kernel parameters. However, there is friction with creating separate entries and so I created a very simple shell script to save my commands.

I’ve had no issues dual booting with Windows using BitLocker. I do not use secure boot (yet).

If you’re willing to spend an hour to set it up, I’d go for it. However, that’s an hour of your life you can save with Grub.

Re: Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen3 Review – with Linux

#302

Post by [deleted] » Mon, May 02, 2022, 2:40 PM UTC

jeroenhd wrote: post #190

szines wrote: post #173

Trackpad is one of the most important features of a notebook. There is only one brand provides great trackpad. You know the answer.

Agreed, the only good trackpad is the one by that company that can simulate different materials, touch depths and types of resistance through ultrasound. The trackpad themselves are tiny and super expensive, but it's the best trackpad you can possibly buy. Unless you mean Apple. I don't get the obsession with Apple's trackpads. My experience with them hasn't been great. They do integrate very nicely with the OS and t…

[deleted]

Re: Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen3 Review – with Linux

#303

Post by NikolaNovak » Mon, May 02, 2022, 2:40 PM UTC

jeroenhd wrote: post #194

schipplock wrote: post #51

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

In my opinion anything higher resolution on a screen that size is just wasted GPU power. The author mainly uses the laptop on a stand, attached to a monitor, from what I can tell from the pictures so they're likely even further away from the screen than normal laptop users.

I have approximately 0.75 / 0.50 diopter, which is fairly mild for age 40. I agree that I feel anything above 1080P resolution for laptop screen is wasted GPU and wasted battery. It feels like a race between battery improvement and hungrier resolutions that's not working out in my favour :-/

Re: Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen3 Review – with Linux

#304

Post by PhDuck » Mon, May 02, 2022, 2:41 PM UTC

jeroenhd wrote: post #184

I have a model from this series. I find the trackpad to work great and I don't see the problem the author is having with it. Dragging works just fine, assuming you use the correct drag gesture (quick double tap, then drag, like usual). Compatibility wise, my experience has been slowly degrading. I've had to force the Intel GPU driver to use DRI 2 or X11 wouldn't work (this might have something to do with the manual c…

Honest question: Have you ever used a MacBook trackpad long term?

From my experience with Dell XPS/Precision, Lenovo Thinkpads, IBM Thinkpads, and finally MacBooks, the MacBooks are far ahead. The Thinkpads trackpad are way too small, and Dell's are now days large enough but too imprecise. Both the Dell ones will sometimes trigger a click when typing on the keyboard since the trackpad is too sensitive.

Re: Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen3 Review – with Linux

#305

Post by csdvrx » Mon, May 02, 2022, 2:41 PM UTC

NovemberWhiskey wrote: post #263

hackyhacky wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TrackPoints are a fantastic feature and are one of the most important criteria keeping me on ThinkPads. The casual dismissal of TrackPoints in the grandparent comment shows that the author has never tried one.

I don't know - I have a long history of ThinkPads (and adjacent devices, including some oddities like the WorkPad z50) and I cannot imagine wanting to go back to a TrackPoint after experiencing a high-quality touchpad.

> The bare minimum I can work

Why not use both?

For precision movements, I use the trackpoint with my index.

For large movements or scrolling, I use the touchpad with one or both or my thumbs.

Re: Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen3 Review – with Linux

#306

Post by elric » Mon, May 02, 2022, 2:46 PM UTC

alluro2 wrote: post #261

I had to chime in that, if 14" vs 15.6" is not a deal breaker, P14s Gen 2 with Ryzen 5850U, 32GB RAM and integrated GPU is the most performant, silent, portable and generally capable laptop I ever had (and I've changed a lot). I got greedy and switched to a MBP 14 with M1 Pro, which is also great, but almost everything (speakers and trackpad excepted) on P14s was either on par or even better (perf, ports, weight, noi…

I hope the P14s Gen 2 is better than Gen 1, because that's the worst device I've ever owned (by a very wide margin). It constantly overheats, the CPU throttles down, and it becomes slower than my now ancient x230 ...

Re: Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen3 Review – with Linux

#307

Post by NikolaNovak » Mon, May 02, 2022, 2:48 PM UTC

tommiegannert wrote: post #4

> 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.

FWIW: I will literally not use a laptop without it. It does have a learning curve, but after you've gone through it, watching people use trackpads is pa-a-ainful. Like being a touch typist and watching somebody finger peck while staring at the keyboard at 20WPM - you just want to take over and get it done :D . Yes, trackpad has a minimal learning curve, but it plateaus so early.

Especially in small format computers - it actually really bothers me that we are sacrificing keyboard quality, size, and standardized layout, for this gigantic yet inefficient ever-growing trackpad (and thus killing the home/end/pgup/pgdwn section, arrows, functional row, etc), when the nub has minimal foot print and would allow full keyboard and practical design even on smallest laptops.

But it's all about different approaches. If able, I will always prefer an ergonomic keyboard, ergonomic mouse, large mousepad, and a couple of large monitors when working. My wife on the other hand will happily use 13" laptop with trackpad in awful position on the couch for hours! We have different priorities and preferences and will never persuade each other :->

Re: Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen3 Review – with Linux

#308

Post by boatsie » Mon, May 02, 2022, 2:48 PM UTC

lvl102 wrote: post #227

I still wonder what could have been if IBM just kept the Thinkpad lines. Those IBM-designed Thinkpads were built like tanks. Industrial. Legendary keyboards. I really miss those machines. I had some of the best coding sessions on them and can’t help but think Thinkpads played a role in creating that experience.

The skeptic in me thinks that long lived, upgradable, serviceable, resellable laptops would never have survived long anyways. It’s far more profitable to sell new machines to people and businesses after 3 years. Those long lived tank laptops were actually just too good.

Re: Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen3 Review – with Linux

#309

Post by jotm » Mon, May 02, 2022, 2:49 PM UTC

scrlk wrote: post #290

jotm wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know, I think they would've gone with cheaper and cheaper materials and ended up with pretty much what Lenovo has nowadays. Dell and HP also had great business machines. I'm particularly fond of the Elitebook 8530/8730 - built like tanks, easy to repair, good keyboards, and still so thin for the time (even today, they look and feel good). Quality went downhill ever since - newer models are still pretty good,…

I'll give HP some credit for being the last out of the 3 major business laptop manufacturers to put 2 SO-DIMM slots on their flagship laptops (EliteBook 8xx series). Everyone else has moved to soldered RAM or 1 slot with soldered RAM.

They also still use 4 RAM slots and an MXM slot for the graphics card on their ZBook workstations. Sadly the CPU is soldered and availability of MXM cards seems to be extremely limited nowadays.

Re: Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen3 Review – with Linux

#310

Post by anuragsoni » Mon, May 02, 2022, 2:53 PM UTC

dtjb wrote: post #272

stuff4ben wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not surprised your ThinkBook is beating the M1 MacBook since you crippled the Mac with 8GB of RAM.

A 'Pro' device shouldn't be sold with crippled specs.

Macbook Air has never been marketed/sold as a 'Pro' device. There is the Macbook Pro line for that.