IBM and Lenovo ThinkPad laptop enthusiasts!
Just got it today so I haven't had much time to play with it yet. But feel free to ask me anything about it and I'll answer when I can. The model I got has the non-touch 100% sRGB 400 nits display.
How's the build quality? I hear the newer thinkpads aren't nearly as durable as they used to be
Build quality is excellent and it certainly doesn't feel any less durable than other ThinkPads I've used going back to the T450s.
every time i see a thinkpad i'm reminded of my first IT job cannibalizing hard drives, keyboard, screens, touchpads, and pointers from other broken thinkpads to save money and make the department's budget balance a little bit better while the company raked in billions of dollars every quarter.
i mean to sound nostalgic more than bitter because it was FANTASTIC company to work for at the time and things like the smell of a brand new thinkpad out of its plastic or the sounds of keyboard snapping into place and the black & red aesthetic always takes me back like some old man remembering better days. lol
What CPU and what's the battery life? (that might take a bit)
Also what's your opinion on the notch?
CPU is AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 360. It's too early to form an opinion about battery life, but so far it seems promising. As we speak the battery life is 67% and it shows 7 hours remaining. This is on Linux mind you, and I'm not doing anything heavy. Will report back tomorrow.
that chip has Microsoft Pluton inside. https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2024/04/16/amds-commercial-ai-pc-portfolio-integrates-microsoft-pluton-includes-microsoft-copilot/
Is that bad? Just want to know.
can i have it?
I'm liking it very much so far, so I'm afraid not.
Can you remove the keyboard like you used to?
No, not without opening up the laptop.
You'll need to go through the back and remove at very least the main board to get to keyboard
Under Linux (Kernel 6.11.8), everything works flawlessly out of the box. The only issue I noticed is that the fan runs constantly. The CPU temp could be as low as 36 degrees and the fan would still be running at 2400 RPM. It's not loud or anything though. Not sure if this is related to the Platform Profile in the kernel, or it's a bios issue. Either way, I hope it gets fixed eventually.
What OS do you plan to run?
Fedora Silverblue 41.
Noice Immutability, id be intreasted to see how the hardware support is?
It's flawless. Tried Fedora 40 live image and I think the iGPU wasn't recognized because Gnome felt sluggish and there was no animations. Fedora 41 obviously has a more recent kernel and everything worked just fine.
I ran some benchmarks to check the performance and the CPU wattage. In Cinebnech R23 10 mins run I got 10935. Temp at the end of the 10 mins run was 73. So I suspected it wasn't pushing as hard as it could then I found a "smart cooling" setting in the bios. After disabling that I got around 1200. Could still be better because the CPU temp was the same in the end.
CPU package power as reported by hwinfo64, settles at 22w after around 4 minutes. Before that it stays between 26-28 watt with CPU temp in the mid 80's. Then it settles at 22 watt (with CPU temp at 73 degrees). So it seems to be that the cooling system is capable of running this at at least 25w sustained. I'm hoping a bios update down the line will take advantage of the thermal headroom.
How much do you love the new CoPilot™ key?
LOL. I use Linux so it's pretty useless to me. At least they didn't remove the right control key to make room for it like they did in the new X1 Carbon! I'll probably find a good use for it by mapping it to some shortcut or modifier.
What is the screen resolution? Particularly wondering if it is 16:10 proportions like some new thinkpads.
1980x1200. Yes it's 16:10. It's 60hz only if you're wondering. I like the screen. Colors are vibrant and blacks are deep.
What is the model number? It should be a 4 digit number on the sticker on the back. That will help me look up the specs. Does it have a swappabe battery like old thinkpads? I'm not sure if they have gone completely to internal ones. Thanks.
Couldn't find a 4 digit number on the back. But the part number on Lenovo's website is 21M1001WUS. No, it doesn't have a swappable battery. As far as I know, there hasn't been any model with a swappable battery for many years now.
21M1001WUS
Thanks. I guess mostly, do you think it was worth the expenditure? My current daily user (X220) is pretty trashed and I'll need to replace it soon, and am thinking of getting a refurbed X13 or something like that, in the $300-500 range. Older laptops have been fine for me but maybe I'm missing out on something without realizing it.
I would say the T14s gen 4 is a better investment if you're on a budget. It can be had for almost half the price of the Gen 6.
Hmm 4th gen is still pretty expensive, esp considering the smaller ram and SSD, but will consider. Thanks.
Drools at 880M
Hell yeah, brother. Not at good as the 890m but it actually seems to be very close. Judging by some benchmarks I've seen on Youtube, it's only around 5% slower than the 890m, at least at this wattage.
I currently have a 680m and rock it for most things so can only imagine how much better the 880 would be.
Are you a child of divorce?
No, you?
Nope.
Sad.
If you wanna know why I find that a funny response to an ama:
Can you upgrade anything in it? Also is build quality good or is it floppy and bendy?
Only the WAN card and the NVME. RAM and Wifi are not upgradable.
Build quality seems to be very good. On par with my last X1 Carbon Gen 9.
I don't get why Lenovo hasn't adopted CAMM2 for the Thinkpads, upgradable ram should be considered a bare nessesity for a Thinkpad
P1 gen 7 uses CAMM2 if I'm not mistaken. T14 gen 5 (but not T14s) uses SODIMM so I suppose it's possible gen 6 will switch to CAMM2.
The RAM is upgradable in the new T-Series ThinkPads, both sticks, which is really cool.
Edit: seems like it's not upgradable on the T14s... It is on the P14s AMD and they share the same chassis I think. That's kinda strange.
You can't even change the SSD?
Yes, you can. It's not a MacBook....
Will you run Linux on it?
Yes. Will be running Fedora Silverblue 41.
Nothing to ask. Pretty cool machine, read somewhere that the newer ThinkPad is not upgradable, especially the 's' version.
Did you consider any other laptops like the Framework? How long are you hoping for this to last?
I'm considering getting a less beastly computer and am strongly considering AMD for the first time. Is this your first AMD?
I did consider Framework, but I decided to go with ThinkPad for the trackpoint, keyboard, and build quality.
This isn't my first AMD laptop. I prefer AMD for the iGPU. Although Intel is now catching up in that aspect. So for current gen CPUs I don't really have a strong preference. If the T14s gen 6 was available with Intel CPU I would've gone with that for the slightly better iGPU.
New thinkpad sounds like an oxymoron
What's the thermal situation like? I recently bought a P14s (I can post a review if anyone's interested) and decided to go with intel seeing as Meteor Lake seems oddly more efficient than Zen 4 when it comes to laptops.