Lenovo X1 Extreme

[c0ppo]

I found this sub-forum by accident and boy am I glad I did. Seems like more mature responses than some of the others. I bought my Lenovo notebook because of this forum.

Well, I would say that on this subforum you will find Mac lovers as you would anywhere on macrumors. But not complete fanboys, since none of us would be looking at replacement for MBP if it 'just worked' like it used to.

I can deal with a lot of issues, and every laptop will have some issues. Even Lenovo will break stuff for you. But it's quite easier to roll back on a BIOS update then it is to deal with broken keyboard on MBP.

 

[Queen6]

If my keyboard acts up again I am going to take the beating selling my 2018 MBP. I like it a lot when it works right, but I have no faith in it working right for the long haul when it can't even go two months before having a keyboard issue.

Difficult as it may be ok, equally it's not looking favourable and secondary market prices will be affected by any very public news. As long as you have warranty it's not too bad, although the lost time dealing with such matters most certainly annoys.

Just my opinion as time passes and more and more fail out of warranty the word will get around, the used prices will plummet. Smart buyers will be looking to cover the cost of any KB repairs in the deal, I know I would. TBH if there's further issue I'd be inclined to have it repaired, keep it for a year, get some use out of it as selling now you'll likely loose a good amount, depending on the spec as you rarely ever get back the $$$$ for the big upgrades.

I just wont buy one as they are a recipe for disaster on multiple levels with all the odds in Apple's favour. The Mac has become little more than an over priced disposable status symbol, it's really disappointing...

Q-6

 

[SDColorado]

I am guessing that we will see a kb repair program on the gen. 3 models as well in time. But yeah the 2-4 week stretches that I have heard it is taking Apple to replace the top cases is not ideal for a business tool. I have read many comments in the main section where people say "Just send it into Apple, they will fix it fast, it isn't a big deal." But it is a big deal when it is weeks to repair and it is a big deal when they replace the same failure prone part with an identical failure prone part and send it back to you like it is all good now.

You are probably correct on resale value. Apple devices always had high resale value and were easy to sell, but prolonged news of expensive issues to repair out of warranty has to be taking a toll on their resale. People are still seeking out 2015 models in 2019 because they had less history of trouble. How many people will be looking for 2018 models in 2022? What are they going to be willing to pay for them?

 

[Queen6]

The time for repair is a very real consideration and just one of the reasons I wont entertain the MBP. If it was to fail I'd push Apple as hard as possible for a refund given this #5 with issue

"If" I was in the market for a used one, I'd only offer lowball numbers as the risk is ever present and people are unlikely to be moving on such a new computer as it's a stellar performer with no issues...

Q-6

 

[kazmac]

The time for repair is a very real consideration and just one of the reasons I wont entertain the MBP. If it was to fail I'd push Apple as hard as possible for a refund given this #5 with issue

"If" I was in the market for a used one, I'd only offer lowball numbers as the risk is ever present and people are unlikely to be moving on such a new computer as it's a stellar performer with no issues...

Q-6

Same here. Still rooting for @SDColorado to get a refund for number 5.

 

[maflynn]

The time for repair is a very real consideration and just one of the reasons I wont entertain the MBP. If it was to fail I'd push Apple as hard as possible for a refund given this #5 with issue

That's what I don't get from some people. I recall a discussion with another member, who had no fear about getting the 2017 - there's a repair program, so he's covered. That might be true, but the failure may occur a bad time, or he'll be without a laptop for 2+ weeks. For me, that would be a huge imposition. Saying the repair program is an advantage seems wrong on a number of levels, i.e., I'd rather have a keyboard without the design flaw then a repair program

 

[SDColorado]

Yeah, I have been chatting back and forth with a guy and after 3 weeks he had his machine returned to him with nothing done. Apple claimed that they could not reproduce the issue. He has argued that just because they couldn’t reproduce it on demand, doesn’t mean the issue doesn’t exist. To top it off, the keyboard was actually a secondary issue. T2 crashes and a line through the display being the primary ones, but none of those addressed.

After going back and forth with them this past week, they have apparently agreed to replace the machine, which is certainly a nice outcome, but a month without your business machine? There is hardly anything “Pro” about that.

 

[jrichards1408]

i work as a software engineer and i cant even afford a couple of days without a machine in my line of work nevermind a couple of weeks.....

id be fired if i told them i cant work for 2 weeks....

 

[SDColorado]

Same here. Still rooting for @SDColorado to get a refund for number 5.

Not looking like that will happen. Probably best case scenario if it keeps acting up would be to eventually get #6

 

[jrichards1408]

Not looking like that will happen. Probably best case scenario if it keeps acting up would be to eventually get #6

No just get a X1 extreme!

 

[kazmac]

Not looking like that will happen. Probably best case scenario if it keeps acting up would be to eventually get #6

Keep pushing them for a refund. You can.

 

[SDColorado]

No just get a X1 extreme!

Well, I was talking best case scenario of what Apple might give me if this machine keeps acting up. If they gave me an X1 Extreme, that would certainly be telling of how little confidence they had in their own product though haha

 

[Thysanoptera]

My wife didn't feel well today so I had to do the grocery run at Costco. Came back with X1 Carbon, if they had X1E I'd probably get this instead. For $1299, 8550U, 16GB, FHD, 512GB. I figured I can use an ultrabook anyway (I noticed the 2017 MBA is most likely to get picked up if I need to do something quickly) plus 90 days return. And 2 years warranty.

That little thing is 50% faster than my old full power 4-core i5 based XPS 15! And at 30W only. WTH, it has been only two small, incremental generations. Feels like weights half of the old MBA, sturdy, lovely keyboard. The screen is fine, it is supposed to have 200 Hz PWM everywhere below 100% brightness, but I just don't see it, at all. Did the tests with camera, pens, websites with moving objects, nothing. Maybe I'm blind already, or Lenovo changed the backlight even though the LCD is still the same model. And no way in the world it is only 200 nits, I have to keep it to 50% in my office. It feels like the 14 inch T series, but freakishly smaller and lighter.

I think I'm going to keep it, just replace the SSD with 2TB Evo. Maybe I'm even going to use it as my main traveling device, has all the ports I need, 14 inch is not that small as it turns out, weights nothing and it actually packs a punch. Oh, and it doesn't create the current Macbook like sensation that it requires dual protection layers, rubber gloves and outside air locked sterile environment.

 

[maflynn]

I can't help but think of the bullet I dodged
I know we're at the infancy of this issue, but I can't help but wonder how this will play out 'Flexgate' Display Issues Affecting 2016 MacBook Pro and Later

This past weekend I was traveling and my Thinkpad was great, I was frequently plugged in so I didn't exercise the battery too much but overall traveling with this laptop was great. I've long said that the 2012 rMBP was the best laptop I've ever owned, bar none. This laptop is approaching that high threshold of usage, and stability that I loved about the 2012 rMBP My only regret is why I waited so long to jump ship.

I did do some gaming (Fallout 4) and while not a new game, the X1E handled that quite well. Temps were in the 70s and 80s, fans were going of course, but nothing obnoxious. I was on battery for a little while and that didn't fair so well. I suspect if you want to game, you're better off being plugged in.

 

[Thysanoptera]

I was pretty much packing that Carbon up to take it back. I had TB disconnect/reconnect cycle with eGPU, same setup worked flawlessly with MBP and XPS. Upgraded all the software/firmware, did a clean install of Windows without any Lenovo tools/drivers, still the same. Actually after TB firmware upgrade it got a lot worse and Lenovo's Vantage software broke the TB3 config panel. But just to be sure I changed the TB cable and voila - no issues.

I've been using 2m long active 40Gbps cable that was something like $60 and had to go back to bog standard 0.5m passive. Noticed Lenovo doesn't sell any TB cables, in their support forums they were directing users to buy theirs 1m TB3 cable but it seems to be gone. Is any of you using long active TB3 cable?

Btw. after updating everything I did reset the machine to factory defaults. It broke the TB3 completely, I guess the upgraded TB3 firmware became incompatible with driver in default Windows install image. It was not my first rodeo but I can see a Mac user being greeted with error messages after configuring his machine for first use and just returning it while posting about Apple superiority.

 

[Never mind]

ThinkPad X1 Extreme / i7-8750 / 32 GB / 4K

1 week into my new system. Two takes on getting my ThinkPad to where it works better and a follow up review.....

(1) Having Patients in learning Windows over again (Finding things), not getting frustrated . It's a learning curve, and

(2) having a good Ad-Blocker (Ad-Block Plus) to speed up the Internet/forums. Thought it was sad that getting into the internet and looking around took longer than iOS/MacOS, than I realized that I forgot the Ad-Blocker, and now it's faster, (darn pesky adds). Now with this ThindPad X1, I cannot complain thus far. Everything works.

(3) Only downside is the speakers. I'm spoiled with how well the iPad Pro and MacBook speakers sound over the ThinkPad, but a good headset will fix that.

(4) Finger Print reader and the face recognition is a tad slower than I'm used to, but not by much. In the dark, since the fingerprint reader is black I had short delay in finding it to scan my finger.

(5) Screen (4K) is crisp and sharp. Switched over to 1080 and the text was not to my liking anymore. I'll stick with a good 4K.

(6) Play two games (Raise of Tomb Raider and Gears of War 4) on high settings and no lag that I can notice.

(7) Battery Life ? I keep mine plugged in, but with high setting, high performance, using the discrete graphic the battery life is so, so.

(8) Fan noise ? Does not bother me. Do hear it on taxing programs, but it's a soft whoosh not a jet engine as some would post.

(9) I'm not using the touch pad but a mouse. I prefer it so I cannot comment on the touch pad.

(9) I got one interruption with a Microsoft driver download when on the internet.

​

 

[SDColorado]

ThinkPad X1 Extreme / i7-8750 / 32 GB / 4K

4) ... the face recognition is a tad slower than I'm used to, but not by much.​

​

How does the speed of facial recognition with the X1 Extreme compare to that of the MacBook Pro? Oh, Wait...

 

[Never mind]

How does the speed of facial recognition with the X1 Extreme compare to that of the MacBook Pro? Oh, Wait...

That part was regarding the iPad and iPhone experience with facial recognition

 

[SDColorado]

That part was regarding the iPad and iPhone experience with facial recognition

Just having some fun, thus the

I do find the facial recognition on the Lenovo to be faster than my Surface Pro though.

 

[CE3]

Just having some fun, thus the

I do find the facial recognition on the Lenovo to be faster than my Surface Pro though.

I think the fingerprint scanner works well too.. better than any of the other Windows machines I've tried.

 

[SDColorado]

I think the fingerprint scanner works well too.. better than any of the other Windows machines I've tried.

My Surface Pro doesn't have the fingerprint scanner, so I can't compare anything to that, though I thought Lenovo's worked well. I liked the fact that Lenovo allows you to record a seemingly endless number of fingerprints, certainly at least 10. Also, I like the fact that Windows fingerprint reader and face ID work without having to re-enter your password every damned time you reboot

 

[CE3]

My Surface Pro doesn't have the fingerprint scanner, so I can't compare anything to that, though I thought Lenovo's worked well. I liked the fact that Lenovo allows you to record a seemingly endless number of fingerprints, certainly at least 10. Also, I like the fact that Windows fingerprint reader and face ID work without having to re-enter your password every damned time you reboot

Yeah, the facial recognition works well too. My model uses an infrared camera.. i.e. you can cover the web camera and the login still works with the IR camera alone. I'm sticking with the fingerprint option for now.

Lenovo just sent me an email that my repair is complete and the X1E should be back with me tomorrow

I've no complaints about how quick and easy their Depot service has been. I called them about the issue last Monday, had a box on Tuesday, shipped the laptop to them on Thursday, and they received it on Friday. Everything was overnight shipping. *thumbs up*

Fingers crossed my display is fixed and the backlight bleed is gone.

 

[maflynn]

(3) Only downside is the speakers. I'm spoiled with how well the iPad Pro and MacBook speakers sound over the ThinkPad, but a good headset will fix that.

Give credit where credit is due, and Apple has a long track record of very good speakers.

As for windows, I've incurred a couple BSODs, I'm trying to pin down the cause. The first one seems related to Vmware. I had a VM up and running and the machine went into sleep - I don't think vmware liked that. The other was playing Fallout4, and Bethesda software is known to be buggy. I've had the game crash a handful of times. To be safe, I ran MdSched.exe (Windows Memory Diagnostic) and it showed no errors with the ram.

 

[Thysanoptera]

Give credit where credit is due, and Apple has a long track record of very good speakers.

As for windows, I've incurred a couple BSODs, I'm trying to pin down the cause. The first one seems related to Vmware. I had a VM up and running and the machine went into sleep - I don't think vmware liked that. The other was playing Fallout4, and Bethesda software is known to be buggy. I've had the game crash a handful of times. To be safe, I ran MdSched.exe (Windows Memory Diagnostic) and it showed no errors with the ram.

Great speakers, as long as they don't blow To be fair Dell was doing the same, didn't even need Adobe help, the bundled Maxx audio bundled software was enough.

About the BSOD, the sleep on Windows machines was always bad, I'm just used to shutting them down. I've had way too many 'hot bag' accidents and don't even know if this got improved in recent years. Bethesda software is known to be buggy, but this is more in a sense of gameplay bugs, not BSOD. I don't remember ever getting one.

The single most effective way to avoid BSODs is not to use the preinstalled Windows, but loading one from scratch using USB stick and latest, pure Microsoft provided installer. Microsoft has all the drivers you need, including the ones actually made by Lenovo and Nvidia. After clean installation I only install stuff that's made by the laptop manufacturer and only if it is newer and listed as critical, no other drivers listed by them. In case of the Carbon (which should be similar to X1E,), after clean install I loaded:

- TB3 firmware (but not driver)
- BIOS (after checking in forums if there are any bugs)
- Lenovo Thermal Solution Driver
- Lenovo USB Selective Suspend Patch
- Lenovo Vantage - disabled auto updates immediately

And I'm not planning to load anything more ever again from Lenovo unless there is a critical bug.

EDIT - after loading clean Windows, hit "Check for Updates" in Windows Update settings until there is nothing more. Even if after last installation of updates it says "You're up to date" hit the button, because they delay some roll outs.

 

[maflynn]

The single most effective way to avoid BSODs is not to use the preinstalled Windows, but loading one from scratch using USB stick and latest, pure Microsoft provided installer. Microsoft has all the drivers you need, including the ones actually made by Lenovo and Nvidia. After clean installation I only install stuff that's made by the laptop manufacturer and only if it is newer and listed as critical, no other drivers listed by them. In case of the Carbon (which should be similar to X1E,), after clean install I loaded:

I'm actually thinking of doing that. If the BSOD do continue, I'll take the plunge. I've had surface laptops that hadn't BSODs and my work machine hasn't crashed in years (if at all). I use Onedrive to hold my data, so the only thing I need to backup are my images.

I also installed/uninstalled a bunch of apps/utilities that may have left some cruft, so a fresh install may help with that as well.
[doublepost=1549984843][/doublepost]

BIOS (after checking in forums if there are any bugs)

This is something I didn't do, last week and I think it burned me to some degree. I ran into a problem as noted by a prior post, but thankfully I didn't brick my laptop. Secondly some people have run into some issues. The downside is once you go to 1.18, you cannot roll it back to a prior version, which is a bummer.