Lenovo X1 Extreme

[LindsayD]

I’ve just ordered an X1 Extreme. Unfortunately here in the UK we don’t get the kind of discounts offered across the pond, but they have a flash sale offering 15% off (which ends tonight at midnight).

I’m a professional photographer and this will be a machine to complement and act as a backup to my main (more powerful) desktop configuration. My time is mostly spent editing large numbers of quite large files, often with multiple layers in Photoshop and Lightroom. I will occasionally be doing video editing.

Here is the specification I ordered:

i5 8300H
16 Gig RAM (in one slot – it’s cheaper for me to drop another stick in the free slot than preconfigure it at the point of order)
1 TB SSD
4k screen

Why did I order the i5? Because like hajime I have an inbuilt horror of fan noise (having said that he may have just been unfortunate to get a lemon). I have quite sensitive hearing and fans can drive me mad. I don’t mind them kicking in occasionally when they have to or when under load, but the prospect of fans running too often and too loudly is a horrible thought. My rationale is that the i5 will easily perform the tasks I’ve just described and at the same time it might run a little cooler, avoiding a re-paste (although I’m quite happily to undervolt). My other concern is the screen being too reflective for my tastes - I’m used to a completely matte panel. I also don’t like fingerprints so I can see myself forever trying to clean the X1E. I realise I sound like a picky cow.

My shopping cart and the subsequent order confirmation says the X1E will ship in seven business days. I’m a little sceptical about that, given that I ordered a personal use computer from Lenovo on the 18th of February (which also had a seven day lead time) and I’ve just been informed that will not ship until 25th of March. Incidentally the personal use computer is a little L390 Yoga (also configured with an i5).

I will of course update with my impressions once the X1E has arrived and I’ve done a bit of testing.

 

[SDColorado]

My other concern is the screen being too reflective for my tastes - I’m used to a completely matte panel. I also don’t like fingerprints so I can see myself forever trying to clean the X1E.

That may be the toughest to overcome since laptops with matte displays at resolutions greater than 1920x1080 are all but unheard of. I wonder how well those matte anti-glare screen protector films work for solving that?

 

[LindsayD]

I wonder how well those matte anti-glare screen protector films work for solving that?

Yes, I was wondering the same. I've just been looking at the anti-shine protectors, so I might give that a go and see if they affect acuity or not. Otherwise I'll just need to get used to the new screen. My desk is badly angled for reflections and can't be moved, but hopefully it won't be an issue when I'm editing. I chose the 4K screen for the brightness leeway, if I find myself in a different environment.

 

[SDColorado]

Yes, I was wondering the same. I've just been looking at the anti-shine protectors, so I might give that a go and see if they affect acuity or not. Otherwise I'll just need to get used to the new screen. My desk is badly angled for reflections and can't be moved, but hopefully it won't be an issue when I'm editing. I chose the 4K screen for the brightness leeway, if I find myself in a different environment.

I kind of begrudgingly gave up the last of my matte displays for glossy when I got rid of the last of my matte displays this past summer, selling my 17” MacBook Pro. It is a bit of a transition. I haven’t any problem with my iMac, because the room it is in the angle is good and I can control the light.

The laptops, however can take some varying degrees of work. The brightness can often overcome a lot of it, but not always and I have found some situations where the reflections can cause some eye stress. I was thinking about trying one of those films.

I tried one on my phone and didn’t like it, but that was a bit different of a story. With the phone, I often wear sunglasses when using it outside and the polarized lenses didn’t play well with the matte film.

 

[LindsayD]

I have an anti-reflective film on one of my camera LCDs and it does work well, but there's something about it I don't like (I'm not sure what).

I haven't actually seen a Lenovo 4K screen, but I've been told they're less glossy than those on Dell. Which is a good thing, because we have a Dell and I can't stand it - as you say I end up squinting.

I don't really 'need' a 4K screen, but I thought the extra detail would be useful in my work and when showing clients my portfolio via the laptop. I'm sure it will be fine, notwithstanding the adjustment period.

 

[SDColorado]

I have an anti-reflective film on one of my camera LCDs and it does work well, but there's something about it I don't like (I'm not sure what).

I haven't actually seen a Lenovo 4K screen, but I've been told they're less glossy than those on Dell. Which is a good thing, because we have a Dell and I can't stand it - as you say I end up squinting.

I don't really 'need' a 4K screen, but I thought the extra detail would be useful in my work and when showing clients my portfolio via the laptop. I'm sure it will be fine, notwithstanding the adjustment period.

I would say that is true from my experience with the Lenovo X1 Extreme. I also found it to do a better job of muting reflections than the MacBook Pro as well. They both have some anti-glare properties. But the display on the X1 Extreme almost reminded me of a cars side mirrors where sometimes it will mute the reflections where they are not so bright whereas the MacBook Pro is more mirrorlike.

 

[LindsayD]

That sounds positive - hopefully the benefits of such a beautiful display will make any lingering reflections easier to get used to.

I have a question please - on days when battery juice is important, does switching the resolution down to 1080 draw less power, or does a 4K screen by its construction draw the same power irrespective of the settings?

 

[AndyMacAndMic]

That sounds positive - hopefully the benefits of such a beautiful display will make any lingering reflections easier to get used to.

I have a question please - on days when battery juice is important, does switching the resolution down to 1080 draw less power, or does a 4K screen by its construction draw the same power irrespective of the settings?

It does not matter what resolution you put it in. It draws the same power. If you switch down to 1080 it still uses 4k pixels to emulate 1080

 

[CE3]

I found a new MBP and my X1E found a new home last week, but here's my .02 on some of the topics currently being discussed. The fan noise of my X1E (i7 8850h) was usually low and rarely ever at max for most of my cpu intensive work and play (Photoshop, Bridge, Luminar, and light gaming). Fans were almost always off / completely silent for basic web browsing, video, email, word processing, etc.

As far as heat is concerned, I think my X1E body felt warmer than the MacBook during general use, and since the vents of the X1E are on the bottom it's likely going to get warmer and need more cooling (i.e. the fans will turn on) if it's sitting directly on a lap for extended periods of time.

The 4K display is glossy but the anti reflective properties work pretty well. I also think the X1E is a bit brighter than the 2018 15" MacBook Pro I now own.

 

[LindsayD]

AndyMacAndMic, thank you - that does make sense now that I think about it.

CE3 - thank you for that. Reading round a few forums, it seems that some people enjoy fairly quiet units like yours, and others get X1Es which are noisy even when idling. It's not just the XE1 of course, this seems to apply to any modern powerful laptop. But the QC seems a bit variable (thankfully not the lottery which applies to the Dell XPS line). Did you have to modify your X1E to keep it quiet, or was it good out of the box?

May I ask what made you swap your X1E for the MBP?

 

[CE3]

AndyMacAndMic, thank you - that does make sense now that I think about it.

CE3 - thank you for that. Reading round a few forums, it seems that some people enjoy fairly quiet units like yours, and others get X1Es which are noisy even when idling. It's not just the XE1 of course, this seems to apply to any modern powerful laptop. But the QC seems a bit variable (thankfully not the lottery which applies to the Dell XPS line). Did you have to modify your X1E to keep it quiet, or was it good out of the box?

May I ask what made you swap your X1E for the MBP?

Hi Lindsay, some modifications I made included disabling Cortana and Windows Defender and running Malwarebytes Premium as my anti-virus w/ Windows Firewall. I despise most of the major anti-virus companies like Norton and Mcafee. Not only are they huge resource hogs, but back in the day the only time my Windows computers ever got viruses was when I was running one of those programs and it was always only Malwarebytes that could remove the threats and bring the PC back to life. I also undervolted with Throttlestop, uninstalled Intel’s Management Engine, and disabled AMT in the BIOS.

I really can’t say whether any of these changes made the X1E quieter. What I can say is that the fans only came on when the computer was working hard and otherwise it was silent for me.

Ultimately I decided to stay 100% iOS & macOS because it’s a better fit for my workflow, but the X1E is a solid machine, and Lenovo has good support. Congrats and enjoy!

 

[maflynn]

Ultimately I decided to stay 100% iOS & macOS because it’s a better fit for my workflow, but the X1E is a solid machine, and Lenovo has good support.

That was me this past summer, but instead of the X1E, I bought and then returned the Razer. While I do like macOS, I've easily transitioned off of the platform - I totally get where you're coming from though

 

[SDColorado]

If did what CE3 did and am having some regrets in doing that, particularly since I have had one keyboard issue already with this MBP. But will see how it goes.

I will likely sell it before the year is out, depending on what gets announced this year.

Your power slider is going to help extend battery life if you’re in a pinch to extend it. But the X1 Extreme also recharges quickly.

Lenovo advertises 0-80% in 60 mins. In my own testing I got to 83% I believe? I don’t feel like searching for my old post. It was greater than the claimed 80%

 

[jrichards1408]

I’ve just ordered an X1 Extreme. Unfortunately here in the UK we don’t get the kind of discounts offered across the pond, but they have a flash sale offering 15% off (which ends tonight at midnight).

I’m a professional photographer and this will be a machine to complement and act as a backup to my main (more powerful) desktop configuration. My time is mostly spent editing large numbers of quite large files, often with multiple layers in Photoshop and Lightroom. I will occasionally be doing video editing.

Here is the specification I ordered:

i5 8300H
16 Gig RAM (in one slot – it’s cheaper for me to drop another stick in the free slot than preconfigure it at the point of order)
1 TB SSD
4k screen

Why did I order the i5? Because like hajime I have an inbuilt horror of fan noise (having said that he may have just been unfortunate to get a lemon). I have quite sensitive hearing and fans can drive me mad. I don’t mind them kicking in occasionally when they have to or when under load, but the prospect of fans running too often and too loudly is a horrible thought. My rationale is that the i5 will easily perform the tasks I’ve just described and at the same time it might run a little cooler, avoiding a re-paste (although I’m quite happily to undervolt). My other concern is the screen being too reflective for my tastes - I’m used to a completely matte panel. I also don’t like fingerprints so I can see myself forever trying to clean the X1E. I realise I sound like a picky cow.

My shopping cart and the subsequent order confirmation says the X1E will ship in seven business days. I’m a little sceptical about that, given that I ordered a personal use computer from Lenovo on the 18th of February (which also had a seven day lead time) and I’ve just been informed that will not ship until 25th of March. Incidentally the personal use computer is a little L390 Yoga (also configured with an i5).

I will of course update with my impressions once the X1E has arrived and I’ve done a bit of testing.

I'm a photographer too and you really should have a gotten the I7 6 core...

 

[hajime]

I’ve just ordered an X1 Extreme. Unfortunately here in the UK we don’t get the kind of discounts offered across the pond, but they have a flash sale offering 15% off (which ends tonight at midnight).

I’m a professional photographer and this will be a machine to complement and act as a backup to my main (more powerful) desktop configuration. My time is mostly spent editing large numbers of quite large files, often with multiple layers in Photoshop and Lightroom. I will occasionally be doing video editing.

Here is the specification I ordered:

i5 8300H
16 Gig RAM (in one slot – it’s cheaper for me to drop another stick in the free slot than preconfigure it at the point of order)
1 TB SSD
4k screen

Why did I order the i5? Because like hajime I have an inbuilt horror of fan noise (having said that he may have just been unfortunate to get a lemon). I have quite sensitive hearing and fans can drive me mad. I don’t mind them kicking in occasionally when they have to or when under load, but the prospect of fans running too often and too loudly is a horrible thought. My rationale is that the i5 will easily perform the tasks I’ve just described and at the same time it might run a little cooler, avoiding a re-paste (although I’m quite happily to undervolt). My other concern is the screen being too reflective for my tastes - I’m used to a completely matte panel. I also don’t like fingerprints so I can see myself forever trying to clean the X1E. I realise I sound like a picky cow.

My shopping cart and the subsequent order confirmation says the X1E will ship in seven business days. I’m a little sceptical about that, given that I ordered a personal use computer from Lenovo on the 18th of February (which also had a seven day lead time) and I’ve just been informed that will not ship until 25th of March. Incidentally the personal use computer is a little L390 Yoga (also configured with an i5).

I will of course update with my impressions once the X1E has arrived and I’ve done a bit of testing.

I am afraid that I might have developed phobia towards X1E due to the fan noise. I ordered the 2nd one in Boxing Day. It arrived and I was too afraid to try. I just returned it unopened. I considered to order again last week but the fan noise left such a strong negative impression that I chose the C930 instead. It was cancelled by Lenovo due to what they called "system glitch". I re-ordered again. It should arrive in a few days. If I am happy with it, I will forget about the X1E.

 

[Queen6]

I am afraid that I might have developed phobia towards X1E due to the fan noise. I ordered the 2nd one in Boxing Day. It arrived and I was too afraid to try. I just returned it unopened. I considered to order again last week but the fan noise left such a strong negative impression that I chose the C930 instead. It was cancelled by Lenovo due to what they called "system glitch". I re-ordered again. It should arrive in a few days. If I am happy with it, I will forget about the X1E.

TBH some level of fan noise is to be expected, unless you opt for a passively cooled system. PC OEM's just don't allow component's to get as hot a Apple does and for good reason. It's not the CPU that's likely to fail as Intel's limits are actually very conservative, it's more likely going to be a supporting component failing due to thermal stress.

For myself I want two classes of notebook; desktop performance in a 15" - 17" format and a silent passively cooled 2in1 and that I have. The 2in1 only cost me $650 and it's perfectly fine for it's intended use (basic productivity) and it plays 4K with ease

There's also a level of variance with such items, by nature some CPU's run cooler than others, some can take deeper undervolt than others. Even my 17.3" GL703GS (8750H, 32GB, GTX 1070, duel drives) I want to run as cool & quiet as possible and it does within reason.

X1E & X1C are great notebooks, a colleague of mine has just bought a new high tier X1C and it's really nice, certainly not noisy by any means. Any notebook with a dGPU is going to have higher operating temperatures as it now has two major sources of generating significant heat, equally that can be controlled by the user.

That said with W10 temperature can be reduced and performance increased with a little patience. I use gaming notebooks similar to others professional's. They are extremely performant, have good cooling at fraction of the price of a Portable Workstation, with games being the very least of what I'll throw at them. I get cooling and performance as I'm very much stuck with portable solutions...

Q-6

 

[jrichards1408]

Fan noise is none existent on my machine and I have not even repast anything yet.

Its no more louder then a macbook-pro

 

[LindsayD]

[doublepost=1552041272][/doublepost]

I'm a photographer too and you really should have a gotten the I7 6 core...

My understanding is that photo editing relies more on the speed of one core rather than the combined speeds of multiple cores? For video editing the number of cores are certainly important, though as far as I can see the only tradeoff with the current i5 would be slightly longer to render.

 

[jrichards1408]

[doublepost=1552041272][/doublepost]

My understanding is that photo editing relies more on the speed of one core rather than the combined speeds of multiple cores? For video editing the number of cores are certainly important, though as far as I can see the only tradeoff with the current i5 would be slightly longer to render.

It's a combination of both.

As reference I edit 42mp raws and also 24mp raws that are sometimes in the thousands per football game I shoot.

 

[LindsayD]

It's a combination of both.

As reference I edit 42mp raws and also 24mp raws that are sometimes in the thousands per football game I shoot.

If I was shooting sport and coming home with thousands of images I'd want to avoid 42mp files and I'd be shooting mostly JPEG! I tend to save my ultra-high res bodies for commercial projects/advertising. But given how you work I can understand you wanting the fastest system.

I was under the impression that the laptop providers were intent on throttling the i7 chips to the point where you're not getting the performance you're paying for. Does undervolting fully mitigate that - is it concerned with lowering the temps to the point where the throttling kicks in later?

 

[jrichards1408]

If I was shooting sport and coming home with thousands of images I'd want to avoid 42mp files and I'd be shooting mostly JPEG! I tend to save my ultra-high res bodies for commercial projects/advertising. But given how you work I can understand you wanting the fastest system.

I was under the impression that the laptop providers were intent on throttling the i7 chips to the point where you're not getting the performance you're paying for. Does undervolting fully mitigate that - is it concerned with lowering the temps to the point where the throttling kicks in later?

It's the i9 that throttle a lot. The I7 doesn't throttle that much unless your gaming

 

[maflynn]

with the current i5 would be slightly longer to render.

Yes that would be the case. Tbh, I think the i5 would be fine, though a tad slower then the i7. If you're moving up from an older computer its going to feel faster anyways. Speed is relative

 

[Queen6]

Yes that would be the case. Tbh, I think the i5 would be fine, though a tad slower then the i7. If you're moving up from an older computer its going to feel faster anyways. Speed is relative

10% to 13% unless your "hammering" the CPU not a big deal, as you say it's entirely relative.

Q-6

 

[maflynn]

10% to 13% unless your "hammering" the CPU not a big deal, as you say it's entirely relative.

Q-6

I'm a recreational photographer, I use lightroom and a bit of Photoshop, my camera of choice is a Olympus OMD EM5, so the image sizes are not overly large compared to full frame cameras. I put that out there, just as a clarification as I'm not a heavy duty LR user, but with that said, my i7 has power to spare with regards to rendering, and general performance in Lightroom and Photoshop.

 

[Queen6]

If I was shooting sport and coming home with thousands of images I'd want to avoid 42mp files and I'd be shooting mostly JPEG! I tend to save my ultra-high res bodies for commercial projects/advertising. But given how you work I can understand you wanting the fastest system.

I was under the impression that the laptop providers were intent on throttling the i7 chips to the point where you're not getting the performance you're paying for. Does undervolting fully mitigate that - is it concerned with lowering the temps to the point where the throttling kicks in later?

Complex question; With adequate cooling & power, even the base 8750H is extremely potent;

Prime95 Small FFT & Cinebench R15 running simultaneously. FWIW over 1100CB

Turbo Limits unlocked, PL-1 reset to 65W (default being 45W) zero thermal throttle with a massive synthetic load applied to the CPU. Beyond 65W continuous chassis is not capable of cooling the CPU.

PL-1 enforced at the 45W limit, i9 I would be expecting over 1500CB plus in a well engineered notebook, MBP need not apply

Undervolting can and does help, equally much depends on the OEM's baseline CPU voltage. My own Asus ROG GL703GS can hold 3.9GHz all day long. I'm very much getting the performance I paid for, including the 125W dGPU

Problem with Apple is they want everything to be variants of the MBA with the associated compromises...

Q-6
[doublepost=1552052092][/doublepost]

I'm a recreational photographer, I use lightroom and a bit of Photoshop, my camera of choice is a Olympus OMD EM5, so the image sizes are not overly large compared to full frame cameras. I put that out there, just as a clarification as I'm not a heavy duty LR user, but with that said, my i7 has power to spare with regards to rendering, and general performance in Lightroom and Photoshop.

I don't need the performance all the time, however when I do need. I want the notebook to literally light up and tear through the data as fast as possible. Big fan of the mobile i7/i9 hex cores in the right chassis as they deliver massively

Q-6