Lenovo X1 Extreme

[SDColorado]

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

Its no more louder then a macbook-pro

MacBook Pro can get fairly noisy when it wants to as well. As @maflynn and others have pointed out, Apple sets the fan profile to run quite as long as possible, but when it does come on, it is quite audible. I wouldn't call it "jet engine," but then I would never have called the X1 Extreme "jet engine" either, but compared to the steady low "woosh" of my SP5, yeah it can make a little noise

 

[AppleTrap]

MacBook Pro can get fairly noisy when it wants to as well. As @maflynn and others have pointed out, Apple sets the fan profile to run quite as long as possible, but when it does come on, it is quite audible. I wouldn't call it "jet engine," but then I would never have called the X1 Extreme "jet engine" either, but compared to the steady low "woosh" of my SP5, yeah it can make a little noise

True. I found that the fans do not ramp up at all even when the CPU temps reach 75C! I began to use iStatMenus to monitor and control fan speeds and by..what a surprise. The 2018 hexacore MBP is quite noisy because it frequently hits higher temps.

 

[hajime]

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

There are three CPUs for the X1E. Anybody knows their level of variance in terms of ability to take deeper undervolt?

What if I turn off the GPU of the X1E. Will that help?


New work has started and not having a suitable laptop impacts my work in a negative way. For example, I prepared a document using my MBP 2010 17" a week ago. Yesterday it lost battery charge so quickly that when I arrived at work, I had to re-do everything again using a public computer. Similarly, I fully charged the laptop before I left home. When I arrived at work for a meeting, the laptop lost power in half an hour. Time to sell this and settle down a laptop. C930 should arrive in a few days. If the screen resolutions and letters are too small, I may need to go back to X1E.

 

[Queen6]

There are three CPUs for the X1E. Anybody knows their level of variance in terms of ability to take deeper undervolt?

What if I turn off the GPU of the X1E. Will that help?


New work has started and not having a suitable laptop impacts my work in a negative way. For example, I prepared a document using my MBP 2010 17" a week ago. Yesterday it lost battery charge so quickly that when I arrived at work, I had to re-do everything again using a public computer. Similarly, I fully charged the laptop before I left home. When I arrived at work for a meeting, the laptop lost power in half an hour. Time to sell this and settle down a laptop. C930 should arrive in a few days. If the screen resolutions and letters are too small, I may need to go back to X1E.

Every CPU is unique, so is impossible to say which is better. As I've stated your hurting yourself, by having unrealistic standards for frankly very trivial matters. As an employer I'd give you 24 hours to get things sorted, simple as that. Clients are not interested in why engineers are not able to deliver.

My advice is to purchase something that works first and foremost, before somebody else intervenes, seriously so...

Q-6

 

[hajime]

Every CPU is unique, so is impossible to say which is better. As I've stated your hurting yourself, by having unrealistic standards for frankly very trivial matters. As an employer I'd give you 24 hours to get things sorted, simple as that. Clients are not interested in why engineers are not able to deliver.

My advice is to purchase something that works first and foremost, before somebody else intervenes, seriously so...

Q-6

So just get something that can get the work done, earn the money and use the money to buy the next best thing when it comes out?

In terms of fan noise, performance and battery life, any big different bewteen i5 and i7 8850-h?

 

[Queen6]

So just get something that can get the work done, earn the money and use the money to buy the next best thing when it comes out?

In terms of fan noise, performance and battery life, any big different bewteen i5 and i7 8850-h?

In the interim yes, then you can take your time to pick something that you can really enjoy. Personally I just buy what works for me with the least compromise, what else to do.

i5/i7 not much in it these days other than cost, i7 is at best 13% increase in performance over i5 so I wouldn't sweat it. My i3 2in1 frankly see's off others with i5 as it's passive cooling solution is better thought out. Having all the performance on paper is pointless if all that's going to happen in the real world is the performance rolling back - enter the MacBook Noob, Apple have some pride FFS, what a disappointment...

Q-6

 

[LindsayD]

There are three CPUs for the X1E. Anybody knows their level of variance in terms of ability to take deeper undervolt?

New work has started and not having a suitable laptop impacts my work in a negative way. Time to sell this and settle down a laptop. C930 should arrive in a few days. If the screen resolutions and letters are too small, I may need to go back to X1E.

when I was researching my laptop purchase I learned this: any of today's powerful lightweight laptops (and even those which aren't particularly lightweight) share heat and fan issues to an extent. Some machines are worse than others even with the same specification , and as has been said that may be down to variances in each chip in the same model. I have had to accept that I am going to hear the fans at times. I am okay with that, but I know that I can't stand fans which will be roaring all of the time. There are of course measures we can take to try to mitigate that, as others have done successfully. Providing we can get fan noise to an acceptable level we simply have to get used to it, and I think in time we probably will get used to it. So long as it isn't overwhelming.

it's a bit of a shame that you didn't open and test the second X1 you ordered, because it may have been quieter than the first one you had. May I ask how much you were able to undervolt the one you tried?

I have the i5 extreme on order . This may or may not make the thermals easier to manage, I will have to see.

I also have an L390Y on order so that I have an inexpensive portable laptop to tide me over if I ever have problems with my main laptop. That is a 13 inch model and it does not offer a 4K screen, which is fine because at that size I would not have ordered it in 4K, which saved me a bit of money. Incidentally I also ordered the L390Y in the i5. This machine hasn't even gone into production yet as there is a delay on parts.

 

[Thysanoptera]

i5/i7 not much in it these days other than cost, i7 is at best 13% increase in performance over i5 so I wouldn't sweat it.

In case of X1E they use i5 8300h and this is 4 core vs 6 core on i7, so there will be visible difference. Makes no difference though in case of the low power chips like the ones in 12-14 inch machines.

 

[LindsayD]

The visible difference isn't always so visible though, because of the degree of throttling applied to the i7 hexa cotr chip. That can sometimes be partially remedied by under volting, but not always. I understand there is less throttling applied to the i5. The chassis design of the model in question also comes into play . so any expected benefit isn't always clear-cut or easily quantifiable.

 

[jrichards1408]

The visible difference isn't always so visible though, because of the degree of throttling applied to the i7 hexa cotr chip. That can sometimes be partially remedied by under volting, but not always. I understand there is less throttling applied to the i5. The chassis design of the model in question also comes into play . so any expected benefit isn't always clear-cut or easily quantifiable.

Umm the I7 is at least 50 percent faster then the i5 for multi core!

 

[maflynn]

The visible difference isn't always so visible though, because of the degree of throttling applied to the i7 hexa cotr chip. That can sometimes be partially remedied by under volting, but not always. I understand there is less throttling applied to the i5. The chassis design of the model in question also comes into play . so any expected benefit isn't always clear-cut or easily quantifiable.

If you're happy with your choice, that's all that matters. You have 30 days (at least here in the us). You made a decision to buy an i5 and that's ok, I'm sure its going to be more then powerful for your needs. Don't get dragged down in some of the specs, enjoy the machine and if its not what you thought it was going to be return it.

 

[hajime]

I don’t need super high speed machine as I have 9900k workstation at home. I just want something with 15" 4K screen, no or min fan noise and lightweight. In terms of fan noise, battery life and performance, which is better? Stock undervolted i5, i7?
[doublepost=1552139937][/doublepost]

OTE="hajime, post: 27165457, member: 117774"]There are three CPUs for the X1E. Anybody knows their level of variance in terms of ability to take deeper undervolt?

New work has started and not having a suitable laptop impacts my work in a negative way. Time to sell this and settle down a laptop. C930 should arrive in a few days. If the screen resolutions and letters are too small, I may need to go back to X1E.

when I was researching my laptop purchase I learned this: any of today's powerful lightweight laptops (and even those which aren't particularly lightweight) share heat and fan issues to an extent. Some machines are worse than others even with the same specification , and as has been said that may be down to variances in each chip in the same model. I have had to accept that I am going to hear the fans at times. I am okay with that, but I know that I can't stand fans which will be roaring all of the time. There are of course measures we can take to try to mitigate that, as others have done successfully. Providing we can get fan noise to an acceptable level we simply have to get used to it, and I think in time we probably will get used to it. So long as it isn't overwhelming.

it's a bit of a shame that you didn't open and test the second X1 you ordered, because it may have been quieter than the first one you had. May I ask how much you were able to undervolt the one you tried?

I have the i5 extreme on order . This may or may not make the thermals easier to manage, I will have to see.

I also have an L390Y on order so that I have an inexpensive portable laptop to tide me over if I ever have problems with my main laptop. That is a 13 inch model and it does not offer a 4K screen, which is fine because at that size I would not have ordered it in 4K, which saved me a bit of money. Incidentally I also ordered the L390Y in the i5. This machine hasn't even gone into production yet as there is a delay on parts.[/QUOTE]

Will will you get i5 extreme?

 

[LindsayD]

Umm the I7 is at least 50 percent faster then the i5 for multi core!

When doing what exactly? Unless you're a heavy gamer or you're rendering 4k video for hours at a time you'll barely see any difference. For work in photoshop or lightroom the bottleneck won't be the processor, it will be ram or storage speed - you won't come lose to maxing out your cpu.

 

[jrichards1408]

When doing what exactly? Unless you're a heavy gamer or you're rendering 4k video for hours at a time you'll barely see any difference. For work in photoshop or lightroom the bottleneck won't be the processor, it will be ram or storage speed - you won't come lose to maxing out your cpu.

How long have you been using lightroom or photoshop?

It does use all your cores in your cpu. Go and check your cpu usage next time you boot up lightroom and edit and export your images.

 

[LindsayD]

My answer to jrichards has just disappeared (not sure what I did when replying to hajime) - so I'll re-do it:

To answer your question, I've been using Photoshop since the late 90s and Lightroom since it was released.

For the tasks discussed I'd be surprised if the difference in the i5 and i7 was as extreme as 50%. I don't do gaming, 3D design, or much video editing. My understanding is that PS and LR are concerned more with the speed of 1 core rather than multiple cores, so differences between 6 core vs 4 cores shouldn't be dramatic. For those kinds of tasks the benchmarks I've seen haven't demonstrated a huge difference.

Everyone's needs are different. My rationale for choosing the i5 was about heat and fans. I'm very sensitive to fan noise and the i5 might be less noisy than the i7. I realise undervolting is an option, but it doesn't make a big enough difference for everyone. I'll gladly give up a little speed for a little less noise. I'll find out soon enough.

 

[maflynn]

For the tasks discussed I'd be surprised if the difference in the i5 and i7 was as extreme as 50%.

I don't think it will be 50% either, but I have no numbers to back that up. I think the i5 makes a lot of sense in a number of scenarios. I'm old school, where I always try to get the fastest processor BUT in all honesty, I truly don't need that much horsepower. I was running Lightroom on a 2012 MBP and while poky, it was adequate, so anything in comparison would be an upgrade

Everyone's needs are different. My rationale for choosing the i5 was about heat and fans.

Between the I5 and bios update 1.19, I think the fans will be very quiet in your configuration - just my $.02

 

[LindsayD]

Between the I5 and bios update 1.19, I think the fans will be very quiet in your configuration - just my $.02

I hope so!

My desktop machine has a 6 core i7, SSDs, 64Gig RAM, and it flies through whatever I throw at it. That machine is nearly 2 years old (and it needs to last me another 4 years). I realise the processors in desktops are more powerful than those in laptops, but it will nevertheless be interesting putting the same task to that machine and my X1E to see how much slower my X1E configuration is (I'll upgrade the memory).

 

[jrichards1408]

My answer to jrichards has just disappeared (not sure what I did when replying to hajime) - so I'll re-do it:

To answer your question, I've been using Photoshop since the late 90s and Lightroom since it was released.

For the tasks discussed I'd be surprised if the difference in the i5 and i7 was as extreme as 50%. I don't do gaming, 3D design, or much video editing. My understanding is that PS and LR are concerned more with the speed of 1 core rather than multiple cores, so differences between 6 core vs 4 cores shouldn't be dramatic. For those kinds of tasks the benchmarks I've seen haven't demonstrated a huge difference.

Everyone's needs are different. My rationale for choosing the i5 was about heat and fans. I'm very sensitive to fan noise and the i5 might be less noisy than the i7. I realise undervolting is an option, but it doesn't make a big enough difference for everyone. I'll gladly give up a little speed for a little less noise. I'll find out soon enough.

Ahh ok cool.

For me. Lightroom uses all my cores when I build 1:1 previews or export to jpg etc.

Anyways I do really hope you enjoy the machine!

 

[LindsayD]

Lightroom uses all my cores when I build 1:1 previews or export to jpg etc.

I didn't know that - thank you.

 

[jrichards1408]

I didn't know that - thank you.

But it's poorly optimised though as a result Still.

I use the latest lightroom cc classic

 

[hajime]

How is the battery life before and after the application of BIOS 1.19? Please state your CPU and screen configurations. Thanks.

 

[Never mind]

New Samsung 970 Pro numbers today. Nice improvement over the Union Memory stick that Lenovo inserted (256 GB).

 

[jrichards1408]

View attachment 825874

New Samsung 970 Pro numbers today. Nice improvement over the Union Memory stick that Lenovo inserted (256 GB).

Still have not installed mine yet

 

[maflynn]

View attachment 825874

New Samsung 970 Pro numbers today. Nice improvement over the Union Memory stick that Lenovo inserted (256 GB).

I have a Samsung 970 Pro in my Amazon basket but I've not pulled the trigger. I can justify the price of the 512GB SSD but not the 1TB.

 

[Never mind]

Yep, $169.99 for 512 from Samsung is less than it was months ago, but the 1TB was way too much for me as well. I have not used it to it's full potential yet, but nice to have since I made my first mistake in getting the 256 GB to begin with. Never heard of "Union Memory" manufacture before, probably a slap on sticker from another manufacture.

I did disable the internal battery, easy to do, than insert the SSD. Tough part was installing from scratch again.