Hi, on my C930 connecting to 4K TV via the usb-c to hdmi adapter, after waking up the computer from sleep, the external TV shows no signal even pressing Function+10 or Windows+P. I have to physically unplug the hdmi cable from the adapter and reconnect for the external display to get the signal from the computer (show exactly the same thing on my LCD screen). On the X1E, after waking up from sleep, do you have to unplug the HDMI cable from the laptop and replug again for the external display to function?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Lenovo X1 Extreme
- Thread starter lcseds
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Sometimes yes. I get an error on my monitor saying it can't output to 4k res lol. No idea why it's trying to do that!
Is your error the same as no input signal? That is what I saw on my external TV. I had to unplug the hdmi cable and re-plug it to make it works.
It took around 50 minutes on the telephone this morning to sort out my Lenovo return. I say return, even though I wanted an exchange. Because I’ve been having some noticeable performance problems as well as the coil whine I felt I should change to the i7 and simply pay the difference. I was told in no uncertain terms that would not be possible, I could only have an exchange for the exact same specification, or a refund. That is counter to the advice I was first given when I telephoned Lenovo initially (they subsequently transferred me to Digital River, their UK agents who would process the request). Lenovo told me Digital River would offer the option for a refund, an exchange for something better, or a straight swap. This proved not to be the case.
When I purchased my computer I did so because there was a (rare) discount available on the Lenovo UK website, at 15%. I explained this to the customer service representative I spoke to at Digital River and he said the promotion was no longer available. I explained again that I was sending back a machine I believe to be faulty and I hoped the same terms could be applied to the more expensive exchange. Eventually I was told they would give me a 10% discount off my next order as a gesture of ‘goodwill’ but I would have to place the order and pay at full price then telephone them to try to get the 10% refunded back. To be honest I felt that was poor service, quite unlike anything I have experienced from other large sellers I've dealt with in the past. And particularly as I had ordered two Thinkpads that same month. The loss of the 5% is significant given I'm running a business, having just done some sums it's a loss I can't really afford at the moment. I shouldn't have to pay more to replace a faulty unit.
It will take at least another week to arrange collection, at least a week in transit, then up to 14 days for the refund to be processed. All of that could have been avoided if they had been prepared to deal with the exchange over the telephone today. But no, they would rather risk losing the business entirely.
Moreover, despite the phones in my office working perfectly the line through to Digital River (the UK Lenovo agents) was so bad I had to shout for the other person to hear me. I also had a lot of difficulty understanding him as the call centre was overseas and the accent and the speed of delivery made communication hard at times.
When I purchased my computer I did so because there was a (rare) discount available on the Lenovo UK website, at 15%. I explained this to the customer service representative I spoke to at Digital River and he said the promotion was no longer available. I explained again that I was sending back a machine I believe to be faulty and I hoped the same terms could be applied to the more expensive exchange. Eventually I was told they would give me a 10% discount off my next order as a gesture of ‘goodwill’ but I would have to place the order and pay at full price then telephone them to try to get the 10% refunded back. To be honest I felt that was poor service, quite unlike anything I have experienced from other large sellers I've dealt with in the past. And particularly as I had ordered two Thinkpads that same month. The loss of the 5% is significant given I'm running a business, having just done some sums it's a loss I can't really afford at the moment. I shouldn't have to pay more to replace a faulty unit.
It will take at least another week to arrange collection, at least a week in transit, then up to 14 days for the refund to be processed. All of that could have been avoided if they had been prepared to deal with the exchange over the telephone today. But no, they would rather risk losing the business entirely.
Moreover, despite the phones in my office working perfectly the line through to Digital River (the UK Lenovo agents) was so bad I had to shout for the other person to hear me. I also had a lot of difficulty understanding him as the call centre was overseas and the accent and the speed of delivery made communication hard at times.
Last edited:
It sounds like the return process in the UK is far more difficult than in the USA, at least from my experience. It was just a quick phone call to arrange an RMA and get the mailing labels. Drop it off and the nearest UPS store and wait for them to receive/credit.
I never did try to do just an exchange, it was always a return the old one, purchase the new one. Though they told me that it was definitely possible to do, the downside was that I had to return the old one and wait for it to be received before they would send out the new one. No cross-shipping, so I chose the option I did of return the old and purchase a new one that day.
I don't know if you have ever used the Honey Chrome Browser Extension or if it even works in the UK, but it constantly seems to find coupons worth 20-25% on Lenovo's site.
I never did try to do just an exchange, it was always a return the old one, purchase the new one. Though they told me that it was definitely possible to do, the downside was that I had to return the old one and wait for it to be received before they would send out the new one. No cross-shipping, so I chose the option I did of return the old and purchase a new one that day.
I don't know if you have ever used the Honey Chrome Browser Extension or if it even works in the UK, but it constantly seems to find coupons worth 20-25% on Lenovo's site.
Well, I also came here today to speak about Lenovo support.
First thing that shocked me is that they have official Lenovo shop in Croatia. It's in a mall, and I don't go to malls often. Once or twice a year maybe. I stumbled upon Lenovo shop, went in, and they had about 15+ laptops on display. But for some strange reason, no X1E.
I asked about X1E, and they brought one up from the back. Fully loaded (64GB RAM) 4K model. And it was a beauty. I complained about my X1E and how my FHD screen is very dimm, and that I have coil whine and lousy fans. I even admitted that I changed thermal paste. They simply said bring it in and we will see what we can do about it.
And I plan on doing just that. I don't know how this will work out for me, but they said that they do respect their international warranty, so it doesn't matter to them that my unit is from USA.
I plan on dropping my X1E next monday, since I need it this week. Will use my mac mini in the time that I'm without my X1E. But however it goes, I should have purchased the 4K model. Difference between my screen and the one I've tried out is huge. Like using a 10 year old laptop screen vs new premium 2019 laptop.
They didn't let me install any applications on it, but I've opened up 4 youtube videos (FHD resolution), and opened up a lot of apps, and the fans kicked in just for 1-2 secs, then I couldn't hear them at all. My unit would have fans on almost the whole time by doing just that.
I will report on how things work out for me, but I don't expect much. Coil whine can't be resolved by warranty claim, it's a simple lottery, and I knew that going with X1E. Or any other laptop for that matter.
First thing that shocked me is that they have official Lenovo shop in Croatia. It's in a mall, and I don't go to malls often. Once or twice a year maybe. I stumbled upon Lenovo shop, went in, and they had about 15+ laptops on display. But for some strange reason, no X1E.
I asked about X1E, and they brought one up from the back. Fully loaded (64GB RAM) 4K model. And it was a beauty. I complained about my X1E and how my FHD screen is very dimm, and that I have coil whine and lousy fans. I even admitted that I changed thermal paste. They simply said bring it in and we will see what we can do about it.
And I plan on doing just that. I don't know how this will work out for me, but they said that they do respect their international warranty, so it doesn't matter to them that my unit is from USA.
I plan on dropping my X1E next monday, since I need it this week. Will use my mac mini in the time that I'm without my X1E. But however it goes, I should have purchased the 4K model. Difference between my screen and the one I've tried out is huge. Like using a 10 year old laptop screen vs new premium 2019 laptop.
They didn't let me install any applications on it, but I've opened up 4 youtube videos (FHD resolution), and opened up a lot of apps, and the fans kicked in just for 1-2 secs, then I couldn't hear them at all. My unit would have fans on almost the whole time by doing just that.
I will report on how things work out for me, but I don't expect much. Coil whine can't be resolved by warranty claim, it's a simple lottery, and I knew that going with X1E. Or any other laptop for that matter.
I hope it works out for you - you should not have to put up with any significant issues. I understand some of these problems are growing more common across all the brands, but it still isn't acceptable.
Yesterday I tried to process a small shoot in Lightroom and my X1E was frustratingly slow. I gave up and went upstairs to my office and used a different computer. So aside from the coil whine I think my machine is otherwise faulty - nothing I tried remedied the performance. Switching 4k off helped, but it was still slower (not just in Lightroom) than my laptop which is several years old. So even if my coil whine stopped, I'd still be left with a machine which lags in many tasks, and I would still have to return it.
If I ever get another one I will revisit this thread with an update.
Yesterday I tried to process a small shoot in Lightroom and my X1E was frustratingly slow. I gave up and went upstairs to my office and used a different computer. So aside from the coil whine I think my machine is otherwise faulty - nothing I tried remedied the performance. Switching 4k off helped, but it was still slower (not just in Lightroom) than my laptop which is several years old. So even if my coil whine stopped, I'd still be left with a machine which lags in many tasks, and I would still have to return it.
If I ever get another one I will revisit this thread with an update.
Last edited:
That's a shame, Lenovo is running a 25% off eCoupon right now on the USA site, "THINKXAPRIL"
My only experience with Digital River has been with some minor software purchases. I have never had to call them regarding any kinds of issues or problems, let alone a hardware return.
I wonder if there is a way you could bypass Digital River and speak directly with someone from Lenovo?
My only experience with Digital River has been with some minor software purchases. I have never had to call them regarding any kinds of issues or problems, let alone a hardware return.
I wonder if there is a way you could bypass Digital River and speak directly with someone from Lenovo?
I tried that - I spoke to Lenovo and they said they could not process my exchange as I had not bought the machine from a reseller, but from Lenovo's UK site which is managed by Digital River. They said DR would give me the option to do a like for like exchange, an upgrade, or a refund, then they transferred the call.
How many of you connect the X1E to projectors often? Does it work 100% of the time? My C930 still cannot achieve 100% success rate.
[doublepost=1554151944][/doublepost]When battery level runs low, can you still increase the brightness of your X1E with 4K screen to a comfortably readable level? My C930 is running out of power. The dimness level is making it difficult but not impossible to read.
[doublepost=1554151944][/doublepost]When battery level runs low, can you still increase the brightness of your X1E with 4K screen to a comfortably readable level? My C930 is running out of power. The dimness level is making it difficult but not impossible to read.
I have yet to own a laptop of any brand that I haven't been able to connect to a projector reliably. Am I just lucky?
Thing is, my small quirks aren't really an issue. At all. Because my unit performs and behaves almost perfectly. Only thing lacking is battery life, I get around 4-5 hours on FHD screen (windows10). But problem with battery probably relies on me, because I tend to modify anything I can to suite my own needs, be it on Mac OS, Windows or even Linux (and I love any distribution of linux because you can modify the sh*t out of it if you know what you are doing).
I have lots of small utilities installed, and some custom small apps for time+date (don't ask me please) management. Those probably eat the battery, because there is no reasonable explanation that a 4K X1E has better battery life then my FHD version.
Well.... (read on)
You're problem is with your unit. I have some coil whine, and yes, my fans do turn on for no apparent reason. Sometimes even if I leave my unit just idling. But as far as performance goes, my thing is a beast. I can open up Unity3D/Godot/CoronaSDK/Visual Studio/MXLinux(apache with a ton of plugins installed) and a lot of other heavy 'apps' without a problem. Everything happens in a instant, no slowdowns, no issues, no glitches or any problems at all.
Only real problem I have is with the fans. I get it, fans do need to come on when doing a lot of heavy stuff. But the problem is my work doesn't need constant gpu/cpu performance, just from time to time. And I get almost the same fan noise when just browsing/mail.
That is my only issue. I tried to fix that with thinkfan + thermal paste, for a while it worked. Until it didn't.
Now if the problem is with my unit, I can even take the financial hit. If I have to choose another laptop, I would still choose X1E. Build quality, performance and keyboard are actually fantastic.
That's why I believe that your unit is faulty. If you said you had loud fans for no reason, ok, a lot of x1e owners complain on reddit for the same reason. As do I. But if I need to, I would even keep this things with loud fans. That's how great it is.
So your unit is 99% faulty. Performance isn't an issue with X1E. Granted, I don't use Adobe apps at all. But lightroom shouldn't be an issue for any laptop with X1E configuration. And since mine has excellent performance, and other units as well, yours probably has some issues.
Simply return it and get another one. Or get another brand completely. Issues like your issue aren't acceptable at all. For my own issue, well, if you want thin, light an powerful, you have to be prepared for some noise. I knew that going all in with X1E. And to say it once more, I would do it again. I love this thing more then I love nagging about it
I have the opposite problem to you - I have a slightly slow machine but my fans are super quiet (after I did various tweaks and an undervolt)! My coil whine isn't loud but it's there all the time, irrespective of what I'm doing.
I'm going to try a few more things today before finally invoking the return. Sadly I can't do an exchange as they would not let me do that under the same terms I bought the faulty one under so I now can't afford to re-order. I would rather go without than buy another brand, but the poor customer service I received has put me off Lenovo so I'll probably just try to get by with my old laptop (it's faster than the X1E, but has VERY noisy fans).
I'm going to try a few more things today before finally invoking the return. Sadly I can't do an exchange as they would not let me do that under the same terms I bought the faulty one under so I now can't afford to re-order. I would rather go without than buy another brand, but the poor customer service I received has put me off Lenovo so I'll probably just try to get by with my old laptop (it's faster than the X1E, but has VERY noisy fans).
I've done a completely fresh installation of Windows and re-loaded Lightroom. I've got the same issues with some lag and juddering when I zoom, try to use the brush, or move between images. When I switch down from 4k to 1080p things improve a lot, but it's still no faster than my old weaker laptops.
The clean install did of course remove anything Lenovo had added, and I think the machine runs cooler (though not faster). Fan intrusion is all but absent and I haven't felt the need to undervolt, as I did before. I won't be reinstalling HWMonitor since that was one of the apps which made the fans run more often.
That was my thinking when I picked up a Razer 15" it was FHD. Back then my line of thinking is I didn't need 4k, because when I'm home, the laptop is connected to a monitor and when I'm traveling/mobile, I'd prefer something that didn't needed to be so highly scaled up. Plus I liked the fact of having a matte display (which the Razer's FHD was).
Boy I was mistaken, I did find the FHD a bit constraining, but I only realized how much more so, when I picked up the 4k X1E. I still think the FHD has a place, but for me, I'm really happy with the 4k display, even though its like a mirror at time.
Can I impose on you please Mike. If you get a moment could you open 4 tabs in your web browser then minimize them (all together) and then maximize them. Do you see any slight judder as they open? This is best measured if doing the same operation in 1080p operation (which for me is smooth compared to when I'm in 4k). When I do this on my Thinkpad L390 and my other FHD laptops it's instant and seamless.
If you happen to run Adobe Lightroom the same comparison is really useful, when opening images in the Develop module and when using the brush tool.
I'm still deliberating over my return - I hate to return things if they are not obviously faulty but I'm getting mixed opinions over whether my machine is below par or not. I don't want to sound like I'm just being fickle.
I took my laptop off the external monitor and ran some tests. I tried both Chrome end edge.
I made sure I had 4 tabs and did as you requested. I ran the test several times, bouncing back and force between Chrome and Edge, and I did notice something. A stutter for lack of a better term, when maximizing the window. it didn't happen every time, that is when I minimized chrome, and then maximized, then min and maxed a second time, that second time, it didn't occur. If I switched to edge after I min'd/maxs/min'd chrome and then went back to chrome (from edge), the stutter was present. That sounds confusing I'm sure, but I think it may have something to do with what is in video ram, and if the browser is in the ram, there is less likely a stutter - if that makes sense.
As for Lightroom, I ran the test off external monitor and noticed that there was a stuttering with the brush tool, and even selecting a another image after using the brush tool. There was a delay (for lack of a better term) when the image was pulled up.
I then went back on my external monitor and repeated the same steps above and for the most part, none of the stuttering was present. That is, I couldn't get any stuttering in minimizing/maximizing. I noticed a slight delay/stutter from time to time with LR, but not enough to be really noticable - you would need to be focused in on some serious pixel peeping or looking for that lag.
I wonder if we can tell what GPU is being used, i.e., 1050Ti or the integrated one. When I'm using the laptop on an external monitor, I'm 99.99% sure its running the dGPU, but I have no idea regarding no-external monitor.
I had my power settings set for performance, but I believe the bios is set for power saving, so I wonder if that will force the integrated GPU in most situations (I have no idea, I'm just conjecturing)
Thank you so much for doing that Mike. I think the stutter is due to the 4k and is unavoidable I suspect.
In the Nvidia control panel I forced all applications to use the 1050Ti and it made no difference. In Lightroom I found having GPU acceleration enabled made things a little worse. Photoshop won't fully open a raw image from ACR with the GPU enabled, but works fine with it disabled.
In the Nvidia control panel I forced all applications to use the 1050Ti and it made no difference. In Lightroom I found having GPU acceleration enabled made things a little worse. Photoshop won't fully open a raw image from ACR with the GPU enabled, but works fine with it disabled.
Let me just add that that this post cautions people to not change the GPU settings in the bios. It may be fine after Bios 1.17 but I wouldn't take a chance.
https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/a2g0k4/warning_do_not_change_from_hybrid_graphics_to/
https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/a2g0k4/warning_do_not_change_from_hybrid_graphics_to/
I would actually pick FHD again if it had decent enough brightness (like dell xps 15 fhd), but X1E FHD has lousy brightness. Windows 10 scaling isn't nearly as good as Mac OS scaling is, and Linux is behind as well (depending on what distro you use). So FHD would be great, but with decent brightness.
I guess Lenovo will improve on 2 things they aren't very good at: speakers and screen. X1C 7th gen seems to improve those two things, I expect X1E 2nd Gen to do the same. But I won't be purchasing 2nd gen, or even 3rd gen. This one will have to do for at least 2-3 years.
[doublepost=1554291581][/doublepost]
I changed mine on 1.19 bios. No issues at all.
A quick google of stuttering found this post on the support site and recommended disabling the Realtek Audio Universal Service.
https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-X-Series-Laptops/X1-Extreme-STUTTER-LAG/td-p/4269443
I did that and things have improved, so @LindsayD, I would try that on your machine.
To temporarily turn off this service,
Hit the windows key+r
Type services.msc and hit enter
scroll down to you see the service in question
Right click and select stop.
Upon reboot, it will start up again, but if you like the results and things are working well, then double click the service and select disable from the startup type
[doublepost=1554292545][/doublepost]
https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-X-Series-Laptops/X1-Extreme-STUTTER-LAG/td-p/4269443
I did that and things have improved, so @LindsayD, I would try that on your machine.
To temporarily turn off this service,
Hit the windows key+r
Type services.msc and hit enter
scroll down to you see the service in question
Right click and select stop.
Upon reboot, it will start up again, but if you like the results and things are working well, then double click the service and select disable from the startup type
[doublepost=1554292545][/doublepost]
I heard that as well, but at the point of my purchase, I had decided on the 4k
Agreed, its still not that great, I find things too small at times.
I tried that Mike, but it doesn't make any difference. I have no issues at all with my pointing devices, just a general slight slowness when rendering images, zooming etc. I'm convinced it's a 4k phenomenon so I won't worry about it too much. It resolves almost entirely when I switch down to 1080p.
I didn’t have any problems with Photoshop, ACR, or Luminar working on the X1E, or the Spectre x360, with the GPU, but it definitely runs smoother and faster on my MacBook. The Spectre I owned had a 15w i7 whiskey lake CPU (8565U), MX150 graphics (2GB), and 16GB of RAM, and I noticed minimal speed improvements in Photoshop with the 8850H + 1050ti + 32GB configuration of the X1E. Both machines were very snappy for regular use—the 4K displays never had an impact on performance—but, unlike Premiere Pro where I know Windows has the edge, macOS seems better optimized for PS & LR.
I'm not a heavy duty LR user, by a long shot, but everything I've read is that LR and PS run faster in windows. I usually run LR with an external monitor and for me, the performance has been excellent on my X1E. I have no complaints, of course as I mentioned I'm not really pushing LR, and my image sizes are rather small compared to most full frame cameras - I'm using a Oly OMD EM5 and so images not that large.