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860 is a SATA drive,
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I have 970 EVO. Fast and reliable.
Yeah, sometimes when you cut corners, it will bite you.

I'll probably just stick with what I was intending to get in the first place. The 100 dollars for 1TB was way too tempting.
 
True. It seems Hajime needs top flight performance and graphics and if I am correct, silence. I might help if hajime would clarify the 'silence' bit because it is just unrealistic, if that is the case.

I feel moved to remind him that some intermittent bursts of fan activity are totally normal and should be expected but if hajime will not tolerate even that, then we have to throw in the towel in terms of advising him. Coil whine seems to be down to luck, but if that has settled down on hajime's X1E then things are looking positive. Again, he needs to clarify about what he will or will not put up with in terms of fans. If he needs a truly silent machine to use in classes/lectures then there are options and this may push him in the direction of buying two productivity machines (budget allowing), one for college and one for power use away from a silent environment. That's what I did - I sold some of my other stuff and saved for a bit longer, and looked out for deals.

This is one reason why I always have two working systems; one for heavy-lifting, the other passively cooled with Pen & Touch. High performance notebooks there will always be a trade off resulting in elevated temperature and associated fan noise or throttling. I find that i3/i5 passively cooled machines are more than capable of dealing with day to day basic productivity tasks and obviously silent in operation.

It's also worth noting some notebooks have Intel's TDP feature which allows cooler and quieter operation, equally the fans will spool up in time. Personally I set my primary notebook to maximum performance, if on the occasion I want absolute silence I'll opt for it's passively cooled counterpart.

As someone who started using computers in the 80's it's amazing how far we have come, and a great pity some companies have lost their core values on the journey...

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This is one reason why I always have two working systems; one for heavy-lifting, the other passively cooled with Pen & Touch. High performance notebooks there will always be a trade off resulting in elevated temperature and associated fan noise or throttling. I find that i3/i5 passively cooled machines are more than capable of dealing with day to day basic productivity tasks and obviously silent in operation.

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Yes, my Surface Pro 6, i5, 256 SSD, is a very good performer. It does a great job with everything from spreadsheets to photoshop to large files in Lightroom. It’s a great lightweight travel companion when I don’t need a large screen. I have an external SSD for when I need fast additional storage. The only thing I wouldn't do on it is try to edit large videos. And as you say, totally silent. As is my Lenovo L390Y the vast majority of the time, with the added benefit of lots of ports and a more rugged build for business travel. I feel lucky to have such nice computers.
[doublepost=1557158310][/doublepost]Accidentally deleted this post somehow, but I was saying that a couple of months back I put an 860 Evo 1TB in my VAIO and the performance is superb, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it despite being SATA. I got it on a lightning deal on Amazon so made a big saving. Edit - just looked and I have a 970 in my office desktop as the system drive, it is faster but I wasn't prepared to pay that much to upgrade my laptop.
 
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Yes, my Surface Pro 6, i5, 256 SSD, is a very good performer. It does a great job with everything from spreadsheets to photoshop to large files in Lightroom. It’s a great lightweight travel companion when I don’t need a large screen. I have an external SSD for when I need fast additional storage. The only thing I wouldn't do on it is try to edit large videos. And as you say, totally silent. As is my Lenovo L390Y the vast majority of the time, with the added benefit of lots of ports and a more rugged build for business travel. I feel lucky to have such nice computers.
[doublepost=1557158310][/doublepost]Accidentally deleted this post somehow, but I was saying that a couple of months back I put an 860 Evo 1TB in my VAIO and the performance is superb, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it despite being SATA. I got it on a lightning deal on Amazon so made a big saving.

I randomly picked up an Acer Switch 5 i3 as for me it really breached the gap between the SP6 and Surface GO; SP6 being too much and the GO being too little. Switch 5 punches well above it's weight, if I had greater usage in this form factor I'd too opt for the SP6

My primary notebook is an ROG GL703GS rerolled as a workstation, offers killer performance at the cost of portability, that said it does the rounds as I only work internationally, and reasonably small for a 17".

Acer's liquid cooling impresses as my Switch 5 can hold a solid 2.7GHz indefinitely. I don't use it frequently, however when I do it has yet to fail me...

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I'll probably just stick with what I was intending to get in the first place. The 100 dollars for 1TB was way too tempting.
Just to let you know, I selected the 660p fully aware of its shortcomings, over the 970 Evo, price didn’t matter. It’s a secondary drive, just storage really, but it is cool and needs half the the power of the Evo, especially at idle states. Initially I wanted to put a SATA drive in the second slot but this one is better.
 
Just to let you know, I selected the 660p fully aware of its shortcomings, over the 970 Evo, price didn’t matter. It’s a secondary drive, just storage really, but it is cool and needs half the the power of the Evo, especially at idle states. Initially I wanted to put a SATA drive in the second slot but this one is better.
No question, but I was thinking of putting the 970 as my main drive, I believe it will be faster then the intel and the stock SSD, and then splitting my main 1TB drive in half, for data and then for a linux install.
 
No question, but I was thinking of putting the 970 as my main drive, I believe it will be faster then the intel and the stock SSD, and then splitting my main 1TB drive in half, for data and then for a linux install.
Oh, as primary drive use 970. I thought you’ll keep the stock as system drive and use this one for ‘data’ only. I have the 970 + 660p combo.
 
Oh, as primary drive use 970. I thought you’ll keep the stock as system drive and use this one for ‘data’ only. I have the 970 + 660p combo.
The intent was always to install linux and if I had room to spare, partition it for a data drive. Since I'll get a smaller 970, I'll use that for the OS, now and split up the 1TB stock drive between data and linux.
 
Nice... Already saw it on another forum, and will try it out asap.


Today I got a notification that a new BIOS update is available. I didn't install it. First I'm gonna see what other users report, and if it is rock solid as 1.19, well, I'm gonna install it right away then. But not until first reports come in :)
 
Nice... Already saw it on another forum, and will try it out asap.


Today I got a notification that a new BIOS update is available. I didn't install it. First I'm gonna see what other users report, and if it is rock solid as 1.19, well, I'm gonna install it right away then. But not until first reports come in :)

Very wise. A couple of days ago a BIOS upgrade popped up on my L390Y. I checked the Lenovo forum and sure enough it's causing major issues - either bricking the laptops or causing thermal problems. Always a good idea to wait before doing these updates.
 
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Very wise. A couple of days ago a BIOS upgrade popped up on my L390Y. I checked the Lenovo forum and sure enough it's causing major issues - either bricking the laptops or causing thermal problems. Always a good idea to wait before doing these updates.

More systems should have the BIOS roll back feature, generally it's possible to do manually but a hassle to do so.

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More systems should have the BIOS roll back feature, generally it's possible to do manually but a hassle to do so.

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Yes, you would have thought by now that a simple method would automatically be available to reverse things if it all goes wrong. In some of the cases I found, people are having to send their laptops in for repair. I think Lenovo removed the rollback feature and tend to remove older versions from their site. I'm inclined not to flash the BIOS unless I know it contains an update which will improve my computer, or something absolutely necessary (as might be the case with a newly released model).

I wonder if disabling anti-virus first is a good idea, in case that interferes with the install?
 
Yes, you would have thought by now that a simple method would automatically be available to reverse things if it all goes wrong. In some of the cases I found, people are having to send their laptops in for repair. I think Lenovo removed the rollback feature and tend to remove older versions from their site. I'm inclined not to flash the BIOS unless I know it contains an update which will improve my computer, or something absolutely necessary (as might be the case with a newly released model).

I wonder if disabling anti-virus first is a good idea, in case that interferes with the install?

AV should be no issue as the PC has to drop out of Windows to update BIOS. One of the major problems with BIOS updates is the general vagueness of what exactly is the benefit of the update. Some have seen CPU power limits locked down after BIOS updates, so they are not always benevolent to the user, especially the more advanced.

ROG tend to push BIOS updates via Windows Update, although no ill affect I would rather have more granular control and certainly more info. Some OEM's do provide the BIOS roll back feature which I commend. Manually rolling back, it's painful unless your familiar with CMD and disassembling the OEM BIOS DL.

A wise man/woman waits as they say "fools rush in" Those unsure or not aware should leave BIOS well alone, unless they do a spot of homework first. A failed BIOS update will "Brick" the computer and may require specialised hardware to revive it.

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One of the major problems with BIOS updates is the general vagueness of what exactly is the benefit of the update.

Agree they are too vague. Listing the BIOS flash as a 'critical' upgrade will prompt many laptop owners to hit the update button in the belief that their computer will go terminally wrong if they don't. My X1E came with BIOS 1.19 so I'm pretty sure I didn't have to flash anything. At the time I was aware of the thermal discussions and Lenovo's commentary about BIOS updates helping to fix some of the problems. That alone will make a lot of users want to do the updates.

I don't know why so many BIOS revisions are being pushed out - with my L390Y I did do the one which was immediately waiting on arrival and the next one which had some apparently useful fixes. I have not done the one after that (which was a disaster) nor the replacement for it (which apparently causes overheating). That's four in just a few weeks. They seem to be rushing things or not fully testing them.
 
Agree they are too vague. Listing the BIOS flash as a 'critical' upgrade will prompt many laptop owners to hit the update button in the belief that their computer will go terminally wrong if they don't. My X1E came with BIOS 1.19 so I'm pretty sure I didn't have to flash anything. At the time I was aware of the thermal discussions and Lenovo's commentary about BIOS updates helping to fix some of the problems. That alone will make a lot of users want to do the updates.

I don't know why so many BIOS revisions are being pushed out - with my L390Y I did do the one which was immediately waiting on arrival and the next one which had some apparently useful fixes. I have not done the one after that (which was a disaster) nor the replacement for it (which apparently causes overheating). That's four in just a few weeks. They seem to be rushing things or not fully testing them.

If the BIOS updates are rapidly updating, I'd tend to hold off a while and let things settle. As much as computers today are relatively easy to use they are by nature very complex systems.

Personally I'm very familiar with "flashing" hardware as I have an engineering background and can generally recover from a bad "Flash" For the sake of stability it's frequently better to hold back and allow the Dev's to do their work as in the case of BIOS your not likely to see massive changes to the user experience.

I'll be upfront I don't delay myself as I can usually recover from a bad "Flash" Bottom line is; if your content with the computer "don't fix what isn't broken" nor is rollback easy without the knowledge.

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If I recall correct, once you set the under voltage in XTU, the X1E will remember it even it is booted to Linux natively. I just undervolted my laptop to -160mV. However, ThrottleStop only allows auto start under Windows. What do I do if I want it to stay undervolted in Linux on a dual-boot system?

Also, what is the best benchmark program to test system stability?
 
If I recall correct, once you set the under voltage in XTU, the X1E will remember it even it is booted to Linux natively. I just undervolted my laptop to -160mV. However, ThrottleStop only allows auto start under Windows. What do I do if I want it to stay undervolted in Linux on a dual-boot system?

Also, what is the best benchmark program to test system stability?

Live with fan noise, like the rest of us. XTU may write to the BIOS, equally it defaults to stock setting in a heartbeat, which renders it useless in IMO. Best benchmark is your workflow as any stable UV is determined across multiple power profiles and usage scenarios, no single test will prove that...

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More systems should have the BIOS roll back feature, generally it's possible to do manually but a hassle to do so.

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For the ThinkPad X1E, we lost that ability with 1.18, there's verbiage to say that going up to 1.18 removes the ability to roll back to an older bios.
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Interesting

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Yeah, I saw that, also windows is gaining an actual linux kernel, testing begins later this summer
Windows 10 will soon ship with a full, open source, GPLed Linux kernel

Also, what is the best benchmark program to test system stability?
Just read this very thread. That question was already posed - start reading that here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/lenovo-x1-extreme.2134802/page-52#post-27318673
 
I undervolted to -160mV. Installed SolidWorks CAD software and the noisy fan kicked in even the system profile stated that the CPU load was 1%. The X1 Yoga Gen 3 and Yoga C930 did not have such loud noise when running the same program. rMBP 2014 15" also did not have any noise issue. I could try to do a thermal repaste but the result may be the same. I guess I may have to give up on the X1E :-(
 
Yes. I think it is time for you to send back the X1E. This will never be the unit for you.

And probably forget about waiting for the X1E Gen2. Based on experience, X1Y3 was silent but screen size and resolution were too low. Yoga C930 sometimes had fan noise but not as loud as the X1E.
 
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I undervolted to -160mV. Installed SolidWorks CAD software and the noisy fan kicked in even the system profile stated that the CPU load was 1%. The X1 Yoga Gen 3 and Yoga C930 did not have such loud noise when running the same program. rMBP 2014 15" also did not have any noise issue. I could try to do a thermal repaste but the result may be the same. I guess I may have to give up on the X1E :-(

Colour me surprised..

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For the ThinkPad X1E, we lost that ability with 1.18, there's verbiage to say that going up to 1.18 removes the ability to roll back to an older bios.

That's a negative, you can likely still manually roll back, equally a royal PIA; my $, my hardware, my choice, simple as that, not that my PC portables are much better :p

Yeah, I saw that, also windows is gaining an actual linux kernel, testing begins later this summer
Windows 10 will soon ship with a full, open source, GPLed Linux kernel

Very interested, although I'll hold off until it's in the Store as that way any updates will be automated. Apple is literally sleeping at the wheel these days...

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