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lixuelai

macrumors 6502a
Oct 29, 2008
958
327
Got my X1 Extreme. In the end went for a Gen 1 with 4k display. Build quality is excellent and the keyboard is awesome. The battery can be better but with undervolting I am getting 6-7hours of battery life which is good enough for me. The fingerprint sensor can also be better. Overall very happy with it.
 
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c0ppo

macrumors 68000
Feb 11, 2013
1,890
3,266
Lenovo has a really bad marketing department. I have a feeling that they don't even have that department.
X1E 2nd gen is out for a long time now, and still, no reviews at all. Same as last year.

Now, I'm not gonna purchase gen2, because it makes no sense. CPU is almost the same, GPU is slightly better. Not worth the upgrade.

But I'm rather curious about new displays, especially FHD that are brighter then gen1 FHD display. And I want to see if they improved the thermals. But we will likely see reviews when gen3 will be almost out :D
 
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jrichards1408

macrumors 6502a
Nov 4, 2016
615
194
Lenovo has a really bad marketing department. I have a feeling that they don't even have that department.
X1E 2nd gen is out for a long time now, and still, no reviews at all. Same as last year.

Now, I'm not gonna purchase gen2, because it makes no sense. CPU is almost the same, GPU is slightly better. Not worth the upgrade.

But I'm rather curious about new displays, especially FHD that are brighter then gen1 FHD display. And I want to see if they improved the thermals. But we will likely see reviews when gen3 will be almost out :D
No X1 carbon 10th gen to be seen as well
 

jrichards1408

macrumors 6502a
Nov 4, 2016
615
194
Damm my thunderbold 3 ports and usb A ports have magically stopped working!

i tried reinstalling drivers but no joy!

I called lenovo about this issue and they will send me a new motherboard again....

This is not on.

I have never had a machine fail on me like this and twice!

I am thinking of selling this after it gets fixed as i am losing hope on this machine.

Besides this, the machine is actually brilliant. A powerhouse with good performance and fantastic 4k screen but i cant be dealing with these issues all the time and i have only had this laptop this march.....
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,478
43,405
What version of Bios is everyone on?

I fired up my Lenovo vantage app and decided to update some of the critical things, and there's a bios update for 1.24. Doing some digging 1.22 seems to break the bios supervisor password (not that I use it) but being on 1.19 I'm a few versions back.

To be honest, since my system is stable, I don't see any advantage or motivation to update.

Damm my thunderbold 3 ports and usb A ports have magically stopped working!
That sux - time to call support and see what they say. I can understand the mentality of cutting bait and moving on.
 

jrichards1408

macrumors 6502a
Nov 4, 2016
615
194
What version of Bios is everyone on?

I fired up my Lenovo vantage app and decided to update some of the critical things, and there's a bios update for 1.24. Doing some digging 1.22 seems to break the bios supervisor password (not that I use it) but being on 1.19 I'm a few versions back.

To be honest, since my system is stable, I don't see any advantage or motivation to update.


That sux - time to call support and see what they say. I can understand the mentality of cutting bait and moving on.
Now it's working all of a sudden but for how long? The laptop Also crashed 3 times now.
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,478
43,405
I've contacted Lenovo and they are going to replace the motherboard yet again
Yeah, maybe its time to cut bait as I said. On the flip side, it seems the support is quite accommodating and helpful. that must count for something.
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,478
43,405
I'm running into some odd issues with X1, I think its related to the new hardware that I've gotten lately.

One of the issues, is that on a reboot, it just sits here. Pressing enter (to go into the bios) does nothing. I first noticed it when windows went to reboot over night.
IMG_5913.JPG

A second issue is an old one, where windows notices a change in hardware and prompts me to enter the bitlocker recovery key.

I made some changes to the bios, so that I get the full POST, and I added a delay of 10 seconds for the external display. The recovery key issue seems to be related to the razer keyboard, switching back to my older keyboard seems to have corrected the issue.
 

jrichards1408

macrumors 6502a
Nov 4, 2016
615
194
I am getting very terrible battery life on this device.

I diddnt notice it at first as its always connected to the mains but now I am travelling away for Xmas visiting the in laws and I took the device with me. Battery lasts around 2h on medium brightness with Bluetooth on and just watching/ streaming a football game...

Even if I'm just browsing using chrome it eats away the battery life at a similar rate to when I'm gaming on it...

I installed some battery monitor that shows the wattage drain and I tried to close many background apps like Adobe, logitech, Franz messaging etc and i got the wattage drain down to about 15w.... Is that high still?
 

c0ppo

macrumors 68000
Feb 11, 2013
1,890
3,266
I've owned X1E 2nd gen for some while. I never intended to purchase this device, but I had an accident with 1st gen, and that device is basically dead. Well, almost dead. After coming home from work, I've parked my bike in garage, and left my laptop bag behind the car. Wife turned on the car, and ran over it. She couldn't see the bag, my fault completely. What's interesting, my car is about 2100kg in weight.

And even after fully running over my X1E, it sort of worked. Screen was completely shatterd, chasis broken... But after removing RAM from one memory slot, device would actually turn on. Fan on GPU side was still working, but not on CPU side. So laptop would basically overheat and turn off after 1-2 mins. And yes, internal screen wasn't working, I've tested this when connected on external screen.

But long story short... X1E I own now has 48GB of RAM (16+32), 3TB SSD (2+1), i7 9750h, and a 1650 GPU. And then there is 4K HDR screen. I've bought 4K because it was cheaper. With 16GB of ram and 1TB SSD, it was only 1499$ on ebay. 1799$ for FHD HDR and 512GB SSD. So I went with 4K. But funny thing is, X1C with 4K HDR has way better screen. It's easily noticable. Why is that, I have no idea :(

This device is 99% the same as first gen. But with one big difference. Mesh behind the backplate is completely different then on first gen. No one in reviews mentions this. And it makes a difference. Device is overall more silent. But when I push it and fans do ramp up, sound is completely different then on 1st gen. In a good way.

It's a shame I had to purchase this laptop, even though I still consider it to be the best thin and light laptop in the market. I would prefer to wait a year or two to update my 1st gen X1E, and then purchase one with either new Ryzen chips, or Intel 10nm (if those ever come out...).

But never the less, this device is still awesome!
I just with that when they redesign it, battery gets bigger. With 4K under Linux I can get around 4 hours tops. And that is just with browsing and watching videos. Under Windows 6h or so is the limit.
 

grmlin

macrumors 65816
Feb 16, 2015
1,107
775
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Again :)

There are no information whatsoever about a Gen 3, right?
 

c0ppo

macrumors 68000
Feb 11, 2013
1,890
3,266
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Again :)

There are no information whatsoever about a Gen 3, right?

Nope.
But basically, they can't improve much. Quite the opposite, they can go with 10th gen Intel, but you will loose undervolting with those CPUs. So 9th gen is far better then those. At least for me.

I don't think that Lenovo is in any rush to change the design also. And to be honest, I hope they don't. It's thin and light enough. Just increase the battery and this will be a perfect device :)
 
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grmlin

macrumors 65816
Feb 16, 2015
1,107
775
Did they disable it for the 10th gen CPUs in general? That would be pretty big downside as most of the laptops run much cooler undervolted, right?
 

c0ppo

macrumors 68000
Feb 11, 2013
1,890
3,266
Did they disable it for the 10th gen CPUs in general? That would be pretty big downside as most of the laptops run much cooler undervolted, right?

Not sure, but all reviews of any 10th gen laptop I saw thus far, none could be undervolted. Apparently Intel is fixing some security flaw, so they disabled undervolting.

And undervolting helps with temps and thermals in general. For example, I would hear fans under linux way more often if I didn't udervolt.
 

grmlin

macrumors 65816
Feb 16, 2015
1,107
775
You guys don't help me much in my decision making ?

I though I would wait for the next XPS but now I somewhat consider getting an X1E or P53 instead... damnit
 

lcseds

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 20, 2006
1,197
1,073
NC, USA
Look at screen aspect ratio also. I think all Lenovos still embrace the 16:9. Where Dell is making theirs 16:10. It is my opinion this makes a great deal of difference (certainly with the 13" models, but still valuable in the 15" model).
 

c0ppo

macrumors 68000
Feb 11, 2013
1,890
3,266
Look at screen aspect ratio also. I think all Lenovos still embrace the 16:9. Where Dell is making theirs 16:10. It is my opinion this makes a great deal of difference (certainly with the 13" models, but still valuable in the 15" model).

I agree, 16:10 is so much better for productivity, and I really hope Lenovo goes with 16:10 in future. But I would still pick Lenovo over Dell easily. Additional nvme SSD, better build quality, better port selection, and generally, I trust Lenovo way more then Dell. Of course, this is simply my subjective view, so take it as you wish :)
 

c0ppo

macrumors 68000
Feb 11, 2013
1,890
3,266
Next week I will receive a MBP 16. Not sure about the specs, only that it will be a 16" device.
It will be company issued, I will use it for doing flutter iOS builds.

Now, there are a few MBP 16 around office. Not many, since company banned any MBP since butterfly keyboard fiasco. They only allowed iMacs and Mac minis for iOS builds, and now MBP 16 since that one doesn't have butterfly keyboards.

I won't get to keep the device after I'm done with this project. But I am glad I will get to compare it with my own X1E.
My plan is to use MBP for a few days, then X1E for a few days. Just to get a clear comparison between the two. Never got the chance in my life to compare such high end devices, and now I'm looking forward to have this opportunity.

If anyone is interested in something in particular, please post it, and I will do my best to check it out for you.
 
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grmlin

macrumors 65816
Feb 16, 2015
1,107
775
I am :)

But my question would be: you are a Flutter dev? How do you like it?
Edit: actually that's way too ot, sorry. I'll send you a pm instead.
 

Rigtee

macrumors member
Sep 19, 2018
75
32
Belgium
Next week I will receive a MBP 16. Not sure about the specs, only that it will be a 16" device.
It will be company issued, I will use it for doing flutter iOS builds.

Now, there are a few MBP 16 around office. Not many, since company banned any MBP since butterfly keyboard fiasco. They only allowed iMacs and Mac minis for iOS builds, and now MBP 16 since that one doesn't have butterfly keyboards.

I won't get to keep the device after I'm done with this project. But I am glad I will get to compare it with my own X1E.
My plan is to use MBP for a few days, then X1E for a few days. Just to get a clear comparison between the two. Never got the chance in my life to compare such high end devices, and now I'm looking forward to have this opportunity.

If anyone is interested in something in particular, please post it, and I will do my best to check it out for you.

Great ! Can’t wait to read your detailed comparison!

I’m curious to see how they perform in day-to-day usage and how well the software is in harmony with the hardware. A good comparison would also be on how well they manage their thermals (especially when connected to an external screen if you have one, it’s a concerning issue with the MBP 16). Lastly, how good the battery life is.

Thank you!
 

Queen6

macrumors G4
Not sure, but all reviews of any 10th gen laptop I saw thus far, none could be undervolted. Apparently Intel is fixing some security flaw, so they disabled undervolting.

And undervolting helps with temps and thermals in general. For example, I would hear fans under linux way more often if I didn't udervolt.

Serves only to push me more to an AMD solution, getting a little old with Intel, it's vulnerabilities and lack of any real progress...

Hopefully next year there will be far more AMD notebooks on the market that will "fit the bill"...

Q-6
 
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