1st Review of the New Lenovo ThinkPad P50
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- Опубликовано: 21 авг 2024
- This is my first review of the Lenovo ThinkPad P50 that just arrived 2 days ago.
Please post all comments and questions to my blog on Nani.Today at:
www.nani.today/...
I believe this is the first review of a productin version of the P50 on youtube.
And in this video, I compare the P50 to something familiar, the W540.
Several areas are a improvement over the W540:
- Track Pad: The track pad on the W540 was a major mistake. Whoever though of the single panel design, without buttons never used it. With the P50, we have the separate buttons back, which is a huge gain in my eyes
- LED drive light: While this is a minor thing, its something I missed in the W540. I'm glad they decided to put this light back on, so we can see the drive activity, if any.
- Runs much cooler. Running the same application, in this case the Prime95 app, the CPU runs not only about 10 Deg C cooler, but since its running cooler, it can also run at a higher clock speed.
- Since it runs cooler, it also runs quieter. In normal use, when I'm not doing anything compute intensive, I don't hear the fans.
I just mine, I went for the Xeon version; and somehow in my use (often extensive video rendering which uses CPU and GPU) I have almost never have the CPU running lower than 3Ghz. I could guess maybe you had the laptop in balanced mode instead of performance; or maybe the Xeon runs more effcient than the i7.
I think I see your point of the no need for the colorimeter; but now that I have it, I cannot live without it. somehow the screen asks to be calibrated every week and once I do I can tell the difference. I dont know if it a weakness
Auctually, you did get a SATA SSD as you ordered. It's an M.2 connector SATA 6Gb/s bus SSD, in contrast to an M.2 connector PCIe bus NVMe SSD, or a 2.5" 7mm SSD. You can tell them apart by the keying notches of M.2 connectors.
How long does the 90Wh battery last for you with actual day to day use?
How well does the fingerprint recognition work for you?
How about the stability of keyboard case when resting your palms during typing? Is it flexible or very sturdy?
Are the speakers adequate (decent)?
Is there two slots for PCIe SSD drives?
Does it come equipped with usb 3.1c or just usb 3.0?
Very nice review, thank you.
+keyvan salehi I'll do a review of the battery life once i get my second machine back. See my other comments for why I had to return this unit and order a different unit
I did check the fingerprint scanner, and it was able to recognize my fingerprint on the first time most of the time. I liked using that to unlock the machine. I'll include that in my next review too.
The speakers are a big improvement over the W540, They sounded nice for a laptop speaker
Yes there are 2 slots for M2 drives and one 2.5" bay for another drive.
I think this has just USB 3.0. I also have the docking station for the P50. I'll include that in my next review too.
Great comparision I just wish you compared them both with them running the same OS (i notice the W540 running Windows 7 and P50 running Windows 10 and i think that might affect performance).
Next time try to get the whole thing in the frame
thanks for the video. but actually, you argue extensively about how cooler it runs the P50, but when you show the task manager, CPU speed is only 2.6, so the machine is not using the turbo. the 6820 should turbo all the way to 3.6, which it means either thermal throttle or power throttle. that is a bummer if it gets confirmed. it is like buying a 35watts CPU for the price of a 45watts.
Thanks for the review.
Now I am interested how you calculate Stock predictions? :) Still happy with the device after 1 year?
Great review! You mentioned about your processing need... why did you opt for the i76820HQ? Is this more powerful than the Intel Xeon E3-1505M v5 processor? I noticed there were two m2 slots and a space for SATA... do you know if you can run RAID 0 on the two m2 slots for your system OS with the SATA as non-raid for data? Thanks!
+Dennis Labajo I did not need error correction memory so I opted for the i7. The xeon might be a bit faster, but for the extra money i did not think it was worth it.
There are 2 M2 slots, which I will plan to use in the future. For now the 1TB SDD will do. I did check out the 2TB SSD on amazon, but for the extra cost, i did not see a need at this time.
hopefully the prices for the M2 memory cards will come down, and their capacity go up. Once they get to around 2TB per card, then I'll start to consider that as an upgrade.
+ThinkPad P50 Oh for me it was worth it cause it adds the M2000M in the same money.
+ThinkPad P50 thanks for the info. On Lenovo's website, it would not allow me to add another drive (for data) once I have selected RAID 0 on a dual M2.
Did you notice any clicking noise from the hinge? Please see the video I just posted.
+Jucius Maximus I did not notice that clicking sound. I returned the first machine and I'm waiting for my second machine to arrive. I'll double check that and post a video about it.
Thank you so much for this video. How is the color of the screen? Can the color be compared to Macbook Pro?
hey! I'm so glad someone finally got a review of this laptop up. I am looking into getting this laptop, and my main question is if I buy it with just a 500 gb hard drive, is it easy or even possible to upgrade to a 500ssd later? that is my only concern. anyway, great vid!
+Evan Hiatt Good question. Here is what happened to me, hopefully it will help someone else down the road.
I ordered it with the 256GB SSD option, thinking it was a 2.5" SSD that I could swap out and put in a larger drive. As it turned out, the only option when buying the P50 with SSD is the M2 style SSD, those are the memory cards on the left of the 2.5" drive bay. So there was no 2.5" drive i could remove and put in a larger SSD. That was fine, but then I saw there was not drive cable! So even though I had an empty drive bay, I could not install the 1TB SSD I had purchased. After spending hours on the phone with Lenovo, first going to support, then to sales and then to parts, as it turns out they do not have a part you that you can order, to get the cable!
Finally, after talking with everyone, they had not ETA for when you could order the drive cable.
So I ended up returning the unit I had, and I have now ordered the same configuration, but this time with a 500GB 2.5" hard disk. That is the only way at the present time to get the cable.
So once that comes, I'll be making some more videos of the new system, and swapping out the 500GB hard disk for a 1TB SSD.
+ThinkPad P50 thanks so much for the help! that really clears things up for me!
+ThinkPad P50 hey is the ram upgradable later? like it I get the 16 gb option and for whatever reason want to upgrade to 32gb later. can I do that?
+Evan Hiatt Yes, you can upgrade the ram. There are 4 ram slots, so depending on the configuration you get, you should have some empty slots available to upgrade later. Just be aware that 2 of the slots are under the keyboard and 2 are under the bottom panel. I'm not sure if you are a configuration with 2 ram slots filled, if those will be filled under the keyboard or under the bottom panel. Adding more memory to the slots under the bottom panel would be very easy. I'll point out those slots in my next video. But adding memory to the slots under the keyboard would require removing the keyboard which would be a bit more complicated.
+ThinkPad P50
Thanks for pointing that out. I ordered the P70 with 500gb HDD instead.
Can I check whether the M.2 slot is the normal M.2 2280 SSD or the M.2 PCIe NVMe?
I also ordered the FHD scree. So long as it's IPS panel, it should suffice. I really wonder how people can see a panel that has 4k worth of pixels! So small.
is the P50 slimmer than the W540? It kind of looks like it, but it's hard to tell.
If you had the 4k screen then it would reduce battery life surely?
+Wotchersful It is inevitable.. much more GPU intensive hence more power consumption
Please suggest Mobile Workstation 15'' or 15.6" for Engineering work : Schematic using AutoCad or ePlan P8 and 3D modelling using Inventor Pro
Lenovo ThinkPad P50 vs HP ZBook Studio vs Dell Precision vs Apple Mac Book Pro?
Saw the new trackpad. *goes out and buys the p50*
Which screen did you get on the P50 and how do you like its performance?
+Jucius Maximus Performance is great! You will notice it runs much cooler and quieter than other ThinkPads.
The screen is a 1920x1080 non touch.
Hi! May I know dimension of the box that's with the p50? I need to know because I'll have it ship overseas. Thank you very much. :)
I think the p50 can be ordered with the Xeon cpu now! it is about 10% better than the i7?
you think this would be a better buy than the i7 macbook pro with 16gb of ram if both spec'd the same?
+Austin Childs Yes, it can be ordered with the Xeon CPU, but I don't see ECC RAM as an option yet. This sort of defeats one of the main benefits of the Xeon.
I'm not sure if the difference between the macbook pro and the ThinkPad line. I've been using ThinkPads for 15 years now, and like them a lot for expandability, and serviceability.
Hello, I've read on your blog that you have returned your P50 because you weren't able to insert your own SSD SATA drive. I've also choose the option: none, for second hard drive so I can put in the one that is in my older Lenovo now.. Am I making the same mistake you did? Or did I misread? Thanks in advance :)
+Jørgenstil So if you ordered it with one of the SSD, what you will get is a M2 SSD, not a 2.5" SSD. This will still leave you with 1 slot for another M2 SSD and an empty 2.5" drive bay where you can put in a 2.5" SSD. The problem is the cables to connect the 2.5" SSD do not come with the system, they have to be ordered separately. From what I've read on the Lenovo Support thread, people are now being quoted that the cable is out of stock and will not ship for 90 days (3 months!) So if you can live with your system as is for 3 months, then you can order the cable and connect a 2.5" SSD. I did not want to wait that long, and was told it would be faster to return the system, and order a system with a 2.5" Hard Disk. This would give you the cable, and rubber bumper that you would need, so you can swap out the hard drive for a 2.5" SSD. (See my video on doing this).
As an extra bonus, after i returned the first system, i ordered the second, with the 2.5" hard disk and no SSD, which was less. But then while I was waiting for that to ship, Lenovo dropped the price of everything and I found a 15% off coupon. So I ended up canceling the second order, and re-ordering it a third time. The total savings from the first unit was about $1,000!
Right, thanks! You just saved me the frustration of having my new shiny laptop in, but having to send it back immediately. I contacted them and hopefully they will change my order to the 500GB HDD one.
Thanks for the prompt and very clear reply.
+Jørgenstil Hi! Al little follow up question as I have continued with this little adventure :) My email to Lenovo came in too late (or something) and now my P50 without HDD is on its way. Do you know if the Samsung 850 EVO M.2 500GB will fit into on of slots in the P50? So I can buy that one and put it in myself. Or do I need a Samsung 950 Pro (Pcie nvme) to fit?
Thanks a lot in advance again!
hi
do u think it will be good for 3D / Motion graphics etc. my primary tools are Cinema4d / Aftereffects /Zbrush..Thanks.
Wanna ask, between the two which one is heavier and thicker??
stilling thinking about whether to replace my old w530 with this, but all the better configuration ones cost so much money!!! 3k display and Xeon together drive the price up to 3000...dont know if the price will come in a few month
+holla vince The W530/W520 is still an outstanding device concerning CPU power. Why do you want to replace it?
+lemuEuD Agree. I'm still running a W520. Also have a Dell M4700 for comparison. Personally, I don't see much need to upgrade for my day to day work (vm labs). 2nd generation Core i7 processors have, IMO, the best price performance ratio at the moment.
Can you pls tell the specs? FHD or 4K? How is the quality for you?
Thanks for the video, what is the average battery life?
+Nasko Vasilev I will check and post a video about the battery life
you have 65GBS of RAM?????
If my P50 has a 500gb hard drive in it, can I buy a samsung 250gb ssd and put it in next to my hard drive? or will i have to use an external ssd hard drive for more storage?
+Hookk16 yes < there is 2 sockect for m2 ssd that u can have 1 hdd and 2 m2 ssd
Regarding Financial Analysis ... I'm looking into buying the P50 which will be used for primarily excel (creating robust financial models). Do you think I'd be okay to go with the i7-6700HQ (6MB cache) 8 GB of Ram? I was also planning on opting for the SSD 512 GB (PCIe-NVMe or SATA3)? Plan on having a few other applications open at any given time (Pandora streaming, etc.) Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
P50 is WAY overkill for excel work with music playing in the background. You could buy just about anything for what you want. I'd go with a T or X series thinkpad and save a lot of money.
Thanks for saving me the extra dough mate. I'm looking into the T460s at this point. Do you have any suggestions regarding if I need the Intel Core i7-660U (+$250 from base) or if I would notice any performance difference between their base i%-6200U vs i56300U (+$60 from base)? Probably will opt for the 8 GB of RAM. Last issue I have is if it's worth the +255 from base for the $256 SSD, PCIe-NVMe or if I could simply get the 256 GB SSD, SATA3 and not notice any major differences.
+Matthew Aydt T460S is a great choice. The base model with 8GB of RAM and a 256gb SATA3 drive would serve you great. If you plan on keeping it for a long time and want to be futureproof I would opt for the better processors depending on your budget. The differences between SSDs won't really be noticeable for real world application.
Can't thank you enough for the insight. Any thoughts on if the screen is going to be super glossy vs matte? I'm planning on not having the computer more than 4 years so would opting for the i5 6300U be throwing $60 away instead of staying with the i5 6200U?
+Matthew Aydt I prefer a matte screen, the non-touch version should be matte. I'd pocket the $60, the 200mhz difference isn't really worth the money.
Which specs have your P50? FHD, CPU, GPU,
since you reviewed the FHD screen is it sharp enough ?
i had w541 and the FHD screen is very bad on that laptop.
should i get 4K or FHD will be sharp enough ?
+Asim AL-Omari I think it is sharp enough. Most of the time I will have it connected to a docking station and displaying on 2 external monitors so the screen resolution did not really matter much to me. I'll plan on doing another review and will focus on the display, so stay tuned.
+ThinkPad P50 thank you i will be using the laptop screen so since you upgrade from w540 what do you think about the screen comparing it with you old laptop ?
Thanks for review, I have one issue with my p50 lid hinge, If you take 90 degrees as having the screen open and fully vertical, and 0 degrees as fully closed, mine automatically swings shut at about 25-30 degrees (when 30 slowly swings shut). Did you have such issue, please can you check, would very appreciate, otherwise i have to return machine. Thanks
+Eldiyar Talantbek uulu I'll let you know once I get my replacement unit.
+ThinkPad P50 Ok , thanks. I will wait for your answer
+ThinkPad P50 Sir, when will your unit arrive? I am asking because I have 30 days to replace unit from invoice date if it's lenovo's error.
+Eldiyar Talantbek uulu It is scheduled to arrive tomorrow, Friday here in the US. I will do an unboxing video first, and check the hinge.
If it is only your unit, i would contact lenovo, describe your problem and say it is not acceptable and you would like a replacement. They seem to be very good at returns, especially if the hinge is defective.
Hows the battery life on idle vs battery life on full stress for both machines ?
+CARRION RAYMI KAPAK I'll do a benchmark of both machines running full stress with the Prime95 app and see how they last. The W540 that I have has the extended battery so it will not be a true comparison, but at least it will give some idea of how it lasts with these batteries.
Thank you :D I'm really excited to get the P70 rather then reverting to a Mac
I read a review that put the battery life at idle around 14h with wifi off
8 hours basic browsing
and 1h extreme processing load and maxed
brightness
but again that was only one blog post
so this would defs seal the deal :D
What is the screen resolution on both of your machines?
+MegaXtc11 both are 1920 not the 4K display
Thanks. I see the trackpad is returning sort of to the classis buttons also the lower ones (the newer T460's does not have physical buttons in the bottom), also the HDD light is nice. It might be my next machine
hi
thanks for the info.Have you brought it from Amazon.com
+Niroshan Bandara I bought this directly from Lenovo. The last system that was ordered, the one I finally kept, took about 2 weeks to get.
+ThinkPad P50 can u post the link ,how to buy..
Do the trackpad keys lit up ?
+kapullas No the trackpad keys do not light up, just the keys on the keyboard.
my t61 boots faster than my p70 full spec both win 10 pro can work it out
What hard drives do your T61 and P70 use?
is the w540 for sale?
+Shaya Maddex Sorry, no the w540 is not for sale
How do you call this a review of the laptop and you don't even mention anything about the screen, which is what 99% of people interested in this laptop want to know about... THUMBS DOWN.
I do not understand how even in 2016 a laptop can be so heavy, so huge and so poorly designed. My university sponsors this one for me so I only pay half, but it is so bulky and old-looking.
Personally not at all a fan of a tracking point and the second set of mouse buttons, the word "ThinkPad" in an angle in the corner just completely ruins the look of it.
Rounded keys, stuffed with pictograms, cheap looking plastic. Come on Lenovo, I know the inside matters more than the outside, but this is just not good looking at all.
The thinkpads are not meant to cater at all to those who want ultra-modern "slim & sexy" looking laptops due to the compromise that brings. These laptops are built for durability and performance. Also, most people seem to agree the keyboard is one of the best out there. Try writing a long-form piece on this vs the super thing chiclet keyboards and you'll see the design is not poor at all.
Tell him to use his tablet. In my opinions, the simple design on Thinkpads is extremely pleasing.
Really? I think it looks kinda cool. Reminds me of the 90's. Less form, more function.
KanjoosMakhichoos To be honest, I like beefy gadgets !
Longevity. Want your quad core processors for financial modelling, rendering, running proprietary programs, you got to keep the heat down, and concentrate on running faster. These are desktop replacements for performance, not built for portability (or cool). Yes I can get an i7 processor in a slim and light form (Dell XPS) but I need to use the thing all day, every day, running CPU intensive tasks. And I want to be able to upgrade RAM and drives in the future.