Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Extreme (Second Edition)

Here's the announcement:

https://www.pcworld.com/video/95448/lenovos-thinkpad-x1-extreme-gets-gtx-1650-and-core-i9

 

Definitely like the FHD 500-nit HDR display option. The brightness of the original version's FHD display was criticized in comparison to the XPS 15, and the 4K option doesn't appeal to me because it comes with penalties around battery life, weight, thickness, and possible display scaling issues in applications -- and I'd be paying more for that. Still, for people who want/need 4K, I think it's great that Lenovo is offering both matte and glossy versions. I wish more vendors offered matte versions of their high-end display options.

I think I'm still going to wait for laptops with Ice Lake CPUs, though. Performance and battery life improvements seem like they'll be significant, and I want DisplayPort 1.4 support. By then, hopefully a fully redesigned XPS 15 will be out, and then I'll decide if I want to roll the dice on Dell despite the wide range of QC issues reported with recent XPS 15 models, or jump ship and put up with the ThinkPad line's backwards Fn/Ctrl key placement. I know there's a BIOS swap, and I wouldn't be able to use ThinkPads at all without it, but even that still leaves your Ctrl key physically smaller than your Fn key -- to say nothing of the confusion it creates for anyone else who might use your laptop. The fact that Lenovo places these keys correctly on their IdeaPads and their new ThinkBooks makes it even more irritating. Wouldn't want to rock the boat with the ThinkPad faithful who prize the keyboard, I guess.

But if I had to replace my current XPS 15 9530 before Ice Lake, I would get a second-gen X1E rather than the upcoming equivalent 2019 XPS 15 refresh. Better keyboard feel, better port selection, dual M.2 slots, and now presumably an equal or better FHD display. Would be nice not to need Autohotkey to have media keys on a ThinkPad though. Even business users listen to music, Lenovo....

 

Interesting. They pack an i9 into it, which is a hotter chip than the i7s. But they also pack a lower wattage GPU. So under combined load you can expect noticeably better CPU performance, even i7 models.

So that GPU upgrade of 30% also boosts that CPU speed. Which I think is an epic win. If Lenovo actually made the cooling better, I think it might be able to handle the lower end i9. The overclockable one needs a 10 pound laptop at the very least.

No idea why they even offer the unlocked i9. You don’t get marketing hype and there is no way you can cook it.

Even liquid metal + max fan profile + cooling system mod + blowei matron can’t handle the heat on an Asus desktop replacement. So this thing cannot physically cool it

 

Where are you seeing an unlocked i9 being offered? The Tech Specs on Lenovo's site for the new system don't mention any K models. Strangely, all of the CPU models they DO list are prefixed only with an "i" rather than "i5/7/9", and the top-end CPU appears to contain an additional typo in its "model number". Lenovo lists it as a 9850H, but that appears to be a copy/pate error from the same CPU model number immediately above it, because ark.intel.com indicates that the CPU matching the listed specs of that top-end CPU is the i9-98 80H -- but even that CPU isn't unlocked. Intel itself also lists an unlocked 9 980HK on their site, but its clock speeds are different from what Lenovo lists on its site.

 

On a document, it listed a i9 but I'm not sure which cause the typo

 

Ok. Not all i9 CPUs are unlocked, though -- and for that matter not all unlocked CPUs are i9s. Unlocked CPUs are identified with a "K" at the end of their model code, and I can't find any K CPU with specs matching any of the CPU options listed on Lenovo's site.

 

There won't be Ice Lake H, so devices like the XPS 15 or X1 Extreme won't feature Ice Lake at all. Next year, Intel will launch Comet Lake H / U, which is the next 14 nm refresh. 10 nm for these laptops probably won't come out til 2021.

 

If this turns out to be true, I’ll probably drop my purchase requirements to a version that comes with some Intel CPU that incorporates a Gen 11 GPU for DisplayPort 1.4 and better overall performance before having to tap into the dGPU. That’s disappointing news, though....

 

Noooo!!

Please give me the last panel over this oLED.

Eye strain PWM nightmare

 

All OLED screens use PWM. Honestly it is a highly exaggerated effect. I didn’t even know it was a thing until I read about it. I couldn’t tell a 24000HZ and 240HZ screen apart

 

The only OLED panel is the 4K glossy touchscreen option. All of the other options are LCD, anti-glare, and non-touch. There are two FHD versions and one 4K version in that category.

 

When can we get a damn 1080p Touch model? Also a 2 in 1 really wouldn’t kill them

 

I can see the sense of a touchscreen on a 2-in-1 (where 1080p touch is a fairly common offering in the industry), but out of curiosity what is the use case for a touchscreen on a traditional laptop? Both my personal and current work systems have them, but apart from enjoying the novelty factor early on, I have not used the touchscreens on either one. It's simply not ergonomically comfortable to suspend your arm in the air for prolonged periods to operate a touchscreen on a traditional laptop form factor display. I'd much prefer the functional advantage of a matte display myself. Then again, obviously people are finding uses for touchscreens even on traditional laptops given how prolific they've become, so I'm genuinely curious to know what people are doing with them.

 

Unfortunately, I am seriously effected by it.

Having a hell of a time trying to find a current phone without PWM. Had to settle for an XR because of this...

Left the MBP because of this issue as well. It’s not just oLED, other types of displays can have it too. All MBPs have had it since 2016.

My X1 6th gen is an absolute dream in comparison.

 

Damn, that has gotta suck! Luckily you settles for the best smartphone LCD so it's not all bad news.

 

What about OLED burn-in concerns?

 

Personally I've never seen any sign of that and I've been using Samsung OLED tablets constantly for years. Perhaps a laptop might stay on one page image, like the home page, longer though. Does anyone get burn in anymore or is it a thing of the past?

 

Meh. You can avoid burn in through many methods. Or you can just get the super long warranty and forget about any worries

 

Can anyone with this system check whether the HDMI and USB-C display outputs are wired to the Intel or NVIDIA GPU? That should be indicated in NVIDIA Control Panel under the PhysX Configuration section, which shows which displays are run by which GPU. It might only show display outputs that actually have an active display, though. I'm waiting for a system that supports DisplayPort 1.4 over USB-C, and I thought that meant I'd be waiting for the Intel 10th Gen CPUs with the new Gen 11 GPU, but it seems the 10th Gen H Series CPUs won't be getting the new Gen 11 GPU (or a 10nm process), and there's no indication when that will change. But if the NVIDIA GPU has direct control of the display outputs, I believe this system would already support DP 1.4, in which case I may as well stop waiting.

It would also be handy to know whether this system has the new Titan Ridge Thunderbolt controller or the older Alpine Ridge, but I'm not sure how to find that out.

 

The HDMI and USB-C display outputs BOTH go through the dGPU, requiring it to be active.

 

Thanks! I know that design creates a battery life hit when running an external display on battery power, but if this system can do DisplayPort 1.4 over USB-C, I’ll take it. So the only question now is whether it can. I know the dGPU is capable, but I want to make sure there isn’t some other component that might limit this. For example, DP 1.4 over Thunderbolt requires the Titan Ridge controller. Not sure about regular USB-C.

 

Guys, can someone confirm that the X1 Extreme doesn't have any Killer LAN or WLAN in it?

What's the LAN card model and what about the Wireless?

Edit: After visiting Lenovo's drivers page, it seems that both the LAN and WLAN are from Intel