Getting back into things

[Greybeard]

It's been a long time since I bought a laptop. I've been looking for one the last few weeks and referred heavily to this forum for reports from actual users. Thought I'd sign up and pay it back a bit with a review of my chosen device when it arrives and I've had a chance to use it for a while.

 

It's been more than 14 years since I last deliberately and thoughtfully bought a laptop for professional purposes having conducted some pre-purchase research. I currently have a Dell XPS 13 that I'm typing this post on but that laptop was a last minute purchase for a freelance gig 5 years ago without adequae choice or research and thus perhaps unsurprisingly it hasn't quite lived up to my needs (I've used it for professional work in the past, but I've retired it for personal use now as it just isn't cutting it for professional use).

 

It's been interesting trying to find a new ultrabook computer that would meet my needs, and this forum was very helpful in finding real user reviews and feedback about high end notebook models that so few people seem to talk about.

[Reciever]

Welcome to the forums! 

[Greybeard]

So, some 5 weeks later, I still hadn't posted my promised update. There's a good reason for that. The chosen device I alluded to in my original post is a Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 6. When I ordered it was supposed to be dispatched within two weeks. This quickly became a longer lead time and it finally arrived on the 31st of August. I powered up the device and went through the Windows 11 setup process and just shortly after completing the setup it I clicked the power icon to see what the battery level was and Windows bluescreened instantly. When I rebooted it never booted up and illuminated the ESC, F1 and F4 keys in sequence. A quick Google seemed to indicate this was indicative of memory retraining but after leaving it for 30 minutes it seemingly was still stuck in this process so I turned it off. I tried again the next day. Same result, and then I attended to Lenovo's support website. Worse than useless. Asked me to try another "another working memory" (because naturally I have lots of 48GB DDR5 RAM modules lying around) or to ship it back for service and repair. Decided I liked the idea of shipping it back long less than the cost of a module (Crucial CT48G56C46S5) so I bought one to try, and it made no difference (I didn't really expect it would). So far I've tried reseating the RAM in its original slots, switching the modules around, booting with just one installed for each module, and the new module I bought. All to no avail.

 

Overall, I'm regretting buying this. I was tied between a ThinkPad, a Dell Precision and a MacBook Pro M1 Max with a slight preference for Windows (I use a Mac for my "day job" and Linux on my home-office PC so I wanted to keep my hand in with Windows, if Adobe suite worked on Linux it'd be Linux all the way). The reason I went for the ThinkPad in the end was user serviceable RAM, storage as well as a few minor conveniences (camera shutter). The hostility Apple has towards its products being user serviceable really put me off them, but my work MacBook Pro is rock solid, quiet with reasonable thermals. Very disappointed that ThinkPads are apparently no longer built to the quality of the old IBM ones I used to admire so much.

[Greybeard]

Just on the off-chance anyone is interested, the device is now with Lenovo support and they're waiting for parts. Unclear what parts are being replaced. In the meantime I have bought another laptop to use while I wait on repair, I will likely give a review of the interim device at some point in the next few weeks.

[TreeTopsRanch]

Thanks for the update. Waiting your review of interim device.