Who's happy with their P50?

[Boe]

Thanks for all of the great feedback, folks!  It looks like there are indeed some satisfied P50 owners.  I'm glad to hear it.

I'm still sort of torn.  Even with various discounts, the configuration I'd go with would be the most I've spent on a computer by a fair margin and to shell out that kind of cash and still have to make compromises would be a hard pill to swallow.  I may wait a bit and see what gets ironed out in the next few weeks, but it wouldn't surprise me if I still ended up going with the P50.  

Feel free to keep the feedback coming!

[Phil__C]

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Boe wrote:

I'm still sort of torn.  Even with various discounts, the configuration I'd go with would be the most I've spent on a computer by a fair margin and to shell out that kind of cash and still have to make compromises would be a hard pill to swallow.

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Exactly.  I would wait a couple of months.  We all agree that the concept of the P50 is great and that the specs are excellent.  But the cold reality is that there are too many issues for such an expensive machine.  Most seem to be software/firmware based, except for the screen quality, so there is hope that these will be fixed.

P50/P70 Problems Master Thread

It is good that Lenovo has acknowledged most of these problems and has promised that fixes are in the works.  But promises are not solutions.  Will ALL of the issues be fixed -- and fixed 100%?  There is no way to know until it happens.  Based on the all around poor execution of the P50 release, I have my doubts about how all this will work out.

And finally, with this track record, what can we expect from the P50 in terms of longevity?

I truly hope that the P50 will become a machine worth buying, but I refuse to compromise and buy one in its current state of disarray.

[Khakiass]

As a bit of background, I've been providing hardware support for ThinkPads in higher education for 12 years (before Lenovo took over the brand).  My previous personal models have been Ws (510,520,530) since 2011 and were my machines for both work and play.

I have been using my new P50 for the past week or so (i7-6820HQ, M2000M, FHD (non-touch), upgraded to 16GB RAM and a 512GB Samsung 950 SSD with after-market parts) and have found it to be a tremendous upgrade over my previous W530 workhorse.  I performed a clean install of Windows 10 upon receipt, then gave it the latest NVIDIA drivers and selected what I wanted from ThinkVantage System Update.  

The machine shipped with BIOS 1.15 and I have left it there as the fans are working only when needed, along with the processor's TurboBoost function. The laptop auto-selects between Intel and NVIDIA without issue or need of BIOS adjustments.  The only nuisance I have experienced so far are the known audio "pop," slated to be fixed by a driver update in March, and the same left-corner light bloom noted by Notebookcheck.net in their review, which was only really noticable in a dimly lit room with no backlighting on the screen.  In taking a closer look, it seems that the front bezel is pressing down on the LCD extremely firmly in that area.  I can totally alleviate the bloom by taking a business card and sliding it into the corner.  In looking at the HMM, it appears that it is just adhesive and tabs holding the bezel in place, so it is puzzling why this area would get more pressure than the other corners.  I found the LCD itself to be extremely warm / yellow (I did not get the model with the built-in color calibrator) and am currently using the ICC profile generated for the IPS panel of the T440s instead.

I love the wider trackpad.  So tired of the Yoga S1 clickpad, and even the 3rd generation X1 Carbon took forever to get used to in terms of sensitivity and tap zones.  Here, the trackpad is smooth and responsive.  I am having to adjust to the third mouse button, as my normal resting postion from my older models has me trying to use it as left-click.  The keyboard is super-sturdy with no flex at all.   At first I missed my old on/off buttons for speakers and microphone, but I've gotten used to the location and smaller indicator lights.

Only you can determine what the value will be to you.  It is an expensive laptop, to be sure, but if you see yourself using it for the next 2+ years, I think it is worth strong consideration.

[Phil__C]

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Khakiass wrote:

I have been using my new P50 for the past week or so (i7-6820HQ, M2000M, FHD (non-touch), upgraded to 16GB RAM and a 512GB Samsung 950 SSD with after-market parts) and have found it to be a tremendous upgrade over my previous W530 workhorse.  I performed a clean install of Windows 10 upon receipt, then gave it the latest NVIDIA drivers and selected what I wanted from ThinkVantage System Update.  

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This is good to hear, since you have exactly the configuration that I would set up.  I'm not ready to roll the dice yet.  Let's see if Lenovo comes through with all of the fixes, so that getting a "good" P50 no longer depends  on the luck of the draw.

[mmathews]

I'm hoping the 2nd time is the charm. I received my first P50 about a month ago. I ended up returning it a few days later because of an screen defect that appeared on my 4k display on the 2nd day (the first column of pixels got stuck on). In my brief time with it, I thought it looked like it could be a really great machine. My replacment is due to arrive in two days. I'm hoping the 3+ weeks it's taken to get my replacement is due to Lenovo working out some of the issues us early adopters have encountered.

[justrob]

I'm still on the fence with my P50.  It's a nice machine for sure, but twas having the "display driver stopped responding and has recovered" error.  Installing a more recent display driver seemed to cure it of that.  Have been hearing less popping of the speakers.  Fingers crossed.  Overall very fast and quiet computer.

[mmathews]

I received my replacement P50 on Friday and so far, so good. I've been too busy with some work to spend much time with it yet. It still has the v1.15 BIOS, and the occasional speaker pop, but everything seems to be working smoothly so far. The 4k screen looks great.

[flycoop]

This is the first time I've heard the phrase "the 4K screen looks great". Glad to hear it.

Flycoop

[decurion99]

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p600 wrote:

I was waiting for P50, but couldn't wait long enough, and got the P70 which was available for purchase earlier.

Had concerns about size initially, but once I got it I was pleasantly surprised. It's certainly big but it's not significantly larger than old W520+sticking out 9-cells battery it replaced, and fits the same backpack too. 17" + 4K is more useful than 15" + 4K and many of the P50 problems, like Turbo-boost issues some users experience or the mess with HDD/SSD trays and cables, have not propagated to P70. 

The only major disappointment, shared probably with P50, is that the Workstation dock cannot drive 2 x 4K @60 Hz monitors, which I expected to be working in 2016. But Thunderbolt 3 docks with that capability are already available.

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Which dock is it? Can the P70 drive two 4k screens at 60HZ in any way? Is it possible to use the outputs of the thinkpad in parallel to the workstation dock's outputs?

[p600]

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Which dock is it? Can the P70 drive two 4k screens at 60HZ in any way? Is it possible to use the outputs of the thinkpad in parallel to the workstation dock's outputs?

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/itemdetails/40A50230US/460/6D501EE899104FF9A362D739642CFC27 . Mini DisplayPort on the Thinkpad itself does not work when docked.