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Laptops · Lenovo ThinkPad

Lenovo ThinkPad P15s

6owners with an opinion
20%of verdicts positive
0/0positive/negative since 2024
0happy after 3+ years

Criticized for reliability and build quality.

What people wrote

Neutral
My primary work computer is a Thinkpad X1 extreme from 2020. I use it when working from home, as if it were a desktop. I ordered it while I was hyper-irritable from high dose corticosteroids, and to its credit, there's nothing about it that irritates me. It replaced a Razer Stealth from 2017 that was plagued with bios and hardware bugs. I have another work laptop that I carry around when in the office, a Thinkpad P15s from the IT department. Its touchpad's middle click emulation is frustrating, but is otherwise fine. The touchpad is also polished shiny from my fingers, despite very infrequent use. Both ThinkPads are currently running Ubuntu 20.04. It works decently well as long as hybrid graphics are disabled.
Doesn’t like it
They certainly have continued to take away nice features, stability, and build quality over the years. The "last good ThinkPad" is different for many. As you said the T42 or around there for pre-Lenovo, T400 for libreboot support, T420 for old keyboard, T430 for old charger/body design, T440p for last gen with socketed CPU and for coreboot support, T480 for last gen with a removable battery I think... But at the same time they've removed indicator lights, certain ports, I'm not even sure if there's a magnesium rollcage anymore. I have a P15s for work and my initial model would hard freeze when putting pressure in certain spots. I used an external keyboard/mouse mostly, but it'd still happen occasionally. Eventually got a tech sent out and he swapped the motherboard. I think it's fixed, but I still touch it as little as possible and use external peripherals. Some people defend modern ThinkPads saying they still beat the competition. I'd like to think the bar is higher than that considering some of what's out there. My take on all this is that x86 is on its way out anyway, so I'm trying to make my T440p last and will try to go with ARM or RISC-V for my next machine. Likely just an M2 Max MacBook Pro when available. Hopefully Asahi support is pretty good by then. The Framework is sort of cool, but it's just another modern Intel machine at the same time. Guts aside, they're doing a good job, but the guts are pretty important, and in this case, boring. The MNT Reform is a lot mo…
Doesn’t like it
You wouldn't buy a computer that doesn't run Windows to try to duct tape Windows to it. I've been buying laptops with Linux supported from the manufacturer for 5 years now and I have fewer of the problems I do on my work Windows machine. Just to give you an idea of the problems on my P15s running Windows: * I have to run ThrottleStop to stop the built-in thermal limits from limiting my computer's performance to 500 MHz. * I have to run TpFanControl so my laptop doesn't sound like it's initiating a jet engine test at my desk (this is with or without ThrottleStop so don't blame it) * The Xbox app frequently freezes my entire machine (I wanted to try out Xbox Game Pass on a work machine, I know sorry) * My little nipple trackpoint will sometimes stop working, requiring a full system reboot * The Task Scheduler often freezes up * There's a printer driver that errors when updated by Windows Update. It prevents other system updates from being installed. I had to hide the driver, which requires a PowerShell script On my macOS work machine at my job previous to this one: * full system freezes when waking while docked to my Samsung ultrawide On my current Linux laptop, a XPS 13 that shipped with Ubuntu: * very rarely doesn't wake if it screen blanks without me closing the lid * I've had audio issues in Zoom a few times If you want to use Windows, that's fine but maybe just point out that you prefer using Windows and not subject the rest of us to your tirades against why Linux users ar…
Likes it
I remember your thread. I didn't comment because I don't know what XR is. However, on the note of dev laptop power, I believe that when you're starting out, going for cost effectiveness is key. You learn useful skills because your laptop is underpowered. I can confidently say my skills around process management and profiling are above average because of how I used an eMachines Atom processor netbook for nearly 7 years before moving onto a mid-range laptop (Dell Vostro i3). I use a Dell G5 SE and a ThinkPad P15s (setting this up tomorrow) now, and I'm fairly happy with their power. I still have an Intel i5 5th Gen desktop, which runs quite well even today. I want to upgrade it, and when I do, it'll be for a threadripper or at least a Ryzen 9. That is not to say that I don't try to write performant code. At work, we test our apps on a Google Compute VM that offers just 2 GB RAM, and I need to ensure that my applications scale horizontally and not vertically. At the same time, at home, I'm using a Raspberry Pi 4 bramble running k3s to run my code. I have to ensure that whatever I write works on it. Getting things to run on ARM has been a journey without ever having an M1 Mac. I believe that once you're fairly confident in your skills, you should get a performant machine if you can afford it. Boot speeds and the processor save you a lot of time. However, if you are the sort to let your development machine change the way you code, then you have other problems. Irrespective of wh