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Please help me pick a Thinkpad

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Muse
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Please help me pick a Thinkpad

#1 Post by Muse » Tue Sep 08, 2020 5:11 pm

The only laptops that have ever worked out for me are Thinkpads. I still have all 4 of those Thinkpads. Meantime, I owned an Acer (that went belly up in pretty short order), and an LG Gram 15.6", I bought less than a year ago that went back to Costco. The LG Gram was very light, had a decent screen but the keyboard layout wasn't for me, and there were other deal breakers. Worst was the LG's trackpad (which drove me crazy) and absence of dedicated mouse buttons. I type a lot, so need great ergonomics.

My first laptop was a 14" T60 I bought from Lenovo's website in 2006. I also still have a 15" T61 with the RAM maxed out at 8GB, and another 14" T60, both bought used off Ebay.

I'm typing now on a Lenovo Thinkpad P1 (1st version) I bought open box last October. Its warranty is until April 2022, and I'm going to have to RMA it. A couple of the keys sometimes simply don't work.

My favorite among my 4 Thinkpads is totally the P1 because it has 16GB RAM, a 256GB SSD (wish it was 512GB or more).

Well, the P1 has to go back to Lenovo for repair, and who knows for how long? I could use another laptop, even after I get the P1 back from Lenovo. I have current uses for the two T60's I have, am not using the T61 now.

I'd like another Thinkpad as good or better than the P1. The P1 has 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports, which is nice, but the 16GB RAM is a real difference maker for me. I could use more, actually. 24GB or 32GB would be terrific, and 256GB SSD is a tight squeeze. 512GB would be a much better idea.

I use Windows on all the machines. I don't game. I figure I don't need a 4K display. I think 15" screen and 1080p makes sense for me. The LG I had briefly had a touchscreen, but none of my other laptops have had them. I might like that, maybe a lot, but it's not something I'd miss at this point. Still, as long as it wasn't a problem I'd like to try a machine with a touchscreen, but lack of one is no deal breaker for sure at this point. I sure don't need a number keypad. I like the keyboard layout on the P1 fine, after swapping a couple key assignments (End for PrtSc).

Weight is an issue, I loved the LG Gram 15" weight at 2.5lb, but it just didn't work out. The P1 is 3.75lb, which is way better than the T61 at almost 6lb. Weight matters, but I'm OK with the P1's weight. I figure I'm not going to get a 15" Thinkpad that weighs much less.

Battery life isn't a real issue for me around the house because I have my laptops hooked up to AC power. During the pandemic I'm not traveling. I could travel with a 15" laptop, and in that event battery life could matter, but I'd bring a charger.

So, what's out there I might buy at this point as another Windows laptop that could be used on my lap, with power and speed, good screen, and hopefully doesn't run too hot or loud? Card reader would be nice too.
Last edited by Muse on Thu Sep 10, 2020 1:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"If a star were a grain of salt, you could fit all the stars visible to the naked eye on a teaspoon, but all the stars in the universe would fill a ball eight miles wide." - A Briefer History of Time, Stephen Hawking & Leonard Mlodinow

Dec. 2010: Now thought to be over 11 miles wide!

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Re: Please help me pick a Thinkpad

#2 Post by RealBlackStuff » Wed Sep 09, 2020 1:48 am

You can upgrade your P1 up to 64GB RAM and up to 4 TB NVMe SSD.
No need to buy a new machine, unless you want a 'spare'.
And instead of RMA it and if time is of the essence, you could buy a new keyboard.
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Re: Please help me pick a Thinkpad

#3 Post by Muse » Thu Sep 10, 2020 1:34 pm

RealBlackStuff wrote:
Wed Sep 09, 2020 1:48 am
You can upgrade your P1 up to 64GB RAM and up to 4 TB NVMe SSD.
No need to buy a new machine, unless you want a 'spare'.
And instead of RMA it and if time is of the essence, you could buy a new keyboard.
Is it possible to add an SSD or is that upgrade strictly by virtue of replacement?

Can I add RAM or do I need to replace that too? I have 16GB now in the P1.

Anyway, I really would like another higher end Thinkpad. Looking about I see X1, X1 carbon, P1, I've seen P50 discussed here some. I don't need the most powerful machine, even 4K but I'd like it to run not to hot for actual use on my lap, and not loud enough to bother me. And of course, being light matters when it's on my lap. A card reader would be a definite plus.
"If a star were a grain of salt, you could fit all the stars visible to the naked eye on a teaspoon, but all the stars in the universe would fill a ball eight miles wide." - A Briefer History of Time, Stephen Hawking & Leonard Mlodinow

Dec. 2010: Now thought to be over 11 miles wide!

atagunov
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Re: Please help me pick a Thinkpad

#4 Post by atagunov » Thu Sep 10, 2020 2:41 pm

Muse wrote:
Thu Sep 10, 2020 1:34 pm
Is it possible to add an SSD or is that upgrade strictly by virtue of replacement?
Looking at this review it seems there is space for two M.2 NVM.e SSD-s. So you should be able to add a 2nd one
Muse wrote:
Thu Sep 10, 2020 1:34 pm
Can I add RAM or do I need to replace that too? I have 16GB now in the P1.
The same article says there are just two slots for SO-DIMM ram sticks. If your 16Gb are two 8Gb RAM sticks then unfortunately you'll need to purchase two new RAM sticks for your upgrade. If somehow you have one 16Gb RAM stick then you're in luck and can add a 2nd one. If you're running Linux it's easy to check how many RAM sticks you have. If you're running Windows there should be some apps that can tell you that too. I wonder if CPU-Z can say this?.. Or else you'd need to open it up and check.

It seems purchasing a new keyboard yourself would indeed as RBS suggested save you a lot of time. I hope that doesn't mess with the warranty.. You'd have to open the Thinkpad anyway to add an SSD and upgrade RAM so it should be allowed w/o invalidating the warranty I suppose?..
Muse wrote:
Thu Sep 10, 2020 1:34 pm
Anyway, I really would like another higher end Thinkpad. Looking about I see X1, X1 carbon, P1, I've seen P50 discussed here some. I don't need the most powerful machine, even 4K but I'd like it to run not to hot for actual use on my lap, and not loud enough to bother me. And of course, being light matters when it's on my lap. A card reader would be a definite plus.
We certainly cannot stop someone who wants to buy a new Thinkpad :) We ourselves have lots more than one :-D My slightly updated cheatsheet now is

- 17" P73 - bomb proof'n' heavy, wide kbd
- 15.6" P53 - bomb proof'n' heavy, wide kbd
- 15.6" P1 gen2/X1E gen2 - 1.8kg, alum chassis, seems P1 is almost a twin of X1E
- 15.6" T15/T590 - 1.75kg, wide kbd, U series processor
- 14" T14/T490(s)/T495 - 1.46kg, U series processor if Intel; AMD variants are of interest
- 14" X1C - 1.13kg, U series processor

Haven't owned any of these but I would expect limiting TDP in BIOS or otherwise throttling them down should make any of these noticeably cooler - at the cost of some lost performance of course. Perhaps you'll find some chat on a different discussion venue of interest as well.

My understanding was the body of P1/X1E was superior to those of T14/T490/T495/T15/T590. Plus in my view numpad on the keyboard is not needed in a laptop and trackpad should be in the center. You can read this as me thinking that - purely in theory for me - P1/X1E are vastly more ergonomic compared to T15/T590.
Last edited by atagunov on Thu Sep 10, 2020 4:13 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Please help me pick a Thinkpad

#5 Post by Muse » Thu Sep 10, 2020 4:07 pm

Edit: Whoops! The following is for my mini-tower machine (going to run a report on the P1 in a few minutes and edit this):

I just ran Belarc Advisor on the machine and it reports:

16328 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory

Slot 'ChannelA-DIMM0' has 8192 MB (serial number 01036CAA)
Slot 'ChannelA-DIMM1' is Empty
Slot 'ChannelB-DIMM0' has 8192 MB (serial number 01036CB2)
Slot 'ChannelB-DIMM1' is Empty
- - - - - - - -
Belarc Advisor run on the P1 gives this result for board memory:

15890 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory

Slot 'ChannelA-DIMM0' has 16384 MB (serial number 1FCAC4F6)
Slot 'ChannelB-DIMM0' is Empty

So, I suppose I should have no trouble upgrading to 32GB. Don't know exactly what to buy or where or if I might have an issue by virtue of invalidating my warranty, which I don't want to do.
Last edited by Muse on Thu Sep 10, 2020 4:22 pm, edited 2 times in total.
"If a star were a grain of salt, you could fit all the stars visible to the naked eye on a teaspoon, but all the stars in the universe would fill a ball eight miles wide." - A Briefer History of Time, Stephen Hawking & Leonard Mlodinow

Dec. 2010: Now thought to be over 11 miles wide!

atagunov
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Re: Please help me pick a Thinkpad

#6 Post by atagunov » Thu Sep 10, 2020 4:11 pm

Muse wrote:
Thu Sep 10, 2020 4:07 pm
I just ran Belarc Advisor on the machine and it reports:

16328 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory

Slot 'ChannelA-DIMM0' has 8192 MB (serial number 01036CAA)
Slot 'ChannelA-DIMM1' is Empty
Slot 'ChannelB-DIMM0' has 8192 MB (serial number 01036CB2)
Slot 'ChannelB-DIMM1' is Empty

So, I am thinking that the machine has 4 RAM slots. Perhaps I can add two more sticks? How would this be best done to ensure compatibility and performance?
I strongly believe the machine physically only has 2 RAM slots. Haven't seen it myself but that's what all the reviews seem to suggest. I'm not surprised that Belarc Advisor is speaking about 4 slots. They are probably supported by the chips - CPU and so forth - but physically only two of them are present and connected. To me the above printout means that you'll need to fully replace your RAM. I'm not sure what the easiest way is to dispose of the old RAM.. Selling on ebay seems like a bit of a hassle..
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Re: Please help me pick a Thinkpad

#7 Post by Muse » Thu Sep 10, 2020 4:21 pm

Yes, I edited my post above when I realized I had run the report on my mini-tower system. Here's the result when run on this P1:

15890 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory

Slot 'ChannelA-DIMM0' has 16384 MB (serial number 1FCAC4F6)
Slot 'ChannelB-DIMM0' is Empty

So, I suppose I should have no trouble upgrading to 32GB. Don't know exactly what to buy or where or if I might have an issue by virtue of invalidating my warranty, which I don't want to do.

I have less than 16GB free space right now on the 256GB SSD, so I'm being squeezed. I installed a large game that takes up some ~60GB, that I haven't even used (back around Thanksgiving). I haven't played any computer games for almost 20 years, but I wanted to try this, it was a super deal and supposed to be pretty good -- Doom.
"If a star were a grain of salt, you could fit all the stars visible to the naked eye on a teaspoon, but all the stars in the universe would fill a ball eight miles wide." - A Briefer History of Time, Stephen Hawking & Leonard Mlodinow

Dec. 2010: Now thought to be over 11 miles wide!

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Re: Please help me pick a Thinkpad

#8 Post by atagunov » Thu Sep 10, 2020 4:41 pm

Muse wrote:
Thu Sep 10, 2020 4:21 pm
Slot 'ChannelA-DIMM0' has 16384 MB (serial number 1FCAC4F6)
Slot 'ChannelB-DIMM0' is Empty
So, I suppose I should have no trouble upgrading to 32GB. Don't know exactly what to buy or where or if I might have an issue by virtue of invalidating my warranty, which I don't want to do.
Woo hoo, an empty slot! To be honest I never dealt with in-warranty Thinkpads so find it hard to advise. I always thought RAM and SSD are user-replaceable e.g. can be replaced without invalidating the warranty, but I don't really know. Also I suppose in the worst case you could always remove your extra RAM and SSD if you need to send the machine back for warranty. I also hesitate a little which particular RAM stick to advise.. Perhaps you could open the machine, take a photo of the one you already have and look for as close as possible to that one? An old unused T520 I purchased a few years ago was kitted with Samsung RAM btw.
Muse wrote:
Thu Sep 10, 2020 4:21 pm
I have less than 16GB free space right now on the 256GB SSD, so I'm being squeezed. I installed a large game that takes over 60GB, that I haven't even used (back around Thanksgiving).
I smell a system reinstall :) Again my lack of experience with new in-warranty machine shows. I don't know what the best way is. I suppose just installing Win10 anew should work. I think there is a license key hidden in there somewhere and it should automatically activate. Then you may need some extra software/drivers.. But maybe there's a different way with new in-warranty machines.

===

A bit off-topic:

Have you seen https://xyte.ch/thinkpads/x210-x2100/ ? I've been waiting for a while for mine, so these are not fast to arrive; you Paypal money to xytech - a member of this forum and rely on his good reputation. No docking connector, external monitor only via the single present USB-C which isn't even a Thuderbolt and power via round barrel plug. So the only way to "dock" is to plug two cables - USB-C and power. It's also a 13" only though nice 3k*2k display with 3:2 aspect ration which is better than 16:10 but still worse than 4:3. Classic keyboard, classic body. Not sure how hot they are, may be a bit hot. How do you like that? :)

There's also T700 project to do the same once again in a 15" 4:3 T60 body. This time you do get 3 Thunderbolts. External monitor is probably still via a Thunderbolt. No idea how they are going to power up this thing. Could be classic round-barrel, or maybe power delivery via one of their Thunderbolt/USB-C ports. They don't support Ultrabay batteries. The wait time is even longer. Think you may have a choice of two people to channel your money to and hope for the best. Guess it would be nice with that 1600*1200 LED back-lit screen that has gone through the roof in price but is still available (I'm waiting for one! :-P) For extra charm/weight put the same mobo + screen into an R60 body

So if you got some extra cash burning your pocket and no immediate need to replace your laptop - since presumably you can just purchase a new keyboard yourself - you could go for one of those. Either would give you a truly unique machine which has got a very limited number of siblings on planet Earth. Classic body + classic keyboard. I've seen earlier incarnation of this idea - think they were called T70 - again a more modern CPU in 15" T60 body - sold for good money. At the same time I've also seen X210 - slightly earlier upgrades of X200/X201, earlier iterations of X2100 sold for about the same amount of money they were originally purchased for. I would expect either of these two to sort of keep its monetary value for a while. Sadly after I paid for that X2100 I no longer have any cash left for T700 this year. In the times before COVID a 1.5kg 13" machine was more useful to me than a 3kg 15" one; besides T700 project back then wasn't yet heard of.
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Re: Please help me pick a Thinkpad

#9 Post by Muse » Thu Sep 10, 2020 5:56 pm

I did some searching and found a way to discover the manufacturer of my DIMM - Micron.

You enter this at a "run as administrator" command prompt:

wmic memorychip get devicelocator, manufacturerwmi

So, the one in this is a Micron 16GB serial number 1FCAC4F6. I figure I shouldn't have major difficulties buying a compatible DIMM, maybe direct from Micron.

The SSD, I'm wondering if it's better to replace the 256GB in this with a larger one or if there's no particular downside to just installing another SSD, say 512GB or even 1TB, although I don't anticipate needing even 512GB, so could add a 256GB. But more is better for storage.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that a P50 weighs 5.5lb! My P1 weighs 3.75lb. I have no interest in getting such a heavy laptop as a P50. Apparently the P1 is very similar to the X1 Extreme.
"If a star were a grain of salt, you could fit all the stars visible to the naked eye on a teaspoon, but all the stars in the universe would fill a ball eight miles wide." - A Briefer History of Time, Stephen Hawking & Leonard Mlodinow

Dec. 2010: Now thought to be over 11 miles wide!

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Re: Please help me pick a Thinkpad

#10 Post by RealBlackStuff » Fri Sep 11, 2020 12:04 am

Get another 16GB 2400MHz DDR4 NON-ECC SO-DIMM from e.g. Hynix, Crucial or Micron.
Avoid any so-called "Value RAM".

You should always keep at least 15% free on any SSD (~40GB on a 250GB SSD).
Either clone old to new SSD, or reinstall everything fresh on the new (at least 500GB) SSD and make it the main drive.
Then when it runs OK, wipe the old 250GB and only use it for storage.
I suggest a Samsung NVMe M.2(2280) 970 EVO SSD, they come in 250GB, 500GB, 1TB and 2TB.
Lovely day for a Guinness! (The Real Black Stuff)
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Re: Please help me pick a Thinkpad

#11 Post by Muse » Fri Sep 11, 2020 1:51 am

RealBlackStuff, can I do those upgrades without voiding my warranty? If so, I'll proceed, otherwise wait until after RMA of this machine. Thank you! One more question: Is there any advantage of sticking with Micron for the 2nd DIMM? Or would any of those be just fine? Oh, and cloning my SSD, what software/method would you suggest?

I did some poking around the internet today, looking for another Thinkpad. I got this open box P1 for under $1000 from Provantage. I'm not seeing any deals anywhere near as good. I heard that laptops are hot right now, what with the pandemic, I suppose. I suppose that has something to do with it. The deal I got was pointed out to me by a poster in a thread at a technical forum. I have no idea how that poster found the deal. Well, I'm not on a strict budget or anything, but I am pretty frugal generally. I saw some machines today like mine, but am unsure about 4K versus 1080p displays. I figure they may run hotter, maybe even louder. There are alternate Nvidia discreet graphics cards with the P1, too (1000 vs 2000), as well as the cheaper integrated Intel graphics. Gotta keep investigating the issues.
"If a star were a grain of salt, you could fit all the stars visible to the naked eye on a teaspoon, but all the stars in the universe would fill a ball eight miles wide." - A Briefer History of Time, Stephen Hawking & Leonard Mlodinow

Dec. 2010: Now thought to be over 11 miles wide!

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Re: Please help me pick a Thinkpad

#12 Post by RealBlackStuff » Fri Sep 11, 2020 4:33 am

Both RAM and SSD can be installed without breaching warranty.
No need to stick with Micron.
On the old SSD, uninstall that Doom game right away (to make some needed space).
You can always reinstall it on the new SSD
Keep it otherwise as-is and in reserve for your RMA.
When you RMA the machine, take out the new RAM and the new SSD and put the old SSD back in.
After that comes back, either keep it as-is for future RMA or wipe it and use for storage.

There's plenty info about cloning on the Forum.

No comment on what or where to buy another laptop.
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Re: Please help me pick a Thinkpad

#13 Post by Muse » Sat Oct 17, 2020 5:33 am

RealBlackStuff wrote:
Fri Sep 11, 2020 4:33 am
Both RAM and SSD can be installed without breaching warranty.
No need to stick with Micron.
On the old SSD, uninstall that Doom game right away (to make some needed space).
You can always reinstall it on the new SSD
Keep it otherwise as-is and in reserve for your RMA.
When you RMA the machine, take out the new RAM and the new SSD and put the old SSD back in.
After that comes back, either keep it as-is for future RMA or wipe it and use for storage.

There's plenty info about cloning on the Forum.

No comment on what or where to buy another laptop.
I'm planning to get a 1TB SSD for my P1 (also another 16GB DIMM), likely this:

Samsung NVMe M.2(2280) 970 EVO SSD 1TB

Is it possible to have two M.2 SSDs in this P1 simultaneously?


I'm thinking of buying a Crucial P2 500GB NVMe SSD, for possible use in a mini-tower system I have with possibly dead NVMe 500GB SSD. If not needed in that system, it could serve as secondary storage in this P1. When I RMA, I can put in the original 256GB SSD that's in here now, remove the other two M.2 SDDs. That's my thinking. Thanks for clarifications, I'm finding the spec on the P1 unclear as to whether it will support two M.2 NVMe drives simultaneously.
"If a star were a grain of salt, you could fit all the stars visible to the naked eye on a teaspoon, but all the stars in the universe would fill a ball eight miles wide." - A Briefer History of Time, Stephen Hawking & Leonard Mlodinow

Dec. 2010: Now thought to be over 11 miles wide!

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Re: Please help me pick a Thinkpad

#14 Post by atagunov » Sat Oct 17, 2020 11:07 am

Muse wrote:
Sat Oct 17, 2020 5:33 am
Is it possible to have two M.2 SSDs in this P1 simultaneously? [/b]
Not a P1 owner, and there probably are P1-s of at least two generations around, but I seem to remember all the reviews I'd seen for P1 and X1E said there are two M.2 2280 slots. Actually when I search online for images of Thinkpad P1 motherboards I also see only images with two slots, there's one for example on this page which says
On the right there are two M.2 2280 SSD slots
Edit: sorry that was an X1E. Okay, here's a page that has a photo specifically of a P1 motherboard showing both M.2 slots and it also says
The Lenovo P1 is easy to open ... you can upgrade the RAM up to 64GB (32GB for each slot). There are two M.2 SSD slots which can take up to 2TB each
To be honest I find it practically impossible for one generation of P1-s/X1E-s to have two slots and for another to have only one. I think it's safe to say all of them have two. And once again we've seen how similar P1 and X1E are :)
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Re: Please help me pick a Thinkpad

#15 Post by cadillacmike68 » Sat Oct 17, 2020 12:02 pm

I would also recommend getting Piriform's CCleaner - free to DL and use - and run it on your system. You probably have sh!tloads of unneeded cache files, and other flotsam & jetsam that windoze and other applications leave around. CCleaner will clean that stuff up and free up a good amount of space.

25 years and ms still cannot write an OS that cleans up after itself, and neither can most application developers.

I have to clean up after my Yorkie, but at least he is a lot of fun to play around with...
600 600X
760LD FUBARd
T21 2647 T22 2647 1@ 1GHz SXGA+ 4 more; T23 2647 1@ 1.2GHz SXGA+ 3 more
T30 2366-88U 2GHz; 2366-83U 1.8G; 5@ 2366-LU0/66U; 2367-KU6 FUBARd
T41 T42 T43
T60 T61 8897 2.4GHz SXGA+; 8898 2.4Ghz; 6463 2@ WSXGA+; 7658 2.5GHz; T61p; 6 more T61s
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Re: Please help me pick a Thinkpad

#16 Post by Muse » Tue Oct 20, 2020 3:24 pm

The data I have for the system spec on my P1 vers. 1 machine indicates the memory thus:

Memory 1x 16GB DIMM DDR4-2666 non-ECC

So, I'm thinking that getting an additional module that's 16GB 2400MHz DDR4 NON-ECC SO-DIMM would be inappropriate. Am I wrong?
"If a star were a grain of salt, you could fit all the stars visible to the naked eye on a teaspoon, but all the stars in the universe would fill a ball eight miles wide." - A Briefer History of Time, Stephen Hawking & Leonard Mlodinow

Dec. 2010: Now thought to be over 11 miles wide!

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Re: Please help me pick a Thinkpad

#17 Post by atagunov » Tue Oct 20, 2020 4:47 pm

Muse wrote:
Tue Oct 20, 2020 3:24 pm
The ... spec on my P1 vers. 1 machine indicates .. Memory 1x 16GB DIMM DDR4-2666 non-ECC
So, I'm thinking that getting an additional module that's 16GB 2400MHz DDR4 NON-ECC SO-DIMM would be inappropriate
So your question is
- if you need to look specifically for a 2nd DDR4-2666 to match the one you already have
- or if cheaper/easier to find DDR4-2400 would suffice?

I never dealt with DDR4 yet but my gut feeling is that if you put DDR-2666 and DDR4-2400 into one machine together your RAM will end up running at the lower spec of the two e.g. at DDR4-2400 speed. I think you will not notice this tiny slow-down so you will be fine. I'll let more knowledgeable forum members correct me if I misjudged :)
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Re: Please help me pick a Thinkpad

#18 Post by Muse » Tue Oct 20, 2020 4:58 pm

The part number of the Micron DDR in the machine now is:

16ATF2G64HZ-2G6E1

I'm having a tough time finding a match. Well, I maybe have, but can't confirm. For one thing I haven't determined if this is 260 or 288 pin, which is crazy. I put in a request at Micron's site and should be contacted.
"If a star were a grain of salt, you could fit all the stars visible to the naked eye on a teaspoon, but all the stars in the universe would fill a ball eight miles wide." - A Briefer History of Time, Stephen Hawking & Leonard Mlodinow

Dec. 2010: Now thought to be over 11 miles wide!

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Re: Please help me pick a Thinkpad

#19 Post by Muse » Tue Oct 20, 2020 5:38 pm

Well, the number of pins may be 260, it may be 288, wouldn't seem to matter, because I just bought the exact same part off Ebay, new for a very reasonable price.

Micron 16ATF2G64HZ-2G6E1

My P1 will have 32GB RAM and got an email from Newegg today that my backordered 1TB Samsung SSD has come in so the machine will have a major upgrade.

This page explains how to find your memory manufacturer and part number in Windows 10:

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-get- ... windows-10
"If a star were a grain of salt, you could fit all the stars visible to the naked eye on a teaspoon, but all the stars in the universe would fill a ball eight miles wide." - A Briefer History of Time, Stephen Hawking & Leonard Mlodinow

Dec. 2010: Now thought to be over 11 miles wide!

Muse
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Location: Berkeley, CA

Re: Please help me pick a Thinkpad

#20 Post by Muse » Sat Nov 07, 2020 3:10 pm

I bought a 16GB stick to add to this Thinkpad P1 Gen 1 machine, an exact match for the one already in it:

Micron 16ATF2G64HZ-2G6E1

Also bought a 1TB NVMe solid state drive to complement the 240GB drive already in the machine, figure to clone the 240 to the 1TB and boot off the bigger drive:

Samsung NVMe M.2(2280) 970 EVO SSD 1TB
- - - -
Now, yesterday I ordered a new Thinkpad P1 Gen 3, to arrive maybe around Nov. 21.

It has the minimum configuration, including 240GB SSD, OPAL and 8GB DDR4 stick.

I just put another 1TB NVMe drive in my Newegg cart, figure it will be fine in the P1 Gen 3:

Samsung NVMe M.2(2280) 970 EVO SSD 1TB

Is that correct? I figure the answer is yes, that will be fine.

What I need to know is what 16GB sticks are appropriate and advisable in the P1 Gen 3. I believe it supports (officially) 2933 MB/s RAM. I'm not seeing much in that, but just started looking. I figure to get two, for a total of 32GB RAM in the P1 Gen 3 machine.

I do see this at Newegg:
Crucial 16GB 260-Pin DDR4 SO-DIMM DDR4 2666 (PC4 21300) Laptop Memory Model CT16G4SFS8266
Seems reasonable at $57 + ~$8 shipping. Would two of those be a good idea in the P1 Gen 3 Thinkpad?

Suggestions?
"If a star were a grain of salt, you could fit all the stars visible to the naked eye on a teaspoon, but all the stars in the universe would fill a ball eight miles wide." - A Briefer History of Time, Stephen Hawking & Leonard Mlodinow

Dec. 2010: Now thought to be over 11 miles wide!

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