5 ms·

Not sure if the Carbon suffers from this, I've had awful Wi-Fi experience with ThinkPads (edit: same Wi-Fi module as in the Carbon). 5GHz connections just drop

Not sure if the Carbon suffers from this, I've had awful Wi-Fi experience with ThinkPads (edit: same Wi-Fi module as in the Carbon). 5GHz connections just drop randomly and take a minute or two to be willing to reconnect. Pretty sure it's not the AP's problem since I've never had this problem with my USB Wi-Fi module connecting to the same network, only the built-in one. Anybody had a better experience (or know how to get a better experience)? I'm forever in shock at how they've let this happen without fixing it; it's extremely frustrating. EDIT 1: Judging from the quick upvotes I suspect I'm not alone... (but actually, this was obvious just from my earlier Googling). EDIT 2: Funny, I'm getting downvotes now :-) confused what the message is, but whatever floats your boat!

lorenzhs 9y ago
I have last year’s X1 Carbon and have had no issues with WiFi (using Debian unstable). Certainly no connection drops. Maybe it’s a bad combination of AP and WiFi module?
- igravious 9y ago
  Question. Is it possible to buy a Lenovo and not fork out for a copy of Windows if you're immediately going to install your preferred distro of Linux onto it?
  - pimeys 9y ago
    If you're a student in Germany, yes. other countries might have similar deals.
    - lorenzhs 9y ago
      Yeah, I bought mine without Windows. It’s a special SKU for edu users. Great discount vs regular price and no Windows included :)
  - deepbreath 9y ago
    In UK, they all ship with Windows it looks like. The only laptops I found that don't shove the cost of a license down your throat are the build-your-own ones, like pcspecialist.co.uk / novatech.co.uk / scan.co.uk / ebuyer.com etc. But you're not gonna get thin portable laptops by building your own. It's perplexing how we've let it come to a state where you can't buy a laptop device without Microsoft taking a cut for the license. And I'm still not over the way we let them have their OS logo on all keyboards, either.
    - igravious 9y ago
      What do you think of System76?
      - deepbreath 9y ago
        Haven't heard of it before, but they look decent. I think the price difference with brand laptops becomes less impressive if you go for the higher specs and also want it shipped internationally (20% UK VAT). The base weight for their portable 14.1" one is 1.6kg, but switching from i3 to i7, adding more RAM and choosing a bigger SSD would probably bring it closer to 2kg (compared to ~1.2kg on the x1). I think the x1 does things like soldering the RAM to the motherboard, which makes upgrading hard, but also makes it really thin (1.5cm compared to 2.2cm for the System76 one). Since the number of possible configurations on a build your own is quite high, I imagine it's more likely that you'll run into issues on getting everything to work on Linux.
- johnbellone 9y ago
  +1, I have last year X1 Carbon as well, no problems with WiFi. But I am running Windows 10.
larkeith 9y ago
I've never had trouble with WiFi on my old T430s, but I'll absolutely not be purchasing another Lenovo product after their rootkit debacle.
ohtwenty 9y ago
Ive got a x250 and no WiFi issues ever, fwiw, but I'm running Linux as well. Have you tried windows vs Linux, or checking drivers etc?
- mehrdadn 9y ago
  Haven't tried Linux, just Windows. Not sure how to "check" drivers, but I've tried uninstalling/reinstalling/updating/downgrading/etc. and nothing has helped. And I've had this problem with multiple ThinkPad generations. Lots of people have this problem [1] [2], just nobody seems to have a solution. [1] https://askubuntu.com/q/964477 https://askubuntu.com/q/964477 [2] https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-X-Series-Laptops/Carbon-5th-Gen-and-Intel-Dual-Band-Wireless-AC-8265-connection/td-p/3990735 https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-X-Series-Laptops/Carbo...
gtirloni 9y ago
Commenting on upvotes/downvotes is usually unproductive on HN. From your first edit, you probably invited some the people that didn't agree with you to downvote (who would otherwise have ignored your comment)
- mehrdadn 9y ago
  Yeah I was just amused (and confused), I didn't care one way or the other...
edwinyzh 9y ago
I have trouble with my T450's wifi adapter too - from time to time, after waking up from sleep mode the wifi module just disappear - It's even missing from the list that appears after you pressing the [Fn + F8] key, as if the laptop never had a wifi adpter... The quick fix would be rebooting the computer.
derekp7 9y ago
I have last year's X1 Yoga (2nd gen), which has a lot in common with the X1 Carbon. On that one, I can't get 2.4GHz wifi to hold if I'm also using bluetooth (i.e., watching a youtube video using headphones). Soon as I switch over to 5GHz, no problem. This is under Linux -- with Windows 10, it starts off disconnecting a couple times, then it will eventually hold the connection. Never had this issue with my X230.

lorenzhs 9y ago

I have last year’s X1 Carbon and have had no issues with WiFi (using Debian unstable). Certainly no connection drops. Maybe it’s a bad combination of AP and WiFi module?

igravious 9y ago
Question. Is it possible to buy a Lenovo and not fork out for a copy of Windows if you're immediately going to install your preferred distro of Linux onto it?
- pimeys 9y ago
  If you're a student in Germany, yes. other countries might have similar deals.
  - lorenzhs 9y ago
    Yeah, I bought mine without Windows. It’s a special SKU for edu users. Great discount vs regular price and no Windows included :)
- deepbreath 9y ago
  In UK, they all ship with Windows it looks like. The only laptops I found that don't shove the cost of a license down your throat are the build-your-own ones, like pcspecialist.co.uk / novatech.co.uk / scan.co.uk / ebuyer.com etc. But you're not gonna get thin portable laptops by building your own. It's perplexing how we've let it come to a state where you can't buy a laptop device without Microsoft taking a cut for the license. And I'm still not over the way we let them have their OS logo on all keyboards, either.
  - igravious 9y ago
    What do you think of System76?
    - deepbreath 9y ago
      Haven't heard of it before, but they look decent. I think the price difference with brand laptops becomes less impressive if you go for the higher specs and also want it shipped internationally (20% UK VAT). The base weight for their portable 14.1" one is 1.6kg, but switching from i3 to i7, adding more RAM and choosing a bigger SSD would probably bring it closer to 2kg (compared to ~1.2kg on the x1). I think the x1 does things like soldering the RAM to the motherboard, which makes upgrading hard, but also makes it really thin (1.5cm compared to 2.2cm for the System76 one). Since the number of possible configurations on a build your own is quite high, I imagine it's more likely that you'll run into issues on getting everything to work on Linux.
johnbellone 9y ago
+1, I have last year X1 Carbon as well, no problems with WiFi. But I am running Windows 10.

larkeith 9y ago

I've never had trouble with WiFi on my old T430s, but I'll absolutely not be purchasing another Lenovo product after their rootkit debacle.

ohtwenty 9y ago

Ive got a x250 and no WiFi issues ever, fwiw, but I'm running Linux as well. Have you tried windows vs Linux, or checking drivers etc?

mehrdadn 9y ago
Haven't tried Linux, just Windows. Not sure how to "check" drivers, but I've tried uninstalling/reinstalling/updating/downgrading/etc. and nothing has helped. And I've had this problem with multiple ThinkPad generations. Lots of people have this problem [1] [2], just nobody seems to have a solution. [1] https://askubuntu.com/q/964477 https://askubuntu.com/q/964477 [2] https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-X-Series-Laptops/Carbon-5th-Gen-and-Intel-Dual-Band-Wireless-AC-8265-connection/td-p/3990735 https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-X-Series-Laptops/Carbo...

gtirloni 9y ago

Commenting on upvotes/downvotes is usually unproductive on HN. From your first edit, you probably invited some the people that didn't agree with you to downvote (who would otherwise have ignored your comment)

mehrdadn 9y ago
Yeah I was just amused (and confused), I didn't care one way or the other...

edwinyzh 9y ago

I have trouble with my T450's wifi adapter too - from time to time, after waking up from sleep mode the wifi module just disappear - It's even missing from the list that appears after you pressing the [Fn + F8] key, as if the laptop never had a wifi adpter... The quick fix would be rebooting the computer.

derekp7 9y ago

I have last year's X1 Yoga (2nd gen), which has a lot in common with the X1 Carbon. On that one, I can't get 2.4GHz wifi to hold if I'm also using bluetooth (i.e., watching a youtube video using headphones). Soon as I switch over to 5GHz, no problem. This is under Linux -- with Windows 10, it starts off disconnecting a couple times, then it will eventually hold the connection. Never had this issue with my X230.