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I just had a look (in the UK), and it doesn't look possible to go higher than 16GB of RAM, which is a deal breaker for me - I regularly go above that when runni

I just had a look (in the UK), and it doesn't look possible to go higher than 16GB of RAM, which is a deal breaker for me - I regularly go above that when running VMs and containers for dev and test work. For such an otherwise powerful machine, I don't k ow why they'd limit it?

rococode 7y ago
Didn't fit their desired form factor for the X1, maybe. Their P53 line goes up to 128GB RAM and may be more suitable for your worklaod (I use an X1 but mostly use remote machines and don't need local VMs). I believe the construction is mostly the same as the X1 and T series Thinkpads, it's just bulkier and heavier.
- aquaticsunset 7y ago
  The P series is such a workhorse. If I had purchasing power over my hardware at work, I'd crank one of those up and replace my workstation+laptop with it.
- organsnyder 7y ago
  Yep, that's a good description. I have a P51 and T480, and the P51 is basically the same laptop, just supersized.
vel0city 7y ago
If you're interested in Thinkapds but find the X1 a bit limiting, check out the T-series or the P1. They're only slightly thicker but often have a much higher RAM headroom (and often can be easily upgraded by the user).
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
smacktoward 7y ago
The X models are designed to be ultraportable, aka as thin and light as possible. As a result, they're not great machines for people who need lots of RAM, storage, etc. The P series (https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpad-p/c/thinkpadp https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpad-p/c/t...) is more the "desktop workstation replacement" line; heavier and thicker, but with more room for components. You can get those with up to 128GB of RAM.
- combixtreen 7y ago
  You forgot about 15” X1E, which is a desktop replacement. It’s still light and portable but comes with higher specs. I have one with UHD screen, 32GB and 1TB. Same weight as a 15” MacBook Pro. Configured with an FHD screen, it’s lighter than MacBook.
  - basch 7y ago
    also the FHD screen has twice the battery life, if you want to make that trade off.
  - nullobject 7y ago
    I just switched to the X1E after using Mac for the past 20 years. I'm running Ubuntu 20.04. It's an amazing machine: excellent build quality, screen, and variety of ports. The only thing I can complain about is the battery life, which isn't great.
    - RedneckBob 7y ago
      You installed cpufreaq yet? It is a life saver and a battery saver too. I run most of the time with 4 cores, turbo disabled, and capped at about 50%. Makes a huge difference in battery runtime. https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/1082/cpufreq/ https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/1082/cpufreq/
      - jlgaddis 7y ago
        FWIW, PowerTOP [0] and tlp [1] used to be the "go-to" utility for this sort of thing. --- [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerTOP https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerTOP [1]: https://linrunner.de/tlp/ https://linrunner.de/tlp/
- GordonS 7y ago
  I was hoping for the best of both worlds - something with a 14" 3K display, very light (don't care too much about thinness TBH), but with a good processor and 32GB of RAM.
pimeys 7y ago
I have a T25 with 32 GB of RAM and there's easily 16 GB too much in it. It's only 4 threads so using 32 GB at least as a programmer is a stretch. With 16 cores and 32 threads I'm able to use all 32 GB easily. I guess I should run more VMs to really understand where people need 32 GB in a laptop.
jpalomaki 7y ago
I believe Intel had some limitations on their support for the LP-DDR (low power) memory and that's why so many systems had the 16GB limit. On light road-warrior machine like X1 they likely wanted to maximize the battery life. And supporting many types of memory on same model was not likely an option.
- numpad0 7y ago
  Memory power consumption is overlooked but real, and they increase as capacity increase, so if customers aren’t going to use up it makes sense not to offer too much capacity.
koverda 7y ago
I do development work on it and haven't ran into any issues. That being said, if you need something a little more beefy, and a little less lightweight, the T line is the next place to look. There's also the X1 extreme. However, after the XPS15 I wanted something a bit more mobile.
throwaway63839 7y ago
I have X1 Extreme Gen 2 with 64GB of RAM
mapgrep 7y ago
I use an x1 and this is my biggest issue with it; mine is from 2017 maxed out from the factory at 16gb and it’s amazing the ceiling has not been raised even three gens later. That said, the forthcoming x13 mentioned in the linked piece goes up to 32gb, looks like. It’s only 0.25lb heavier and looks to be much less expensive. The catch is a smaller screen :-\

rococode 7y ago

Didn't fit their desired form factor for the X1, maybe. Their P53 line goes up to 128GB RAM and may be more suitable for your worklaod (I use an X1 but mostly use remote machines and don't need local VMs). I believe the construction is mostly the same as the X1 and T series Thinkpads, it's just bulkier and heavier.

aquaticsunset 7y ago
The P series is such a workhorse. If I had purchasing power over my hardware at work, I'd crank one of those up and replace my workstation+laptop with it.
organsnyder 7y ago
Yep, that's a good description. I have a P51 and T480, and the P51 is basically the same laptop, just supersized.

vel0city 7y ago

If you're interested in Thinkapds but find the X1 a bit limiting, check out the T-series or the P1. They're only slightly thicker but often have a much higher RAM headroom (and often can be easily upgraded by the user).

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

smacktoward 7y ago

The X models are designed to be ultraportable, aka as thin and light as possible. As a result, they're not great machines for people who need lots of RAM, storage, etc. The P series (https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpad-p/c/thinkpadp https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpad-p/c/t...) is more the "desktop workstation replacement" line; heavier and thicker, but with more room for components. You can get those with up to 128GB of RAM.

combixtreen 7y ago
You forgot about 15” X1E, which is a desktop replacement. It’s still light and portable but comes with higher specs. I have one with UHD screen, 32GB and 1TB. Same weight as a 15” MacBook Pro. Configured with an FHD screen, it’s lighter than MacBook.
- basch 7y ago
  also the FHD screen has twice the battery life, if you want to make that trade off.
- nullobject 7y ago
  I just switched to the X1E after using Mac for the past 20 years. I'm running Ubuntu 20.04. It's an amazing machine: excellent build quality, screen, and variety of ports. The only thing I can complain about is the battery life, which isn't great.
  - RedneckBob 7y ago
    You installed cpufreaq yet? It is a life saver and a battery saver too. I run most of the time with 4 cores, turbo disabled, and capped at about 50%. Makes a huge difference in battery runtime. https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/1082/cpufreq/ https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/1082/cpufreq/
    - jlgaddis 7y ago
      FWIW, PowerTOP [0] and tlp [1] used to be the "go-to" utility for this sort of thing. --- [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerTOP https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerTOP [1]: https://linrunner.de/tlp/ https://linrunner.de/tlp/
GordonS 7y ago
I was hoping for the best of both worlds - something with a 14" 3K display, very light (don't care too much about thinness TBH), but with a good processor and 32GB of RAM.

pimeys 7y ago

I have a T25 with 32 GB of RAM and there's easily 16 GB too much in it. It's only 4 threads so using 32 GB at least as a programmer is a stretch. With 16 cores and 32 threads I'm able to use all 32 GB easily. I guess I should run more VMs to really understand where people need 32 GB in a laptop.

jpalomaki 7y ago

I believe Intel had some limitations on their support for the LP-DDR (low power) memory and that's why so many systems had the 16GB limit. On light road-warrior machine like X1 they likely wanted to maximize the battery life. And supporting many types of memory on same model was not likely an option.

numpad0 7y ago
Memory power consumption is overlooked but real, and they increase as capacity increase, so if customers aren’t going to use up it makes sense not to offer too much capacity.

koverda 7y ago

I do development work on it and haven't ran into any issues. That being said, if you need something a little more beefy, and a little less lightweight, the T line is the next place to look. There's also the X1 extreme. However, after the XPS15 I wanted something a bit more mobile.

throwaway63839 7y ago

I have X1 Extreme Gen 2 with 64GB of RAM

mapgrep 7y ago

I use an x1 and this is my biggest issue with it; mine is from 2017 maxed out from the factory at 16gb and it’s amazing the ceiling has not been raised even three gens later. That said, the forthcoming x13 mentioned in the linked piece goes up to 32gb, looks like. It’s only 0.25lb heavier and looks to be much less expensive. The catch is a smaller screen :-\