4 ms·

At this point I wouldn’t buy any non-Lenovo laptop. I don’t know any other brand (excluding framework) that has a web page where I can enter the model number o

At this point I wouldn’t buy any non-Lenovo laptop. I don’t know any other brand (excluding framework) that has a web page where I can enter the model number of my laptop and buy any part and order it and repair the laptop myself.

gbrown 5y ago
I’ve repaired numerous non-lenovo laptops, it just required googling rather than an official web-page.
- philliphaydon 5y ago
  Sure, but for example, I was living in Singapore, prior to moving to Taiwan I sold my desktops and replaced them with laptops. My wife needs a Traditional Chinese, so I went on Lenovo website, entered the product number in found this page: https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/sg/en/products/laptops-and-netbooks/legion-series/legion-5-pro-16ach6h/82jq/parts/display/compatible https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/sg/en/products/laptops-and-netb... Got the part numbers: UpperCaseASM_TCL82JQSGw/RGBWRF Part Number: 5CB1C14972 Then went to the Lenovo store and ordered the part, then replaced it. It's not about googling, its about the manufacturer having this itself. I don't know if Dell or HP do anything similar.
  - tata71 5y ago
    That's pretty cool — but not worth working with a vendor that's known to ship rootkits/malware.
secondaryacct 5y ago
Yeah I dont get the first commenter, Lenovo is great !
cowpig 5y ago
You might be interested this this then: https://frame.work https://frame.work
- GavinMcG 5y ago
  ...they specifically mentioned that as the exception.
  - cowpig 5y ago
    hah I missed that
- hyproxia 5y ago
  They still don't sell parts.
  - ushakov 5y ago
    they do https://frame.work/marketplace https://frame.work/marketplace
    - chias 5y ago
      Not yet they don't. Currently the only internal parts actually for sale are RAM, a subset of the SSDs, and the heatsink. I can't wait until I can buy some replacement parts for my framework laptop from their marketplace, but that day is definitely not here yet.
      - tln 5y ago
        You already need replacements?
        chias 5y ago
        Not yet, no (though I'd love a different keyboard). But the slightly paraphrased conversation I'm replying to is: "Framework laptop lets you buy parts" "They don't sell parts yet though" "Yes they do, see the marketplace" When in fact the marketplace is almost entirely populated with placeholders, and they do not yet sell replacements for the vast majority of parts (including the battery, which to me is the "killer feature").
nomdep 5y ago
You will be very happy with this new laptop then: https://frame.work/ https://frame.work/ Every internal component has a QR code sticker on it pointing to a web page with the specs, replacements, etc. See: https://youtu.be/0rkTgPt3M4k https://youtu.be/0rkTgPt3M4k
- dskloet 5y ago
  I assume that's why they wrote "excluding framework".
- BerislavLopac 5y ago
  Is Framework available in a non-silver case? Ideally black or dark grey...
  - LegitShady 5y ago
    Not yet I don't think. They're very new and working with limited resources right now. You could potentially find some vinyl wraps for it. Dbrand sells them.
southerntofu 5y ago
And yet you find very little information about the actual hardware in recent Lenovos. For example, i had the unpleasant surprise to discover that M.2 2242 in modern Thinkpads only supports wireless cards, and that i had just purchased a rare-to-find (in my area) 2242 SSD for nothing. Don't even get me started on how ** the hardware is now to open and replace parts, compared to my previous T60. (soldered RAM? really?) EDIT: I'm not at all claiming other mainstream vendors are any better. I've never found any decent hardware besides old Thinkpads and Macs.
- syshum 5y ago
  Except you can use PSRef from lenovo and find out most of that info including if the model you bought has soldered memory or not...
- philliphaydon 5y ago
  E-Key is for wifi cards. B+M-Key are for the old SSD, most slots for nvme are M-Key. I’m not sure why this is a Lenovo issue…
- tompazourek 5y ago
  I recently installed a Toshiba RC100 into my T480's WWAN slot. Are the newer models worse in this aspect? The T480 is not the newest, but still pretty modern.
morning_gelato 5y ago
I think Dell and HP offer somewhat comparable sites. Dell: https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/partsforyourdell/index https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/partsforyourdell/index HP: https://partsurfer.hp.com/search.aspx https://partsurfer.hp.com/search.aspx
yread 5y ago
HP also does it and they even have videos on youtube from hp support explaining how to replace each of the parts. Lenovo has lost a lot of the quality in comparison. Typos in documentation and invoices, all kinds of support service nightmares even for people with most expensive support policies, X1 Extreme G4 shitty heatsink, thermal throttling to 800MHz, just take a look at forums.lenovo.com
morganvachon 5y ago
I will only buy a Lenovo laptop if it comes with a BSD and Linux friendly WiFi chipset. Most of their laptops are whitelist-only when it comes to WiFi cards, and tracking down the correct brand and revision of a specific compatible module is not worth the time invested. I have a stack of older Lenovo laptops that I've acquired in an attempt to reverse-engineer the BIOS/UEFI whitelists. Smarter people than me have been able to make it work on certain models, but overall Lenovo seems to detest the idea of a power user daring to switch to a better/more compatible WiFi module, despite their reputation for being "hacker's laptops". It's for this reason the next, and probably last, laptop I buy will be the Framework.
- philliphaydon 5y ago
  I’ve had 3 so far. All upgrades the wifi from 5 to 6e and had no issues with ubuntu, manjaro, or windows with changing between Realtek?, killer, and ONK. Tho all are supporting amd/intel and windows/linux. Some Brand’s are intel only.

gbrown 5y ago

I’ve repaired numerous non-lenovo laptops, it just required googling rather than an official web-page.

philliphaydon 5y ago
Sure, but for example, I was living in Singapore, prior to moving to Taiwan I sold my desktops and replaced them with laptops. My wife needs a Traditional Chinese, so I went on Lenovo website, entered the product number in found this page: https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/sg/en/products/laptops-and-netbooks/legion-series/legion-5-pro-16ach6h/82jq/parts/display/compatible https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/sg/en/products/laptops-and-netb... Got the part numbers: UpperCaseASM_TCL82JQSGw/RGBWRF Part Number: 5CB1C14972 Then went to the Lenovo store and ordered the part, then replaced it. It's not about googling, its about the manufacturer having this itself. I don't know if Dell or HP do anything similar.
- tata71 5y ago
  That's pretty cool — but not worth working with a vendor that's known to ship rootkits/malware.

secondaryacct 5y ago

Yeah I dont get the first commenter, Lenovo is great !

cowpig 5y ago

You might be interested this this then: https://frame.work https://frame.work

GavinMcG 5y ago
...they specifically mentioned that as the exception.
- cowpig 5y ago
  hah I missed that
hyproxia 5y ago
They still don't sell parts.
- ushakov 5y ago
  they do https://frame.work/marketplace https://frame.work/marketplace
  - chias 5y ago
    Not yet they don't. Currently the only internal parts actually for sale are RAM, a subset of the SSDs, and the heatsink. I can't wait until I can buy some replacement parts for my framework laptop from their marketplace, but that day is definitely not here yet.
    - tln 5y ago
      You already need replacements?
      - chias 5y ago
        Not yet, no (though I'd love a different keyboard). But the slightly paraphrased conversation I'm replying to is: "Framework laptop lets you buy parts" "They don't sell parts yet though" "Yes they do, see the marketplace" When in fact the marketplace is almost entirely populated with placeholders, and they do not yet sell replacements for the vast majority of parts (including the battery, which to me is the "killer feature").

nomdep 5y ago

You will be very happy with this new laptop then: https://frame.work/ https://frame.work/ Every internal component has a QR code sticker on it pointing to a web page with the specs, replacements, etc. See: https://youtu.be/0rkTgPt3M4k https://youtu.be/0rkTgPt3M4k

dskloet 5y ago
I assume that's why they wrote "excluding framework".
BerislavLopac 5y ago
Is Framework available in a non-silver case? Ideally black or dark grey...
- LegitShady 5y ago
  Not yet I don't think. They're very new and working with limited resources right now. You could potentially find some vinyl wraps for it. Dbrand sells them.

southerntofu 5y ago

And yet you find very little information about the actual hardware in recent Lenovos. For example, i had the unpleasant surprise to discover that M.2 2242 in modern Thinkpads only supports wireless cards, and that i had just purchased a rare-to-find (in my area) 2242 SSD for nothing. Don't even get me started on how ** the hardware is now to open and replace parts, compared to my previous T60. (soldered RAM? really?) EDIT: I'm not at all claiming other mainstream vendors are any better. I've never found any decent hardware besides old Thinkpads and Macs.

syshum 5y ago
Except you can use PSRef from lenovo and find out most of that info including if the model you bought has soldered memory or not...
philliphaydon 5y ago
E-Key is for wifi cards. B+M-Key are for the old SSD, most slots for nvme are M-Key. I’m not sure why this is a Lenovo issue…
tompazourek 5y ago
I recently installed a Toshiba RC100 into my T480's WWAN slot. Are the newer models worse in this aspect? The T480 is not the newest, but still pretty modern.

morning_gelato 5y ago

I think Dell and HP offer somewhat comparable sites. Dell: https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/partsforyourdell/index https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/partsforyourdell/index HP: https://partsurfer.hp.com/search.aspx https://partsurfer.hp.com/search.aspx

yread 5y ago

HP also does it and they even have videos on youtube from hp support explaining how to replace each of the parts. Lenovo has lost a lot of the quality in comparison. Typos in documentation and invoices, all kinds of support service nightmares even for people with most expensive support policies, X1 Extreme G4 shitty heatsink, thermal throttling to 800MHz, just take a look at forums.lenovo.com

morganvachon 5y ago

I will only buy a Lenovo laptop if it comes with a BSD and Linux friendly WiFi chipset. Most of their laptops are whitelist-only when it comes to WiFi cards, and tracking down the correct brand and revision of a specific compatible module is not worth the time invested. I have a stack of older Lenovo laptops that I've acquired in an attempt to reverse-engineer the BIOS/UEFI whitelists. Smarter people than me have been able to make it work on certain models, but overall Lenovo seems to detest the idea of a power user daring to switch to a better/more compatible WiFi module, despite their reputation for being "hacker's laptops". It's for this reason the next, and probably last, laptop I buy will be the Framework.

philliphaydon 5y ago
I’ve had 3 so far. All upgrades the wifi from 5 to 6e and had no issues with ubuntu, manjaro, or windows with changing between Realtek?, killer, and ONK. Tho all are supporting amd/intel and windows/linux. Some Brand’s are intel only.