Thinkpad P14S Gen 2 AMD eugh

More popular than ever, but some are still very noisy.

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thesmileyone
Posts: 76
Joined: Mon Mar 19, 2018 9:39 am

Thinkpad P14S Gen 2 AMD eugh

Post by thesmileyone » Sat Dec 25, 2021 10:24 pm

Upgraded from faithful but slow, quiet x230 to a P14S G2 AMD. Love the laptop...but the NVMe inside it makes very audible coil whine noises.

I presumed NVMe's were silent at idle, I've heard the same noise in my PC when transferring files only, but this laptop does it all the time, from boot to watching Youtube, and it's loud enough to mask soft Youtube videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS-BHI667po

For those who think NVMe's are "silent because no moving parts".

Now in a pickle, do I put up with it and try to get used to it, or return it? £1300 is no joke for a loud annoying laptop.

The coil whine is like a crackling static noise, like you used to get in late 90's cream coloured PC's like Compaqs.

My cheap linglong sata ssd powered x230 is completely silent other than fan noise under load. It's just incredibly slow even on Linux.

As you can see below the new thinkpad is very fast, overall about 3-4x faster than the x230. I use it in bed at night so just ambient noise which is why it's annoying me so much.

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Japanese Capacitor
Posts: 360
Joined: Wed Oct 21, 2020 5:16 am
Location: Warszawa, Poland

Re: Thinkpad P14S Gen 2 AMD eugh

Post by Japanese Capacitor » Sun Dec 26, 2021 2:51 am

thesmileyone wrote:
Sat Dec 25, 2021 10:24 pm
Now in a pickle, do I put up with it and try to get used to it, or return it? £1300 is no joke for a loud annoying laptop.
Ofc return it. There's no point of having burdensome thing if you can change it without any problems. I would return it and get another unit (if you are fully satisfied with this model). I would also consider if you really need a laptop. They are weak for the price; limited in terms of upgrades; hot; loud; uneregonomic; burdensome to maintain and have small screens - one and only justification of having a laptop is it's mobility DEFINITELY needed. It seems obvious, but as a person who among others sells these damn laptops I noticed that a lot o people see them like "modern computers" in understanding that tower with monitor and peripherals is something from old times.

thesmileyone
Posts: 76
Joined: Mon Mar 19, 2018 9:39 am

Re: Thinkpad P14S Gen 2 AMD eugh

Post by thesmileyone » Sun Dec 26, 2021 9:52 am

I mean I like to put my feet up these days and not have to sit at a desk and stare at a monitor. I have a fast PC I never use.

The issue with returns etc is there's a 3-6month lead time for custom configs in the UK from Lenovo. And a lot of these whine too, I don't want to spend 2 years of RMA headaches to get a silent one. This one is a rather special spec (32gb, 5850u, 4k screen, glass trackpad) which is a rarity in itself too.

I'm going to try swapping NVMe's this week as I read the NVMe can be causing the noise.

The wierd thing about the laptop is it makes this noise when it's suspended too.

I honestly think the quality has dropped.

Japanese Capacitor
Posts: 360
Joined: Wed Oct 21, 2020 5:16 am
Location: Warszawa, Poland

Re: Thinkpad P14S Gen 2 AMD eugh

Post by Japanese Capacitor » Sun Dec 26, 2021 1:25 pm

thesmileyone wrote:
Sun Dec 26, 2021 9:52 am
I mean I like to put my feet up these days and not have to sit at a desk and stare at a monitor. I have a fast PC I never use.
I understand that some people just like to use laptops. E.g. I personally don't like Apple products, their snobby and kinda cheesy with it vibe or their macOS, but I find them just feeling nice to use. Summing it up they don't calculate to me, but there are people whose calculations give different results. Buy yourself awesome ergonomic chair; big ultrawide monitor; ergonomic keyboard; great wireless mouse in type of Logitech G703 or 502, nice to touch material mouspad and you will have the same opinion about laptops as mine ;)
thesmileyone wrote:
Sun Dec 26, 2021 9:52 am
I'm going to try swapping NVMe's this week as I read the NVMe can be causing the noise.
If I remember well, these Thinkpads come with warranty void on NVMe drive, but have also secound slot free. Generally beware of these voids. Good start of solving your issue is opening the laptop - then you will see what are your options.
thesmileyone wrote:
Sun Dec 26, 2021 9:52 am
The wierd thing about the laptop is it makes this noise when it's suspended too.
Maybe it's just in sleep mode?
thesmileyone wrote:
Sun Dec 26, 2021 9:52 am
I honestly think the quality has dropped.
Don't expect quality from whatever modern electronics. Buying "quality" you buy youself higher chances of it not dying before you get rid of it, nothing more ;)

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