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Lenovo ThinkPad P52

Hi everyone. So I purchased the Thinkpad P52, current top model, and I had a full replacement sent to me because the plastic casing around the screen was coming undone at the sides. Well I just received the replacement and it still has the same problem. I need a workstation with 16-32 GB, P2000 Quadro graphics, and at least 512 SSD. Should I get a different laptop or what else could I do? 

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8 minutes ago, Black Paladin said:

Hi everyone. So I purchased the Thinkpad P52, current top model, and I had a full replacement sent to me because the plastic casing around the screen was coming undone at the sides. Well I just received the replacement and it still has the same problem. I need a workstation with 16-32 GB, P2000 Quadro graphics, and at least 512 SSD. Should I get a different laptop or what else could I do? 

You can check out the Dell Precision line. Pretty much a direct competitor to the P52.

https://www.dell.com/en-ca/work/shop/workstations/sf/precision-laptops

Intel® Core™ i7-12700 | GIGABYTE B660 AORUS MASTER DDR4 | Gigabyte Radeon™ RX 6650 XT Gaming OC | 32GB Corsair Vengeance® RGB Pro SL DDR4 | Samsung 990 Pro 1TB | WD Green 1.5TB | Windows 11 Pro | NZXT H510 Flow White
Sony MDR-V250 | GNT-500 | Logitech G610 Orion Brown | Logitech G402 | Samsung C27JG5 | ASUS ProArt PA238QR
iPhone 12 Mini (iOS 17.2.1) | iPhone XR (iOS 17.2.1) | iPad Mini (iOS 9.3.5) | KZ AZ09 Pro x KZ ZSN Pro X | Sennheiser HD450bt
Intel® Core™ i7-1265U | Kioxia KBG50ZNV512G | 16GB DDR4 | Windows 11 Enterprise | HP EliteBook 650 G9
Intel® Core™ i5-8520U | WD Blue M.2 250GB | 1TB Seagate FireCuda | 16GB DDR4 | Windows 11 Home | ASUS Vivobook 15 
Intel® Core™ i7-3520M | GT 630M | 16 GB Corsair Vengeance® DDR3 |
Samsung 850 EVO 250GB | macOS Catalina | Lenovo IdeaPad P580

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2 minutes ago, Black Paladin said:

Dell is too expensive for me

It's pretty comparable to a ThinkPad...

Intel® Core™ i7-12700 | GIGABYTE B660 AORUS MASTER DDR4 | Gigabyte Radeon™ RX 6650 XT Gaming OC | 32GB Corsair Vengeance® RGB Pro SL DDR4 | Samsung 990 Pro 1TB | WD Green 1.5TB | Windows 11 Pro | NZXT H510 Flow White
Sony MDR-V250 | GNT-500 | Logitech G610 Orion Brown | Logitech G402 | Samsung C27JG5 | ASUS ProArt PA238QR
iPhone 12 Mini (iOS 17.2.1) | iPhone XR (iOS 17.2.1) | iPad Mini (iOS 9.3.5) | KZ AZ09 Pro x KZ ZSN Pro X | Sennheiser HD450bt
Intel® Core™ i7-1265U | Kioxia KBG50ZNV512G | 16GB DDR4 | Windows 11 Enterprise | HP EliteBook 650 G9
Intel® Core™ i5-8520U | WD Blue M.2 250GB | 1TB Seagate FireCuda | 16GB DDR4 | Windows 11 Home | ASUS Vivobook 15 
Intel® Core™ i7-3520M | GT 630M | 16 GB Corsair Vengeance® DDR3 |
Samsung 850 EVO 250GB | macOS Catalina | Lenovo IdeaPad P580

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5 minutes ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

It's pretty comparable to a ThinkPad...

At $3200 for the i7-8850H, P2000 Quadro,  16 GB RAM, and 512 SSD compared to Lenovo’s $2399 price... I’m not buying Apple prices especially if Dell’s precision is too thin. 

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If you want a new mobile workstation for the lowest price possible, Thinkpad P52

Desktop specs:

Spoiler

AMD Ryzen 5 5600 Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE ARGB Gigabyte B550M DS3H mATX

Asrock Challenger Pro OC Radeon RX 6700 XT Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (8Gx2) 3600MHz CL18 Kingston NV2 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD

Montech Century 850W Gold Tecware Nexus Air (Black) ATX Mid Tower

Laptop: Lenovo Ideapad 5 Pro 16ACH6

Phone: Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro 8+128

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maybe the HP Zbook 15 G5. I just wonder how the plastic around the screen comes off, I have never seen that with the P50, P51 or the P52.

 

Just a question, what do you do since you need a P2000?

Before you buy amp and dac.  My thoughts on the M50x  Ultimate Ears Reference monitor review I might have a thing for audio...

My main Headphones and IEMs:  K612 pro, HD 25 and Ultimate Ears Reference Monitor, HD 580 with HD 600 grills

DAC and AMP: RME ADI 2 DAC

Speakers: Genelec 8040, System Audio SA205

Receiver: Denon AVR-1612

Desktop: R7 1700, GTX 1080  RX 580 8GB and other stuff

Laptop: ThinkPad P50: i7 6820HQ, M2000M. ThinkPad T420s: i7 2640M, NVS 4200M

Feel free to pm me if you have a question for me or quote me. If you want to hear what I have to say about something just tag me.

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Theres a small gap is where it’s coming apart. It’s only happening at the top sides of the screen. 

 

I’m using Inventor, COMSOL, and some other programs that make me render parts or pictures. 

 

I can say I really like Lenovo and I’m glad I took your suggestion in one of my other threads Dackzy, I just don’t want the computer to com apart.  

19CB98AA-1487-429B-B871-A34C7827E436.jpeg

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On 21/7/2018 at 9:02 PM, Black Paladin said:

Theres a small gap is where it’s coming apart. It’s only happening at the top sides of the screen. 

 

I’m using Inventor, COMSOL, and some other programs that make me render parts or pictures. 

 

I can say I really like Lenovo and I’m glad I took your suggestion in one of my other threads Dackzy, I just don’t want the computer to com apart.  

19CB98AA-1487-429B-B871-A34C7827E436.jpeg

Hmmm that is very interesting, I wonder if this is a general flaw that I just haven't seen or if you have gotten 2 bad units. I am also looking at getting the P52, since it is a fairly good value in this market and I think the ThinkPad user experience is better, mainly because of the keyboard.

I would probably give it one more shot, so call them up say that the screen is coming apart and then you will either get a replacement unit or a repair guy will visit you and fix it (that is if you have onsite warranty)

 

I can try and dig a bit and see if any of my contacts know anything about this screen problem

Before you buy amp and dac.  My thoughts on the M50x  Ultimate Ears Reference monitor review I might have a thing for audio...

My main Headphones and IEMs:  K612 pro, HD 25 and Ultimate Ears Reference Monitor, HD 580 with HD 600 grills

DAC and AMP: RME ADI 2 DAC

Speakers: Genelec 8040, System Audio SA205

Receiver: Denon AVR-1612

Desktop: R7 1700, GTX 1080  RX 580 8GB and other stuff

Laptop: ThinkPad P50: i7 6820HQ, M2000M. ThinkPad T420s: i7 2640M, NVS 4200M

Feel free to pm me if you have a question for me or quote me. If you want to hear what I have to say about something just tag me.

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That would be fantastic. I’m giving them one more shot and I explained the situation. The agent assured me this next one won’t be like the other two how we I don’t really know how much control they have in doing inspection orders like that. 

 

Third times the charm hopefully 

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2 minutes ago, Black Paladin said:

That would be fantastic. I’m giving them one more shot and I explained the situation. The agent assured me this next one won’t be like the other two how we I don’t really know how much control they have in doing inspection orders like that. 

 

Third times the charm hopefully 

it certainly seems weird, I have asked a couple of people so far and they are also looking into it. They usually do inspections of the machines and testing before sending them out.

 

in a few days I should have the answers from the other people.

Just a question do you live in a very humid weather?

Before you buy amp and dac.  My thoughts on the M50x  Ultimate Ears Reference monitor review I might have a thing for audio...

My main Headphones and IEMs:  K612 pro, HD 25 and Ultimate Ears Reference Monitor, HD 580 with HD 600 grills

DAC and AMP: RME ADI 2 DAC

Speakers: Genelec 8040, System Audio SA205

Receiver: Denon AVR-1612

Desktop: R7 1700, GTX 1080  RX 580 8GB and other stuff

Laptop: ThinkPad P50: i7 6820HQ, M2000M. ThinkPad T420s: i7 2640M, NVS 4200M

Feel free to pm me if you have a question for me or quote me. If you want to hear what I have to say about something just tag me.

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No I live in the panhandle area of Texas and the weather is dry heat. However when I track the packages they usually go through Dallas which is humid but I don’t think that affects it. 

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  • 5 months later...

I realize this topic is a tad old, but still relevant since the P52 is still a current seller.  I have had a bad experience with this one.  The skinny is that I think Lenovo has jumped off the deep end in regards to quality and engineering.  It is really bad now...

 

If you would pardon the long post, I am investing some time for the community so that other IT Pros don't go through the same crap I am going through.

 

We have 150+ users and are basically a Lenovo shop because of the build quality of their laptops in the past.  In 2015 I purchased ~25 Thinkpad W541 laptops, and purchased more as we hired more people.  The P50 replaced this one, and I was highly impressed.  The P51 was garbage in my opinion because it didn't offer the workstation upgradability (is that a word?) the P50 had to offer.  So I continued to buy the P50 until CDW ran out.

 

Now the P50 is discontinued so I bought a P52 in the last quarter of 2018 to test.  The specs are amazing and I was looking forward to it.  I wasn't impressed with the hike in price though.  I was stuck with purchasing a 6-core i7 when all I really need is a 4-core.

 

Here is where the crap starts...

  1. The first P52 I received had a few stickers on it noting that the device was NOT FCC approved.  I had to get someone else to read it because I couldn't believe my eyes.  Yep, I read it correctly.  It turns out that I should have never received that model.  It was a mistake.  Okay, I am a human -- I understand mistakes.  So they (CDW) sent me a replacement.  Before I sent it back, I took the rear cover off to check it out.  Looked nice.  I also attempted to remove the keyboard because that is where 2 of the 4 DIMM slots rest.  We upgrade all of our laptops manually to save a ton of money, so I wanted to be familiar with this.  In the Lenovo service manual, a special keyboard removal tool is mentioned, but unavailable to purchase.  I got by with using a guitar pick (thanks iFixIt), but the design of this was startling.  It seems this part was a last thought in trying to get this model out the door to production.  Not impressed.
  2. The replacement P52 arrived and I installed Windows 10 Pro.  Seemed that everything was working well, but I couldn't use it as my daily driver and really test it out because the supported USB-C Thunderbolt dock was not yet in production.  Okay, so I'll wait.  And wait.  And wait.  Finally after ~3 months, I finally received a dock.  Super pricey compared to its predecessor, but I did like the plug versus the fragile underside dock connector.  The terrible thing about the new dock is that they supply it with only a two-foot cable.  The jacket of that USB-C cable is bonded with the jacket of a power cable, and that is was powers the laptop and provides port replication. Even with the versatility of the USB-C port, you still have to plug it in one way because it is bonded with the power cord.  You have to literally place the laptop right next to the dock because of the short cable.  After I received the dock, I started using the P52 as my daily driver.  A few days later, it wouldn't boot past POST as it was reading a fan error. At this point, it has only sat on the workbench in a controlled environment.  Thankfully, I purchased the better-than-depot warranty and was looking forward to having someone on-site the next day.  I could repair it myself, but this was not a part they allow me to replace.  After 6 days later, I finally had someone on-site to repair the fan.  They replaced it (the entire heat sink assembly), booted up, and still had the same error.  They told me it was a problem with the main board and would have to be shipped out and sent back to me.  I would be without it for about a week and a half.  Through a series of phonecalls to CDW, I finally got a call directly from Lenovo.  They were following up completely separate from CDW because of the poor service of the on-site technician.  Ultimately, Lenovo offered a replacement laptop and around 30 days after I originally reported the issue, I got my replacement.
  3. The 2nd replacement P52 didn't like the RAM I typically purchase even though it was within compatibility specs.  If I used two of the same spec'ed DIMMs, it would boot, but apparently it was upset about mixing and matching.  This replacement laptop seems to still be working okay.  Performance is great.
  4. The next P52 I purchased was DOA.  I re-seated the RAM; tried everything...  Still waiting 3 weeks to this day to have this one fully refunded from CDW who apparently had a 3rd party vendor ship to me.

Not the best experience here.  I quickly reached out to see the other popular comparable laptops, and currently I am testing an HP ZBook G15.  Whoa -- it's nice.  Definitely next-level build quality.  Very solid.  Still a bit pricey, but am working on a volume discount for ~15 laptops that puts me right back where I was with my cost of a P50.  Dock still has the same short cable issue the Lenovo has, but it is a bit more versatile in its positioning (the dock, that is).

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