Thinkpad T14s Gen 3 AMD Linux User Review + Tweaks

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JustAPieceOfMeat385@reddit

Did you get the one with the Qualcomm WiFi or the Mediatek WiFi?

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I posted this review to share my experience with the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 3 AMD, particularly from a Linux user's perspective. It includes my impressions of it's performance, build quality, and battery life, along with specific Linux tweaks and optimizations, aimed at assisting others in making informed decisions and maximizing their own laptop's performance.

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drk_knght_7@reddit

thinkpads and linux, match made in heaven. Imagine how good the combination of new ryzen 7 7840u thinkpads and linux would be. Thank you for the review

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msolr@reddit

Writing this on a T14s Gen4 AMD: Only with bleeding edge kernel and firmware directly from Git. First time I ever compiled a custom kernel on Debian. But now it’s rock solid. Before it constantly froze, at least when using external displays.

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carrigns@reddit

hi! any chance you could point out to which kernel you are using, with which optoin? I am using a t14s gen3 with debian, had no problem for a year not it keep crashing and I feel I'll have to use a custom kernel too... would be happy to read any info on that!

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msolr@reddit

Assuming you meant "now" instead of "not" I have to tell you that I also have massive issues (running too hot without any load, waking from standby e.g. if detached from the dock, general performance issues) since some weeks (months?) but I haven’t been on a custom kernel since 6.10 was added to backports. So maybe you are onto something. I planned to reinstall to get a clean system but maybe that won’t help. :-/

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carrigns@reddit

yeah I did mean 'now' :D I recently moved to 6.10, with pm_state=guided and it vstill ok after 2 days of use.... let see. as using Debian I was on kernel 6.1 until recently, but then not sure why my touchpad stopped working so I install 6.10

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jaypatelani@reddit

ThinkPad+BSDs also match made in Heaven

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AcordeonPhx@reddit

It’s amazing, can confirm

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mferarg@reddit

Anyone with this problem? Any solution?

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neonwarge04@reddit

Same issue with my Lenovo P14s gen 3 AMD. As of today, no solution. I have tried just a while ago to be inside a Google Meet and shared my screen and my laptop did a hard crash.

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neonwarge04@reddit

I have the Lenovo Thinkpad P14s gen 3 AMD and I don't understand if there is any difference with the two except for the bottom panel cutouts for the fan and the USB 4 On my P14s, the bottom grills are much wider spanning the entire length of the bottom panel. I also only have the USB gen 3.2 which is sadly not the thunderbolt speed. It also has a card reader which I didn't bought.

I also have the WWAN module Quectel EM05-G which unfortunately, doesn't work quite well in Ubuntu 23.10. I already have the simcard FCC unlocked (I am in SEA region) and all but after an hour of use it gets disconnected and I dunno why, at this point I gave up, I dunno if its Ubuntu or Lenovo. This is the only module in the laptop that is not working.

Also another glaring issue for me is this one particular issue, which sadly looks like affects AMD 680m integrated graphics and until today still not fixed:
https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/amd/-/issues/2220

With this issue, I cannot screenshare during Google Meet, Zoom, Teams because my laptop will hard crash. Though I can game just fine Diablo IV, Cyberpunk 2077, Anno 1800 and some indie games I have played. Can also use Android Emulator from Android studio without issues as I do Android Development myself.

I also find it hard to find people who bought similar laptop as I did. So finding a support group if I encounter hardware issue is such a pain. Luckily I use the ArchWiki guide for T14s gen3 and it worked pretty well for me so far except for WWAN module. The reason why I grab this unit is that its 200 USD cheaper than the T14s gen 3 AMD and there is literally no difference in specs (at least in the region where it was sold).

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imnotmellomike@reddit

How does the screen compare to those on say the t470s or t480? I've loved my t470s for years and years but the display is so dark unless I'm like inside actively avoiding window lights it always seems to dim and gets on my nerves.

If these are brighter in practice it may be just the reason to upgrade!

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Unprotectedtxt@reddit (OP)

The 400 Nits is excellent, and the anti-reflective matte does its job well.

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imnotmellomike@reddit

Okay that is good to know, thanks!

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coldblade2000@reddit

I like it a lot. My only gripe is that the speaker is dog ass on Linux. It sounds tiny and is SIGNIFICANTLY less loud than in Windows. I've tried a few things but it only slightly helped with the audio quality.

Im on Mint 21 btw

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_ixthus_@reddit

I don't really understand what anyone actually wants out of a laptop speaker.

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coldblade2000@reddit

It's not a laptop problem. The fact is the speaker's quality is WAY lower when I'm on my Linux partition than when I'm on my windows partition. On windows it's about as good as a MacBook pros speakers, on Linux it's like a Nintendo DS

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_ixthus_@reddit

Given the hard constraints of the drivers in a laptop speaker, that can only mean that Windows/OSX are severely tinkering with the signal being delivered to the driver to give the perception of the sound being "good". If that's your thing, that's completely fine.

But it's probably largely just equalisation and you could engineer it yourself with any standard media program on Linux (e.g. VLC).

I prefer my audio to be un-interferred-with in any way whatsoever. So what results in the problems you perceive with your audio is a feature in my view.

On Windows, I have to piss-fart around to get my music to not be interfered with.

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fenrir245@reddit

I prefer my audio to be un-interferred-with in any way whatsoever.

That's only if you assume your headphones/speakers are perfect in the first place.

Most aren't.

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_ixthus_@reddit

Not really. There's no way that Microsoft knows in what ways my drivers need to be compensated for.

In any case, yeh, I buy high-quality drivers with a neutral sound profile.

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fenrir245@reddit

There's no way that Microsoft knows in what ways my drivers need to be compensated for.

If you're talking about Surface devices they do know the kind of DSP needed to account for the laptop speakers.

For Dell laptops it would have to be Dell, and so on.

In any case, yeh, I buy high-quality drivers with a neutral sound profile.

You buy headphones, not drivers. Even then many actually don't adhere to Harman.

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coldblade2000@reddit

From what I can tell, it legitimately sounds like some of the speakers aren't being used at all. It sounds as if I'd spilled water on them

Suffice to say, I haven't. Rebooting into windows seconds after makes them sound perfectly. The slight fix I mentioned involved installing Pipewire and loading a .wav. It helped, but it is still miles away from the speakers on Windows (out of the box, freshly reinstalled windows)

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Unprotectedtxt@reddit (OP)

I really didn't notice. Laptop speakers I generally ignore regardless. I use Bluetooth headphones and even then, not often.

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Anonymo@reddit

Have you tried something like easy effects or JamesDSP?

https://flathub.org/apps/com.github.wwmm.easyeffects

https://flathub.org/apps/me.timschneeberger.jdsp4linux

I think fxsound is considering the idea of opensourcing and making a version for Linux but hasn't been confirmed.

https://forum.fxsound.com/t/linux-version/1996/11

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elevenblue@reddit

I have a E14 Gen 4 and its battery runtime in Linux is just underwhelming compared to Windows. Ryzen 5 5625u, not sure how it compares.

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Unprotectedtxt@reddit (OP)

Have you tried installing and configuring TLP?

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its_a_gibibyte@reddit

I'm surprised to hear the Gen4 is that much worse in thermals. Isn't it a 4nm process vs a 6nm process, or something along those lines?

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msolr@reddit

Cannot corroborate this, neither does this review:

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-ThinkPad-T14s-G4-review-Business-laptop-is-better-with-AMD-Zen4.763581.0.html

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Unprotectedtxt@reddit (OP)

The review you just linked to shows the cooling fan to be as much as 30% more noisy. (to keep the laptop cool)

In that review, look under the section "Temperature" and "Power Consumption". When in the lap the Gen 3 is cooler, the only exception is around the trackpoint.

The Gen 3 also consumes less power around 10 to 20%. The power supply temps on the gen 3 are also much cooler. Battery runtime also noted as "20%" better.

This is because the Gen 4 about 10 to 15% more powerful. If I needed extra power, then, maybe. But what I needed in use case is better temp especially with the fan OFF, which results in better battery life and lifetime.

The TDP on those two CPU are indeed different. The bump in TDP by 2watts and the increase in Tjmax of 5 degree Celsius suggest the extra performance was generated using more power and thus more heat generated. Requiring more cooling chain reaction.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-ThinkPad-T14s-G4-review-Business-laptop-is-better-with-AMD-Zen4.763581.0.html

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-ThinkPad-T14s-G3-AMD-laptop-review-Quiet-and-efficient-workhorse-with-Ryzen-power.682906.0.html

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B3_Kind_R3wind_@reddit

Thanks for the review.

How reliable was the Intel Wi-Fi 6E during your use? Did you test it to its full capability?

I would also be curious to know how reliable the AMD Radeon 680M is running GNOME on Wayland. Did you by any chance test it briefly with this DE?

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JumpyGame@reddit

I've used the t14g3 amd for around a year. It is amazing on linux. Gnome and KDE work perfectly (and others too, probably). Gaming is surprisingly good, speed is incredible, and the built quality is better than most. Battery like sucked in experience (around 2 hours in onlyoffice). The only downside is the soldered ram.

I didn't test the wifi 6e specifically, but regular wifi works as expected.

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Sarin10@reddit

try using TLP

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Unprotectedtxt@reddit (OP)

My pleasure. I was only able to test it with XFCE (default Kali) for 1 week. But YouTube in full-screen and other video content shows no lag. Based on the gaming review I saw here I don't think Gnome will even be noticed, Gnome isn't the problem child it was years ago.

These games are heavier than anything gnome can throw at it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxQ8DWnSt4Y&t=426s

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quicksilver03@reddit

In previous ThinkPads I used to be able to swap the Fn and Ctrl keys in the BIOS: does this model's BIOS offer this functionality?

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coldblade2000@reddit

It does. I have it switched rn

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Gabryoo3@reddit

Yes

L15 Gen 4 user here and it is possible

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Unprotectedtxt@reddit (OP)

Yes, I saw that setting in BIOS if not mistaken. Along with a handful of others. Will confirm for you when I get home.

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Isotope1@reddit

You know, I have the first version of this laptop and it convinced me to switch to Apple. Your review is spot on though.

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flemtone@reddit

A good and comprehensive review. I myself use a Thinkpad P14s which has worked amazingly with linux, mainly Bodhi Linux 7.0, and have been using Thorium browser which is a highly optimized chromium release.