Going to keep a few notes. I got this to replace my Lenovo Yoga 900. I love the Yoga series but I wanted a RJ-45 network jack and a lower screen resolution.
Power
I have no idea why this is still using a barrel connector for power. I do like the power adapter setup over the Lenovo wall wart. A longer cord is nice. Ended up ordering https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LZHVDV5/ which has plenty of reach and was cheap (always need a second power adapter right?)
Battery
Putting battery power performance settings to full battery saver seems important. I think it can get around 8 hours like that and low-end office work. I ordered a 9 cell battery because 8 hours is just not enough.
Screen
The 1920x1080 resolution is a bit low, but still needed for many server admin apps. I do wish it was a touchscreen. If anyone sees an assembly for this let me know.
RAM
16GB I am not even fully online but already using 35%+ without Photoshop or Excel open. Looking at 4X70J67438 16GB ECC SODIMM DDR4-2133 Memory Lenovo ThinkPad P70 20ES 6th gen v5 | eBay as an upgrade.
GPU
Performance wise, the Iris Pro 580 and the NVIDIA Quadro M1000M is an awesome combo. Even better, applications like Photoshop and Premiere Pro CC can use the GPU for acceleration. I fired up CS:GO for a few minutes and got 60-110fps consistently with max settings. Going to medium and 100+ FPS is easy to achieve.
The audio was terrible via earbuds so you would likely need another solution if you really wanted to game on it.
I ordered the M2000M so if that shows may do an upgrade to see just how fast it is and whether it is worth the upgrade.
CPU
The Intel Xeon E3-1545M V5 is WAY faster than the Intel Core i7-6560U. I know it comes with a power penalty but the additional cores / threads and extra clock speeds are nice. Essentially, this is a higher clocked version of the Skulltrail NUC (see here Intel® Product Specification Comparison). Easily perceptible difference between the Yoga 900 Core i7 and this.
Storage
I am going to install a second hard drive and put Ubuntu on there. I am not 100% sure it is needed, but I want to try it.
OS Setup
The machine came with Windows 7 Pro. I simply put a Windows 10 Pro installation USB in and set the system up.
One bit here, this required a TON of edits. ME firmware updates, BIOS updates, Iris Pro and NVIDIA driver updates, HP trackpad, and hotkey drivers. It took a long time to get this system online.
Noise
The system is dead quiet when the GPU is not running. When it is rendering video or playing game, it is loud.
Power
I have no idea why this is still using a barrel connector for power. I do like the power adapter setup over the Lenovo wall wart. A longer cord is nice. Ended up ordering https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LZHVDV5/ which has plenty of reach and was cheap (always need a second power adapter right?)
Battery
Putting battery power performance settings to full battery saver seems important. I think it can get around 8 hours like that and low-end office work. I ordered a 9 cell battery because 8 hours is just not enough.
Screen
The 1920x1080 resolution is a bit low, but still needed for many server admin apps. I do wish it was a touchscreen. If anyone sees an assembly for this let me know.
RAM
16GB I am not even fully online but already using 35%+ without Photoshop or Excel open. Looking at 4X70J67438 16GB ECC SODIMM DDR4-2133 Memory Lenovo ThinkPad P70 20ES 6th gen v5 | eBay as an upgrade.
GPU
Performance wise, the Iris Pro 580 and the NVIDIA Quadro M1000M is an awesome combo. Even better, applications like Photoshop and Premiere Pro CC can use the GPU for acceleration. I fired up CS:GO for a few minutes and got 60-110fps consistently with max settings. Going to medium and 100+ FPS is easy to achieve.
The audio was terrible via earbuds so you would likely need another solution if you really wanted to game on it.
I ordered the M2000M so if that shows may do an upgrade to see just how fast it is and whether it is worth the upgrade.
CPU
The Intel Xeon E3-1545M V5 is WAY faster than the Intel Core i7-6560U. I know it comes with a power penalty but the additional cores / threads and extra clock speeds are nice. Essentially, this is a higher clocked version of the Skulltrail NUC (see here Intel® Product Specification Comparison). Easily perceptible difference between the Yoga 900 Core i7 and this.
Storage
I am going to install a second hard drive and put Ubuntu on there. I am not 100% sure it is needed, but I want to try it.
OS Setup
The machine came with Windows 7 Pro. I simply put a Windows 10 Pro installation USB in and set the system up.
One bit here, this required a TON of edits. ME firmware updates, BIOS updates, Iris Pro and NVIDIA driver updates, HP trackpad, and hotkey drivers. It took a long time to get this system online.
Noise
The system is dead quiet when the GPU is not running. When it is rendering video or playing game, it is loud.
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