E14 hardware tweaks
TODO: miscellaneous hardware notes for a conscientious editor to organize
my setup:
- Intel i7-10510U CPU
- No discrete graphics (AMD Radeon option is available)
- linux 5.6.13
- debian sid
- xorg 1.20.8
Contents
CPU
- horrible lenovo throttling DOES affect the Lenovo E14 in linux
- erpalma's workaround (lenovo_fix / throttled) works adequately
- https://github.com/erpalma/throttled
- (i personally set the trip temp to 97 degrees, and set battery to the same as AC, and i see good performance AND battery life)
RAM
- only one slot! for god only knows why!
- 16GB works fine
WIFI
RTL8822-CE
- this is what it comes with
- works just fine ootb on linux 5.6.13
- observing wifi speeds 22MiB/s (against RT-AC68U running ddwrt)
Intel Wireless AX201
- works, but ONLY on bios 1.11+
- not detected in lspci OR lshw running BIOS 1.09
- requires a kernel 5.2 or higher, and doesnt work on SOME 5.4 and 5.6 kernels
- works on 5.6.13 kernel, BUT loads iwlwifi-QuZ-a0-hr-b0-48.ucode and lshw prints "Wireless-AC 9462" but it seems at least OK
- observing wifi speeds around 70MiB/s (against RT-AC68U running ddwrt)
Integrated Graphics
- works fine on linux 5.6.13
- 1080p media playback is smooth
- cuphead on steam proton runs smooth at 1920x1080
- HDMI works
- 4k media is smooth
- 5.1 channel audio works correctly with pulse (hdmi profile is hdmi2, hdmi1 is usb-c)
- BUG: observed occasional HORRIBLE flickering
- every once in awhile, screen would start flickering to black every second or two
- once it started, it would keep going like that until reboot
- dmesg: drm:intel_cpu_fifo_underrun_irq_handler
- i915.enable_rc6=0 on the linux cmdline fixed it, at least for the past 12 days
- seems to require a 5.0+ kernel
- hd graphics wouldnt load at all on a late 4.x kernel
- cpu rendering worked fine, at 1280x720, but was ugly
Discrete Graphics
- ????
NVME
Sabrent 4TB Rocket NVME M.2
- works BEAUTIFULLY, 3634MB/s real world read speed, 3122MB/s real world write speed
SATA
Samsung 860 EVO 2TB 2.5" SATA 7mm
- works great, 568MB/s read, 529MB/s write
LCD
IPS 250 nits
- its ok
Speakers
- built-in speakers, and built-in mic, are clear and loud for audio conferencing
- subjectively, IMO, music/media sucks (as usual for thinkpads, and laptops in general)
LEDs
- Thinkpad (i) LED is unknown_led2 in thinkpad_acpi
- power, green:batt and orange:batt, mute, and micmute all work
Fan
- auto mode actually works well (fan is off most of the time, and quiet under moderate load, and loud as hell under heavy load)
- thinkpad_acpi 0, 1, 2, and 3 all completely turn off the fan
- thinkpad_acpi 4, 5, 6, and 7 all turn the fan to max
