Lenovo ThinkPad P50 20EN0013US 15.6" Laptop - Intel Core i7-6700HQ (4core 2.60 GHz), 8GB RAM, 500GB Hard Drive, NVIDIA Quadro M1000M 2GB

Bought 2 for my team recently. Having used myself for a long time I knew Thinkpads are built for software developers in mind but how easy it is going to be to upgrade I had no idea till I opened the back cover. As soon as you open back cover you see all (two) slots for the RAM are available (since machine has 2 slots under the keyboard - factory installed RAM used those slots which was very smart idea imo). Same thing with SSD/HDD. There is a slot left open for you to upgrade. You can put 2.5" (classic) SSD or use same spot for (up to) 2 M.2 SSDs. Do not forget to buy casing for M.2 SSD if you are planning to add M.2I bought 2x16GB RAM, and 1 TB M.2 SSD .. With one slot still available for future M.2 SSD .. As you know thunderbolt can support up to 4 monitors or an external video card supporting 4K monitors .. This laptop is built to serve you for a really long time! A wonderful piece of hardware .. Awesome job on Lenovo's end.

If you are looking for a Thinkpad P50 this is configuration to get - the base model. The laptop has easy access to the hard drive and ram so you can upgrade it yourself for much cheaper.I had Thinkpads in the past and currently have a Retina MBP. I decided to come back to Thinkpads since they are a bit cheaper and much more upgradable. The fit and finish of my Macbook Pro is better but the build quality of this P50 is still very good. The P50 however is much bulkier than a 15in Macbook Pro.Heres why i choose this P50:Screen: The FHD screen is IPS and has good color and view angles. I prefer this to the 4k option because of increased battery life and no issues with scaling.Ram: 8GB is ok. The laptop has 4 slots 2 under the keyboard and 2 under the back panel. The back panel is pretty easy to access and you can upgrade to 64GB of ram (16x4)Hard Drive: The included disk is slow. You will want to upgrade to your own SSD. This laptop can take 2x NVME and 1x 2.5in drives or 2 x 2.5in. If you get an ssd thats a 2.5in just drop in place of the existing hard drive and you are ready to go. However if you want to add an NVME or another 2.5 drive you will need to buy an adapter which is annoying. I swapped in an 256GB ssd I had around and it was noticeably better than the spinning disk.Graphics: You get two options with the P50 the M1000M or M2000M. This has the M1000M which is marginally slower but I don't really game or do anything graphics intensive.OS: I was initially hoping to run linux on this but I read about some compatibility issues. I settled on running Windows 10. If you also run Windows 10 make sure to turn off the MS snooping features. Don't use express settings.Overall I'm pretty happy this P50. Solid build quality and runs pretty quickly after you upgrade the Ram/SSD. The only complaints I have are the non center keyboard (they should drop the num pad) and the need for adapters for adding hard drives.

It seems like a great laptop but I'm having issues with a lot of basic things. My biggest issue is that I can't change the display brightness. I can adjust the slider but it doesn't effect anything. Also none of the Fn functions work (like wifi toggle, camera toggle, settings, ect.) besides my volume buttons. I wouldn't expect to have such weird issued right after pulling the lapto out of the box. Besides those disappoints it seems to work fine.

Despite its ample raw specifications this machine has been causing me grief since the day I got it.• Sluggish day-to-day operation I'd expect from an entry-level machine, Despite 8GB RAM and 2 Samsung SSDs: Glitches and annoying little pauses abound when switching tabs and windows; video playback gets glitchy, especially on YouTube; whole computer becomes unresponsive when external HDD spins up.• Doesn't always sleep when I close the lid. Today it overheated in its case; choking on its own hot exhaust; now fan won't stop spinning at full RPMs (annoyingly loud).• Bluetooth can't keep a connection and occasionally the hardware disappears entirely from device manager.• USB 'dedicated charging port' on rear repeatedly connects and disconnects phone when computer is on• Audio functions appear on both dedicated keys as well as on fn keys. What a waste of four function keys; so many other functions I could have used!• The touchpad and trackpoint controller are among the worst I've ever used. TrackPoint used to be my favorite control method. Not on this machine.• I thought the keyboard would have the textured keys I'm used to but mine shipped with smooth keys, which don't feel as nice.I though for sure there was a hardware problem so I took the machine in for repair as soon as I could in Manhattan. Presumably they changed the motherboard and keyboard but all the symptoms persist until this day..Yes, I am up-to-date with drivers, BIOS, etc.Yes, all my settings are as they should be.So disappointed. I really hope Lenovo steps up on this one because I've got myself a lemon, here.#buyersremorse

Despite specifically searching all descriptions and tech specs I could find for specifically this issue, this was not made clear.This kind of hybrid intel / nvidia optimus tech setup has massive issues on linux, mainly due to the poor quality of nvidia's provided drivers.I suspect that I will never get an external monitor working, or if I do, it will be a massive undertaking.I tried to set the BIOS to just always use the nvidia chip, but this seems to cause the primary laptop screen not to work. I suspect the intel chip is hard-wired to the laptop screen and the nvidia chip is hardwired to the external interfaces.Note that (even on windows) you can only use one external monitor at a time.I made this purchase specifically looking for a laptop with a good discrete graphics card without Optimus, which is what the advertising appeared to show. Due to other circumstances I don't have time to attempt to get it returned and order a new one, so I'll suffer through it. But I'd return this product if I could.