Lenovo ThinkPad P17 Gen 1: SSD & RAM upgrade (disassembly)

Thinking about the ThinkPad P17? Read more notes on our blog:
www.cruisetech.co.uk/blogs/ne...
We've taken a look at the internals of the ThinkPad P17.
Spec: 4K DolbyVision Display; Intel 8-Core Xeon W-10855M @ 2.80GHz; Quadro RTX 4000. This is the bigger sibling to the ThinkPad P15 & the successors to the ThinkPad P73.
This is a section from our full review which can be found here • Lenovo ThinkPad P17 Re... .

[@user-uk8wv5hw3s]

Thanks you, brother

[@mahuubao]

Excellent ... Well done ...

[@big10hunter42]

Thanks for posting this. About to upgrade mine with 128GB ECC RAM and this was helpful!

[@GreenGreenStore]

It's 128GB ecc available?

[@Aaronb2245]

@@GreenGreenStore hard to find, but I was able to order some directly from Lenovo thorough company purchase program. Not cheap by any means though... UPS just delivered it less than 5 min ago actually.

[@GreenGreenStore]

Oooh.

[@GreenGreenStore]

Did it work?

[@big10hunter42]

@@GreenGreenStore yes, I have the Xeon processor. Went with the Xeon specifically for the ECC support . Thanks!

[@tisurmaster]

was there a section to add nano sim reader?

[@jesusgarciamartinez5651]

Hola, gracias por el video. Disculpen, puedo ponerle a ese modelo de laptop una SSD de 2TB en la ranura 01? Actualmente tengo un SSD de 1TB en la ranura 00, y quiero aumentar la capacidad de almacenamiento de equipo agregandole otra SSD de 2TB. Gracias de antemano

[@PeterIldefonso-cp5mq]

Not bad except that you never did the SSD or Ram upgrade.

[@snap-n-shoot]

I have a 4 month old P17 built by Lenovo with 128GB RAM, 3 x 2TB SSD drives, Xeon, and everything else fully loaded....eyewatering price but a company purchase....just been sent back with a blown motherboard to be replaced.....not happy. My previous machine was the Lenovo P72, also fully loaded and a similar price. Had it 4 years and not a single issue....operated flawlessly. Only realised when th Lenovo engineer turned up that the battery was not user replaceable. Looked like the PSU blew and the whole motherboard went....They seem to be more disposable now...

[@GreenGreenStore]

Sounds like an impressive spec.
Maybe sensible to get a surge protected plug or socket (if you're not running it already) given the value of the machine. Some locations benefit from it.

[@snap-n-shoot]

@@GreenGreenStore Yup, Everything is on APC surge Protectors and outside of that a UPS. All set up at home. (I am an engineer for APC :) ) Apparently it was a faulty PSU from day one so they are replacing the whole motherboard.

[@ravisriram6746]

I am curious to know if the video card can be possibly upgraded as well, on the P17.

[@GreenGreenStore]

Not considered a user replaceable part (would affect the warranty). The module is swappable though, if you can find a card to upgrade to (rare).

[@BrianMcKee]

Yes the graphics card is upgradable and upgrades can be bought directly from Lenovo. Make sure when you put it back together you have a torque screwdriver of the proper spec. Which according to the manual is 0.181 Nm or about 1.6 pound inches.

[@abdessamadbouaicha2033]

Hi, just curious. Which one has better performance the ThinkPad P17 (Xeon/64GB Ram/RTX A5000) or the new MacBook Pro (M1Max/10-core CPU, 32-core GPU/64GB unified memory)?

[@GreenGreenStore]

Too early to say. P17 is a known quantity. Bigger M1 will probably do well in some workloads.

[@snap-n-shoot]

ThinkPad P17 Xeon/128GB RAM RTX A5000 card blows away the Apply M1 when using for 3D design, video editing up to 8k etc....have both..the MAC is a ornament now.

[@jdaemon33]

Look at that wasted space around the battery! They could have put two nvme drive slots in there. They've done the same to the Gen 2. Unbelievable. (Basing it off the P15 Gen2.)

[@zacgougeon6496]

The gen2 has actually 3 SSD, one underneath the keyboard (where the stock is) and two under the computer, all sad can be played with I don’t you would change the stock one but it’s doable

[@rajasahoo7027]

Does Gen 1 of P 17 support PCIe 4.0 SSD?

[@GreenGreenStore]

Not on the gen 1 iicrc.

[@hansherold3455]

hdd ports are pcie 4.0?

[@GreenGreenStore]

Yes. However, the speed is downgraded to PCie 3 according to the psref document. Sp won't be much difference to before.

[@user-qm5rk5dl3t]

How the p17 performs against the M1 MacBook?

[@GreenGreenStore]

Not really a like-for-like comparison.
The M1 wouldn't be useful in CAD or the workloads where dedicated graphics is needed (which is where the P17 typically will be used for).

[@big10hunter42]

crushes it.

[@matthewd.1474]

No one comment about where the Hard drive is.
🤦‍♂️

[@GreenGreenStore]

There are 2x m.2 slots. No 2.5" hard drive space. Covered when the first cover is removed.

[@AlexSage]

Dell Precision's interior is way better than thinkpad's