Looking for some pre-buying verification: will an external display actually work with a Lenovo Thinkpad P16 Gen 2?

[Lists]

Hi all,

I am thinking of replacing my old workstation with a Lenovo Thinkpad P16
Gen 2. There's one thing that makes me hesitate though: on my current
laptop (Thinkpad P1 Gen 1) the external display is hardwired to a
specific port. Sadly, I have never been able to use any external display
with that laptop. Not with the integrated graphics, nor with the
discrete graphics.

I am hoping to prevent this from happening again, as in this case that
would be a critical "failure". The idea is that this machine will run
with the lid closed using a large external monitor.

In case that might be relevant: I am planning to buy the Universal
Thunderbolt 4 Dock with this laptop.

Are there any users of this laptop here on the list that can tell me if
this exact type of Thinkpad can actually drive external displays when
running Debian? I can't find any definite information regarding this
issue on the Lenovo website and Google didn't get me any further either.

Thanks in advance for any helpful information!

Grx HdV

[Felix Miata]

Post by Lists
I am thinking of replacing my old workstation with a Lenovo Thinkpad P16
Gen 2.

That's a model line, not a model. It's available with multiple CPU/GPU combinations.

To use it as described, I suggest to get one with only one GPU. Most problems
laptop users want help with have hybrid graphics, and/or NVidia graphics as part
of their mix. The reason for hybrid graphics is basically for maximizing both
battery life and graphics performance. The former has no material relevance when
rarely running on battery.

[Lists]

Post by Felix Miata

Post by Lists
I am thinking of replacing my old workstation with a Lenovo Thinkpad P16
Gen 2.

That's a model line, not a model. It's available with multiple CPU/GPU combinations.

You are correct. That slipped by me when I wrote my mail.

Post by Felix Miata
To use it as described, I suggest to get one with only one GPU. Most problems
laptop users want help with have hybrid graphics, and/or NVidia graphics as part
of their mix. The reason for hybrid graphics is basically for maximizing both
battery life and graphics performance. The former has no material relevance when
rarely running on battery.

Thanks for that idea. As I don't do anything remotely graphically taxing
I don't need a speedy GPU. Most of my work on this machine will be
programming and remote admin. Apart from watching a 4K video once in a
while I dabble a bit in CAD, but those are fairly simple drawings that
would in no way require a super-duper GPU.

I'll try to find out if they allow for a configuration with an Intel
graphics iGPU only, or otherwise the simplest dGPU. Ada 1000 seems to be
the lowest spec available if I remember correctly. That should be more
than sufficient.

Grx HdV

[Max Nikulin]

As I don't do anything remotely graphically taxing I don't need a speedy
GPU.

More powerful GPU may mean better quality of local (offline) AI
assistant. Perhaps it is too early to say that it is must have, but it
seems changes are coming.