AMD Ryzen Laptops: maxing out the hardware specs (RAM, SSD and more)

This is an overview of the options you have as an AMD Ryzen Laptop owner — on the example of Lenovo laptops and their extensibility in regards to RAM, storage and other hardware options.

Hardware options of the Lenovo ThinkPad L14 20U5: maxing out or skinning down?

The maxed-out version of the notebook is called Lenovo ThinkPad L14, Ryzen 7 PRO 4750U, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, Fingerprint-Reader, Smart-card, IR-Camera, LTE, Windows 10 Pro — although maxing out might not be exactly what we are looking for. We rather want to get the maximum bang for the buck, which is :

• The best CPU option as of today, which is the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 4750U with 8 CPU cores and 16 threads.
• We are trying to get the Lenovo ThinkPad either with Ubuntu pre-installed without Windows, or with a minimal Windows license. Ideally we get the device without any Windows license, which is up to $100 cheaper.
• We are trying to get only a minimal SSD, as we are going to replace them with more potent options (example: Samsung 970 PRO SSD).
• Also, we are trying to only have minimum initial RAM, as we will be maxing out the RAM with the best option to have a full total of 64GB RAM (Memory Kit 64GB 32GBx2 CL16 BL2K32G32C16S4B).
• Finally, we are going to investigate other extension options of the notebook.

Please let me know in the comments, if you have ideas or other suggestions of the setup. Also let me know your experiences with the hardware or with the Lenovo L14 and Linux.

The hardware options of the Lenovo L14 and L15

Current hardware options of the Lenovo L14 and L15 are manifold:

• An overview of the L14 can be found on the Lenovo L14 overview page
• The Product Specifications Reference (PSREF) for the L14 is an even better source for understanding all the options available.

I am suggesting to go for the 300nits screen option with touchscreen. It is less about the touch-screen, but more about the 50 more nits than the default screen option with FHD (1920x1080).

Additionally, i am suggesting to go with the following optional hardware:

• Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200
• Fibocom L850-GL 4G LTE-A (full Linux support)

Linux on the Lenovo L14: ordering the notebook without Windows preinstalled

Lenovo recently announced their plans for “Linux-Ready ThinkPad and ThinkStation PCs Preinstalled with Ubuntu” and while this is absolutely fantastic, ordering a Lenovo ThinkPad with Linux only still is challenging (or not possible). Hint: you can order with the “smallest” Windows option, which is “Windows 10 Home”, which should be already a lot cheaper.

Selling your Windows license online

Ordering a Lenovo Laptop without Windows can be as much as $100 cheaper, but I am wondering what people can do who already bought Lenovo gear and want to return Windows. Is it possible to actually return a Windows key? (if anyone knows about some options in this regards, please let me know in the comments).

One possible option is to deregister your installed key and selling it on eBay, but scanning through the available offers on Amazon it does not look like a popular option yet.

Maximizing the hardware: internal upgrades to take into account

RAM: we want to get the best RAM possible, as the GPU is sharing RAM as well. We want to use the Crucial Ballistix 3200 MHz DDR4 DRAM Laptop Gaming Memory Kit 64GB (32GBx2) CL16 BL2K32G32C16S4B which has the following specs:

• DDR4 SO-DIMM 260-Pin
• PC4–25600S

If you have ideas or experiences with a better option, please let us know in the comments below.

SSDs: we want to also have the fastests SSDs possible, so we are essentially only limited by the M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 interface. Here are the factors of the SSDs we are looking at:

• M.2 PCIe
• M.2 2280
• PCIe 3.0 x4

Essentially, there is only the Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 2TB, M.2 (MZ-V7S2T0BW) which offers 3500 MB/s read and 3300 MB/s write, so we are definitely going for this one.

Please let me know in the comments if you would go for another SSD option and why.

Docking stations

The L14 lists the Lenovo ThinkPad Thunderbolt 3 Dock Gen 2 135W as supported dock, but i am not certain if the ThinkPad Thunderbolt 3 Workstation Dock Gen 2 would be compatible. Would love to hear feedback form other owners.

This is an overview of options and experiences with the Lenovo ThinkPad L14 on Linux, with maxed-out hardware. Please comment if you have experiences, ideas or other valuable information!