I've not used Windows since Vista and the ThinkPad P50 I've ordered comes with Windows 11.
Am I going to hate W11?
Question. If I swap out the Solus SSD from my ThinkPad T510 into the P50 will it “just work"?
I'm hoping the W11 SSD will boot in the T510 (4gb ram) because curious about modern Windows.
GuzziPhil Am I going to hate W11?
That depends. How much do you hate the idea of sharing everything with Microsoft?
I spent most of yesterday trying to create a Windows 11 VM again, so I could see how it's changed since the one I created when it was new, but most of the changes seem to be aimed at locking you tighter and tighter into their ecosystem. The first time, it was relatively easy to set up a "local" account, despite their encouragement to join the Microsoft family instead, but this time I couldn't find a way to do that at all. The online articles that describe how to do that no longer work with recent versions of the OS, and I finally gave up on it.
There's only one task that I need Windows for -- making labels for the soups and jams that I can -- and fortunately Windows 10 works fine to run my label maker. There's no Linux driver or editor utility for it.
GuzziPhil I'm hoping the W11 SSD will boot in the T510 (4gb ram) because curious about modern Windows.
It's entirely possible, but not guaranteed. It'll be a question of physical properties (will it fit, and can I connect it?) and whether there's a suitable driver available. I'm guessing that it will work, although Windows 11 is pretty picky about what older machines it will run on. There are online articles about how to work around some of the tests it does, though, so if you can install the drive and connect it, you stand a good chance that you can make it work.
GuzziPhil I've had mixed luck swapping SSD's between machines. Sometimes it works great and it's just adding/changing some drivers to optimize things. Other times the machine just wont boot or recognize the drive at all.
On Windows 11, if you haven't used or interacted since Vista, it's quite the change. It's really not terrible though. It's still a resource hog and just loading the OS will eat 30-60% of your RAM. As long as you understand the Windows trade-offs, it's actually pretty good, for Windows.
I've been doing some reading...
The P50 comes with slots for regular 2.5 hdd/sdd and some other new fangled slots for a SSD WWAN something, something...
Dual booting from separate hd's probably is my answer.
Though after reading up on built in Windows ads and tracking etc....
I'm starting to think I may never let Windows boot and just wipe and install Solus.
I was just curious about how windows has evolved. Maybe explore some
Light gaming but solus and Steam should be fine.
Thanks though.
GuzziPhil The P50 comes with slots for regular 2.5 hdd/sdd and some other new fangled slots
That's a very good design. Several of my DELL commputers offer the same accomodation.
You might still want to log onto Windows 11 on the new computer just long enough to try it out, and decide whether you want to avoid it altogether or arrange for a dual-boot. As long as you keep sensitive content off the Windows 11 drive, you might still find it useful for games that aren't available on Linux.
When I tried to create a Windows 11 VM yesterday, I used the name "Wet Geek." (Windows 11 insisted on having both first and last name. Afterwards, they referred to me as "Wet." 
)
GuzziPhil I owned a P50. Swapping the SSD will probably work. Does your P50 also have an Intel and Nvidia GPU? Back then I deactivated the Intel GPU in the Bios to make life easier. The downside is increased energy usage.
kaktuspalme
i7-6820HQ 2.70GHz 32GB 512GB SSD NVIDIA Quadro M1000M.
I don't know how well Nvidia Prime works under Solus. But I guess you have to try. But running itself should not be a problem, from my estimation.
One of the reasons I switched from Windows 7 to linux instead of Windows 10 was that it was much quicker to set up a relatively secure and private system quickly. Even if you manage that with windows they have a habit of undoing stuff during updates.
You're really going to hate the DE. I can't get anything of value done there without frustration. It's just a jumble and a mess. Not to mention all the shit popping up all over the place.
One thing I would do is have a spare drive with windows to run firmware updates for your P50 and dock, if you get one. Solus doesn't have fwupd and even that doesn't get all the updates. Lenovo has a nice utility for firmware.
You can go back to windows anytime and the windows keys are embedded (you can see that in bios)
finally post a pic in /r/thinkpad lol
Just some more advice. Get the cheapest drive for the P50 and replace it. You'll save money, end up with a better drive and a Windows drive as spare to do your windows stuff. I got a mediocre Toshiba 256MB with my X1 Carbon and eventually ended up with the Solidigm P44 I am running now. Technically my X1 carbon came with Fedora but I have a windows 7 license I used for Windows 10 and installed that on the Toshiba.
Yeah, just scrap WINDOWS altogether if you don't REALLY need it!
I never understand why people fuss on end about which SSD they should get for which OS:
Whenever I bought a refurbished or privately used and recycled ThinkPad with WINDOWS on the drive the very first thing I always did and always will do is take out the drive with WINDOWS on it, keep it (I may need to re-sell the laptop or may be forced to use WINDOWS for work or whatever), pop another SSD in and install whatever I fancy.
It ALWAYS worked, no matter which brand the SSD was.
(I'm using WINDOWS at work, everything the company does is saved to OneDrive, the Microsoft cloud planet, and it feels terrible to be so tied to that company and the way they just flood you with endless notifications, suggestions, remarks about accounts not being logged into, new software bits and pieces they want you to use - you have to be so much a caretaker of your work tools and are left with so little unobstructed time to do what you need to do - just awful.
I will never use WINDOWS privately ever.)
SOLUSfiddler (I'm using WINDOWS at work, everything the company does is saved to OneDrive, the Microsoft cloud planet, and it feels terrible to be so tied to that company and the way they just flood you with endless notifications, suggestions, remarks about accounts not being logged into, new software bits and pieces they want you to use - you have to be so much a caretaker of your work tools and are left with so little unobstructed time to do what you need to do - just awful.
I will never use WINDOWS privately ever.)
this^^^^
you spend half your life with WIN and it's not til you step away to linux and come back that you realize what a disgusting hustle it all is on that side...
...I have a W10 on an unplugged drive I update every couple months (in case of emergency break glass type deal).
well said, Fiddler
SOLUSfiddler It ALWAYS worked, no matter which brand the SSD was.
Same here. I usually bought the cheapest SSDs on Amazon, sometimes in multiples. None of them ever offended me in any way.
Well I got the P50 and a very nice machine it is to.
Solus has not played well with it unfortunately.
It's not shutting down or suspending properly. It won't wake after suspend.
Powering down, using the menu shut down option, actually doesn't work.
The laptops lights stay on, and if not plugged in the battery is flat next day.
After powering down it's hard to turn on. Have to press/hold the power button a while till all lights go out then the power button will boot it up.
So...I've temporarily pulled the ssd and installed Manjaro/Budgie on a spare ssd.
It now powers down and suspends as expected.
Oh. The bios is the most up to date.
And another thing.... Windows 11 got wiped after about an hour. Yuck! what a horror show!
