Okay. Please help me as I ask COMPUTER BABBY QUESTIONS.
I have a Thinkpad T14 Gen 3 (AMD).
It has a 256 GB HD. That's too small. I want to buy a new, bigger one. I have a sense the good hard drives these days are "M.2".
Lenovo's specs page
doesn't say anything about "M.2". It says the hd is "PCIe".
I run "lshw" to see what's on the computer. It says "NVMe".
How do I find out the bestest fastest aftermarket drive Canada Computers carries that my computer will support
I only understand computation as the MANIPULATION OF ABSTRACT PLATONIC FORMS. I do not understand this realm where computers are "physical objects" you manipulate with "screwdrivers". I would prefer to use Math to translate my thoughts directly into action, as if I am casting magic spells
Okay. So I think I have my plans for the hard drive complete. Now here's the shedpainty question:
The old drive has Ubuntu 24.04 on it. I hate it.
Should I trade down to Debian?
Or should I trade up to Pop!_OS?
Will I regret either of these? Will either one, if I just go get a standard usb key installation, cause driver problems with my AMD chipset or secure boot or whatever other junk Lenovo has on board?
Okay I have more computer build babby questions
I got a hard drive
But I've been warned it's one that runs hot
So I think I want a thermal "strip", which is apparently a heatsink that fits into smol spaces like a laptop
I google
https://www.amazon.ca/Deal4GO-Heatsink-5B40Z68852-Replacement-Thinkpad/dp/B0CDSBKD1X
This looks good! Oh, they're out of stock. Except wait, why doesit say "replacement"?
I watch installation instructions
https://youtu.be/8sm1ScVUHqY?t=108
Is there a hd heatsink strip in my friggin laptop already?? (1/2)
@mcc almost all laptops have an inbuilt thermal pad for the M.2.
what temperature it reporting? M.2 drives tend to run pretty hot anyway (by design).
@gsuberland uh… now? the current one?
…how would i get that information in linux?
@mcc @gsuberland smartctl, usually
@whitequark @gsuberland oddly, ubuntu does NOT recommend smartmontools when you type smartctl!
Apparently my current m.2 hd is at 32 celsius when nothing in particular is happening. I guess I'll see how it runs after I install the new one!
@mcc @whitequark oh that's well within safe bounds. even triple that would be fine under load.
@gsuberland @mcc @whitequark 642 °C under load would still be fine?
(It’s a joke, because if you’re going to triple a temperature, you have to do it in a unit with a non-arbitrary zero, so I converted 32 °C to Kelvin, triple it, and converted it back, for the laughs.)
@oscherler @gsuberland @whitequark *clearing throat impatiently* He clearly meant M.6