I need a portable laptop to:
- have a lot of online quality video calls
- type a lot during each meeting
- have a ton of browser tabs open
- have a few CPU-demanding apps running at the same time
I will use this laptop as my main PC.
I’m also considering:
- T480s
- Carbon X1 Gen 7-8
- Dell 7490
I daily a T480 with Debian for work, and I’d recommend it highly. Great performance, battery, build quality, look & feel, etc. We have some 7480s deployed and while they’ve been solid as well, I much prefer the thinkpad. T series will have better performance and battery than X series, also, so I’d take the T480 over the X1C.
how is the build quality of the t480? I had a t580 for work, and that one crashed when you picked it up at thr wrong corner. and after a month over the warranty, it completely died
I can’t speak for all of them, but we’ve had a couple hundred deployed over the last several years with very few issues. Mine’s been solid as a rock.
The usb-c docks, however, are a nightmare, though I gather that’s fairly universal.
Carbon is great but you pay a premium for the form factor.
480 is the choice for practical purposes, if budget is a factor.
I’ve ordered this ThinkPad T480 with:
- Intel Core i7-8650U processor
- 16GB DDR4 RAM
- 512GB storage
- 14" FHD IPS display
- Integrated Intel UHD Graphics 620
When it arrives, before paying, what would you recommend to check within 10 minutes of receiving it?
Screen for dead pixels, make sure ram and disk sizes are as advertised - and CPU. That’s all
I now realize you are trying to buy a laptop on a budget. I’d definitely go for the X1 gen 7 or 8, 16gb of ram minimum. The 1080p screen will give you better battery life but the 4k screen has Dolby vision and will make watching movies a better experience.
The Carbox X1 Gen7 is probably a decent choice, but it will depend on the specs - get at least an i5, and max out the RAM to 16GB - you can’t add it later, so make sure to buy one with the 16GB.
I have an x1 Gen7 and it’s great. EXCEPT for the battery life which is fucking awful. Maybe 4 hours if you’re lucky. It was originally advertised as having 18 hours.
What are the apps that you will be using? I’m really excited by these new Qualcomm laptops coming out. LTT is doing an experiment and having 3 of its employees switch full time to see if they are viable. If you can wait another week I’d see what their conclusions are.
