Getting A new Lenovo x1 Carbon (opinions needed)

[Kunal_Kolhe]

I am thinking of getting an x1 carbon 2019 version i7 8565u, 16 GB ram, 1080p screen with multi touch, and 512GB SSD. 

My main doubt about it the the battery life because they advertise 16 hours but the 6th gen (according to the LTT review) has only about 6-7 hours of screen time.
I also want to know whether an external GPU is a bad idea or not for deep learning applications 

I would appreciate if anyone could give their opinions

[genexis_x]

Expect >8 hrs for FHD model. However according to NBC, the keyboard isn't that great as before due to reduction in key travel

 

eGPU is a bad idea if you don't need the extra portability

[5x5]

Expect 8-10 hours depending on settings in power play.

 

As for egpu, not really worth the investment imo.

[Kunal_Kolhe]

1 hour ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Expect >8 hrs for FHD model. However according to NBC, the keyboard isn't that great as before due to reduction in key travel

 

eGPU is a bad idea if you don't need the extra portability

So if I get the 2018 model for the better keyboard, It will be cheaper for me. I don't really care about the speaker improvement. The processor has barely improved. The 1080p multitouch screen is same as last year, right? And I think the battery life of the older model is better too.

 

 

Edited July 24, 2019 by Kunal_Kolhe

[Kunal_Kolhe]

1 hour ago, 5x5 said:

Expect 8-10 hours depending on settings in power play.

 

As for egpu, not really worth the investment imo.

Thank you

[genexis_x]

There isn't much improvement tbh. Battery life might slightly increase in the new model but the old model has good enough battery life

[5x5]

7 minutes ago, GeneXiS_X said:

There isn't much improvement tbh. Battery life might slightly increase in the new model but the old model has good enough battery life

Indeed - though tbh, Linus' battery test is not really a good one - usually he gets much lower results than what actually is possible since he uses a pretty old and unoptimized application. For example, his claims for the X1 are indeed off compared to the NBC results I've noticed.

[genexis_x]

2 hours ago, 5x5 said:

Linus' battery test

tbh he's not a good laptop reviewer

[5x5]

7 minutes ago, GeneXiS_X said:

tbh he's not a good laptop reviewer

Yep. They need to take a page out of NBCs book and do PWM testing as well as proper thermal and throttling testing. Currently I've noticed all sorts of weird reaults from the reviews posted.

[genexis_x]

18 minutes ago, 5x5 said:

Yep. They need to take a page out of NBCs book and do PWM testing as well as proper thermal and throttling testing. Currently I've noticed all sorts of weird reaults from the reviews posted.

They aren't specifying in doing laptop reviews. Personally I would refer to more reliable sources for laptop reviews rather than Linus

[5x5]

Just now, GeneXiS_X said:

They aren't specifiing in doing laptop reviews. Personally I would refer to more reliable sources for laptop reviews rather than Linus

True. Though to give him credit, he's said in the past that he does more of a showcase than a proper review.

[exetras]

I used an X1 at a previous job, great machine all round.

 

Personally, I would not get the touch screen and save some battery life.

 

For the Deep learning what are you looking to do? Image processing, AI, path finding, etc, these can change the processing requirement and may be better run on CPU than GPU.

[TVwazhere]

-Threads Merged-

[Kunal_Kolhe]

9 hours ago, exetras said:

I used an X1 at a previous job, great machine all round.

 

Personally, I would not get the touch screen and save some battery life.

 

For the Deep learning what are you looking to do? Image processing, AI, path finding, etc, these can change the processing requirement and may be better run on CPU than GPU.

Mostly image processing and data science. I know that image processing doesn't work without a GPU but otherwise everything will work with just a cpu. I currently have 2 machines a Lenovo b51-80 and another custom built pc (i7 7700 with 16gb ram and 1050 graphic card) this setup worked like a charm for me this past 2 years.

Now I'm changing countries, and would like to get a new laptop, the 6th gen Lenovo x1 carbon. 

 

And I'm thinking instead of an external GPU I'll just build a new pc with a GTX graphics card for the same amount.

[Kunal_Kolhe]

About the battery life I don't understand how they are claiming a better battery life with a smaller battery. Maybe they have undervolted the cpu?

 

Still now I'm thinking the 6th gen will be a better deal 

With the 1080p touchscreen panel

512gb SSD

16gb ram

On the Lenovo usa website the price for this config comes out to be $1675. Much cheaper than the similarly specced 7th Gen model which comes I  at $1860.

 

[genexis_x]

5 hours ago, Kunal_Kolhe said:

And I'm thinking instead of an external GPU I'll just build a new pc with a GTX graphics card for the same amount.

Why not desktop+laptop?

5 hours ago, Kunal_Kolhe said:

a smaller battery

Which model?

[Kunal_Kolhe]

On 7/25/2019 at 2:21 PM, GeneXiS_X said:

Why not desktop+laptop?

Which model?

Hi sorry for responding so late but the 2019 model has a 51Wh battery if I'm not mistaken, while the 2018 model has 57Wh

[genexis_x]

8 hours ago, Kunal_Kolhe said:

2019 model has a 51Wh battery if I'm not mistaken, while the 2018 model has 57Wh

Battery life difference in negligible

[Kunal_Kolhe]

On 7/28/2019 at 10:40 AM, GeneXiS_X said:

Battery life difference in negligible

Okay cool! So I am still a little unsure about whether to spend extra or not. But I am leaning towards the 2018 model. Thank youfor you help GeneXis_X, 5x5, exetras