Which Laptop should I get? Lenovo/Macbook Pro

[Rankhole]

Hi there,

 

I'm currently looking for a new laptop, and I'm kind of torn apart.

On the one hand, I was looking at the Macbook Pro 13", because it has some of the best build quality - while at the same time sucking because of the shitty keyboard and being extremely overprised for the specs (duh, Apple...).

On the other hand, I was looking at some Lenovo Laptops that struck my interest.

One of them was a (used) X1 Carbon 4th Gen refurbished on amazon.

With this one, I thought I'd get  "X1 Carbon" levels of build quality and light weightness. However, it's still actually more expensive, even though it's way worse in terms of specs AND refurbished.

The other one is the relatively new Lenovo ThinkPad E595, which has just insane specs for the price. 16Gb ram, Rzyen 7 3700U processor which, from what I've seen, seems to work just as good as comparable 8th gen Intel i5/i7 processors, at least in terms of multicore results. On top of that, it comes with a 512Gb SSD...pretty damn impressive for the price of 760 euros (including taxes here in Germany).

 

The thing is...

I'd theoretically like the Macbook Pro OR the newest X1 Carbon the most. However, the X1 Carbon actually ends up costing me way more then the cheapest Macbook Pro, since they don't even offer "entry level specs" with that machine.

That's why I was looking for refurbished (or possibly even used) X1 Carbons. These two would offer me the best build quality...

However, obviously, they get crushed by price to performance, and honestly even performance, by the new Ryzen E595. This one however, weighs way more, about 2.1kg. Which is alright for a 15,4" Laptop, but still...

 

What do you guys recommend here?

I'll be using it mainly for university, where I do software development.

Also, I'd obviously be glad for other recommendations that I may have missed!

 

Best regards,

Rankhole

[Sauron]

Don't fall into the budget "high specs" laptop trap. The E595 has an awful TN screen, a lower resolution and worse build quality than the X1C, is significantly heavier and the battery life is probably much worse. Honestly, as someone who is just finishing a master's degree in software engineering, get this

https://www.ebay.de/itm/Lenovo-ThinkPad-X1-Carbon-4-Gen-Core-i7-6500U-8Gb-256Gb-SSD-14-FHD-1920x1080-IPS/153684534797?hash=item23c84fe60d:g:kuYAAOSwg31akABZ

it's plenty for software development and you'll only get something significantly better if you're willing to spend over 1200€. You might want to expand your ram but that's pretty easy and cheap to do.

[Rankhole]

18 minutes ago, Sauron said:

Don't fall into the budget "high specs" laptop trap. The E595 has an awful TN screen, a lower resolution and worse build quality than the X1C, is significantly heavier and the battery life is probably much worse. Honestly, as someone who is just finishing a master's degree in software engineering, get this

https://www.ebay.de/itm/Lenovo-ThinkPad-X1-Carbon-4-Gen-Core-i7-6500U-8Gb-256Gb-SSD-14-FHD-1920x1080-IPS/153684534797?hash=item23c84fe60d:g:kuYAAOSwg31akABZ

it's plenty for software development and you'll only get something significantly better if you're willing to spend over 1200€. You might want to expand your ram but that's pretty easy and cheap to do.

I literally just saw a similar one. I've found one for 600 euros, with the best i7 (6600) aswell as 16Gb ram and a 256Gb SSD. That looks like a damn good deal!

Do you know if there is any significant differences between X1 4th Gen and letest Gen? Other than performance I mean?

[Sauron]

37 minutes ago, Rankhole said:

Do you know if there is any significant differences between X1 4th Gen and letest Gen? Other than performance I mean?

There's probably some difference in battery capacity and weight but I doubt it's significant.

39 minutes ago, Rankhole said:

I've found one for 600 euros, with the best i7 (6600) aswell as 16Gb ram and a 256Gb SSD. That looks like a damn good deal!

Make sure the screen is IPS though

[Rankhole]

2 minutes ago, Sauron said:

There's probably some difference in battery capacity and weight but I doubt it's significant.

Make sure the screen is IPS though

I just checked and the E595 also has an IPS display. It's just that it has only 250 cd/m2 brightness, aswell as being a mat display, which makes it look less colorfull.

[Sauron]

5 minutes ago, Rankhole said:

I just checked and the E595 also has an IPS display. It's just that it has only 250 cd/m2 brightness, aswell as being a mat display, which makes it look less colorfull.

Still, not something I'd recommend for a student due to its other pitfalls (and at this point it would be significantly more expensive than the X1C). If you really need the extra power then sure, but I doubt it. Also bear in mind that most universities give their students access to some sort of computing cluster for heavy workloads.

[DrMacintosh]

8 hours ago, Rankhole said:

It's just that it has only 250 cd/m2 brightness, aswell as being a mat display, which makes it look less colorfull.

Displays are certainly one of the strong points of MBPs. 1560x1600, 500nits and glossy with an effective anti-reflective coating. The aspect ratio is also nice because you can fit more lines of code. The price is that hard part to swallow though. 

[Rankhole]

I decided to get a used X1 Carbon 4th Gen.

Specs:

I7 6600U, 16Gb Ram, 256Gb SSD

I think I'll definitely be happy, since the price was 549 Euros total :)!

 

On a side note...does anyone of you guys know where to get a fitting case for this specific X1 Carbon 4th Gen?

I could only find generic cases which probably won't fit ideally...