Work-purchased laptop - McBook Air/Pro vs ThinkPad X1 Carbon vs LG Gram

[Andrei Chiffa]

So.

 

Over the last couple of years I have been working mostly on my own laptops (Asus N series over last 7 years, Dell Inspiron 15 7000 gaming over the last year and a half), hauling them around with me and using both for work (a lot of text, programming, some data crunching) and for gaming/media. I have been mostly happy with my choices, with a particular appreciation for Dell's insane battery/power and decent transportability/durability/keyboard (although I do miss Asus' Bang&Olufsen speakers+subwoofer quality).

 

For whatever reason, my current employer is insisting on getting me a dedicated work machine and the price is not a question (a Predator X21 would probably make them balk though).

 

Given that for work I am mostly focused on ability to program/type comfortably and having the best portability and battery life possible, I have narrowed down my choice to the following ones: 

• McBook Air
  • Pluses: 
    • Insane Battery life
    • Excellent touchpad / good keyboard
    • Excellent fabrication that will last daily use
    • Good screen and decent sound
    • macOS
  • Minuses:
    • Needs a dongle for basically everything
    • 2-core CPU in 2019?
    • 8 GB RAM soldered
    • 256 GB SSD 
    • macOS (I am a Windows/Ubuntu guy)
• ThinkPad X1 Carbon:
  • Pluses
    • Excellent keyboard
    • Seemingly good fabrication
    • Excellent screen
    • Excellent performance
    • Can have WWAN installed
    • Camera is physically lockable
  • Minuses:
    • Battery is decent, but lower than my today's daily Dell (for which after a year and a half of use, the full battery now lasts 4-5 hours working with wifi and audio/video in background without any energy saving configuration)
    • Webcam (Linus' point in the review)
    • Touchpad is meh (again, Linus' point in the reveiw)
• LG Gram:
  • Pluses:
    • Out of this world battery, even compared to Macs
    • Decent performance
    • The only one to have a 15" screen for the weight class
  • Minuses:
    • Fabrication quality is inferior to the two others
    • Keyboard seems to be uninspiring
    • Glossy screen

What are your thoughts? Am I overlooking something obvious? Would you consider a different option altogether?

[Zando_]

MacBook Air is great and the trackpad is godly, but if you type a lot you may dislike the keyboard, it's the new (also quite unreliable) super, super short travel one. It's not terrible to use (I've set up both the 2019 MBA and MBPs for peeps at work), but compared to the mid-2015 and mid-2012 MBP keyboards it's an oof. Also the 2c/4t CPU is fine for most stuff, but you can get better performance from other options. Really depends on whether or not you really want macOS. If you did want macOS, why not a full MacBook Pro? Even the base models have a quad core and they're barely thicker than the MBA (they do get loud under load though, even burst load like installing apps ramps the fans, and they are quite high pitched). 

Also is there a reason not to just get a new Dell? Their XPS line is usually damn solid. 
 

[genexis_x]

I would always prefer business laptops

[NeuesTestament]

If you want a good an reliable keyboard avoid the MacBook Air at all cost. Of the ones suggested I would go for the X1 Carbon though I would personally rather go for a T series ThinkPad

[Andrei Chiffa]

6 hours ago, genexis_x said:

I would always prefer business laptops

So you would really be rather into the ThinkPad X1 Carbon?

1 hour ago, NeuesTestament said:

If you want a good an reliable keyboard avoid the MacBook Air at all cost. Of the ones suggested I would go for the X1 Carbon though I would personally rather go for a T series ThinkPad

Good mention - for some reason I overlooked it. The T490s look like they could fill the bill pretty nicely with all the niceness of X1 but better battery life. 

 

13 hours ago, Zando Bob said:

MacBook Air is great and the trackpad is godly, but if you type a lot you may dislike the keyboard, it's the new (also quite unreliable) super, super short travel one. It's not terrible to use (I've set up both the 2019 MBA and MBPs for peeps at work), but compared to the mid-2015 and mid-2012 MBP keyboards it's an oof. Also the 2c/4t CPU is fine for most stuff, but you can get better performance from other options. Really depends on whether or not you really want macOS. If you did want macOS, why not a full MacBook Pro? Even the base models have a quad core and they're barely thicker than the MBA (they do get loud under load though, even burst load like installing apps ramps the fans, and they are quite high pitched). 

Also is there a reason not to just get a new Dell? Their XPS line is usually damn solid. 
 

Thanks for the in-depth insight. I've never used a Mac and usually do the heavy lifting with a separate linux partition. Not that I have anything against it, it's just getting used to working with them will definitely take time I am not sure I want to invest in it. I was actually thinking about a MBP for myself, given that that's what most people in my lab have, but it is a bit heavy and a bit short on the battery compared to a MBA. To be honest, it's still a strong contender for me. 

As for Dell, the XPS doesn't seem to have the quality and comfort of a Mac/ThinkPad, nor the battery life of a Gram/Mac. Besides I am having a couple of fabrication issues with my current Inspiron, with both keyboard and fabrication (easy to scratch, flex of screen leading to keyboard friction in the bag). I would love to be proven wrong though.

 

[Andrei Chiffa]

On 11/8/2019 at 12:38 PM, Andrei Chiffa said:

So you would really be rather into the ThinkPad X1 Carbon?

Good mention - for some reason I overlooked it. The T490s look like they could fill the bill pretty nicely with all the niceness of X1 but better battery life. 

 

Thanks for the in-depth insight. I've never used a Mac and usually do the heavy lifting with a separate linux partition. Not that I have anything against it, it's just getting used to working with them will definitely take time I am not sure I want to invest in it. I was actually thinking about a MBP for myself, given that that's what most people in my lab have, but it is a bit heavy and a bit short on the battery compared to a MBA. To be honest, it's still a strong contender for me. 

As for Dell, the XPS doesn't seem to have the quality and comfort of a Mac/ThinkPad, nor the battery life of a Gram/Mac. Besides I am having a couple of fabrication issues with my current Inspiron, with both keyboard and fabrication (easy to scratch, flex of screen leading to keyboard friction in the bag). I would love to be proven wrong though.

 

In the end I tried out an X1 my colleague had - and it just didn't make me dream. The McBook Air however... So I am finally going with that one, despite the concerns. Will report back after testing it out properly.