Which CPU should I get for my new laptop?

[Invincible Sugar]

I'm looking at getting a ThinkPad X1 Carbon, because they're on sale for black Friday and can be configured with LTE (must have for me).

 

I'm looking at the "10th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-10510U Processor (1.80 GHz, up to 4.90 GHz with Turbo Boost, 4 Cores, 8 Threads, 8 MB Cache)" right now. But the i5-10310U is the same price and seems to me like a worse option, and the i7-10610U is $270 more but doesn't seem like it's all that much better.

 

In terms of use, I'll be doing Photoshop, Discord, maybe some XP VMs, lots of Chrome tabs. I'll pay the $270 more if it's a huge increase in performance, but if it's just a bit better and not something I'll really notice outside of artificial tests then I don't care. For reference, I'm currently using an LTE enabled HP Folio with a Y series i7 which is fanless and not all that powerful, and it's fine for me. I want more power if it's a good value, but I don't need the most powerful thing with no thought for cost.

 

Also if this laptop has thunderbolt (it should right?) I might want to use eGPUs for displays when docked. But again, my wimpy Y series i7 in my HP Folio handles that just fine for my workload, and all 3 of these CPUs are upgrades compared to that...

 

Sorry if this sounds like I didn't research this laptop that much, I didn't really. It has normal mobile x86 CPUs, not this fanless Y series in my current laptop, and not an ARM CPU, with optional built in LTE. That is already a combination that's hard to find, so other things like thunderbolt or batter life, etc, aren't even important. The CPU is the only thing I care about and need help deciding on. 

 

Thoughts?

[jaslion]

Egpu is not worth the investment as you really just end up with a gimped gpu in an expensive box. Might as well just get a decent laptop that can game or something and be light to boot.

 

If a y series i7 is good enough then sure this would be decent. Do keep in mind that amd is like going at it with their cpu's and they are just plain better right now in the laptopspace and cheaper to boot. Which may be something you should look in to. Also they in general just have more batterylife. Lte options are available on some as well.

[Invincible Sugar]

9 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Egpu is not worth the investment as you really just end up with a gimped gpu in an expensive box. Might as well just get a decent laptop that can game or something and be light to boot.

 

If a y series i7 is good enough then sure this would be decent. Do keep in mind that amd is like going at it with their cpu's and they are just plain better right now in the laptopspace and cheaper to boot. Which may be something you should look in to. Also they in general just have more batterylife. Lte options are available on some as well.

Thanks. I have a basic eGPU, it's not for gaming at all, just for more external displays than the iGPU supports. A total of 6 screens on my current laptop. It's just for monitoring Discord chats, Twitter DMs, etc. Nothing intensive, but I like having them all open at once. Saves time over bouncing different apps on one screen.

 

I'm not against AMD but this laptop seems perfect already, any of the 3 CPU options would work but I don't know which best fits my use case.

[jaslion]

4 minutes ago, Invincible Sugar said:

Thanks. I have a basic eGPU, it's not for gaming at all, just for more external displays than the iGPU supports. A total of 6 screens on my current laptop. It's just for monitoring Discord chats, Twitter DMs, etc. Nothing intensive, but I like having them all open at once. Saves time over bouncing different apps on one screen.

 

I'm not against AMD but this laptop seems perfect already, any of the 3 CPU options would work but I don't know which best fits my use case.

Oh yeah egpu is not an option currently for amd so just get the cheapest I5 option.