Picking between two laptops to replace my work one

[Elarion]

My X1 Carbon has a fan that's currently giving out, among other things. I'm looking to replace it. I do a wide range of things for work (CAD, office work, conference calls, 3D rendering). These are the two I've narrowed it down to.

 

ThinkPad T16 ($2,039 USD)

• Ryzen 7 Pro 7840U
• Integrated Radeon 780M
• 32GB RAM
• 1 TB M.2 2280 Gen4

Framework 16 ($2,544 USD)

• Ryzen 7 7840HS
• 32GB DDR5-5600
• 1 TB SN850X
• Graphics Module RX 7700S

I've had good experiences with ThinkPads overall, and I like their build quality. I hate their ship times and their customer service. I'm mainly after decent performance. I will use it docked a fair bit of the time, so battery and keyboard aren't as important...that being said, I do like when those are good as well. Which one of these would be the best choice?

[saintlouisbagels]

Does it need to be 16-inch?

At your budget, you can get the 14-inch ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (Ryzen 9 8945HS, 32GB, RTX 4070) for $2000.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-rog-zephyrus-g14-14-oled-3k-120hz-gaming-laptop-amd-ryzen-9-8945hs-32gb-lpddr5x-nvidia-geforce-rtx-4070-1tb-ssd-platinum-white/6570271.p?skuId=6570271

 

I have the 16GB, RTX 4060 model and I'm super happy with it.

[kuva]

57 minutes ago, saintlouisbagels said:

Does it need to be 16-inch?

At your budget, you can get the 14-inch ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (Ryzen 9 8945HS, 32GB, RTX 4070) for $2000.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-rog-zephyrus-g14-14-oled-3k-120hz-gaming-laptop-amd-ryzen-9-8945hs-32gb-lpddr5x-nvidia-geforce-rtx-4070-1tb-ssd-platinum-white/6570271.p?skuId=6570271

 

I have the 16GB, RTX 4060 model and I'm super happy with it.

i have the same device. It's serving me very well. Only issues with it are results of my own mistakes. (dropping it hard on the ground and breaking off the internal battery connector cable by forcing it open when doing an SSD swap)

Only needed to do an SSD swap because i'm a data hoarder and 1TB is hardly enough.
Good performance on lots of games, pretty quiet for a gaming laptop, etc etc.

[Elarion]

7 hours ago, saintlouisbagels said:

Does it need to be 16-inch?

At your budget, you can get the 14-inch ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (Ryzen 9 8945HS, 32GB, RTX 4070) for $2000.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-rog-zephyrus-g14-14-oled-3k-120hz-gaming-laptop-amd-ryzen-9-8945hs-32gb-lpddr5x-nvidia-geforce-rtx-4070-1tb-ssd-platinum-white/6570271.p?skuId=6570271

 

I have the 16GB, RTX 4060 model and I'm super happy with it.

 

6 hours ago, sopris said:

i have the same device. It's serving me very well. Only issues with it are results of my own mistakes. (dropping it hard on the ground and breaking off the internal battery connector cable by forcing it open when doing an SSD swap)

Only needed to do an SSD swap because i'm a data hoarder and 1TB is hardly enough.
Good performance on lots of games, pretty quiet for a gaming laptop, etc etc.

Yes, it has to be 16 inch for the screen real estate, and it has to be one of these two laptops. Work is paying for it, and these are the choices I was given.

[saintlouisbagels]

1 hour ago, Elarion said:

Yes, it has to be 16 inch for the screen real estate, and it has to be one of these two laptops.

I think you're confusing screen real estate with screen size.

The G14 Laptop has a 2880 x 1800 screen.

 

 ThinkPad T16 - from checking on their website, they use a 1920 x 1200 screen on all of their pre-configured models unless you customize it to have a 4K screen. Although 4K on a 16-inch screen is a little silly. Also...they don't have a discrete graphics card option at all? This is a poor option for CAD and 3D rendering. Absolutely not.

 

 Framework 16 - this one wins by default thanks to the Graphics Module option. Double win for having a reasonable 2560 x 1600 screen.

[Elarion]

1 hour ago, saintlouisbagels said:

I think you're confusing screen real estate with screen size.

The G14 Laptop has a 2880 x 1800 screen.

 

 ThinkPad T16 - from checking on their website, they use a 1920 x 1200 screen on all of their pre-configured models unless you customize it to have a 4K screen. Although 4K on a 16-inch screen is a little silly. Also...they don't have a discrete graphics card option at all? This is a poor option for CAD and 3D rendering. Absolutely not.

 

 Framework 16 - this one wins by default thanks to the Graphics Module option. Double win for having a reasonable 2560 x 1600 screen.

I understand that, but my eyes are too bad to see things on a 14" laptop anymore, and scaling it up reduces what's on the screen. Hence, the 16" screen. Also need a numberpad, and not supposed to have gamerbro looking laptops, as that weirds out customers.

 

I'll get the Framework 16 then, I didn't realize the resolution difference was there.

[saintlouisbagels]

1 hour ago, Elarion said:

I understand that, but my eyes are too bad to see things on a 14" laptop anymore, and scaling it up reduces what's on the screen. Hence, the 16" screen. Also need a numberpad, and not supposed to have gamerbro looking laptops, as that weirds out customers.

 

I'll get the Framework 16 then, I didn't realize the resolution difference was there.

The Zephyrus G14 is extremely not gamer bro looking once you disable all of the RGB lighting.

But yeah, I would totally go for the Framework. Plus it becomes easier in future to ask Procurement for necessary upgrades since it's cheaper getting modules than entire laptops lol.