Hi, I'm an IT Engineering student looking for a good laptop. No gaymen, no dongles, just plain and simple top performance and solid/durable build quality. So, I've done my fair share of research and ended up thinking about buying a Thinkpad. For my work and hobbies, I simply need a powerful quad core cpu, good amount of ram and a fast ssd. No matter the weight, no matter the portability. The P51 seems the top notch choice, but it would cost me about 1900€, while a similarly spec'd T470p would cost me about 1300€. The things that worry me are the build quality of the T470p and the fact that its backplate is not really user friendly. Money is not really a problem, but I wanna be sure that the price difference is really justifiable. I'm not considering used laptops, just new ones. Thanks.
I want to buy a new Thinkpad: T470p or P51?
>No gaymen
>Discrete GPUs
Just get X1 Carbon if money is really no object.
>No matter the weight, no matter the portability.
Or a desktop, you larping Sup Forumsirgin.
I already have a Ryzen 8 core desktop, but I need a powerful laptop for when I'm not home. The X1 Carbon is nice, but the cpu is weak for what I usually do. My hobby is music production and a minimum of a fast quad core cpu is needed to not get laggy performance.
>IT Engineering
u wot m8
IDK about your GPU needs, but I'm getting myself a second-hand W530 for 300 europoors. It has an i7-3740MQ quad core CPU and that's what I want it for. A 9-cell battery is 35 pounds on eBay, so lets say 350 for a used W530 with a new battery. The GPU in this specific model is an Nvidia Quadro K1000M, probably not the best for CAD applications.
>My hobby is music production and a minimum of a fast quad core cpu is needed to not get laggy performance.
I run multiple VMs with my shitty L440 (i5-4200M), an X1 with an i7-7600U is more than overkill for what you want.
Informatics Engineering
>laggy performance
Is this some weird elaborate trolling attempt or are you unironically retarded?
The Ableton projects I'm currently working on lag a lot on a i5-7200u, but run well on quad core cpus. I'm not trolling, I'm serious.
>no dongles
>looking at 'ultra book' rubbish with barely any ports
good job there lad have fun with those vga projectors
Why don't you remote in?
I know, right? Stupid fags won't even be able to use LPT printers directly, amirite my fellow contrarian imbecile?
I'm not going to use projectors on a daily basis.
when are you going to bbuy it op i can get you a discount on the P51
post in /tpg/ faggot
I am in pretty much the same boat -- I want no-nonsense high performance and durability. Money no object, and I would prefer 15" over 14".
I ended up going with the T470p rather than the P51, even though I would prefer the size of the P51, because all reviews say it has a much superior keyboard, which is a critical no-compromise requirement for me.
Should be arriving in a couple of days. I hope it won't be a huge €2500 disappointment.
Do you have any concerns about build quality materials?
Not really. I'm sure both will suffice for my purposes. I haven't really researched the build quality aspect in enough depth to compare between them. I know they both have very good build quality, and that's enough for me.
Just saw this thread, and realized that I'm late. Oh well.
Long story short: you should've picked up a dell laptop. One of those powerhouses like precision 7510 or 5510 if you're into slimmer stuff. I own a T440p, a dell latitude e6440, and my colleague owns a p51. All details being roughly equivalent - more or less the same ports, hardware generation and shit - the e6440 is miles ahead of the thinkpad.
I don't even know where to start. The dell doesn't have any hardware bios whitelists, while the thinkpad does since the t430 (hence the t420 being so popular here other than the keyboard thing). Thinkpads are way more fragile, since the lelnovo cheaps out on materials all the way, all the time. The plastic on my t440p is no way even comparable to the metal I got on the dell. I got both of them maxed out except for the CPU, of course, so with the fingerprint/card reader/every bullshit they put on them. Oh, if you care for the colors in your display - the p51 is better, since it has the pantone color calibration integrated.
The t470p is especially useless because it's the only laptop in the lineup that didn't get the thunderbolt, which I was waiting for because muh gaymes on the eGPU. Also, the linux support is way better on the dell, even despite the AMD GPU - lelnovo is just ridiculous, especially their BIOS being is a huge pile of crap. And I ran gentoo for a year on both, I know.
oh, crap, and I didn't even read how much you spent for it. Dude, cancel it.
>Dude, cancel it.
I can and I might. So if you could advise a bit, that would be great. I did consider getting a Dell instead and rejected it, but that was probably premature.
>the e6440 is miles ahead of the thinkpad.
>I don't even know where to start.
The real selling point on the Thinkpads for me is the keyboard. I cannot stand shitty chiclets; and the reviews suggest that the T470p has a top-tier keyboard (within the limitations of what is currently on the market, anyway -- it still does not compare in any way to the T420) whereas the 7520 is okay. What's your experience in this?
> dell doesn't have any hardware bios whitelists, while the thinkpad does since the t430 (hence the t420 being so popular here other than the keyboard thing). Thinkpads are way more fragile, since the lelnovo cheaps out on materials all the way, all the time. The plastic on my t440p is no way even comparable to the metal I got on the dell.
Good points all.
>Oh, if you care for the colors in your display - the p51 is better, since it has the pantone color calibration integrated.
It's a nice to have, but I'll happily sacrifice it for keyboard points.
>The t470p is especially useless because it's the only laptop in the lineup that didn't get the thunderbolt, which I was waiting for because muh gaymes on the eGPU.
I saw. I don't think I'll care much, but it IS a downside.
>Also, the linux support is way better on the dell, even despite the AMD GPU - lelnovo is just ridiculous, especially their BIOS being is a huge pile of crap. And I ran gentoo for a year on both, I know.
That is a good point -- I would much prefer an AMD GPU, for the linux reasons you stated.
>oh, crap, and I didn't even read how much you spent for it.
Eh, the price is pretty much the same between the T470p and a similarly-specced 7520 (I pretty much went all-out). The 7520 might be €200 cheaper, but no more than that. So I don't particularly care about the financial concern.
Care to comment?
P-series will retain value better than T-series.
How rude...
>The real selling point on the Thinkpads for me is the keyboard.
well, the e6440 has a really nice keyboard. It's quite similar to the older thinkpad ones. I changed, like, 2 of them for linguistic reasons - I actually have 2 e6440 laptops because my girlfriend saw it and wanted one as well. It's a little bit softer than the t440p's one, but AFAIK they improved it in the latest versions. I kinda dislike the newer thinkpad chiclet ones - but again, I'm one of those mechanical keyboard nutjobs, I use my self-built ergodox all the time so it might depend on your preferences. Try it in some store maybe, if you're in europe you might find some lenovo stores around in the larger cities.
>Eh, the price is pretty much the same between the T470p and a similarly-specced 7520
I must say that they are quite pricey when new. I got the t440p with the company budget and it was ~1300EUR-ish, while the e6440 was 650 second-hand plus all the addons I bought (changed the palmrest to the one with the various readers, and so on), so roughly the same.
DO NOT go with Dell, you will absolutely hate it. You might be tempted to because of the similar features however Dell Latitudes are basically counterfeit ThinkPads.
As for the question of T470p vs P51, the P51 has a stronger GPU, more ports, multiple hard drive support, and up to 64gb memory, if this sounds something that would be useful to you.
what thinkpad/dell laptop did you try? what's your experience with it?
>but again, I'm one of those mechanical keyboard nutjobs
So am I, model M user here. I value keys [1] with non-flat so that my fingers properly align with center of keys (rather than slipping over into the next one, causing infinite typos); [2] with notable tactile feedback (I want a clear unmistakable distinction between pressed and not-pressed); and [3] preferably a fair bit of travel, though ultimately that's the least important of the three. I am interested in the keyboard analysis of laptops from a mechanical-nutjob perspective, so your experience is much appreciated.
Do you have any experience with the Precision-line? I'm thinking of getting a 7520 as an alternative to the T470p (you have pretty much convinced me on all counts other than the keyboard), and the remaining sticking point is a keyboard comparison. Do you have any wisdom to offer?
>Try it in some store maybe, if you're in europe you might find some lenovo stores around in the larger cities.
Few general-purpose electronics stores stock the really high-end businessy laptops, but I shall give it another try.
I had a job at my university's IT department and was forced to use a Dell. It basically felt like an overheating brick, the keyboard felt overly stiff and was a hassle to use.
I've also owned a T520, was much better in pretty much every way.
seriously op if you haven't bought the p51 yet i can get you like a couple hundred dollars off on it. if you want the employee discount stuff
>Few general-purpose electronics stores stock the really high-end businessy laptops
In fact, don't go there - no way you'll ever find one in those. There are some special lenovo centres that have some thinkpad laptops exposed - and, in some really huge enterprise electronics stores they also have some HP zbooks and similar. I saw two in switzerland, one in turin and even one in Kyiv, Ucraine.
As for the keyboard - beware of the newer latitudes as the line has basically gone to shit, especially from the keyboard perspective - it's basically using the same casing as the latest XPS15 with its crappy flat keyboard that you despise so much. As for the Precisions - sorry, haven't tried those personally. I just know that on the newest ones they're using one very similar to the oldest latidudes' one, like the one on my e6440, so ideally it should be quite similar to whatever I said about it before. But again, since I haven't tried it I might be wrong. If you're into trackpoints, the dell ones are quite shitty - I believe that there's some patents on it on the lenovo's side or something.
>I had a job at my university's IT department and was forced to use a Dell
Yeah, I got it, but which one? if it was an inspiron, for instance - of course it's crap.
oh non you didn't talk shit about my thinkpad.
>discount
No OP, but want to buy a p51 in a couple of months. Would appreciate it.
>I don't even know where to start. The dell doesn't have any hardware bios whitelists, while the thinkpad does since the t430 (hence the t420 being so popular here other than the keyboard thing). Thinkpads are way more fragile, since the lelnovo cheaps out on materials all the way, all the time. The plastic on my t440p is no way even comparable to the metal I got on the dell. I got both of them maxed out except for the CPU, of course, so with the fingerprint/card reader/every bullshit they put on them
It sounds like you're simply writing what is bad about Dell and good about Lenovo, then simply swapping the two.
I notice that you start with a true fact that you spin negatively, then lead into a subjective statement, then finish with a positive thing about the P51 to make it sound like you're not being biased. Very clever.
I believe it was a Lattitude.
post a throw away email ill send you the stuff
I'm in a similar situation to you, OP. I'm going to wait for the -80 series. T470p's outdated specs don't justify the price imo.
I'm talking about my experience, listing the good and the bad about both. I don't give a shit about the brand - if that's what you're implying. In fact, I'm still using my t440p and will do so as long as I'm working for my current company - although I could ask for a new device.
Also, not everybody does the same stuff with their laptops as I do, so YMMV.
Heh, that is still not a very precise indication. They have some crappier ones - for example the series 3000 and such. They're just like the thinkpad E/L series - good name but still crap.
>no way you'll ever find one in those.
I know, sadly. There doesn't seem to be any way to test this shit before buying. I am very tempted to just order both laptops and return the one I like least.
>I just know that on the newest ones they're using one very similar to the oldest latidudes' one, like the one on my e6440, so ideally it should be quite similar to whatever I said about it before.
I have read another couple of reviews, and they all confirm what I have read before -- that the recent Precision keyboards are meh-tier, and very similar or even identical to the XPS15 keyboard. Which, sadly, is kind of a deal-breaker.
I just want to test these keyboards in practice, fuck. Why aren't there physical Dell shops where I could try one?
I was kind of hoping that with 2500 bucks to blow, I could buy a laptop without shitty compromises. Ah well.
>Eh, the price is pretty much the same between the T470p and a similarly-specced 7520 (I pretty much went all-out). The 7520 might be €200 cheaper, but no more than that.
Actually, I checked it again, and it turns out the 7520-based variant is about €300 more expensive than the comparable T470p. I still don't particularly care about such a difference, though.
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