I need a portable laptop to:

  • have a lot of online quality video calls
  • type a lot during each meeting
  • have a ton of browser tabs open
  • have a few CPU-demanding apps running at the same time

I will use this laptop as my main PC.

I’m also considering:

  • T480s
  • Carbon X1 Gen 7-8
  • Dell 7490
  • @[email protected]
    6•4 months ago

    I daily a T480 with Debian for work, and I’d recommend it highly. Great performance, battery, build quality, look & feel, etc. We have some 7480s deployed and while they’ve been solid as well, I much prefer the thinkpad. T series will have better performance and battery than X series, also, so I’d take the T480 over the X1C.

    • SkaveRat
      2•4 months ago

      how is the build quality of the t480? I had a t580 for work, and that one crashed when you picked it up at thr wrong corner. and after a month over the warranty, it completely died

      • @[email protected]
        2•4 months ago

        I can’t speak for all of them, but we’ve had a couple hundred deployed over the last several years with very few issues. Mine’s been solid as a rock.

        The usb-c docks, however, are a nightmare, though I gather that’s fairly universal.

          • @[email protected]
            2•4 months ago

            Just part of our standard office package, everyone gets a laptop, dock, and external monitors for their workspace.

            • @[email protected]OP
              2•4 months ago

              I’ve ordered this ThinkPad T480 with:

              • Intel Core i7-8650U processor
              • 16GB DDR4 RAM
              • 512GB storage
              • 14" FHD IPS display
              • Integrated Intel UHD Graphics 620

              When it arrives, before paying, what would you recommend to check within 10 minutes of receiving it?

              • @[email protected]
                2•4 months ago

                Personally I’d do the following:

                • boot into the bios config menu to make sure it’s unlocked (if it’s locked and they don’t have the password that’d be a dealbreaker for me)
                • boot into a live linux environment from usb and test both batteries, keyboard, trackpoint/trackpad, speakers, microphone, wifi, and all external ports (T480 has 2 usb-c, 2 usb-a, ethernet, hdmi, headset, and sd - make sure batteries charge well from both usb-c ports)
                • to check the storage health, install nvme-cli if not installed, run nvme smart-log /dev/nvme0 and check the “percentage_used” value: if it’s near 100% it might die and need replacement soon
                • to check that the vents, airflow, and cooling hardware are in good shape, install stress if not installed, run stress -c 7 to load up 7 of the 8 available cpu threads, make sure the fan spins up good and strong, and watch /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp to make sure the cpu temperature stays under ~90-95 degrees

                On my own time later, I’d run memtest86+ overnight from bootable usb to check the memory, then install tlp and run tlp recalibrate with the laptop on the charger to recalibrate the batteries

                Edit: enjoy the new laptop! I hope it works great for you

                • @[email protected]OP
                  2•4 months ago

                  Awesome and impressive advice, thanks a lot!

                  I’ve actually managed to find a used Carbon X1 Gen 6 (i5-8250U, 16GB, 512) for 310usd so I reordered that instead. I assume the course of action won’t really change in this case.

                  And I’m not too familiar with some of that stuff, do you mind if I ask you the following:

                  1. Where can I see if Bios is locked?

                  2. Best way to boot into a Linux environment with a USB? Where can I get a Linux distribution that would work seamlessly from a thumb drive?

                  3. Is there a testing app for the microphone (it’s important for me) and the ports?

                  4. And what’s the fastest way to see the battery health?

                  5. How to install ‘stress’? And how can I watch “/sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp”?

  • @[email protected]
    2•4 months ago

    I now realize you are trying to buy a laptop on a budget. I’d definitely go for the X1 gen 7 or 8, 16gb of ram minimum. The 1080p screen will give you better battery life but the 4k screen has Dolby vision and will make watching movies a better experience.

  • @[email protected]
    1•4 months ago

    The Carbox X1 Gen7 is probably a decent choice, but it will depend on the specs - get at least an i5, and max out the RAM to 16GB - you can’t add it later, so make sure to buy one with the 16GB.

  • @[email protected]
    1•4 months ago

    What are the apps that you will be using? I’m really excited by these new Qualcomm laptops coming out. LTT is doing an experiment and having 3 of its employees switch full time to see if they are viable. If you can wait another week I’d see what their conclusions are.