So when my previous work laptop started acting up I wound up sourcing a replacement device. First thing to note we are generally a Lenovo shop, at least for laptops.
As far as what I needed;
- Reasonably quick device for general office use and Windows admin tasks.
- Ability to run VM's for testing.
- Solid battery life.
- Lightweight and portable.
Since I use the device docked most of the time the screen has to be "good enough" and since I don't use the thing for gaming I'm not looking for anything with a high refresh rate display or dedicated graphics since most of my work is just admin work and zoom meetings.
Many of my coworkers are running current versions of the X1 Carbon, and while that device would have worked fine it's limited to the U series of processors, and they are a bit larger than I would have prefered. The 14 inch thinkpads are a little smaller footprint but not quite as thin, but still don't have a H series CPU. However, for whatever reason, Lenovo sells a x13 Gen 5 where you have a option of a Core 7 155H processor as opposed to the 155U or 165U.
While the 155H has a lower base clock than the 155U, it's also got more performance cores and better integrated graphics compared to the U series chips. Given that I'm running VM's on the thing those extra performance cores won't go unused. The battery life won't be as good I'm assuming - but I generally don't run the VM's when I'm not docked, and I can't imagine that the battery life will be that horrid comparing the two.
As far as the AMD options. I've had two AMD based devices from Lenovo and both have had problems. For the most part it's all small stuff, but there's enough issues that the friction that they put into my workflow was just wearing on me.
The other big thing that I like about the Lenovo devices is that I can get them with a built-in cellular modem.
Yes, you can hotspot off a phone, and if you have a macOS system with a iPhone that process is very good. However with the built in modem you just pull the laptop out and you are online, and for work that let's me run the device without having to worry about burning through two device batteries at the same time if I'm working remotely.
For personal use it's not something that i'm that concerned about, but for work, hell yes. Add that thing in there.
After a week with the new work laptop the biggest takeaway from it is that it just seems to blend into the background and get out of the way while I'm working. The keyboard works, and is well suited to long typing sessions. The screen is good enough that it gets the job done. It's not as nice as what's on the Macbook, but it's not offensive by any means. And it's light enough that it doesn't feel like anything has been added to my backpack when I'm carrying it around.
Again, check back in three months and we will see where I am with it, but unless it's going to do a complete 180 and become a basket case it's probably a keeper and will just get used until eventually something does fail (hopefully out of warranty).
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