Hacker News Reader

Comment by sergiosgc | Hacker News Reader

If you're looking for lightweight, high spec, go for the ThinkPad X1 Carbon. It's a gorgeous machine. Leaps and bounds better than MBPs. The XPS15 is about on par with the X1C

View on HN

How is it leaps and bounds better than a MBP? You say that but don't offer any reason.

It's so obvious that I really don't need to be too technical. For the same price point, the X1C is thinner, lighter, has more ram, better cpu and a more dense display. There isn't a single objective measure where the X1C is worse than the MBP

Worse touchpad, less battery life, display scaling issues...

less battery life? i don't have an x1, but a x240 and doing the same things i get twice the battery of the last mbp i used when new.

edit: but i used a different os, which could explain that too.

Better TouchPad, namely because of the amazing ThinkPad buttons. And better yet, a trackpoint (although only for those that are used to the input method)

It's not obvious at all. And it's not running OSX.

But it can run linux just fine.

I'd rather not

It's not as clear cut as you make it seem. I've used both devices, and while the Thinkpad clearly is a high quality device, subjectively I didn't feel like it was all that different from my MBP.

We use MBPs and X1C as developer workstations in our company. Developers often complain about their Lenovo's, while MBP owners are generally happy. In my practice, MBP has better build quality, better battery life and better display. Lenovos gets pretty hot and noisy under load while MacBook is silent in the same exact situation (we're pair programming a lot and it's easy to compare).

> Lenovos gets pretty hot and noisy under load while MacBook is silent in the same exact situation

This may be true for your experience with X1Cs, but it's hardly true for Lenovos in general. My t450s rarely makes any fan noise under stress, and it's never become uncomfortably hot to the touch like my work MBP has.

> Lenovos gets pretty hot and noisy under load while MacBook is silent in the same exact situation

Noticed that I said objective metrics? The objective qualifier is important, as it is impervious to distortion fields.

Objectively? The OS.

Of course there is. X1C flexes like it was made out of rubber. I can hold the edges of the display and it's terrifying what how much you can twist them. The aluminum case of the MBP tolerates heat better, the X1C get really loud under load while the MBP is much quieter. Touchpad is just incomparable.

And of course, if you need OSX for work then only MBP provides that.

I've used a Thinkpad t430u (the "same idea, more servicable" spiritual successor to the Thinkpad X1 Carbon) and a 2014 MBP.

In my opinion, t430u is the second-best laptop I've owned, but the Macbook blows it away, even in terms of build quality.

I have a bad experience with X1, in 6 months of _very_ lightweight use the motherboard broke and a key detached itself.

Did you mean XPS13? I think it would be on par performance- and weight-wise with X1C. XPS15 is _significantly_ bulkier, but in return you get the i7 6700HQ (quad core). I believe the MBPs use the HQ CPUs as well, so we are talking a slightly different class of laptops..

Maybe the 2016 version that just came out is better, I hope. Because last year's model has half of the stated battery life and the screen catches more reflections than a mirror. The touchscreen's responsiveness is very clunk, slow, and unnatural.

Yes I actually have a X1 Carbon as my work laptop and really like it, but again I have the feeling that you can get a better spec'd laptop with similar performance for less money these days.

lmao this is simply untrue. what you are experiencing is called buyers remorse

Reply on news.ycombinator.com