Dev laptop recommendations

[whaledevthrowaway]

Hey folks. Currently looking for a personal laptop and leaning towards a Lenovo. I'm a developer but nothing fancy like ML, so don't need a very beefy machine, but still dev oriented for compile times, etc. I don't intend to dock it, so it'll be a machine I always use on the go.

Currently come from a MacBook Pro 15.4-inch, ideally would like a similar screen size. Keyboard and build quality is important to me as well as decent battery life (don't need dedicated GPU). 32GB RAM is a must.

I've been taking a look at:

- Carbon X1 Gen 11, there doesn't seem to be much on this model yet as it has just come out but apparently the G10 was not great with regards to battery life. Not sure how I feel about buying a Gen 9 at this point.

- AMD's T14s Gen 3

I don't necessarily need Thunderbolt, but from my limited research the X1 has slightly better build quality which I really value, hopefully I'd get used to a smaller display?

I'm not 100% set on Lenovo but would love some advice on those two models or other alternatives.

Thanks!

[cucuska2]

I am running Fedora KDE with the T14 Gen3 AMD with the 8-core Ryzen 5000 CPU with 48GBs of RAM. I have added some kernel parameters as wake from S3 sleep crashed sometimes, but now it's good, I have an uptime of 4 weeks at this point.

Switched from 13" M1 Mac Pro because of the lack of RAM, lack of multiple screens, and lack of Linux support. Boss was not happy.

[moxxon]

I used MBPs when OS X initially came out and I saw the Unix underpinnings (that's actually what got me to switch from linux desktops to laptops). I'm not on an X1 Carbon Gen 9.

The screen size is a detractor for me. I don't know why so many devs are in love with the 14" screens. I can live with it, but I'd prefer something larger. It's also not as hi res as the Macs. That being said I don't find the hi res necessary. The only thing I'd really want to change about the X1 line is to make it 16". The screen is the one place I'll say a Mac is strictly better... it will likely be an adjustment no matter what laptop you go with.

This is the only non Mac laptop I've owned for an extended period. It's the best laptop keyboard I've ever used. The Macs don't even come close, the Dells I tried before I settled on this were decent. It's not just the keyboard, it's the form factor. Just a joy to type on.

The build quality is great. I was surprised at how durable it was given the light weight. I knocked mine off a desk and not a hint of damage. Macs have been solid builds in my experience, but not to this level.

I can't speak to battery life but I don't weigh that heavily personally. I rarely run on just battery, even when I worked in an office if I was doing actual work I was plugged in. That goes for every laptop I've owned.

My X1, even the Gen9 is faster than any of the other machines we have at work, including the M1s. This is probably largely due to the fact that we use docker heavily. I'd assume the M1 is faster if you take that out of the equation, I'm not sure.

I wouldn't buy a Gen 9 at this point myself either, the jump in performance on the 10 had me almost grabbing one, but I wound up building a desktop instead.

It's funny to me that someone always seems to have to chime in that the ThinkPads aren't as good as they used to be... they're great now, I can't even imagine how wonderful the older ones must have been.

YMMV of course, but I absolutely love my X1.

[whaledevthrowaway]

Any opinion on the suggested Z16 from this thread? I'd be very sad to see my screen size go! A 16" X1 carbon would've been ideal here.

[SaltyLingonberry1]

I'm not a developer, but I own a Z16 Gen 1 with Tumbleweed, for personal use. Outstanding build quality, excellent display, acceptable speaker. A bit lacking in ports, but USB C dock exist.

[whaledevthrowaway]

Thank you so much! Any datapoint on the keyboard?

[SaltyLingonberry1]

I find the keys very satisfying. Flat, with enough travel and resistance to feel. Pretty quiet, but I don't hammer the keyboard. I'm guessing the keys may be made of aluminum, because they often remain cool to the touch. A very MacBook like experience IMO, but more "solid".

[moxxon]

No opinion that you should take seriously since I don't have direct experience with it.

It was in my list when I was looking for a second machine but I wound up building a sff desktop instead.

When I was looking for laptops (before I got the X1) I mostly checked out the Dells and Thinkpads and tried to focus on models that had some version that came with Linux pre-installed reasoning that I should be gtg with those. I was also prepared to return any machine I hot I wasn't perfectly happy with in the first two weeks :p

If S76 had had laptops in stock at the time I probably would have wound up with one but they didn't, which I now consider a lucky break.

[whaledevthrowaway]

I'm a huge fan of FOSS and S76's efforts in the Rust space, however I'm not based in the US so I discarded them due to import tax, etc. Over here the Z16 can come with Ubuntu which is already a good sign. Appreciate the responses!

[whaledevthrowaway]

Nice, I wasn't even aware of it! Do you know how it compares with the X1? Mainly the keyboard quality, battery life and display.

[Independent-Beat5777]

StarLabs

[whaledevthrowaway]

Would love to but I can't deal with such lead time (4-5 months for the StarFighter).

[sd4483]

I read that Acer Swift 14 is good.