5 ms·

I will second the others who have recommended Lenovo: I have a Legion 5 I originally bought for gaming but the keyboard is so good I find myself using it for ne

I will second the others who have recommended Lenovo: I have a Legion 5 I originally bought for gaming but the keyboard is so good I find myself using it for nearly all my development. Additionally, the Dell Precision line (the business workstation-replacement line) is exceptional for development, but those can be as expensive as equivalent MacBooks. Stay away from Dell's pure consumer line: the build quality is absolutely awful.

lostdog 4y ago
Any idea if Lenovo has fixed the coil whine issues on X1 Carbon's? The constant noise makes it really difficult to use these machines for any kind of focused work.
- idealmedtech 4y ago
  Anecdotally, I've found that coil whine is much less of an issue in their chunkier models, eg P53 (not P53s)
- schema 4y ago
  I'll vouch for multiple X1C gen 9's being super quiet. No whine; fans rarely kick on, but are almost unnoticeable. Can't say the same for the Extreme/P1 series...
  - lifeinthevoid 4y ago
    My X1C gen 9 fans are definitely not quiet when they start kicking in. Maybe this is a Linux-specific issue though.
- tuatoru 4y ago
  Thinkpad X is for marketing types. Programmers want Thinkpad T or P.
  - jraph 4y ago
    I don't understand this comment. I'm a programmer and my X1 Carbon is the finest computer I've ever used. I don't have any noise issue with it. I can hear the CPU in a very quiet room but I've never used a computer that didn't have it, and I'm quite sensitive to noises too. Many people in my company have Lenovo X machines. And why marketing types should not care about comfort / noise? Is this a "Real men [...]" thing?
    - chriotte 4y ago
      He is probably referring to x1 extreme. I have a 3rd gen and it’s like a jet engine and space heather had a baby. Even after undervolting in bios, limiting cpu frequency in windows and only using it for very light jobs it’s super noisy. Not to mention the max 5 hour battery life… This chassis with an AMD cpu and no dedicated GPU would be perfect, but I’ve had enough and a M2 MacBook Air is on its way from Apple.
      - jyrkesh 4y ago
        Nah, I had an older X1 Carbon as a PM for work, 2nd or 3rd gen. It one of the periods that Intel was screwing up thermal management: between the fan, the coil whine, and the CPU clock throttling, it was a _terrible_ laptop. And by no means did I need a hardcore machine, (too) much of my job was email, docs, spreadsheets, and GitHub. So it really had no excuse. It also coincided with some _terrible_ decisions that Lenovo made as a half-assed response to the touch bar, among other things. The "touch bar" was essentially just backlit capacitive buttons hardcoded to a couple different functions, they nerfed the red mouse pointer thing in the middle to the point that it was too squishy to use with any accuracy; and they merged the click buttons into the touchpad and used terrible software heuristics to try and figure out what you wanted. Oh, and it would wake up and burn its battery out for no reason. BUT I played with a 5th-ish gen a couple years later, and they'd rolled everything back. The owner really liked it, I expect in large part because Intel tocked back to a CPU that wasn't overheating by design. On paper, they're spec'd out pretty well, but if you need the "real juice" I still know people that swear by their older T series. But I don't know how much the newer ones have sacrificed the vision.
Hawxy 4y ago
> Additionally, the Dell Precision line (the business workstation-replacement line) is exceptional for development We got one of the first batches of 11th gen models of the Precision. The glue around the edge of my display wasn't done correctly and it was falling apart. The top layer of my keyboard has also popped off in various spots and is currently sitting warped on my desk. Can't say the QA is very good.
Theodores 4y ago
I also recommend Lenovo, including their Chromebooks. Yes, for development, on Linux. This surprised me too, I can open my IDE which runs on Linux and have my Android and ChromeOS apps. Yes, only 8Gb of RAM but they are offering Chromebooks with twice that amount, which is enough for anyone, right?!? I do not need sound but the audio on my Lenovo "Flex 5" is awesome. No complaints about the keyboard, trackpad or screen. Fantastic that my Chromebook is, it is only with an 11th gen CPU, and a mere i5. I have only discovered it is good for development out of laziness, the Chromebook is in the front room and not in the study. I start researching something whilst taking a break and, with that terminal window so close by, I give things a go. I have another recommendation - Huawei. The trick is to buy from their website and not via a retailer. This is because there will be a deal where you might get a monitor or other accessory bundled in. I have the Huawei ultrabook from 2020 (Matebook X) and that has a low power CPU and is not my development machine. It is my official 'research' machine. I have this directly connected with a Thunderbolt cable to a Huawei Matebook 16s 2022 edition. This has the 12th gen i7 with many cores and plenty of performance for running whatever you want. The thunderbolt networking and Barrier/Synergy means that I have access to my files and screens from either machine at speeds that make wifi feel like dial up networking. There is much to recommend about this arrangement, particularly since the high speed network drops down to wifi if the cable is unplugged. I also have the DNS rigged so that both machines 'resolve' globally, with my files available on whatever network is available. Regarding the Huawei Matebook 16s, it has a 16" 3:2 display with 2520 pixels across. This means I can run 1:1 pixels with no scaling and still be able to work with my IDE effectively. As mentioned, I have my 'research' machine (Matebook X) to do browsing and testing, with magic keyboard/mouse sharing thanks to Barrier. Even though I am using the 'development' machine for commpilation, running DBs and the IDE, the sleeker Matebook X is the device I am physically using. Sometimes reviewers place importance on features that do not matter to the developer. All laptops are a design compromise and you take your choices. I don't play games or wish to be tempted by gaming. Right now I don't do anything in 3D so I needed a GPU as much as a fish needs a bicycle. I also did not want the i9 version which wants 135W of USB-C power. The single core speed was not 'better'. Plus throttling could happen. Anyway, the Huawei Matebook 16s has a gorgeous screen for programming, but the gamer or content creator might complain about the refresh/latency/colours. I don't care, I just want pixels that are abundant. The aluminium case is not Dell creaky plastic with a rocket engine roaring away. The keyboard/trackpad are great but the speakers are not. I am happy with that because I really did not buy the machine for games/Netflix/video editing or anything else where I 'need' something as good as Lenovo's MaxxAudio(r). YMMV, I have been given many XPS machines over the years, none of which I have 'bonded with'. Although Lenovo is my goto brand, for absolute quality, bang per buck and a nice change, I can't recommend Huawei highly enough. Ubuntu worked perfectly out the box on the Matebook X and on the 12th gen 16s I had to disable suspend, because it wasn't waking up. Actually I did not want the machine going to sleep anyway, so I have not investigated further. A lot of shade has been thrown Huawei's way over the years. I just want to write my best code and I chuckle at the thought of those senile politicians trying to tell me what phone/computer I have.

lostdog 4y ago

Any idea if Lenovo has fixed the coil whine issues on X1 Carbon's? The constant noise makes it really difficult to use these machines for any kind of focused work.

idealmedtech 4y ago
Anecdotally, I've found that coil whine is much less of an issue in their chunkier models, eg P53 (not P53s)
schema 4y ago
I'll vouch for multiple X1C gen 9's being super quiet. No whine; fans rarely kick on, but are almost unnoticeable. Can't say the same for the Extreme/P1 series...
- lifeinthevoid 4y ago
  My X1C gen 9 fans are definitely not quiet when they start kicking in. Maybe this is a Linux-specific issue though.
tuatoru 4y ago
Thinkpad X is for marketing types. Programmers want Thinkpad T or P.
- jraph 4y ago
  I don't understand this comment. I'm a programmer and my X1 Carbon is the finest computer I've ever used. I don't have any noise issue with it. I can hear the CPU in a very quiet room but I've never used a computer that didn't have it, and I'm quite sensitive to noises too. Many people in my company have Lenovo X machines. And why marketing types should not care about comfort / noise? Is this a "Real men [...]" thing?
  - chriotte 4y ago
    He is probably referring to x1 extreme. I have a 3rd gen and it’s like a jet engine and space heather had a baby. Even after undervolting in bios, limiting cpu frequency in windows and only using it for very light jobs it’s super noisy. Not to mention the max 5 hour battery life… This chassis with an AMD cpu and no dedicated GPU would be perfect, but I’ve had enough and a M2 MacBook Air is on its way from Apple.
    - jyrkesh 4y ago
      Nah, I had an older X1 Carbon as a PM for work, 2nd or 3rd gen. It one of the periods that Intel was screwing up thermal management: between the fan, the coil whine, and the CPU clock throttling, it was a _terrible_ laptop. And by no means did I need a hardcore machine, (too) much of my job was email, docs, spreadsheets, and GitHub. So it really had no excuse. It also coincided with some _terrible_ decisions that Lenovo made as a half-assed response to the touch bar, among other things. The "touch bar" was essentially just backlit capacitive buttons hardcoded to a couple different functions, they nerfed the red mouse pointer thing in the middle to the point that it was too squishy to use with any accuracy; and they merged the click buttons into the touchpad and used terrible software heuristics to try and figure out what you wanted. Oh, and it would wake up and burn its battery out for no reason. BUT I played with a 5th-ish gen a couple years later, and they'd rolled everything back. The owner really liked it, I expect in large part because Intel tocked back to a CPU that wasn't overheating by design. On paper, they're spec'd out pretty well, but if you need the "real juice" I still know people that swear by their older T series. But I don't know how much the newer ones have sacrificed the vision.

Hawxy 4y ago

> Additionally, the Dell Precision line (the business workstation-replacement line) is exceptional for development We got one of the first batches of 11th gen models of the Precision. The glue around the edge of my display wasn't done correctly and it was falling apart. The top layer of my keyboard has also popped off in various spots and is currently sitting warped on my desk. Can't say the QA is very good.

Theodores 4y ago

I also recommend Lenovo, including their Chromebooks. Yes, for development, on Linux. This surprised me too, I can open my IDE which runs on Linux and have my Android and ChromeOS apps. Yes, only 8Gb of RAM but they are offering Chromebooks with twice that amount, which is enough for anyone, right?!? I do not need sound but the audio on my Lenovo "Flex 5" is awesome. No complaints about the keyboard, trackpad or screen. Fantastic that my Chromebook is, it is only with an 11th gen CPU, and a mere i5. I have only discovered it is good for development out of laziness, the Chromebook is in the front room and not in the study. I start researching something whilst taking a break and, with that terminal window so close by, I give things a go. I have another recommendation - Huawei. The trick is to buy from their website and not via a retailer. This is because there will be a deal where you might get a monitor or other accessory bundled in. I have the Huawei ultrabook from 2020 (Matebook X) and that has a low power CPU and is not my development machine. It is my official 'research' machine. I have this directly connected with a Thunderbolt cable to a Huawei Matebook 16s 2022 edition. This has the 12th gen i7 with many cores and plenty of performance for running whatever you want. The thunderbolt networking and Barrier/Synergy means that I have access to my files and screens from either machine at speeds that make wifi feel like dial up networking. There is much to recommend about this arrangement, particularly since the high speed network drops down to wifi if the cable is unplugged. I also have the DNS rigged so that both machines 'resolve' globally, with my files available on whatever network is available. Regarding the Huawei Matebook 16s, it has a 16" 3:2 display with 2520 pixels across. This means I can run 1:1 pixels with no scaling and still be able to work with my IDE effectively. As mentioned, I have my 'research' machine (Matebook X) to do browsing and testing, with magic keyboard/mouse sharing thanks to Barrier. Even though I am using the 'development' machine for commpilation, running DBs and the IDE, the sleeker Matebook X is the device I am physically using. Sometimes reviewers place importance on features that do not matter to the developer. All laptops are a design compromise and you take your choices. I don't play games or wish to be tempted by gaming. Right now I don't do anything in 3D so I needed a GPU as much as a fish needs a bicycle. I also did not want the i9 version which wants 135W of USB-C power. The single core speed was not 'better'. Plus throttling could happen. Anyway, the Huawei Matebook 16s has a gorgeous screen for programming, but the gamer or content creator might complain about the refresh/latency/colours. I don't care, I just want pixels that are abundant. The aluminium case is not Dell creaky plastic with a rocket engine roaring away. The keyboard/trackpad are great but the speakers are not. I am happy with that because I really did not buy the machine for games/Netflix/video editing or anything else where I 'need' something as good as Lenovo's MaxxAudio(r). YMMV, I have been given many XPS machines over the years, none of which I have 'bonded with'. Although Lenovo is my goto brand, for absolute quality, bang per buck and a nice change, I can't recommend Huawei highly enough. Ubuntu worked perfectly out the box on the Matebook X and on the 12th gen 16s I had to disable suspend, because it wasn't waking up. Actually I did not want the machine going to sleep anyway, so I have not investigated further. A lot of shade has been thrown Huawei's way over the years. I just want to write my best code and I chuckle at the thought of those senile politicians trying to tell me what phone/computer I have.