Slant community chat on Discourse| 9 Recommended Products | Recommendations | RAM | CPU | Storage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Touch | 3 | 0 | – | – | – |
| #2 Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition· · · | 3 | 1 | 8GB | 2.7 GHz i5-5200U | 128GB SSD |
| #3 System76 Lemur· · · | 1 | 0 | 4GB/8GB/16GB | – | – |
| #4 System76 Oryx Pro· · · | 0 | 0 | 8GB-64GB DDR4 @ 2400 MHz | i7 7th Gen | 250 GB SSD+ |
| #5 HP Envy 13· · · | 0 | 0 | 8GB | 6th gen Intel Core i7 | 256GB SSD |
| #6 HP Spectre x360· · · | 0 | 0 | 4GB/6GB/8GB/16GB | 6th gen Intel Core i5 or 7th gen Intel Core i7 | – |
Pro Upgradable screen
If you choose to, you can upgrade the display to a 14.0" 2560x1440 panel.
Pro Good Linux support
Although not currently available, the Thinkpad X1 did come with Ubuntu pre-installed in some regions and has been given certified pre-install status by Ubuntu. Lenovos have a reputation for being easier than the typical windows ultrabook for getting Linux up and running, and the X1 carbon is no ex...
Con 2014 refresh changed trackpoint and keyboard too disruptively
The 2014 model removed the caps-lock key and moved the home/end keys into it's place. It also has an "adaptive" key system that messes with the function keys and changes their function based on what mode the keyboard is in. They also killed off the clickable mouse buttons on the tra...
Con Computers may have man-in-the-middle adware installed
Lenovo is shipping computers preinstalled with man-in-the-middle adware called Superfish. It's a web proxy that can hijack any web session, including encrypted/https sessions. And since the root certificate is the same for everyone with private key present on the machine that's now publicly
Pro Uses an SSD for faster operations on disk
Using an SSD greatly increases performance for every I/O operation, especially compared to laptops that use an HDD. The laptop will boot faster, programs that need to read and write to disk will run faster and scripts will compile much faster than on an HDD.
Pro Decent speakers
The Dell XPS 13 has above average speakers for a laptop, they get very loud but at max volume tend to distort the music a little too much.
Con Requires very long and painful configuration after installing Loki
Still some stuff doesn't work, e.g. external screens.
Con Phone support from Dell Customer Service could be better
Phone support is very slow. Customers have reported waiting for up to 15 minutes to get connected to someone who will be able to help solve their issue.
Pro Great performance
The "medium" build of Lemur (8GB of RAM, i7 CPU) can do most activities just fine. Whether that activity is developing Android applications, writing documents, or editing a 4K video with Kdenlive, the Lemur will not have any problems with lag or overheating.
Pro Comes with free lifetime software support
Officially System76 provides free lifetime support for Ubuntu. And they will also try to provide unofficial support for other distros to the best of their abilities.
Con Screen brightness doesn't go low
Even at minimal brightness, the screen is too bright to comfortably use at night.
Con Poor build quality
Like with most System76 products, the build quality for the Lemur is rather poor, especially when you compare it with other laptops at this price point. The plastic feels a bit cheap and flimsy and is not as durable as other laptops.
Pro Good keyboard
The keyboard is very nice, it's not amazing by any means but quite comfortable to work with. The keys are pretty thick, thicker than what you may find in laptops today and with a nice springiness to them. The keyboard also supports multicolor backlighting.
Pro Very customizable
Before buying the System76 Oryx Pro from the System76 website, you get to customize almost every aspect of the laptop as far as specs go. The price depends on what you choose to put inside your laptop and prices vary from $1475 for the basic version to $7000 for a laptop with a 17.3" Matte IPS
Con Very heavy and bulky
Weighing at 5.5lbs for the 15.6" version it's relatively heavy and it's one inch thicker than the XPS 13. But the extra space is not put to waste, considering how it has an Ethernet port, SD card slot, 2 Mini DisplayPrts, HDMI port, 2 USB 3.1 Type-C ports, 3 USB 3.0 Type-A ports and h...
Con Customer service could be much better
System76's technical support is pretty bad. When there's a problem that should be solved by them, they usually resort to sending replacement parts instead or blaming third-parties (even if those third-parties are not at fault) of something that they should be fixing.
Pro People who usually use their laptop on a desk will feel very comfortable with this
The Envy 13 has a hinge on the back which gives the laptop a slight extra boost in keyboard height. This puts the keyboard at a much more comfortable typing position and reduces RSI and finger-fatigue from extensive periods of typing.
Pro Extremely portable
The HP Envy 13 is one of the thinnest laptops on the market at just 12.9mm thick. This detail, coupled with the fact that it weighs just above 1.3kg make the Envy 13 one of the lightest and most portable laptops on the market.
Con No touchscreen version
HP does not provide a touchscreen version of this laptop.
Con Poor battery life
The Envy 13 has a relatively poor battery life. You may get about 9 hours out of it if you use it for general web browsing and some productivity work, but anything more than that (watching videos, light gaming) and you will start noticing that the battery life is considerably lower.
Pro Great, colorful display
The Spectre x360 has a great glossy Full-HD screen to complement its amazing design. At 317 nits, the screen is pretty bright and it has a decent color range as well, covering 101.7 percent of the sRGB color spectrum.
Pro Great design
The HP Spectre x360 has an all-aluminum body that gives it a very premium feel. The edges are all smooth and polished which provide a great highlight accent to the laptop.
Con Can easily trap heat and overheat
The extremely thin chassis is a drawback as far as heat management goes. Even a relatively simple activity like streaming HD videos will overheat the laptop and put the internal heat at about 105 degrees Fahrenheit which is 10 degrees higher than the 95 degrees "comfortable" threshold.
Con Has some bloatware
While it's less than HP usually has, there are still apps like Netflix, The Weather Channel, Hearts Deluxe, Connected Photo etc.
Pro Excellent keyboard
The T460 has an excellent keyboard which provides a very pleasant typing experience. The keys have and overall 2.33mm of vertical travel, which is pretty deep for laptops (1.5mm-2mm is typical). The keyboard is also spill-resistant, which is not surprising, considering the length Lenovo has gone...
Pro Excellent battery life
The T460 uses Lenovo's PowerBridge technology which basically combines an internal 3-cell battery with an external, removable 6-cell battery. Both of these units amount to an average of 13 hours and 12 minutes of normal use.
Con The display does not have very rich colors
Even though the 1080p display is very accurate and produces a sharp image, it struggles a bit with displaying accurate colors. Tests show that the T460 reproduces only 67 percent of the sRGB color gamut with both touch and non-touch panels.
Pro Great build quality and durability
The chassis is made of magnesium and the lid is plastic reinforced with carbon fiber. Building the body with the same material also means that there's no visible material transitions.
Pro One of the best keyboards that can be found in a laptop
The keyboard for this laptop is one of the best laptop keyboards on the market. It has slightly concave keys which make is easier to hit them. There's a good amount of travel, especially for such a thin laptop. The keyboard is also spill-resistant, which adds to the overall durability of this...
Con Display not suitable for picture editing
The T470s display has a low sRGB color gamut at 95% which is quite low for this category which makes it a poor choice for people that would use it for picture editing.
Pro Great minimalistic design
The chassis has a simple matte black coating that surrounds the whole laptop. The only dashes of color are provided by the red trackpoint on the keyboard and the red dot on the logo on the back of the lid.
Pro Great build quality
The body is made of magnesium and the lid is reinforced by carbon fiber which makes it extremely durable as well. Lenovo claims that the laptop has passed MIL-STD 810G durability tests for extreme temperatures, high altitudes, humidity and vibrations.
Con Stiff and shallow keyboard
The keys are relatively stiff and require too little actuation force which in turn makes users "bottom out" rather often which can get quite annoying.
Con Poor battery life
In order to make this laptop thinner Lenovo have opted to remove the extended and removable batteries which in turn has decreased the overall battery life of this laptop. Simple web surfing using Wi-Fi at a screen brightness of 100 nits caused a full battery to be drained in just 7 hours.
Comments
Welcome to the Slant Community
Stop spending hours researching
Slant is written by a community helping you be informed. Let us know what you’re passionate about to get an awesome personalized feed.