I daily a T480 with Debian for work, and I'd recommend it highly. Great performance, battery, build quality, look & feel, etc. We have some 7480s deployed and while they've been solid as well, I much prefer the thinkpad. T series will have better performance and battery than X series, also, so I'd take the T480 over the X1C.
this post was submitted on 12 Aug 2024
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Asklemmy
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how is the build quality of the t480? I had a t580 for work, and that one crashed when you picked it up at thr wrong corner. and after a month over the warranty, it completely died
I can't speak for all of them, but we've had a couple hundred deployed over the last several years with very few issues. Mine's been solid as a rock.
The usb-c docks, however, are a nightmare, though I gather that's fairly universal.
Why do you need to use the usb-c docks?
Just part of our standard office package, everyone gets a laptop, dock, and external monitors for their workspace.
I've ordered this ThinkPad T480 with:
- Intel Core i7-8650U processor
- 16GB DDR4 RAM
- 512GB storage
- 14" FHD IPS display
- Integrated Intel UHD Graphics 620
When it arrives, before paying, what would you recommend to check within 10 minutes of receiving it?
Personally I'd do the following:
- boot into the bios config menu to make sure it's unlocked (if it's locked and they don't have the password that'd be a dealbreaker for me)
- boot into a live linux environment from usb and test both batteries, keyboard, trackpoint/trackpad, speakers, microphone, wifi, and all external ports (T480 has 2 usb-c, 2 usb-a, ethernet, hdmi, headset, and sd - make sure batteries charge well from both usb-c ports)
- to check the storage health, install nvme-cli if not installed, run
nvme smart-log /dev/nvme0and check the "percentage_used" value: if it's near 100% it might die and need replacement soon - to check that the vents, airflow, and cooling hardware are in good shape, install stress if not installed, run
stress -c 7to load up 7 of the 8 available cpu threads, make sure the fan spins up good and strong, and watch /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp to make sure the cpu temperature stays under ~90-95 degrees
On my own time later, I'd run memtest86+ overnight from bootable usb to check the memory, then install tlp and run tlp recalibrate with the laptop on the charger to recalibrate the batteries
Edit: enjoy the new laptop! I hope it works great for you
Damn, you hiring?
I now realize you are trying to buy a laptop on a budget. Iโd definitely go for the X1 gen 7 or 8, 16gb of ram minimum. The 1080p screen will give you better battery life but the 4k screen has Dolby vision and will make watching movies a better experience.
Why would that be better than T480?
The Carbox X1 Gen7 is probably a decent choice, but it will depend on the specs - get at least an i5, and max out the RAM to 16GB - you can't add it later, so make sure to buy one with the 16GB.
What's truly so much better about it compared to T480? Or 7480
What are the apps that you will be using? Iโm really excited by these new Qualcomm laptops coming out. LTT is doing an experiment and having 3 of its employees switch full time to see if they are viable. If you can wait another week Iโd see what their conclusions are.
I'm not in the West and buying on a budget so my options are very limited