sid41299
Forerunner
After many years of dealing with ratty laptops I finally bought myself a new one, and it's this ThinkPad E14. I think I got a pretty good price for it (51K, after all the deals and discounts), and it's generally such a nice laptop to use, with a just few minor niggles.
(Also putting this here so that it'll get noticed easier, what are some good resources to get used parts for ThinkPads? Apparently you can put the screen from a T14 Gen 3/4 in this, which is a much better and power efficient unit, and I want to do that eventually)
Optioned specs:
Very solidly built (duh). I used to use a 2015 MacBook Pro 13in and this feels as good in hand as that, if not better. Not one-handable, but the the weight just makes it feel like it's can handle anything thrown at it, not flimsy at all. The keyboard is excellent, and from what I've heard this is a shallower keyboard than previous ThinkPads, but since I can't compare I won't. It's just an excellent keyboard that takes a bit of getting used to coming from a 15.6in device, especially not having a numpad. The swapping of the Fn and Ctrl keys is annoying though, as is not having media controls on the Fn row.
TrackPoint is super handy when it's on my lap/any situation where the trackpad is too close to use comfortably. I'm slowly getting used to it, but I don't foresee myself making it my primary mouse.
Having HDMI and Ethernet is an absolute godsend, as is USB-C charging. My phone charges with the laptop's charger without issues, so the fact that I have to carry around only one charger when I travel is making me giddy. Pretty sure no other 14in laptop offers that here; ditto with the ethernet port. The only thing I would say is missed is an SD card reader, but considering my next point I don't think it's that big of a deal.
The screen is a solid 6. 45% NTSC ain't kidding, but it's not even bad. It's perfectly alright for a business laptop, especially because it's so crisp and sharp. As someone who edits his own photos sometimes, a better screen would have been nice, but at a 6.2K INR premium I didn't think it was worth. Windows Hello is super convenient, but I would like to test out how narrow it's operating window actually is.
The performance itself is nothing special. I didn't get it for any power-hungry tasks, and my work is relatively lightweight so the AMD CPU + bigger battery gets me long enough battery life. I like that it doesn't heat up too much as well, important when you're using it as a "lap"top. I do wish we had got the 7x40 line of Ryzen 7000 APUs (Zen 4, the 7x30 line is Zen 3. No idea what's going on at AMD's naming department) if only for the improved RDNA3 cores in those chips, but this is fine enough.
The open RAM slot and two SSD slots are also very VERY nice to have. I will be putting in an 8 or 16GB RAM and a second SSD in it in a few months, but the fact that I can do that is amazing. Pretty much no other 14in laptop offers any level of upgradeability at this price point.
Overall, I'm definitely looking forward to spending the next few years with this machine as my second primary. Obvious form-factor restrictions aside this is a very competent on-the-go replacement for my desktop.
(Also putting this here so that it'll get noticed easier, what are some good resources to get used parts for ThinkPads? Apparently you can put the screen from a T14 Gen 3/4 in this, which is a much better and power efficient unit, and I want to do that eventually)
Optioned specs:
- AMD Ryzen 5 7530U
- 8GB RAM (will add another 8GB eventually)
- Single 256GB SSD
- No OS
- 45% NTSC 1920x1200 non-touch screen
- Backlit keyboard
- Aluminium bottom cover
- 1080p webcam with IR sensors - no fingerprint reader
- 57Wh battery
Very solidly built (duh). I used to use a 2015 MacBook Pro 13in and this feels as good in hand as that, if not better. Not one-handable, but the the weight just makes it feel like it's can handle anything thrown at it, not flimsy at all. The keyboard is excellent, and from what I've heard this is a shallower keyboard than previous ThinkPads, but since I can't compare I won't. It's just an excellent keyboard that takes a bit of getting used to coming from a 15.6in device, especially not having a numpad. The swapping of the Fn and Ctrl keys is annoying though, as is not having media controls on the Fn row.
TrackPoint is super handy when it's on my lap/any situation where the trackpad is too close to use comfortably. I'm slowly getting used to it, but I don't foresee myself making it my primary mouse.
Having HDMI and Ethernet is an absolute godsend, as is USB-C charging. My phone charges with the laptop's charger without issues, so the fact that I have to carry around only one charger when I travel is making me giddy. Pretty sure no other 14in laptop offers that here; ditto with the ethernet port. The only thing I would say is missed is an SD card reader, but considering my next point I don't think it's that big of a deal.
The screen is a solid 6. 45% NTSC ain't kidding, but it's not even bad. It's perfectly alright for a business laptop, especially because it's so crisp and sharp. As someone who edits his own photos sometimes, a better screen would have been nice, but at a 6.2K INR premium I didn't think it was worth. Windows Hello is super convenient, but I would like to test out how narrow it's operating window actually is.
The performance itself is nothing special. I didn't get it for any power-hungry tasks, and my work is relatively lightweight so the AMD CPU + bigger battery gets me long enough battery life. I like that it doesn't heat up too much as well, important when you're using it as a "lap"top. I do wish we had got the 7x40 line of Ryzen 7000 APUs (Zen 4, the 7x30 line is Zen 3. No idea what's going on at AMD's naming department) if only for the improved RDNA3 cores in those chips, but this is fine enough.
The open RAM slot and two SSD slots are also very VERY nice to have. I will be putting in an 8 or 16GB RAM and a second SSD in it in a few months, but the fact that I can do that is amazing. Pretty much no other 14in laptop offers any level of upgradeability at this price point.
Overall, I'm definitely looking forward to spending the next few years with this machine as my second primary. Obvious form-factor restrictions aside this is a very competent on-the-go replacement for my desktop.
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