X1 Carbon (5th gen, 2017) : 8gb Ram or 16gb Ram , i5 or i7

[asterinex]

Dear members,

I want to buy the X1 Caron 5th generation, 2017.

Because the RAM is not upgradable I was thinking of buying the version with 16GB Ram.
Unfortunately 16 GB of Ram is only possible when upgrading first to either i5-7300u or i7-7500u.
There both around the same price . The i7 is 20 dollars cheaper than the i5-7300.

For me important is low Fan noise. I don't want a loud system.
Is the i7 going to produce more heat and Fan noise than the i5-7300 ?

What should I do :

1) Keep i5-7500 and 8GB Ram and save 200 euros
2) Take i5-7300 and 16 GB Ram for 200 euros more
3) Take i7-7500 and 16 GB Ram for 180 euros more

PS: I don't need vPro.

Thx ,
Gert

[Puppy]

Check System Noise paragraph in i7 review.

The laptop's passive cooling capabilities seem to be very limited, because the fan will start to spin even with short workloads.

I would expect it is bad for both i5 and i7 as it is the case for any unnecessary thin laptop. I would take T470s instead, you have WQHD screen option there while it is not available for X1 Carbon yet and upgradable RAM of course.

[asterinex]

thx for your opinion and link .
Do you think the the WQHD from the t470s is same quality as the FHD from the X1 ?

[Puppy]

thx for your opinion and link .
Do you think the the WQHD from the t470s is same quality as the FHD from the X1 ?

Check the review, the display is very good according Lenovo standards (Contrast 1308:1, 95% sRGB, minimum brightness 3 cd/m2, no PWM). The quality is better than the X1 Carbon FHD

[asterinex]

thx !! it makes a lot of sense to go for the t470s !
Would you upgrade the processor to better i5 or i7 on the t470s ?

[Puppy]

Depends on what applications you use. Typically there is no noticeable performance gain of i7.

[asterinex]

thx ! i will keep the default i5. I'm not a heavy user:)

Maybe you can help me out a last time.

the default SSD is 256 GB (256 GB Solid State Drive PCIe-NVMe OPAL2.0 capable)

Do you think an upgrade to SSD-station van 512 GB, PCIe-NVMe OPAL2.0 for extra 150 euros make sence ?

[Puppy]

256 GB is too low these days so yes, 512 GB one makes sense.

[asterinex]

thx !

[exTPfan]

the display is very good according Lenovo standards (Contrast 1308:1, 95% sRGB, minimum brightness 3 cd/m2, no PWM). The quality is better than the X1 Carbon FHD

A caution, that applies to all Lenovo laptops: "It appears that author of the review received a t470s from Lenovo with a good quality AUO screen... History predicts that most of the "ordinary" customers will very likely receive laptops with lower quality screens (LG?) from now on "

[Puppy]

Yes, it is always possible issue

[asterinex]

Oh man ,this makes it very hard to decide .

[w0qj]

In all the Thinkpad laptops we have received, we have never checked what brand of LCD was used.

And we were very satisfied with each and every Thinkpads laptop we have received, especially for the LCD screen

[Puppy]

Oh man ,this makes it very hard to decide .

Depending on policy in your country you can return it if you "win" some terrible panel.

[RealBlackStuff]

OP's country is Belgium.

[asterinex]

OP's country is Belgium.

a rather small country ...

[Puppy]

I am unable to find parts list for T470s here https://support.lenovo.com/cz/cs/solutions/pd100192 We could at least know how many different panels for T470s are in the display lottery.

[cfds]

Check System Noise paragraph in i7 review.

The laptop's passive cooling capabilities seem to be very limited, because the fan will start to spin even with short workloads.

I would expect it is bad for both i5 and i7 as it is the case for any unnecessary thin laptop. I would take T470s instead, you have WQHD screen option there while it is not available for X1 Carbon yet and upgradable RAM of course.

Maybe the topic starter prefers a unnecessary thin laptop?
3.49lbs vs 2.5 lbs...I know what I prefer, the lighter the better for me!

[asterinex]

Maybe the topic starter prefers a unnecessary thin laptop?
3.49lbs vs 2.5 lbs...I know what I prefer, the lighter the better for me!

Well the coolness of the Carbon , light and thin bezel, makes me want it.

Is the t470s as cool as the carbon ?

Besides that I have read somewhere that the t470s also suffers from fan-Noise/Heat
and that the Fan of the Carbon X1 is a lot more quit after a Bios update.

[exTPfan]

Maybe the topic starter prefers a unnecessary thin laptop?
3.49lbs vs 2.5 lbs...I know what I prefer, the lighter the better for me!

T470s is 3.01 lbs, not 3.49.

[cfds]

Maybe the topic starter prefers a unnecessary thin laptop?
3.49lbs vs 2.5 lbs...I know what I prefer, the lighter the better for me!

T470s is 3.01 lbs, not 3.49.

Been verifying at several different site's online and all claim the weight of a t470 at around 3.5lbs or 1.6kg...

[pgoelz]

256 GB is too low these days so yes, 512 GB one makes sense.

Just FWIW.... I dual boot Windows 10 and Linux on a 256GB hard drive very comfortably. I allocated 100GB for Windows, 50GB for a separate partition for misc. storage (photos, MP3s, etc.) and the rest for Linux and unallocated set-aside. It all fits very comfortably. I run Disk Cleanup from time to time and my "fully matured" Windows 10 installation occupies about 45-50GB, so my 100GB Windows partition is about 50% full.

So you CAN fit quite a bit on a 256GB SSD.

Paul

[RealBlackStuff]

Don't forget to keep ca. 15% set aside UNused on an SSD, for trim/overprovisioning purposes.

[exTPfan]

T470s is 3.01 lbs, not 3.49.

Been verifying at several different site's online and all claim the weight of a t470 at around 3.5lbs or 1.6kg...

T470s not T470.

[asterinex]

Can anybody can say something about fan noise on the X1 or T470s ? The 470s should be very noisy too.
Is the i5 going to produce less fan noise than the I7 ?

[pgoelz]

Can anybody can say something about fan noise on the X1 or T470s ? The 470s should be very noisy too.
Is the i5 going to produce less fan noise than the I7 ?

I don't know about the Gen5 but the fan in my i7 X1C Gen3 is hands down the quietest laptop fan I have EVER heard. When it runs (which is not very often) it is nearly silent. And what you do hear is simply very gentle air movement noise. These is no fan whine at all.

Paul

[w0qj]

Good news, the X1 Carbon technology is trickling into the other Thinkpad models!

For example, we bought a X1 Carbon (3rd gen, 2015) and X250 (circa 2015 also).
The X250 had partial carbon chasis to reduce weight.
The X250 also had the same laptop case casing material as the X1 Carbon (3rd gen).

Both our X1 Carbon (3rd gen) and X250 had i7 CPU, and both were very very quiet!


Whilst we have not seen the X1 Carbon (5th gen, 2017) and have not seen the 470s, but we would imagine that the X1 Carbon technology is trickling into the other Thinkpad models!