X230 vs new notebooks like macbook air, dell xps 13

[veisongv]

Hello, everybody!

I have X230 and I like it a lot, do not have any problems with it but lately started to notice small lags "here and there" and started to think about new machine like macbook air or dell xps 13. What do you think, X230 still ok and new notebooks has no much more power or update will bring really so much more fresh air and power in everyday usage?

[brchan]

The performance of the X230 is actually on par or faster than either the Air or XPS 13, since they use LV cpus. The only improvement will be better integrated gpu performance. A fresh install of Windows will surely restore your performance back.

Having said that, these are entirely different machines. By moving to the dell or macbook, you loose a significant amount of functionality. They will have far fewer ports, poorer ergonomics, and lower quality keyboards, just to name a few. The only things better will be the screen, battery life, and thinness.

[veisongv]

The performance of the X230 is actually on par or faster than either the Air or XPS 13, since they use LV cpus. The only improvement will be better integrated gpu performance. A fresh install of Windows will surely restore your performance back.

Having said that, these are entirely different machines. By moving to the dell or macbook, you loose a significant amount of functionality. They will have far fewer ports, poorer ergonomics, and lower quality keyboards, just to name a few. The only things better will be the screen, battery life, and thinness.

Thank you for reply! This is important to understand the performance difference. If it is the same or even worse no those laptops, there is no meaning to upgrade.

[AIX]

If you want to make an idea about the performance of these CPUs, here are some comparison charts:

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Pro ... 436.0.html

[pianowizard]

The only things better will be the screen, battery life, and thinness.

And the first two of these are HUGE improvements over the X230!

BTW, assuming s/he meant what s/he wrote, the OP wasn't really asking specifically about the MacBook Air or the XPS 13. S/he was asking about newer laptops in general, and mentioned those two just as examples ("like macbook air, dell xps 13"). There are tons of newer laptops that are not only much faster than the X230, but also have far better screen, battery life, weight, and thinness. The X230's 12.5" 1366x768 screen may seem acceptable now, but after getting used to larger and higher-resolution screens, I bet the OP would never want to go back to the X230.

[veisongv]

AIX
Thank you!

pianowizard
Yes, you are right. Those are just examples of updated devices I was looking at lately... Features which I am looking for in new notebook are: thinner, lighter, better screen, performance, battery life. That would be enough. And I tried to find some benchmarks to figure out if it really worth it or even after 3 generations of processors things are pretty much the same. So if you have an experience of comparing 3rd gen and 6th gen Intel processors please tell me. It is important to read about real experience, not just numbers in benchmarks.
Screen of X230 is not the best thing, it is ok for office tasks but of course much worse than many modern ones.

[Pokrzept]

Well I cannot agree with pianowizard when it comes to performance-wise comparison of sub-notebooks. 2013 was the last year so far when PC manufacturers gave us opportunity to buy 11-13" laptop with an high-performance full-voltage CPU. Anything else released after this date sports ULV CPU with (IMHO) an mediocre overall performance. What's more if you compare 2012-to-2015 and 2013-to-2016 generations in a subnotebook range you won't notice any improvements when it comes to the CPU computing power. Unless you're ready to pay 2000-2500 $ for an new laptop with an M.2 PCI-E SSD interface you won't notice any performance in an everyday tasks done by an average Jane or Joe. And lets be honest slightly higher memory throughput and ultra-fast storage device matters only in a big data processing, and you do not do this kind of stuff on subnotebooks.

On the other hand I do agree that new solutions are thinner, slicker, has better screens and - in some cases - longer battery runtime, but when you decompose it into single factors:

- higher res screens without proper scaling in the OS are really annoying, and I still find a lot of apps under W10 that looks like crap at my 25" external monitor with 125% scaling factor. What's more they do consume much more power from your battery and increase eye strain due to higher DPI. So unless you have an hawks eyes the ultra-high res screen might be more pain in the "back" than real improvement.
- when it comes to the battery life your x230 with an 9cell battery should be able to run 8 - 10 hours on one charge. On the other hand brand new x260 with an FHD screen and 3+6cell batteries may run for about 12 - 14 hours but with an extended battery it wont be neither thinner (the new 6 cell batteries are hilarious thick bricks which rise your laptop A LOT and stick out on the bottom) nor really light.

So to sum it up - if you compare your x230 with the latest business subnotebooks - and do the math you'll find out that for 2000+ bucks expense you won't gain really that much. And lets be honest if we compare average income in USofA (~~3000$) and Russia (~~450$) we may realise that this might be pretty big investment for the OP.

[pianowizard]

And lets be honest if we compare average income in USofA (~~3000$) and Russia (~~450$) we may realise that this might be pretty big investment for the OP.

And computers are about 30 - 50% cheaper in the U.S. too!

I think veisongv should tell us the current specs of this X230, so that we'll know what to recommend next. What CPU, how much RAM, what kind of hard drive, and what OS. If it's a mechanical drive, Cleanmgr followed by Defrag might help a bit.

[JPOESQ]

Regardless of specs and features, the "best" laptop comes down to a matter of personal choice and how it will be used. I have been using Thinkpads since the 750C first came out, and I have given others a fighting chance, but I can't find anything better for my needs than a Thinkpad.

For me, there is no non-Thinkpad option that is better than the OP's X230. I recently purchased a Macbook Air, got frustrated, and sold it. Then, I purchased a Surface Pro 4, and just returned it for a full refund.

Both laptops were smaller, lighter, and had better screens than on the X230. But...

1. The Macbook Air is solidly built, has a great screen, etc. etc., but the touchpad is terrible and I had to carry a wireless mouse, which made it difficult to use the computer on a bus or train. Also, not having a separate backspace and delete key is extremely annoying. I ran Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit under Bootcamp, and rarely if ever switched over to the native OS. Back to a PC.

2. The Surface Pro 4 is well, just an outstanding computer, and the touchpad is the best that I have ever used. The screen is beautiful, but the resolution was a problem for many of my applications due to scaling. Many programs were just unusable, including RMW / RDP into our terminal server at work. I had to find a workaround by editing the registry and running programs in a special scaling mode, but why should I have to go through that headache? And, there was no way to adjust the scaling for certain programs. So, if you want to watch videos or play games, the laptop is great, but it's not a "business class" laptop.

Oh, and Windows 10. Hated it.

Battery life wasn't that great either. I had to carry the charger with me on my commute, which defeated one of the reasons that I tried the computer... to reduce carry weight.

In fact, it's not even a laptop, which was another issue. The stand works fine on a flat surface, but just try to use it on your lap while riding a bus or a train.

So, I'm still using my X230. I can buy any laptop that I want, but I haven't found a reason to switch.

[Pokrzept]

And lets be honest if we compare average income in USofA (~~3000$) and Russia (~~450$) we may realise that this might be pretty big investment for the OP.

And computers are about 30 - 50% cheaper in the U.S. too!
I think veisongv should tell us the current specs of this X230, so that we'll know what to recommend next. What CPU, how much RAM, what kind of hard drive, and what OS. If it's a mechanical drive, Cleanmgr followed by Defrag might help a bit.

About hardware prices - lucky you. Average Joe in Poland earns (according to latest median calculations) 590 bucks per month, while cheapest X1 Yoga costs about 2300$. Same unit as I mentioned at this very moment is shown on Lenovo main page with an price tag of 1,236.75 bucks. I do realise that this price does not include taxes but still price difference is sky-high.
But coming to an end of this off-topic - I do agree that we shall consider all facts before giving any further advice. With a little bit of luck investing few bucks in a current unit may give it second life.

[udenyyp]

Anybody know about XPS 13 or X1 Carbon? I am planning to replace my old E420.