KEEP i7 YOGA 9i and RYZEN 9 ASUS G14 OR WAIT FOR ALDER LAKE / RAPTOR LAKE AND DDR5

sbansban

Commendable
Jan 1, 2022
4
0
1,510
My 2012 model 3rd Gen. Intel i5, 16 GB (maxed out) Lenovo X230 bought in mid 2014 is still running fine and is my primary PC. I even do a good bit of image-editing on it every once in a while, and while some Topaz AI programs like Sharpen AI or Gigapixel AI take a while on it, I have been living with it. After 7.5 years I wanted to check out some new laptops and splurged on a Yoga 9i Shadow Black 2-in1 touch-enabled 4K model with i7, 16 GB soldered RAM and another laptop, an ASUS G14 Zephyrus gaming laptop (though I am NOT a gamer) with Ryzen 9 5000HS and 16 GB RAM (upgradeable to 40 GB) and a discrete NVIDIA GeForce GTX 3060 GPU with 6 GB dedicated VRAM. The latter is lightning quick wih the aforementioned Topaz programs, and the Yoga 9i is quite an improvement as well. The Yoga 9i also has excellent audio and is a convertible touch-enabled 2-in-1 with 4K display. I paid about $1300 for each laptop (both promptly upgraded to Windows 11) and believe that the price point is really attractive.

While both are substantial improvements over my existing Lenovo X230, and I was planning to kep them, I am now having second thoughts in view of the fact that my X230 (though not upgradeable to Windows 11, and neither is my other i3 desktop from 2016) is still going strong and Alder Lake (possibly Raptor Lake, if I wait a bit longer) plus DDR5 are around the corner. I am still within the extended holiday return period, and I am wondering if I should hold on to my hard-earned $2600 for a year or two, and get what might be far better and more advanced laptops, especially as I really wanted mimimum 32 GB RAM (preferably 64 GB) on both. The ASUS G14, though upgradeable to 40 GB RAM, will only run 16 of the 40 GB in dual channel mode. The 14-inch Yoga 9i is quite thin and light at 3.1 lbs and 0.6-inches, and the ASUS G14, though quite small by gaming laptop standards, is about 3.6 lbs and thicker and bigger than I would have liked. My question is, will it be worth my while to wait a year or two, maybe even 3 years, for one or two state of the art laptops (one, preferably a Lenovo Thinkpad) with all the bells or whistles and whether I will be able to snag two comparable laptops (one well-specced ultra-portable for everyday use including frequent amateur image-processing and travel like the Yoga 9i and another, top-of-the-line portable reasonably thin-and-light image-processing beast like the Ryzen 9-powered ASUS G14 AT A COMPARABLE PRICE POINT.
 

Lutfij

Titan
Moderator
Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

I'd wait and see what CES brings us and wait until at least the first quarter or the mid of this year since that's when announcements come thick and fast. If you're in need of a system that will bring in earnings, then you should pick up what you have access to at this moment of time. If you're worried about Windows 11 support, I'd advise anyone not on it to move to said OS after the first year of release so all known bugs are ironed out. Same can be said for early adopters on hardware, you don't want to be the guinea pig, regardless of how deep your wallet might be.
 

sbansban

Commendable
Jan 1, 2022
4
0
1,510
Thanks for your response, Lutfij.

I do not use my devices commercially.

The question is about the time lag between CES announcements and stable production.

I am not an early adopter. I'm guessing it will take (at least), around 3 years, possibly even 4, for laptops with13th Gen. Raptor Lake CPU's and DDR5 RAM to completely stabilize and become mainstream and affordable. Do you think my estimate is correct? Of course, by then there would be even more advanced tech around the corner, but I'm not worried about that - my X230, which has been so good to me so far, cannot be stretched beyond that point, so I will definitely need to step up between now and the next 3 years or so - and oh, Windows 10 support ends October 2025 and my X230 is not upgradeable to Win 11. So can I / should I / do I want to keep on truckin' on the X230 till then or sort of put it out to pasture somewhat prematurely and go with the best on offer between now and another year or so and think about upgrading again after another 5 years.

P.S. Another (admittedly minor) concern is the disappearance of USB A ports. In another year, it could be very hard to find laptopns with 2 USB A ports like I have on the ASUS G14 - the Yoga 9i already has just one.
 
Last edited: