Question Need to buy new laptop for Work - ASUS Zenbook Vs MSI Summit

[Gtkill]

Hello, I am looking to buy a new laptop for work, I am working as a Web Developer (Java/Js if it matters)
I am considering 2 models, and I don't know which I should get :
An Asus Zenbook 14X for the OLED high res 90Hz, good portability 14" and 1.4Kg, build quality and adequate keyboard numpad layout (Either a Ryzen 5800H or a i7 1165G7 model)
Or an MSI Summit E16FlipEvo for the 32Go RAM, the 16" high res 120Hz display, fingerprint reader(Very frequent authentication is my current work context)
Links below.

For more information here are the answers to the questions on the sticky Thread :

1.What is your budget? Up to 2200€

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering? Up to 16"

3. What screen resolution do you want? At least 2K with at least 90Hz

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop? The more portable the better

5. How much battery life do you need? At least 4 hours

6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? Not planning to, but if it is the only difference between 2 options it could be a factor

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? Web Development and browsing, having many IDEs and browser tabs open (I found myself easily using 14 or 15go of RAM, and I am mostly launching Java and node applications)

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need? At least 512Go but I would prefer 1To if possible, an SSD is a must

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links. Here are the options I am considering :

https://www.fnac.com/PC-Portable-Gaming-Msi-Summit-E16FlipEvo-A11MT-073FR-16-Ecran-tactile-Intel-Core-i7-32-Go-RAM-1-To-SSD-Noir-encre/a16194851/w-4

Asus Zenbook AMD:

Ordinateur portable Portable ASUS UM5400QA-KN008T OLED Numpad | Boulanger

Ordinateur portable Portable ASUS UM5400QA-KN008T OLED Numpad au meilleur rapport qualité/prix ! Livraison Offerte* - Retrait 1h en Magasin* - Retrait Drive* - Garantie 2 ans* - SAV 7j/7

www.boulanger.com

Asus Zenbook Intel:

https://www.fnac.com/PC-Portable-Asus-Zenbook-UP5400EA-KN017T-14-Ecran-tactile-Intel-Core-i7-16-Go-RAM-1-To-SSD-Gris/a16274876/w-4

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop? 1-2years

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ? Not needed

12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons. As long as it can run Windows or Linux

13. What country do you live in? France

 

[cdrkf]

Personally I would go with the 5800H based Zenbook - best screen and the 5800H is much more powerful than either of the i7 processors offered in the other two options (8 cores / 16 threads at a higher max wattage). Single thread they are about on par but the Ryzen will run away in intensive tasks e.g. code compilation.

 

[Gtkill]

Personally I would go with the 5800H based Zenbook - best screen and the 5800H is much more powerful than either of the i7 processors offered in the other two options (8 cores / 16 threads at a higher max wattage). Single thread they are about on par but the Ryzen will run away in intensive tasks e.g. code compilation.

I was thinking the same thing, if I was going to go with Zenbook it would be the 5800H.
However wouldn't the lower TDP of the intel better for battery life during high load ?
Also do you think that the difference in RAM 16Go - 32Go is not going to make a difference too ?

 

[cdrkf]

I was thinking the same thing, if I was going to go with Zenbook it would be the 5800H.
However wouldn't the lower TDP of the intel better for battery life during high load ?
Also do you think that the difference in RAM 16Go - 32Go is not going to make a difference too ?

Zen 3 is pretty power efficient so under light to moderate usage the battery life should be fine, but yes it will use more peak power being an 'H' series processor. If you could find a model based around the 5800u (15w version) that would potentially be best of both worlds as it still offers a full 16 threads but will maintain lower power when on battery. Personally I use an H series laptop for CAD work which can get quite intensive (a slightly older Intel 9000 series part but power envelope is same) - battery life is rubbish if pushing it hard however if I'm doing any heavy work I always plug it in, so for me personally I'd always go with the higher performance as you can always lower the power profile in Windows if you need more time on battery but you can't add performance to a U series part even when plugged in as the cooling won't be up to it. That said if you need to work on battery more frequently then that might not be the case for you...

In terms of ram and ssd storage, those are both easy enough to upgrade and don't cost that much, so I would always focus on the specs of the parts you cannot change primarily - being the cpu, gpu and screen / keyboard in a laptop. It's worth noting that some very thin and light, or budget options sometimes have a soldered storage drive or memory which could be an issue, however I don't think I've ever seen that in this class of laptop (outside of Macbooks at least). It might be worth double checking that this can be upgraded though (having a look online I can't find that specific model on the Asus website).

Edit: This review shows the 5800u and 5800H performance as well as the Intel 1165G7 and 1186G7 processors:

AMD Ryzen 7 5800U Review

The Ryzen 7 5800U is AMD's answer to Intel's Tiger Lake and is their fastest available chip for ultraportable and ultrathin laptops. This is the first Ryzen...

www.techspot.com

 

[Gtkill]

Zen 3 is pretty power efficient so under light to moderate usage the battery life should be fine, but yes it will use more peak power being an 'H' series processor. If you could find a model based around the 5800u (15w version) that would potentially be best of both worlds as it still offers a full 16 threads but will maintain lower power when on battery. Personally I use an H series laptop for CAD work which can get quite intensive (a slightly older Intel 9000 series part but power envelope is same) - battery life is rubbish if pushing it hard however if I'm doing any heavy work I always plug it in, so for me personally I'd always go with the higher performance as you can always lower the power profile in Windows if you need more time on battery but you can't add performance to a U series part even when plugged in as the cooling won't be up to it. That said if you need to work on battery more frequently then that might not be the case for you...

In terms of ram and ssd storage, those are both easy enough to upgrade and don't cost that much, so I would always focus on the specs of the parts you cannot change primarily - being the cpu, gpu and screen / keyboard in a laptop. It's worth noting that some very thin and light, or budget options sometimes have a soldered storage drive or memory which could be an issue, however I don't think I've ever seen that in this class of laptop (outside of Macbooks at least). It might be worth double checking that this can be upgraded though (having a look online I can't find that specific model on the Asus website).

Edit: This review shows the 5800u and 5800H performance as well as the Intel 1165G7 and 1186G7 processors:

AMD Ryzen 7 5800U Review

The Ryzen 7 5800U is AMD's answer to Intel's Tiger Lake and is their fastest available chip for ultraportable and ultrathin laptops. This is the first Ryzen...

www.techspot.com

Yes you are definetly right, going with the better CPU/screen seems to be the best option, and it does seem that indeed for at least some of the zenbook series the RAM is soldered with only 1 slot available so I don't think it's upgradable.