Question Which laptop parts to choose?

[TomHansen7]

Hi.
I want to buy Lenovo ThinkPad T16 Gen3, but have questions regarding which specs I should prioritize, to get most performance for money and my use.

I will use this laptop for work. I always have many Microsoft Outlook windows open (30-40 emails), I have many Chrome tabs open (300-400 tabs), in the same time this is open: Adobe Reader tabs, Teams, Word, Excel and several other similar programs. All is open in the same time, all day, late nights. I rarely restart my laptop.

So, question is what is best setup for my use?
Should I choose:

1. Intel Core Ultra 5 135U or Intel Core Ultra 7 155U?
2. 16 GB or 32 GB memory?
3. 16" WQUXGA (3840 x 2400) 400 nits or 16" WUXGA (1920 x 1200) 400 nits?
4. Regarding battery: What are the benefits and drawbacks of 4 Cell 52.5Wh vs 4 Cell 86Wh battery? Is 86 Wh physically larger and heavier?
5. What is the difference between 2 pin and 3 pin AC Power Cord adapter?

Thank you.

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

I have many Chrome tabs open (300-400 tabs)
You should get the highest spec on your laptop, with the most amount of ram and the highest processor.

 

[TomHansen7]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

I have many Chrome tabs open (300-400 tabs)
You should get the highest spec on your laptop, with the most amount of ram and the highest processor.

Thank you for your warm welcome and your reply.
1. Regarding processor, so it better to go for Ultra 7. Ok, thnx. There are two versions of Ultra 7 processor. There is a big price difference between these two processors. Which one should I choose?
- Intel® Core™ Ultra 7 155U Processor (E-cores up to 3.80 GHz P-cores up to 4.80 GHz)
-Intel® Core™ Ultra 7 165U vPro® Processor (E-cores up to 3.80 GHz P-cores up to 4.90 GHz)

2. Should I get 16GBx2 ram or 32GBx1 ram?

 

[dos_box]

What you use the laptop for (Adobe Acrobat, Browser, Outlook, Excel, ...) aren't very demanding on the CPU, so you should be good with the i5. Of course going higher is always better, but that's dependant of the budget.
With all the Tabs and e-mails and software open at the same time, you will need alot of RAM in my opinion. Go for the best RAM-Option available.

For the rest: Since your main focus is office work and nothing graphically or design or something like that, I don't think you need the higher resolution. you will do fine with the 16:10 (1920:1200 pixels) screen. The 16:10 is actually great for office and should be prefered over 16:9. Resolution is probably not important and might make things harder to read actually.

Battery and weight are the 2 things you need to decide for yourself. So reflect a little bit about your usage scenario. Do you need the battery-life or are you on cable most of the times? Do you travel alot? Does it make sense therefore to get a lighter laptop? Usually when you buy a laptop they write the total weight somewhere on the product page, so look for the total weight not components; that's what matters. If weight and transportability is ineed important, you might want to look into 14 inch laptops. It's a huge difference, not only in weight but also space it takes during travels. Trust me any gram matters for longer travels. And yea a bigger battery lasts longer for sure 😉

Anyways if you have the money go for the best option, but if you have to compromise go RAM>CPU and no need the high resolution in my opinion for your usage scenarios 😉