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First Impressions: Lenovo T14s with Qualcomm Snapdragon ARM64 CPU

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213 points cnst | 1 comments | 15 Nov 24 20:57 UTC | HN request time: 0.202s | source
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bpfrh ◴[16 Nov 24 08:38 UTC] No.42155291[source]▶
imho the biggest problem with all the new snapdragon laptops is that all ram is soldered on, because the new chips don't support slotted ram.
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deng ◴[16 Nov 24 08:51 UTC] No.42155342[source]▶
I find this to be less and less of an issue, because RAM has gotten so cheap that you can pretty much just max it out when buying. At the moment, going from 32GB to 64GB incurs a 193$ markup for this laptop, which I think is entirely reasonable for a machine like this (although, honestly, I'm usually not even close to reach 32GB in my normal work).

The only notable exception here is Apple with their absolutely bonkers RAM upgrade prices, which is why I would never buy a Macbook.

EDIT: I just HAD to look, MacBook Pro(ha!) by default with 16GB unified memory, it will set you back 400$ to go to 32GB, so more than 4x what Lenovo takes (64GB not even possible, of course).

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1. cnst ◴[16 Nov 24 20:15 UTC] No.42158924[source]▶
Yes, Lenovo pricing for this machine is pretty amazing for the last several weeks — at least in the US it is.

https://lenovo.com/us/en/p/21n1cto1wwus1

It's $1184.40 for the default CTO with 32 GB LPDDR5X-8448MHz, and the upgrade to 64GB LPDDR5X brings the total cost of T14s to $1297.20 USD.

Even though the upgrade is listed at $193.00, that's actually the MSRP before the near-permanent discounts that Lenovo is very famous for, because 1297.20 - 1184.40 = 112.8. E.g., the extra 32GB of LPDDR5X-8448MHz — it's actually a faster variant of LPDDR5X than used in the base M4 — costs only a net $112.80 USD!

All together, that's $1297.20 for a machine with more AND faster RAM, at a cheaper price, than an M4 MacBook Pro that has a starting price of $1599.00 USD in the US, for just 16GB of the slower LPDDR5X-7500, compared to 64GB of the faster LPDDR5X-8448MHz with the Snapdragon ThinkPad.

Also, Apple is the only manufacturer in the form factor and price categories to solder storage with their laptops, as nearly everyone else uses the standard 2280, 2230 or 2242 NVME instead. Lenovo generally uses 2242 NVME in their ultraportables, which is also compatible with the cheaper/smaller and more popular 2230, as the 2230 format appears to be more popular because of its use by SteamDeck handheld gaming console and the clones, and hence has a lower price, because there's more competition in the form factor.

Drives with 2TB NVME in a 2230 form factor retail at about $150 right now (that's more expensive than 2280 but cheaper than 2242), compare to $600 that Apple charges for a 2TB upgrade from 512GB on a MacBook Pro! (It's actually $800 on a MacBook Air or Mac mini to go from 256GB to 2TB!)

Not to mention that Snapdragon does support DP MST for daisy-chaining the monitors through DisplayPort Multi-Stream Transport, whereas MacOS still doesn't — unless you're using Windows on an Intel Mac, that is!

But, hey, at least Apple has finally given us a 2 external monitor support with the base M4 chip, without having to close the lid!