Tough choices ahead...... Lenovo W540 vs Dell m3800

ZerodogZerodog Registered Users Posts: 1,480 Major grins
edited November 5, 2013 in Digital Darkroom
Tons of awesome new high power laptops with high res screens on the horizon. The Dell m3800 looks to put an end to my MacBook Pro lust. And I know the Lenovo will be solid. I am leaning toward the Dell. Then throw in the Lenovo Helix as a super portable option???? Wow. I am glad I waited another year to upgrade my system. Decisions decisions.

Comments

  • NewsyNewsy Registered Users Posts: 605 Major grins
    edited October 30, 2013
    I was looking at the Lenovo Yoga 2 with its 3200x1800 screen (like the m3800 offers) and have now concluded that it is too earlier to source a screen of this resolution with a Windows OS. Reading the Lenovo users foums and a recent thread of a Dell m4800 user with the 3200x1800 screen shows that there are all kinds of issues with scaling and with the Lenovo, color accuracy.

    I'm going to stick with 1920x1080 for my impending purchase.
    http://newsy.smugmug.com

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  • RichardRichard Administrators, Vanilla Admin Posts: 19,966 moderator
    edited October 30, 2013
    Newsy wrote: »
    I was looking at the Lenovo Yoga 2 with its 3200x1800 screen (like the m3800 offers) and have now concluded that it is too earlier to source a screen of this resolution with a Windows OS. Reading the Lenovo users foums and a recent thread of a Dell m4800 user with the 3200x1800 screen shows that there are all kinds of issues with scaling and with the Lenovo, color accuracy.

    I'm going to stick with 1920x1080 for my impending purchase.
    15524779-Ti.gif The software is lagging behind the hardware, as usual. I just bought a Lenovo W530, which provides a lot of bang for the buck and the full HD display should be not be a problem with the software I'm running.
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  • ian408ian408 Administrators Posts: 21,948 moderator
    edited October 31, 2013
    You'll be happy to know that Ashton Kutcher, besides being the pitchman for Lenovo, is going to work for them as a product engineer.
    Moderator Journeys/Sports/Big Picture :: Need some help with dgrin?
  • NewsyNewsy Registered Users Posts: 605 Major grins
    edited October 31, 2013
    ian408 wrote: »
    You'll be happy to know that Ashton Kutcher, besides being the pitchman for Lenovo, is going to work for them as a product engineer.

    well..... that does it. I'm never buying Lenovo. Between Ashton and all the unsubstantiated rumours of backdoors for Chinese hackers....
    http://newsy.smugmug.com

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  • ZerodogZerodog Registered Users Posts: 1,480 Major grins
    edited October 31, 2013
    I have a Lenovo x220 that has been a workhorse for about 4 yrs now. It has been so trouble free that has me thinking Lenovo again. But the new Dell is looking sexy. From the sound of it Win 8.1 is the answer to the scaling problems with the super high res displays. Dell is saying a lot about ISV certified with a ton of developers including adobe. I guess that means the software companies are going to stand behind the new tech?
  • NewsyNewsy Registered Users Posts: 605 Major grins
    edited October 31, 2013
    Zerodog wrote: »
    I have a Lenovo x220 that has been a workhorse for about 4 yrs now. It has been so trouble free that has me thinking Lenovo again. But the new Dell is looking sexy. From the sound of it Win 8.1 is the answer to the scaling problems with the super high res displays. Dell is saying a lot about ISV certified with a ton of developers including adobe. I guess that means the software companies are going to stand behind the new tech?

    Win 8.1 still is not cutting it according to the forum comments I've read from real world users of 3200x1800 screens. Some software works fine but not others.

    I almost went for an x230 but like the x220 its' back light only covers about 67% of the sRGB gamut. I'm at the point where as long as the screen is an IPS or S-PLS LCD matrix and 1920x1080 I'm willing to accept something like 80% coverage of the sRGB gamut. As I mostly use my laptop for business travel the 1920x1080 is a seamless transition to the desktop 1920x1080 monitor in the office.

    Was looking at a Sony Vaio Pro 13 but its' IPS 1920x1080 panel has optical characteristics somewhat like a TN matrix in that as you tilt the screen fore and aft you can see a section of the screen darkening. Top half will be dark and bottom half ok - very strange behavior for what is said to be an IPS panel.
    http://newsy.smugmug.com

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  • ZerodogZerodog Registered Users Posts: 1,480 Major grins
    edited November 1, 2013
    Looking at it, my laptop is an X201...... Even older. I got this thing to do some work on the road. I was going to be shooting dance recitals all over the west and I needed something that was small and powerful that had a long bat life. At the time my desktop was my main system. A funny thing happened. The more I got used to editing on the laptop, the less I used the desktop. Now, I only use the 201. Yeah the screen sort of sucks. But when calibrated with a color munki I get great color from my prints. I guess I am used to the low gamut. Where I see it the most is reds and the transition of dark-black. I think any way I go I will have a better screen. But the X has a matte screen. I like it a lot. I am not sure what I would think of the glossy gorilla glass.

    In the end, the dance gig fell through........
  • cmasoncmason Registered Users Posts: 2,506 Major grins
    edited November 3, 2013
    Doesn't matter the hardware, I simply can not put up with Windows any longer...
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  • ZerodogZerodog Registered Users Posts: 1,480 Major grins
    edited November 3, 2013
    Cmason, why you down on windows?
  • cmasoncmason Registered Users Posts: 2,506 Major grins
    edited November 4, 2013
    Sorry Zerodog, didn't really mean to seagull in on the thread, but it gave me a visceral reaction. This is the standard Windows vs Mac argument, but I am a skilled Microsoft user with much more history on the MS side.

    I use both Windows and Mac, but have converted completely to Apple Hardware over the last few years. My current desktop machine is a 2006 Mac, and my family all have Macs ranging from 2008 to newer. The thing is...these machine remain extremely serviceable, current and maintenance free. Its simply jaw dropping to me, who spent 10 years previously gladly building rigs for myself and everyone I knew.

    For photography, I won't go with anything other than Mac hardware, especially for laptops. Macbooks are extremely solid, have incredible battery life, and amazing screens. They are all excellent for photography, with the 'Retina' models sporting IPS screens. My iMac, a 2006 model, has an IPS screen.

    Sure, they are more expensive than some non-Apple models. But comparatively, I don't see a big price premium, and I get far more useable life from Apple hardware than other brands. The last laptop I purchased was an HP DVsomething. It literally lasted a year, and was the worst built machine I have ever owned,going back to HP twice. And this was nearly top of the line at the time ($900+ in 2007). I still have an IBM Thinkpad T41 however, and its solid, but Windows XP on it is not.

    That being said, its Windows I don't think I can ever go back to. I simply have gotten so used to how nearly carefree Mac OSX is that I can not stand the nearly daily updates, scans, etc I get from my Windows VMs. This weekend, a friend, who is quite skilled with daily use of Windows, brought her new HP laptop with Windows 8. She simply could not figure out how to do things she had been doing since Windows 95. Hell, I was stumped, and it was not intuitive as to how to do things. The confusion of the touchscreen, Desktop and Live tiles was baffling for us all (I have been in Software Dev for 20 years, 15 of that in Enterprise System Management, so I know a thing or two about Windows etc). I think MS dropped the ball on Windows 8. Windows 7 was great, but I am advising friends to steer clear of Windows 8. My friend agreed, but was hesitant to switch, since she paid to get a touchscreen machine (though that was half the problem).

    I can leave my Mac running for months on end, without needing to reboot. I would prefer to do that with a Windows PC, but it just isn't possible. Hangs, freezes and of course, new software updates all force rebooting, which often is needed anyway. (Now I know this is directly related to software I have installed, as Windows Servers run for ages, using the same core as Win7. But rarely does a Win Server have Firefox, Adobe, Photoshop, Lightroom etc running)

    Windows 7 was extremely promising, and is the best Windows yet, but its not Mac OSX. The beauty of running Mac OSX is that I get the benefit of running OSX, but the complete freedom to ALSO run Windows if I like, either as a VM or as a full boot. In fact, if you prefer, you can buy a Macbook and simply boot to Windows all the time.

    At the end of the day, my OS gets out of my way, and I can enjoy the apps that I want to spend the time using.
    Photos
  • ZerodogZerodog Registered Users Posts: 1,480 Major grins
    edited November 5, 2013
    Cmason, very good points indeed! Yes I have pondered going Mac. But I have a system now with my PCs for event photography using 4 systems and sharing files from one. It seems throwing a Mac in the mix, especially as the brain so to speak, could and will cause problems. The folks at the apple store could not give me a straight answer to how it would all pan out. The other thing is my hard drives. I have lots. All formatted NTFS? Not the bisexual FAT 32. And they are all eSATA and USB3.0. Not to mention the software. For me switching is a huge can of worms I am not willing to go for at this point.

    MacBook pros are a sexy seductress. I am keeping fingers crossed this new Dell comes close in build quality. Right now no PC maker is making anything like it.
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