Help me choose please!

[crofty1984]

Hi All, I'm looking at a couple of refurbed laptops. Back in my day the specs were much more simple. 133Mhz was faster than 100Mhz, 800MB hard drive better than 500MB
I don't know what all the i's cores, and whatever else means. SO! I'm abdicating responsibility - out of the 2 laptops below, what would you buy? I'm using them for a bit of basic CAD mainly. Both are the same price.

Dell Latitude 5490 - Intel Core i5 8350U 8GB RAM 256GB SSD 14.1" screen No Optical Drive Windows 10 Professional (64 bit)

Lenovo ThinkPad T460s - Intel Core i7 6600U 8GB RAM 256GB SSD 14.1" screen No Optical Drive Windows 10 Professional (64 bit)

It looks like the only difference is the CPU. I'll also be doubling the RAM.

[SteveKTMer]

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/3150vs2608/In...

The i5 will be noticeably faster.

[RizzoTheRat]

The i7 has more cores, which means it can do more things simultaneously, so is potentially better if you've got 50 things open at the same time. The i5 has less cores but is newer (8'th generation vs 6th generation) and will be faster

[Harpoon]

RizzoTheRat said:

The i7 has more cores, which means it can do more things simultaneously, so is potentially better if you've got 50 things open at the same time. The i5 has less cores but is newer (8'th generation vs 6th generation) and will be faster

The i7 6600U has 2 cores / 4 threads, i5 8350U is 4 cores / 8 threads.

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/produc...

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/produc...

[mmm-five]

With the likely age of those laptops, I'd also check what type of SSD is in each...as an older SATA SSD will likely be 5-10 times slower than a modern (even gen3) m.2 NVMe SSD.

[deckster]

Neither has enough hard drive space, you'll use up 256 GB in no time at all.

What CAD package are you intending to use and what does it say about minimum/recommended specs?

[sunbeam alpine]

I see in your OP that you're buying refurbished, so maybe not directly from the companies, so warranty may be different or reduced.

I can't speak for Dell, but Lenovo are a total nightmare to deal with for warranty issues.

[crofty1984]

deckster said:

Neither has enough hard drive space, you'll use up 256 GB in no time at all.

What CAD package are you intending to use and what does it say about minimum/recommended specs?

I've got the option of doubling the hard drive for 40 quid, so will probably do that. Though it's Fusion 360, so most of the data is on the cloud. I sent the link to minimum specs to the refurbisher, and they're the two he had in that he recommended

[SeanyD]

Dell every time. Like comparing a bentley to a fiat. It's more than just a number comparison, theres design, build quality, support etc etc.

[WelshPetrolhead]

Another +1 for the Dell.

[xeny]

The i5 is also on the Windows 11 supported list unlike the i7 and the model is roughly 2 years newer.

[crofty1984]

Thank you everyone, I've just emailed the chap and I'll go for the Dell with double hard drive and double RAM. Should last me a good few years hopefully.

See you back here in a few weeks when I'm looking for a 3D printer!