Samuel Murray wrote:
Virginia Castellano wrote:
I am now comparing Lenovo ThinkPad E490 vs ThinkPad L480. I'm trying to spend 500-650€ max.
I have no experience with either, so I can only compare them on screen (you're likely doing the same).
My local store sells both of them for around €650 (8 GB, 256 GB). From what I can see, both have the same graphics and while the E490's Core i3 has 2 cores and the L480's Core i5 has 4 cores, their processors perform very similar in benchmarks (although the E490 has 30% less powerful overall, but 10% more powerful in single-core usage). The E490 has Bluetooth 5.0 instead of 4.1. Holewise, the L480 has 2 x USB 3.0 and 2 x USB 3.1 (type C, 5 Gb/s) whereas the E490 has 1 x USB 2.0, 2 x USB 3.0 and 1 x USB 3.1 (type C, 10 Gb/s).
So, with that in mind, let's see:
1. What will you be connecting to this computer via Bluetooth in the near future? Probably no more than a mouse and keyboard, so Bluetooth 4.1 should be more than sufficient. Bluetooth 5.0 devices can potentially use less power, but only if the device is set up like that. It is unlikely (touch wood) that you'll be connecting to a Bluetooth external monitor any time soon.
2. Most CAT tools are not programmed to use multi-core capability, so single-core strength is more important to us. However, the E490's processor is only about 10% better on that front, so it won't be noticeable.
3. If your external hard drives are not SSD drives, there is no speed difference between USB 3.0, USB 3.1 (5 Gb/s) and USB 3.1 (10 Gb/s). However, SSDs are getting cheaper all the time, so in future you might have an SSD external drive, and then the E490's 10 Gb/s USB hole may reduce file copying times... but only for really large files, like movies.
Conclusion: given that the L480's processor is somewhat more future-proof than the E490's, and given that the L480 gives you four USB 3 ports instead of 3 (regardless of the E490's higher future movie copying speed), my preference would go for the L480.
[Please double-check everything in this post yourself -- for all we know I mixed things up and didn't realise. Also, it may be that the model sold in your country comes with other specifications.]