Lenovo X230 vs T430: Laptop Comparison for CS/Engineering Majors

[SuperMiguel]

hello guys, I am a computer engineering/computer science major on my senior year... I been using a 13" macbook air since i stared, but that got stolen few days ago... btw i used to have windows and linux on it (actual dual booting, no virtualization)

Anyways i usually go to work 7-4, then go to school 5 to ~10, when not in class I am at the lib studying, or working on research at a lab...

The programs i run the most in windows are Visual Studio, and AVR Studio (Now called Atmel Studio). Visual studio few of my classes, and Atmel for my research program in robotics doing micro-controllers programming... Linux i use it as a C/C++/java/python development platform, most of the time using vim and cli.

If i order any of this machines, it will have the i7-3520M, 16GB of ram, 512GB SSD, 6-cell batt (to keep weight down), Intel 6300 wireless card.

Now the true difference between this 2 laptops :)

• The x230 resolution is 1366x768 while the t430 is 1600x900, I am thinking if i go for the x230 this my hurt me for my programming tasks since the resolution may be to low... Now the otherthing is that x230 has an IPS monitor compared with a LED monitor on the 1600x900 which doesn't have the best reviews out there... Also at home if i get the 230 i can connect it to an external monitor, and in school i could probably connect it to an external monitor in the research lab
  
• The x230 also with a 6-cell gets about 6h battery life, the t430 gets about 4...
  
• Finally the x230 has a regular 4000 HD video card, and on the t430 you can get 1GB 5400M Nvidia Video Card
  
• And finally weight the x230 is about 1.5lb lighter than the t430, + the ac adapter of the t430 is heavier than the x230 one, so we can say about 2lb lighter in general.. This doesn't seem like much but with books, and hardware it can add up =)

 

[phinds]

Is there a question in there somewhere or are you just rambling ?

 

[SuperMiguel]

Is there a question in there somewhere or are you just rambling ?

just asking for you guys opinion :) on which one would you guys pick and why

 

[r4z0r84]

You could also look at the Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook as it has very very similar spec's
if not i would suggest going for the 13.5" x230 as you can just plug it into external monitor's plus its got a 9.9hr battery life and only weighs 1.5kg(3.3lbs) including charger. in terms of resolution the higher the resolution and the smaller the display the smaller the overall visual quality meaning you would have to set up the DPI on your OS to avoid eye strain.

I'm an IT technician & support officer and i deal with Lenovo/IBM on a daily basis they are a great company to deal with.

Personally though i would just look at cheaper laptops that can do the exact same thing, i do however love typing on all macbooks vs normal laptops, that being said i would still rather have longer battery life, more money in my pocket/bank/investments then buy something that does above and beyond what i require.

 

[SuperMiguel]

Now i also got the option to get the tablet version of the x230, the x230t... Any of you guys use a table for note taking in class?