Adding a ThinkPad laptop into my Apple ecosystem

[Rigtee]

Hi everyone,

I am a more than happy Apple user: I've owned many of their devices and today my workflow is still very much centred around Apple. I currently have an iPhone XR, an iPad Pro 10.5" (+Apple Pencil), a 2018 MBP 13" and a pair of AirPods.

Recently, I bought a 32" 4K BenQ display to be able to work more comfortably with my MBP from home (a 13" screen is somewhat tiny on a big desk). I am student so always switching between my family house and my student room near my university. Right now, I'm spending most of my time in my student room (from Mon to Fri) and I come back home during weekends and holidays; that's why I moved the BenQ display to my student room.

However, I discovered that my setup with the external display was not working without hiccups as I thought it would have been: my laptop starts spinning its fans very quickly when I'm doing some photo-editing on Lightroom or Affinity and even during lighter tasks such as working with multiple windows, escaping from YT videos,... it does show some slowdowns. I've got 16GB of RAM so more than enough for what I do. As it was already discussed here (https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2018-mbp-13-slow-with-an-external-monitor.2196613/), my system is bottlenecked by the GPU which is integrated on the CPU (Iris Plus Graphics, 1,5GB of VRAM), not enough for driving so many pixels on a 4K display.

As other things drive me crazy on this particular MBP (the problematic and uncomfortable keyboard which has been already replaced once and the lack of ports are probably the main issues), I was thinking about selling it to buy a new, even less powerful laptop to do my work while being away the week and a powerful desktop to work from home and still enjoy MacOS which I, honestly, don't want to abandon. A combo of a ThinkPad and a 2019 iMac seems to be a great option because I won't miss a central element in my Apple ecosystem (the iMac will allow me to gather my notes, my reminders, my Notability graphs,... from my mobile devices) and I would carry a durable laptop with a solid keyboard and a great selection of ports during the week.

You might wonder then: why don't you simply buy a 15" MBP to solve the problem? Well, because that would mean buying another external display for my home (+ a dock) and the GPU won't be as powerful as the one in the iMac (except if I pick a 2019 model with the Vega 20...but then the price skyrockets). Having two machines is also interesting because I'll be able to keep all my student life (except for my Notability notes which are visible on the iPad anyway) on a laptop.

As for the ThinkPad model, I don't really need that much power, I want a small, light and durable laptop: I narrowed down my selection on a couple of models: X1 Carbon, T480, T490 or even T490s.

My biggest fear is the gap the lack of a MBP would create in my workflow: no more sync between my notes, no more iMessage on my laptop,... but I think W10 has improved a lot and some apps are even better on Windows like the Office suite. I'll keep using Google Drive as my main storage though, so nothing to fear for my "general" files. Working with the iPad only during the week is not an option as some softwares I use run only on a Windows/MacOS (like Stata e.g.).

Last question: I imagine a ThinkPad laptop without a dGPU would perform equally as my current MBP once connected to the 4K external display. But, how does W10 scale on an external display? I heard the X1 Carbon had a TB3 port so I guess it will perform well. For heavier tasks, I'll do them on the iMac once home then.

Thanks for your reading! What do you think about that option? 😃

tl;dr: selling my 2018 13" MBP which does not perform well with a 4K display to buy a 2019 iMac (heavy tasks) and a ThinkPad laptop (light tasks) => good option?

 

[zhenya]

It seems like you are going through a lot of contortions to justify an upgrade. Your MBP should perform fine on a 4K display. I think your issue is elsewhere of where you are thinking.

I’ve been using a 5th generation X1 Carbon with a 4K display for the last few years. Performance is fine, and your MBP is considerably more powerful. Lack of integration with Apple services is sometimes a pain, but I now use my iPad as a full-time accessory sitting next to me at my desk to take notes on, send messages, use as an additional screen, etc. Works very nicely.

Windows is fine at scaling as long as your screens are all similar pixel density. So get one of the higher resolution screen options - at least 2560x1440 or so.

 

[Rigtee]

True, but one point I didn't mention in my first message is that I'd like to buy an external monitor for home as well; I think it's really worth the investment just for the comfort. This is the reason why I was thinking about simply buying a desktop like the iMac.

However I'm quite certain the MBP's integrated GPU is the problem when I'm doing photo or video editing, I learnt on the other thread (link mentioned in the first message) that 2GB of VRAM are required for Lightroom to perform well...

An eGPU is an option as well but it's pricey and it means dealing with another box on my desk. External monitor + eGPU is as expensive as a 2019 iMac, that's why I didn't even consider it.

 

[TSE]

Use your money elsewhere man.... You've already got some great computing devices.

Life's too short to spend all your money on computers. Use that ~$1500 on a memorable trip across the world by yourself, on a two year membership to a judo dojo and make some friends, put it into a Roth IRA, bring some girlfriends you trust and have them pick out awesome outfits for you to wear for the next 3-4 years... use the money to make some memories or improve yourself, not your youtube experience.

 

[Rigtee]

True, maybe I'm torturing myself and I don't need the most up-to-date device/setup that exists right now, the most important part might be to focus on what I'm doing with those devices (= tools) rather than how powerful/capable they are.

That is the problem when you pursue the "best" in the high-tech world, you never really stop spending your money.

However, as I rethought the problem from another perspective, I found myself liking the idea of having one main machine because all my files are located in a single place. Upgrading to a more powerful laptop, if I have the needs for it, is an option. Why not the future MBP 16"?

 

[xraydoc]

I can't speak to the specific ThinkPad hardware, but I'm currently Apple everywhere (iPhone X, Apple Watch, iPad Pro 11", AppleTV) except on the desktop*. My home desktop/laptop is a Core i7 Microsoft Surface Book 2 running Windows 10 Pro 1903 with a Surface Dock and a 27" LG 4K monitor.

For me, I don't have any problems integrating them together. I use Google services (gmail, calendar) and don't have any trouble configuring iOS/iPadOS to use Google mail/calendar via the native iOS apps, and Chrome on Windows (which I prefer to the built-in Windows Mail and Windows Calendar). Since gmail & Google Calendar support Chrome notifications, I don't need to have them open at all times to still get my new mail notices.

One could also just as easily use iCloud services and access them the same way, and Apple has a utility for syncing iCloud data to Windows, including iCloud drive, Apple Photos, etc., and MS Outlook is supported for mail/calendar/notes/reminders, or you can use iCloud via the web.

For cloud storage, I actually use Dropbox. While either iCloud drive or Google drive would have worked fine, I can actually install the Dropbox client on the PC in my office at work without administrator access. Otherwise I'd have to use the web-based interface at work, adding another layer of complexity. And the iOS/iPadOS Files app works just fine with Dropbox, of course.

Otherwise, things I use like Office 365, Chrome, EndNote, Acrobat and 1Password are cross-platform, so no trouble there.

- Phone obviously gets the most screen-on time, so access to all my stuff from the phone is important should someone need a copy of a document I've got saved on Dropbox or responding to emails.

- The iPad Pro is my main go-with-me work device, since I can do almost anything with it (basic Word and PowerPoint, lots of OneNote use, reading/annotating PDFs, signing documents, work & personal emails, view/edit/save mail attachments, etc).

- My Surface Book 2 and my academic office PC (a university-supplied Dell box with an Intel i7 running one 30" display and two 24" displays) are what I use for major Word and PPT work. And because I keep most of my notes in OneNote, I can pull them up on one of my displays for reference while I work on Word/PowerPoint on the others.

The only thing that I really miss on Windows is access to the iPad app GoodNotes 5. It's such an awesome app and it'll sync over iCloud to keep iPhone, iPad and Mac in sync, but there's no Windows client (nor do I ever expect there to be). Drawboard is pretty similar on Windows, but there's no iPhone/iPad version.


*Caveat: I have an old late-2013 27" iMac running in the basement as my iTunes server for the AppleTVs at home (7 in total; one in each bedroom, one in the living room, one in the basement movie room) for all my .mp4 movies -- about 400 or so). While that machine is over 6 years old now, it's still running like a champ, and it's not even feeling slow. I've been thinking about replacing it, however, with a Mac mini for space savings and setup flexibility, but having trouble justifying it to myself since the old iMac runs so well still. But it rarely gets any other use other than as an iTunes server and a SETI@home client.

 

[Rigtee]

I can't speak to the specific ThinkPad hardware, but I'm currently Apple everywhere (iPhone X, Apple Watch, iPad Pro 11", AppleTV) except on the desktop*. My home desktop/laptop is a Core i7 Microsoft Surface Book 2 running Windows 10 Pro 1903 with a Surface Dock and a 27" LG 4K monitor.

For me, I don't have any problems integrating them together. I use Google services (gmail, calendar) and don't have any trouble configuring iOS/iPadOS to use Google mail/calendar via the native iOS apps, and Chrome on Windows (which I prefer to the built-in Windows Mail and Windows Calendar). Since gmail & Google Calendar support Chrome notifications, I don't need to have them open at all times to still get my new mail notices.

One could also just as easily use iCloud services and access them the same way, and Apple has a utility for syncing iCloud data to Windows, including iCloud drive, Apple Photos, etc., and MS Outlook is supported for mail/calendar/notes/reminders, or you can use iCloud via the web.

For cloud storage, I actually use Dropbox. While either iCloud drive or Google drive would have worked fine, I can actually install the Dropbox client on the PC in my office at work without administrator access. Otherwise I'd have to use the web-based interface at work, adding another layer of complexity. And the iOS/iPadOS Files app works just fine with Dropbox, of course.

Otherwise, things I use like Office 365, Chrome, EndNote, Acrobat and 1Password are cross-platform, so no trouble there.

- Phone obviously gets the most screen-on time, so access to all my stuff from the phone is important should someone need a copy of a document I've got saved on Dropbox or responding to emails.

- The iPad Pro is my main go-with-me work device, since I can do almost anything with it (basic Word and PowerPoint, lots of OneNote use, reading/annotating PDFs, signing documents, work & personal emails, view/edit/save mail attachments, etc).

- My Surface Book 2 and my academic office PC (a university-supplied Dell box with an Intel i7 running one 30" display and two 24" displays) are what I use for major Word and PPT work. And because I keep most of my notes in OneNote, I can pull them up on one of my displays for reference while I work on Word/PowerPoint on the others.

The only thing that I really miss on Windows is access to the iPad app GoodNotes 5. It's such an awesome app and it'll sync over iCloud to keep iPhone, iPad and Mac in sync, but there's no Windows client (nor do I ever expect there to be). Drawboard is pretty similar on Windows, but there's no iPhone/iPad version.


*Caveat: I have an old late-2013 27" iMac running in the basement as my iTunes server for the AppleTVs at home (7 in total; one in each bedroom, one in the living room, one in the basement movie room) for all my .mp4 movies -- about 400 or so). While that machine is over 6 years old now, it's still running like a champ, and it's not even feeling slow. I've been thinking about replacing it, however, with a Mac mini for space savings and setup flexibility, but having trouble justifying it to myself since the old iMac runs so well still. But it rarely gets any other use other than as an iTunes server and a SETI@home client.

Thank you for your very detailed answer explaining your setup and your everyday usage! As I've read, it's actually not that hard to implement a Windows machine into an Apple ecosystem. Google apps are designed to help and it's great that they are equally good (if not better) as their equivalents on Android.

I liked the comment about the iTunes server as well! We do have an old 27" 2011 at home and it's a great idea to use the computer like that, I'll definitely have a deeper look into it.

To come back to the original topic now, I thought a bit about it last week and eventually decided that I didn't need another computer in my setup: it would actually slow my workflow down because I'd have to keep that new machine updated and to transfer some files (everything is not on my cloud, some big files like 4K videos are kept in an external SSD) from my laptop to the desktop. I did also change the resolution of my external monitor to use an HiDPI mode (and not a scaled resolution anymore) and this eased the task for the CPU/GPU, it's now more smooth than before.

I think I'll wait a bit for the upcoming 16" MBP and then decide if I need that extra power or not. Having a dGPU will definitely help though but right now I'm fine because my 13" MBP is powerful enough (for heavy tasks: at least it's alright on the MBP screen). As for the second external screen, I'm thinking about buying a curved monitor to stretch my workspace a bit at home!

 

[2984839]

I have a T470p and a T480 and they are both nice, but I use the T470p much more. The low voltage CPU in the T480 throttles a lot in that thin chassis whereas they actually built the T470p to have proper cooling. I think you'd be well served by either of them.

 

[triangletechie]

I bought this Thinkpad for when I work from home. It is a superb machine.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1473446-REG/lenovo_20n2002aus_t490_i7_8565u_8gb_512ssd.html

 

[Rigtee]

Hi! Just a quick update about my initial question. TSE's message above really changed my way of viewing the issue as I actually didn't need something else, I was just creating an unnecessary need..which of course was a stupid way of torturing myself and spending my savings on it.

Since the MBP 16" came out, I was thinking about upgrading my current 13" but I eventually chose not to...at least not in the short term. I have still plenty of margin with my 13" which is plenty fast for my current usage (I now use scaled mode on the 32" external display and it is working much smoother). I might upgrade if it becomes a bottleneck. But for now, I have still many things to explore and discover.

 

[TSE]

Hi! Just a quick update about my initial question. TSE's message above really changed my way of viewing the issue as I actually didn't need something else, I was just creating an unnecessary need..which of course was a stupid way of torturing myself and spending my savings on it.

Since the MBP 16" came out, I was thinking about upgrading my current 13" but I eventually chose not to...at least not in the short term. I have still plenty of margin with my 13" which is plenty fast for my current usage (I now use scaled mode on the 32" external display and it is working much smoother). I might upgrade if it becomes a bottleneck. But for now, I have still many things to explore and discover.

Good to hear. And my post really comes from experience - I made the mistake and spent so much money in high school and early college days on computers and devices surrounding them - laptops, speakers, headphones, keyboards, I got the best of the best when it came to my equipment. I look back at those days and think, wow... I could have done so much for myself in terms of having great experiences and going out and experiencing the world that I didn't do because I was too wrapped up in technology. I broke out of that habit the second half of college and after, but the pull to spend money on "stuff" you don't need is so strong. I still use technology too much, so I'm just as flawed as you are.

Keep being you dude

 

[Rigtee]

Good to hear. And my post really comes from experience - I made the mistake and spent so much money in high school and early college days on computers and devices surrounding them - laptops, speakers, headphones, keyboards, I got the best of the best when it came to my equipment. I look back at those days and think, wow... I could have done so much for myself in terms of having great experiences and going out and experiencing the world that I didn't do because I was too wrapped up in technology. I broke out of that habit the second half of college and after, but the pull to spend money on "stuff" you don't need is so strong. I still use technology too much, so I'm just as flawed as you are.

Keep being you dude

Thanks for your background, I don't personally regret anything but it's certainly an important thing to bear in mind, allocating our money in relevant places, especially when we're young...

I'm quite tech-savvy so I really like having the latest gear but nowadays with everything which comes out, it's impossible to keep up with a normal income (even when you're working) and it's actually stupid. It's a questions of striking the right balance between your passions (like tech) and your social circles.