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Having owned several workstation laptops (Dell and Lenovo), the major issue is they're low-volume so they don't get the polish or validation the mainstream enterprise ones do. They end up feeling like a consumer line laptop, where they don't care, not a business laptop.

Issues I've had in the past include batteries discontinued even before three years were up, plastic cracking and sharp edges on the chassis (right where you put your wrists), poorly designed huge power bricks, video glitches due to their switchable graphics, pointer buttons digging into the screen (far worse than Apple), loud fans that oscillate, etc.

I'd just get a desktop and a T series for mobility.
 
In 2006, I got my first MBP. In 2011, I bought a MBP that lasted me until 2017 when I bought a loaded Lenovo P71 because I was doing more at work with Windows/Azure/Powershell at the time. It's only 2 years later and I've already switched back. I hated that thing. It was a battery hog, blazing hot, noisy, and would just stop charging randomly. I eventually figured out that it stops charging when in airplane mode but doesn't turn charging back on after exiting airplane mode. Just surfing the web, I was getting about 1.5 hours of battery this past fall. I'll access it as a Remote Desktop from now on.

I do want to say, I have nothing against Windows here. My beef is with my P71.
 
for this money why not build a dedicated workstation with much better components and then ssh into it when you need the processing power
 
You're asking advice on not buying a pc on a Mac sight? I think you'll get mostly biased answers ;)

I've said this all along, Get the best tool for the job. If you have applications that require windows then get a PC

BTW, my thinkpad x1e is an excellent machine. I fact except for my 2012 MBP, it's the best laptop I've owned
 
That’s what I would do but I also think a major selling point of a Mac is that it runs MacOS. If I could, I’d run MacOS on high end non-Apple hardware.

I'm so with you on wanting to run MacOS on high end non-Apple hardware. I like Apple's hardware but some PC manufacturers have some pretty compelling hardware as well and sometimes having the option for those would be nice (like MacOS on one of the high end Razor laptops or Huawei Mate X Pro would be lovely). I just really really prefer MacOS.
 
RTX 5000> Radeon PRO 5500M

OK, but if it was just about spec vs spec, you wouldn't be conflicted, right? You'd just choose the better "value" PC laptop with its spec advantage on paper, easy peasy.

As for my one reason not to get that Lenovo, here it is: clearly inferior screen. 16:9 aspect ratio screens have arbitrarily cut off very valuable vertical resolution that MacBook Pros keep with their 16:10 ratio. Beyond the aspect ratio, the retina screen will obviously be way better on your eyes over time.

Another reason: terrible track pads. Apple's track pads are the best of the best, Lenovo's are, again, clearly inferior.

OK - all that being said, I have been tempted to get a P72/P73 for awhile. They are beautiful, with their awesome keyboard (with num pad, which I love!) and generous screen real estate (17" screen). If I absolutely had to run a bunch of Windows software, I'd just get a Lenovo P73/P53. Let us know what you decide!
 
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I would actually consider buying a Dell XPS with 32GB Ram it came with Linux working out of the box as a MacBook alternative but frankly can not stand Windows for any kind of ‘serious’ Computing..
 
If it was me and i was really having that hard a time parting from Apple. If you're already about to pull the trigger on spending $4900 on the Lenovo P53, why not indeed just go ahead and spring for the 16" MBP? Get the top CPU, top GPU, 64 GB RAM like your Lenovo configuration and the 1 TB storage. That comes out to $3900 and use the $1000 you'd save towards an e-GPU if you really need the extra graphics power since the 16" MBPs GPU is lesser compared to the Lenovo P53's GPU. Then run Windows in Bootcamp (which runs it natively and doesn't have the drawbacks of running Windows virtually) when you need to do work and switch to the MacOS boot drive for personal use. To me that'd be the best compromise. You'd have Apple hardware/software but also be able to do your Windows work when you need to. You'd be sacrificing pure specs that the Lenovo P53 has over the 16" MBP, but if that was your top priority you wouldn't be having this dilemma in the first place haha. But yeah, having your cake and eating it too seems to be a real possibility here if you're willing to take the CPU and GPU hit in relation to what's in the P53.
 
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If it was me and i was really having that hard a time parting from Apple. If you're already about to pull the trigger on spending $4900 on the Lenovo P53, why not indeed just go ahead and spring for the 16" MBP? Get the top CPU, top GPU, 64 GB RAM like your Lenovo configuration and the 1 TB storage. That comes out to $3900 and use the $1000 you'd save towards an e-GPU if you really need the extra graphics power since the 16" MBPs GPU is lesser compared to the Lenovo P53's GPU. Then run Windows in Bootcamp (which runs it natively and doesn't have the drawbacks of running Windows virtually) when you need to do work and switch to the MacOS boot drive for personal use. To me that'd be the best compromise. You'd have Apple hardware/software but also be able to do your Windows work when you need to. You'd be sacrificing pure specs that the Lenovo P53 has over the 16" MBP, but if that was your top priority you wouldn't be having this dilemma in the first place haha. But yeah, having your cake and eating it too seems to be a real possibility here if you're willing to take the CPU and GPU hit in relation to what's in the P53.

Modularity of the P53. When you guys are stuck purchasing new laptops ill be unscrewing the case and throwing in more RAM or SSD storage.
 
Yes that's another element to consider. If modularity is important to you, then there's your answer right there. Get the P53.
My only worry is I went with the Xenon versus the i9. I wanted the higher base speed.
[automerge]1574471343[/automerge]
 
My only worry is I went with the Xenon versus the i9. I wanted the higher base speed.
[automerge]1574471343[/automerge]
Well the Xeon in that Lenovo is only a 6 core CPU which seems comparable to the 6 core i7-9750H in the base MBP. Although, the Xeon has 200mhz higher base/boost clock. Compared to the 8 core i9-9980HK (2.4 base/5.0 boost) in the top MBP performance seems a bit low.

Xeon E2276M: 14422 passmark score
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Xeon+E-2276M+@+2.80GHz&id=3489
i7-9750H: 13543
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-9750H+@+2.60GHz&id=3425
i9-9880HK: 17626
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i9-9980HK+@+2.40GHz&id=3451

The middle tier 8 core CPU on the MBP, i9-9980H, scores just under 17k.

The Xeon score is very close to the score on the older 6 core i9-8950HK (2.9 base/4.8 boost) in my 2018 MBP which also has a higher base/boost clock compared to the other 6 core CPUs, but can't come close to the 8 core models.
 
It's been said here already, but Windows is really a disaster of an operating system at this point. Microsoft is already refocusing its efforts on other platforms and services.

If you're going to spend more than $1000 on a laptop, stick with macOS, an operating system built for a premium experience.
 
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>5 grand

>1080p screen

Dude, that might have been acceptable in 2014 but my 4 year old phone has a higher resolution display for petes sake.
 
The OP made it pretty clear you needed a Windows machine due to lack of compatibility with engineering software. Reading comprehension these days... lol

I only see one major obstacle here. 1080p screen. Ouch.

As for Windows hardware, I think the Surface line would probably be a good option as well. I really don't know much about Windows workstations. I use Windows 10 for gaming and it's an okay operating system, which makes it great in your case, as you don't really have much choice.

This particular unit is killed off by the screen, in my opinion. Especially at this price point.
 
The OP made it pretty clear you needed a Windows machine due to lack of compatibility with engineering software. Reading comprehension these days... lol

This particular unit is killed off by the screen, in my opinion. Especially at this price point.
For real, you could get a macbook pro and partition the majority of the drive to use windows and you're still coming out way ahead for what you're getting here AND a better screen.
 
For real, you could get a macbook pro and partition the majority of the drive to use windows and you're still coming out way ahead for what you're getting here AND a better screen.

True, but have you ever used a Windows keyboard with a Mac? It doesn't feel right because Command, Option and other buttons are different. I doubt TouchBar would function at all under Windows. Plus, there could be some hardware issues. It just isn't an ideal situation. I would say he'd be paying an Apple tax, but that really isn't the case with the latest MacBook Pro. It's competitively priced.
 
Ah I completely forgot about the touch bar. I boot into windows all the time on my imac and the keyboard has never been a problem for me as I'm just used to both. But yeah I wonder how that works without the function keys?
 
Ah I completely forgot about the touch bar. I boot into windows all the time on my imac and the keyboard has never been a problem for me as I'm just used to both. But yeah I wonder how that works without the function keys?

Exactly. There may be a solution, but that would be something I would really look into before pulling a trigger. I did run into an issue in the past. I worked with a retailer that used proprietary web-based application. It only worked under Windows. I had ton of issues with it and their tech support said they would not be able to help me because I was using "unsupported hardware." I ran out that day and bought a Surface just for that account. It worked perfectly fine.

I would suggest that if the OP is going to live in the Windows world, he should consider a true windows machine. That's my opinion. It's kind of like a reverse hackintosh situation lol
 
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