Recently, I could work with two notebooks in the “something above 1000 Eur” price range. Both had Windows 10 installed and were used for software development. The notebooks were HP EliteBook 850 G5 (prices from 1150 to 1500 Eur here) with Intel Core i7-8550U and Lenovo ThinkPad L590 (in the range from 900 to 1400 Eur) with Intel Core i7-8565U. We will talk about performance a bit, but much more about the trends – some bad ones too, some of them going on for years already.
Performance
Both were badly beaten by my older desktop, mostly because none of them could dissipate that much heat. Any Java build run on my machine was noticeably faster.
Based on the processor Lenovo should have 15% advantage – but this is a very simplistic view. If you care about benchmarks I have some simple benchmarks made with UserBenchmark. While far from exhaustive, that’s what I like about it. It doesn’t take forever and tells you where your PC roughly is and also tells you how others with the same components did – including whether to expect more for each component. This, again, can be misleading as you may expect more from some DDR4 3200MHz memory, but if the CPU limits it to 2666MHz then you can’t, really.
Back to the notebooks – these are the results for HP EliteBook 850 G5 and for Lenovo ThinkPad L590. Roughly the same, really, although Lenovo has the edge in single/dual-core performance. But it wasn’t noticeable in real-life applications.
Obviously, you can have a more performant desktop for around half the price and building any Java project would be significantly faster, but then… it’s hardly portable, right?
Body and shape
HP notebook is made of metal while Lenovo is plastic, but both are solid. HP is cold on the first touch sometimes. Both bodies are full of edges, it’s not comfortable to work with them longer and I wish they had some kind of bevel or rounder front edge. Also, the back of the display is sharp, so it will push against your legs annoyingly (especially if you like sitting cross-legged). This seems to be a very popular design across brands nowadays. Corners of the display back-edge on HP are so sharp I nearly tore the bedding when I moved it on it.
HP tries to look like a Mac and while it’s not there, it really looks good. Both notebooks are thin (HP is thinner), light, and generally usable. But notebooks try to be more and more sharp on the edges which I really don’t understand. HP has some sharp non-aligned pieces of metal here and there, Lenovo has a front edge even sharper and it feels not finished – I went over it with a file and it helped a lot.
Not many USB ports around the body anymore, but I’m already ready with a USB 3 mini-hub. Docking station is very handy, but costly. Not so long ago, a docking station was around 100 Eur for HP, now it’s double that and even more for Lenovo. Not sure whether USB-C/Thunderbolt is to blame… I just want more ports and easy grab’n’go operation.
Functions
HP notebook has better display, hands down. It’s brighter, more vivid and – the most important thing – it doesn’t dim depending on the scene. This auto-dimming “feature” is something I don’t like at all. I didn’t like it on my Samsung TV or on mum’s older (also Samsung) TV, I don’t like it on any non-Samsung TV and I also don’t like it on this Lenovo notebook. When I switch from dark IDE to white-background web page, it’s visibly gray at first. Why? I don’t need darker black. I want normal white. I want normal contrast, not a fake one. I Googled a lot but found no way to fix that dimming. And I tried many ways – Windows settings, drivers, Lenovo stuff… nothing worked.
But then there is the HP keyboard that lacks the Insert key. Sure, for some, it may be the most useless key of all, but for me it was replaced by three other keys that have no function out of the box at all. There is an option to use numpad 0 – but only if you don’t use the numpad for numbers. Or you can use Fn+E. So now, when I want to switch to the column mode in IDEA, instead of Alt+Shift+Insert, I “simply” press Alt+Shift+Fn+E. Really?!
Lenovo has a much better keyboard overall, it is easily accessible even for a freak like me using the side of a palm to press Ctrl. This is not easily possible on the HP keyboard that is more sunk in. Also the action of the keys is much better on Lenovo. Lenovo, on the other hand, has strange keys above the numpad that would be more useful if implemented properly. For example, there is the equals key but it emulates the key where equal sign really is – and when I switch the keyboard layout, it works the same way like the original equals key (e.g. dead diacritics key on Slovak layout). That’s strange. Because these keys have no own codes they can’t be reassigned either. But at least they are out of way most of the time.
Both models had backlit keyboards and I can’t stress how useful this is in low-lit rooms.
Both notebooks have trackpoint, which is interesting, especially for HP. Lenovo implementation is better as it also has the middle/scroll button (which was reportedly missing in previous models to a big uproar from long-term Lenovo users).
Conclusion
Both are good notebooks. Personally, I like the Lenovo better more – mostly for its keyboard (including Insert) and overall feel. But it’s very close and HP has better build and design, it’s thinner, has better display – and doesn’t auto-dim!
But I was happy with either of these. Luckily, the amount of “improvements” was minimal (missing Insert was the most stupid of them), not like some cheaper Lenovo where you couldn’t switch Fn keys to work normally (for me) or other Lenovo where they decided to move keys around completely. These are both good PC notebooks where good old is there with all the exciting new stuff. Just please, the edges where hands rest… make them rounder!
I can’t compare it to Apple, I’m not a Mac user, so I don’t know how they dealt with the function touch bar (or how they call it). I know they can polish things, so perhaps there is a way to offer new, even revolutionary, keyboard changes and still let us work the old way when we need it. But Mac is another story.
So there you go. Good notebooks for roughly 1000 Euros. Not most performant, not a gaming notebook for sure – but good solid enterprise notebooks that… if not appeal, at least don’t insult a developer. Definitely more than you need for common office work.