Hello
Read a lot of the recommendations for a Rhino capable laptop. i’ve used most models - except Macs (had a powerbook 140 at some time). But, my last experience is with Lenovos, Toshibas, HPs, Acer. I have a 10year old Acer running (and whining) my CNC and a Lenovo for my work provided by our company (not their best but not their worse laptop option).
So i decided after lots of wait and see to get
An ASUS Vivobook Pro N580GD i7 cpu, 16GB RAM (i’ll extend it later), nvidia 1050 GTX.
I think the battery will be an issue on the go otherwise it gives you at least 2 good hours of life and so far from it’s speed loading Rhino and FF it’s is a pretty decent beast.
Screen resolution could be higher, brighter but it’s very livable. Keyboard is great but looks like a dust intake manifold. As I plan to use it also to drive my CNC I have to consider this including not blocking the cooling intake…
Compared to my usual Lenovo T480s:
The Asus as a bigger screen (so much more comfortable, we’re used to dual 26" screens so it’s a big setback when working from home unless i use ‘my’ 26" for it. Back to the Asus, it has a much faster better spaced keyboard by far and it has a keypad, much better layout (except for the sound keys which require a big hand extension to hit the only Fn button far left along the F11-F12 keys).
Wifi and sound are on another level completely something which drives me nuts on the Lenovo. Price is 50% lower and so might be battery life because of the Asus graphics - compromise but not regreted.
I cant compare graphics because i can’t install anything on the lenovo - not to mention that the silly hardening of the thing is constantly interupting something. Workflow appart, i dboubt it’s comparable to the GTX 1050. Last but not least, i have more usb connectors, inc USB3, HDMI (without the silly connector box of the Lenovo (ok, i can’t drive 2-3 screens but i have a workstation for that). 2KG weight, half of my old laptop, Lenovo might be a tad lighter but with the extra box, extra cable adapters, plus the PS, it’s no match on the go which is not planned.
Overall, very happy so far!
Bonus, sound (by Harman Kardon - give me a break!) is really really good, sound is clean, slightly collored, i guess Harman Kardon did their homework, it’s the best sounding laptop i’ve ever had! So far a joy to use in Rhino although an external mouse is highly recommended. The touch pad is great i forgot to say.
Almost forgot, it’s pretty quiet too.