Custom T430 vs W520

Hi.

I'm thinking of replacing the E420 to a new computer. At first I thought about the new thinkpads, but I do not like design and price ... Dell XPS 15 seemed perfect, but then I thought that this computer for a year or two will be worth nothing (better to stick with PC for gaming or eGPU).

I found that I go through oldschool. On a daily basis I work in AutoCAD, sometimes I model and render in free Blender (but very rare). I deal with a photograph. The only plus nowdays computers is the fact that each time they get better panels. Acer N15 have very good one for a mobile pc.

I had the idea to buy used W520 (to see if it actually quadro GPU gives you wings in 3d environment and some slighty gaming) or w530 (I read that it have worse FHD panel than W520).

The second idea is the T430 with nvs 5200, quad 3632 qm, 16 gbof ram and replacing the screen on the X1 Carbon 2012 - the only question is which color gamut is the screen? Nowhere can I find, I know x230 (also an option) is 63% sRGB, which is a bit inadequate. sorry for potato english.

 

w520 all the way. I don't do any heavy 3d design, but the 4 core/8 thread, and 4 ram slots has saved me tons of time when I render stuff, edit convert videos, run my vms, and saving time is a huge plus. To me time is the ultimate currency. Only thing better about the t430 is footprint/weight. w520 gets native 1080p, old school keyboard, batteries are cheaper to buy (no chip), 4 core/8thread, better gpu. It still performs exceptionally in 2016 and probably for a few more years.

 

Thanks. I do mostly autocad 2dso yeah... Lightroom photoshop is more about ram and cpu. ANd im still doing it on e420 pluged to good eizo screen ... Will buy w520/2530 - thanks!

 

Guys can i swap german keyboard in w520 to US with out any problems?

 

Should be a straight swap, you can also use the one for: T410, T410i, T410s, T410si, T510, W510, T420, T420i, T420s, T420si, T520. They use the same keyboard.

However make sure the laptop isn't powered on when you swap the keyboard, remove battery and power supply to be safe. Remember to change the keyboard layout in Windows afterwards.

Then you may eBay the original keyboard for some bucks in return.

 

Thanks. Now i have to find some color calibrator or good profile for fhd panel and im set.