Buying a Lenovo ThinkPad T490? Skip the 2020 model and go with the 2019 model instead

[Redaktion]

Save yourself a few hundred dollars without sacrificing all that much processor performance. The brand new Intel 10th gen Core i7-10510U isn't all that much faster than the older Core i7-8565U or i7-8665U that Lenovo has been offering since early last year.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Buying-a-Lenovo-ThinkPad-T490-Skip-the-2020-model-and-go-with-the-2019-model-instead.456029.0.html

[A]

Why not just wait a few month for the Ryzen model instead? The difference is pretty large.

[Ales K.]

I felt the same way about T480 and T490. The CPU difference was negligible and not worth the RAM and PowerBridge tradeoff.

The T14 with AMD seems exciting, though.

[doipo]

Do not worry. Intel will release a few security patches for the older model to ensure the newer one is faster by a good margin soon.

[AKSHAY NITIN SHETYE]

Point made by author is right but how on Earth no one is concerned about the loads of vulnerabilities found in 8th 9th gen intel CPUs? Only 10th gen CPUs are securely patched at hardware level against recently discovered vulnerabilities including deadliest meltdown Spectre.

Although 8th 9th gen cpu got the firmware patches but thats just a work around. Which significantly reduces cpu performance and also it doesn't ensure 100% security from these vulnerabilities. That's the reason 10th gen cpus cost more. Its bcz they are more secure, faster.

[Dan Ridenhour]

While your at it skip the 2019 model and go with the 2018.   A lot more flexibility that wasn't worth the mm here and there to lose.    The T480/T580 series were the last T series worth buying in my book.   Maybe the new Ryzen model will redeem them as far as performance but they became an also ran with a good keyboard in 2019 and doubled down on it for 2020.

[Anonym]

Point made by author is right but how on Earth no one is concerned about the loads of vulnerabilities found in 8th 9th gen intel CPUs? Only 10th gen CPUs are securely patched at hardware level against recently discovered vulnerabilities including deadliest meltdown Spectre.

Although 8th 9th gen cpu got the firmware patches but thats just a work around. Which significantly reduces cpu performance and also it doesn't ensure 100% security from these vulnerabilities. That's the reason 10th gen cpus cost more. Its bcz they are more secure, faster.

This, so much this! There are new vulnerabilities discovered in the AMD predictors (see ASIA CCS), but those should be patched in the next microcode update. Intel has new serious security issues with the older silicon that cannot be patched, I wouldn't buy an enterprise machine knowing that those vulnerabilities are there and cannot be fixed, EVER.

With all this said, the 2020 AMD versions are looking very good this time around. That octacore CPU in a ultrabook is a beast!