Question KEEP i7 YOGA 9i and RYZEN 9 ASUS G14 OR WAIT FOR ALDER LAKE / RAPTOR LAKE AND DDR5

[sbansban]

My 2012 model 3rd Gen. Intel i5, 16 GB (maxed out) Lenovo X230 bought in mid 2014 is still running fine and is my primary PC. I even do a good bit of image-editing on it every once in a while, and while some Topaz AI programs like Sharpen AI or Gigapixel AI take a while on it, I have been living with it. After 7.5 years I wanted to check out some new laptops and splurged on a Yoga 9i Shadow Black 2-in1 touch-enabled 4K model with i7, 16 GB soldered RAM and another laptop, an ASUS G14 Zephyrus gaming laptop (though I am NOT a gamer) with Ryzen 9 5000HS and 16 GB RAM (upgradeable to 40 GB) and a discrete NVIDIA GeForce GTX 3060 GPU with 6 GB dedicated VRAM. The latter is lightning quick wih the aforementioned Topaz programs, and the Yoga 9i is quite an improvement as well. The Yoga 9i also has excellent audio and is a convertible touch-enabled 2-in-1 with 4K display. I paid about $1300 for each laptop (both promptly upgraded to Windows 11) and believe that the price point is really attractive.

While both are substantial improvements over my existing Lenovo X230, and I was planning to kep them, I am now having second thoughts in view of the fact that my X230 (though not upgradeable to Windows 11, and neither is my other i3 desktop from 2016) is still going strong and Alder Lake (possibly Raptor Lake, if I wait a bit longer) plus DDR5 are around the corner. I am still within the extended holiday return period, and I am wondering if I should hold on to my hard-earned $2600 for a year or two, and get what might be far better and more advanced laptops, especially as I really wanted mimimum 32 GB RAM (preferably 64 GB) on both. The ASUS G14, though upgradeable to 40 GB RAM, will only run 16 of the 40 GB in dual channel mode. The 14-inch Yoga 9i is quite thin and light at 3.1 lbs and 0.6-inches, and the ASUS G14, though quite small by gaming laptop standards, is about 3.6 lbs and thicker and bigger than I would have liked. My question is, will it be worth my while to wait a year or two, maybe even 3 years, for one or two state of the art laptops (one, preferably a Lenovo Thinkpad) with all the bells or whistles and whether I will be able to snag two comparable laptops (one well-specced ultra-portable for everyday use including frequent amateur image-processing and travel like the Yoga 9i and another, top-of-the-line portable reasonably thin-and-light image-processing beast like the Ryzen 9-powered ASUS G14 AT A COMPARABLE PRICE POINT.

 

[Landr5]

Both of the laptops that you purchased are pretty high end and you likely have an empty memory module slot on both. If this is the case I would recommend buying a matching memory module to double the memory. If it doesn't have an SSD or the drive is cheap (slow read write times) you can gain a lot of performance by upgrading the drive. I would pursue those options before shelling out $2600.

 

[sbansban]

Hi Landr5, thanks for your response. The memory in the Yoga 9i is not upgradeable and I have already mentioned the memory in the ASUS G14 can be upgraded from 16 GB to 40 GB with only 16 GB of the 40 GB available in dual-channel mode. Both have SSD's. My question is not so much how to improve performance on these two but rather whether I should wait for newer laptops that will be released with Intel Gen 12 Alder Lake or Gen 13 Raptor Lake as well as DDR5. Trying to get an idea of how long I may have to wait until consumer laptops with these technologies become mainstream after having worked out any kinks. Right now I can get by on my existing Lenovo X230 and hold out if I am guaranteed to get much better value for my money in a few years.

 

[mrmike16]

Hi Landr5, thanks for your response. The memory in the Yoga 9i is not upgradeable and I have already mentioned the memory in the ASUS G14 can be upgraded from 16 GB to 40 GB with only 16 GB of the 40 GB available in dual-channel mode. Both have SSD's. My question is not so much how to improve performance on these two but rather whether I should wait for newer laptops that will be released with Intel Gen 12 Alder Lake or Gen 13 Raptor Lake as well as DDR5. Trying to get an idea of how long I may have to wait until consumer laptops with these technologies become mainstream after having worked out any kinks. Right now I can get by on my existing Lenovo X230 and hold out if I am guaranteed to get much better value for my money in a few years.

I think you should wait.
From what I understood from other members here on other posts, including my own, is that the next generation will be less affected by the pandemic than the current generation with its shortage of parts. That means you will have more options available and a much better price - more bang for your buck.

Also - If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I'm using a tablet as my main PC (MS Surface 3). As much as I want to be able to use my computer for more demanding tasks, I find that it's a want more than a need and that it just wouldn't be worth it to replace my computer while it is still functioning just fine as a PC, especially when docked.

 

[sbansban]

Hi Mike,

What you're saying makes a lot of sense. I have to upgrade within the next 3/4 years because my current device cannot be upgraded to Win 11 and Win 10 support ends October 2025. So I am wondering about the right time to pull the trigger. One might think the later, the better. If Raptor Lake is introduced beginning 2023, will DDR5 and Raprtor Lake laptops work out all their kinks and become mainstream sometime in 2024? Or will it be 2025?

 

[mrmike16]

Hi Mike,

What you're saying makes a lot of sense. I have to upgrade within the next 3/4 years because my current device cannot be upgraded to Win 11 and Win 10 support ends October 2025. So I am wondering about the right time to pull the trigger. One might think the later, the better. If Raptor Lake is introduced beginning 2023, will DDR5 and Raprtor Lake laptops work out all their kinks and become mainstream sometime in 2024? Or will it be 2025?

I thought the same thing about my tablet. But in the end, by 2025 we may be very close to seeing Windows 12 already. That is in addition to the fact that we don't really know Microsoft will stand by that date. So many people will probably complain that they can't upgrade and so either MS will make 11 available on more systems or they will extent 10's lifetime like they did with XP and (I think) 7. So in my opinion there is no rush to upgrade.
As you said, the later the better. As time goes on, more bugs are fixed and driver updates are released.