Hello!
I currently have a Macbook Pro 14" (2023, M2 Pro) but I am looking to get a Framework to carry around in tandem since I need a windows machine occasionally and I want to tinker with NixOS more easily. I’ve also just wanted a Framework for a while because they’re awesome but didn’t quite have justification until now.
Right now, I am stuck between the Core Ultra 7 155H and Ryzen 7840U mainboards. This leads me to my first question:
Thunderbolt 4/USB 4 support
I have a Dell WD22TB4 dock that I use to charge/dock my MacBook. While the Dell product page only makes mentions of TB4, my MBP shows it as connected over USB4 in System Information.
I am aware that the Intel mainboards have full TB4 support which AFAIK implies USB4; forgive me if this is obvious but do the Ryzen boards have full USB4 support?
One possible solution/compromise for this is that my monitor (ViewSonic ColorPro VP2785-2K) supports DisplayPort over USB-C and has a USB hub so that would work as a fallback, though undesirable because the supported charging is only 15W, compared to 90W for the dock
Performance vs Price
From reading articles about the CPUs and posts on this forum, I gather that they are very similar in performance with Ryzen often coming out on top for power efficiency and better multicore performance.
The main gotcha for me here is that for the same* price as a Core 7 Ultra 155H system with 16Gb (2x8GB) of RAM, I could get the Ryzen 7840U board with 32GB (2x16Gb). This looks like it would also tip the scales towards Ryzen performance wise.
*same is used loosely here; +/- $20
Battery Life
This isn’t as critical for me since my MBP will stay as my main machine for the foreseeable future, but I would like to be able to trust that this machine will go to sleep and hold a charge relatively well.
It’s worth noting here that this system would be booted into NixOS most of the time, with Windows only getting use when I need it.
Conclusion
If TB4/USB4 wasn’t part of this criteria, the a Ryzen unit would probably already be on its way to my doorstep given the comparable performance for a lower cost.
Thank you to any and all who lend their expertise!