Trying to decide between System76 or Thinkpad?

[sidewayset]

Hello everyone,

I am new around here. I am getting into pentesting for career and was looking around to get a laptop which will run my kali and be primary portable attack station. I have come down to System76 or Lenovo and I would appreciate some help in choosing the brand and the laptop.

I am most likely going to be doing all sorts of dev work as well, so the pc will run either 2 linux os or windows & kali to support this. I am thinking 500gb on each (ssd) + 1TB hard drive for each (2tb) either internal or external.

What I am not sure is which brand is better and how much I should invest.

For System 76:

• They allow for heavy customizations.
• I am looking into Seval WS or Bonobo WS customized
• I would prefer 17inch
• After some upgrades
  
  • Ram: 16GB DD4 2666mhz
  • Storage: 1TB SSD NVMe + 2TB HDD
  • CPU: 8086k
  • GPU: 1070 nvidia
  • They end up around 3500-3800$

For Lenovo Thinkpad:

• I heard that their quality is better. I have Thinpad 480s for work, so they are not bad
• The problem is that the system cannot be as powerfull even after customization like System 76
• Model Carbon X1 6th gen I get
  
  • CPU: 8650u
  • Ram: 16gb 2133mhz DDR3
  • HDD: 1TB SSD Nvme but I will need external hard drive for anything else
  • GPU: Intel internal
  • Comes about : 2000-2300$

Questions

1. I am looking for long-term investment here, so is saving up $1500 worth giving up the performance? Or in other words would you justify spending $1500 more for the performance increase?
2. Anyone know if system 76 is reliable? I read some negative reviews saying that their build quality is not good? Any experience with them?
3. I read that thinkpad is fine with linux but some have problems, any experiences here?

So essentially,

Should I spend more and get system76 or save up and get thinkpad?
Usage: Pentesting + Devs

[grid]

I have a Thinkpad L530 (8gb RAM and Intel i7-3520M CPU) that works well for me. It's dual boot Windows 7/Kali. No Linux compatibility issues to date. USB 3 port is handy for wireless work in the 2.4 and 5 ghz range.

[xFadedxShadow]

I would save up for the system76 only cause it'll be a lot more useful in the future and also it won't be as slow as the other one you want something quick, long lasting and reliable!

[kentj]

It really depends on your need in the field.

I'm doing just fine on a Thinkpad T420 for field work running Kali, with 300 GB SSD, and 16 GB RAM.

But for lab work and virtualization, i run a HP Z420 Octa core, with 32 GB RAM, 2 x 2 TB harddrive. I think in the lab, it's really nice to have some horse power to burn, but in the field, i really don't have no use for it.
So, I would always go for the thinkpad, simply because it can be trusted, and spare parts are always easy to get, almost anywhere

just my 2c

[Net Storm]

if you going to upgrade you wifi card in lenovo good luck its withe listed and the bios its locked

i learned that hard way