Help deciding between m4400 and M6400 (both with QX9300)

Now I am using T60P which is smaller size than m4400, but my next mobileworkstation will be the M6500.
Suggest you that choose M6400.

 

OK guys, things are a bit more interesting now ... I got my M6400 / M4400 like discussed in this thread (specs listed in op). After reviewing the two I agree that the smaller form factor of m4400 is a real plus. The centered keyboard without the num pad and sleeker design are very nice. So I have decided to go with the M4400 however it does not get over here.

I also bought a M4400 with a T9900 processor and 2CCFL. It was about $550 cheaper than the other M4400 with QX9300 and RGB LED. I am comparing the two. The RGB LED is really nice. The glare is not bad at all in fact imo it is insignificant. Color gamut difference is subtle to my non pro usage but still the screen looks very crisp compared to slightly washed out 2CCFL.

Before I send one back, I wanted to get an opinion from you guys about the two.... should I take the T9900 and save $550 or should I get the QX9300 + RGBLED.

savings become less significant if the difference in performance compared to QX9300 is significant.

I want to get the quad but I am finding it hard to convince myself that it is what I need for my usage.

I could spend the $550 towards the dual monitor dock and additional hard drive setup.

Percomp / Christoph, What say you?

 

I think I can't really help you on that.
Personally, I never had the need for much storage (aside from backup storage) and prefer using multiple machines instead of docking stations, but let me give you some thoughts anyway:

• If you're using Photoshop exclusively for graphics that will be electronically displayed (as opposed to editing photos), you will not need the big color gamut of the RGBLED screen. For example, most of the users of your websites will have a screen with a much smaller color gamut, so if you're not careful and don't know what you're doing (how to use color profiles), you may end up creating graphics that will look washed out and boring on most screens.
• The Quadcore will give your system improved snappiness while VMs are running.
  Edit 02dez2009-2224:
• If you're using the Windows photo viewer to compare the screens, press F11 to go to fullscreen mode. In windowed mode, Windows' photo viewer does not use the full color gamut. This will make the photos appear more natural, but you might not be able to spot the difference between the screens as easy.
• Before viewing a movie on the RGBLED screen using Windows Media Center, open up the NVIDIA Control Panel from the Windows Control Panel. In the "Video & Television" section (may be called different, I'm translating this from German to English) select "Edit video color settings". On that page, select the "Advanced" tab, and as "dynamic range" select "Full (0-255)". Similar to the picture thing above, this will make movies played in Windows Media Center (and Windows Media Player I suppose, and possibly but not necessarily some other video software, for example Quicktime/iTunes won't be affected by this) play with full color gamut. This will mean less natural colors in movies, but much better colors and much, much better blacks, which (in my humble opinion) is very nice especially in dark movies.

 

Get the M6500

 

Thanks Christoph. That actually brings out the true use of RGB and in my case pretty much wont be used since I am not pro enough with color profiles and neither will I watch movies on that PC. For the most part it will be connected to 2 external monitors one being cinema display. So for the purpose of my comparison RGBLED is out .. now it boils down to spending $550 extra for QX9300 over T9900 or not?

You sound the most knowledgeable about these devices ... Can you also let me know if I can later upgrade this to core i7?

 

Actually I would, but it will be a while before they hit the outlet and my budget is for outlet laptop only. Similar configuration on M6500 will be way over $3000

Btw, I do have a $1700 M6400 that I am retruning ... original purpose of this post ... it has Qx9300 with SSD drive.

 

I think it depends on how much you'd want to save the $550. Ofcourse the quad is faste but the T9900 is plenty for most apps...i do 3D rendereing with less and it's fast enough for even that.

 

T9900 M4400 costs ~$1100.
With QX9300, it would cost 50% more.

Think of it this way, if you get the QX9300; then to get the next gen laptop (after the M4400), you would need to wait 50% more time than if you were to get the T9900.
Eg., you could either keep the T9900 laptop for two years; or keep the QX9300 laptop for 3 years to justify the 50% extra cost.

 

Thanks wearetheborg, that puts the cost in a different perspective.
I am newbie here and I am amazed by the responses I get from the community, I don't know how I was doing without it for all these years.

 

You can NOT upgrade this to Core i7.