M6500 for VMware + Visual Studio 2008/2010: A good idea?

Hello guys,

I'm looking to purchase a powerful notebook for my development needs. I use MS Visual Studio 2008 (in a VMware virtual machine), currently running on my DELL Precision T7400 desktop workstation (Dual Intel Xeon X5482, 3.20GHz / 32GB RAM / 4 x 300GB SAS HD with 15,000rpm). This thing is a pleasure to work with, everything just flies, even when multiple virtual machines are running at same time.

In next months I need to spend some time developing and testing at my customer's site. Now I need something comparable to my T7400 in means of performance, but portable. My first idea was, of course, a M6500. It seems to be a very powerful beast. However, until now I have no experience with such "mobile workstations". Can this thing really deliver what it promises?

Here is my configuration:
* Core i7-820QM (1.73GHz - 3.06GHz, 8MB Quad Core)
* 16GB RAM
* 2 x 256GB SSD
* 17in WUXGA (1920x1200) Antiglare Silver with RGB Led LCD Panel

Now my questions:
1. Any better "mobile workstations" out there than M6500? Lenovo? Acer?
2. Should I go for Core i7-920XM (2.00GHz, 8MB, Quad Core Extreme)? Here in Germany +580€ (+$770)? Is it worth it?
3. Are SSD a good idea? How about durability (many writes)?
4. Is RGB Led LCD worth a +140€ (+$185) compared to White Led LCD? Any visible differences here?

Your opinions/suggestions/experiences highly appreciated. Thx!

 

1. As far as I know, the M6500 was the best mobile workstation out there when it came out. Lenovo's Thinkpad W700 and HP's Elitebook <something> (don't know the model number by heart) are its main competitors, and if I recall are almost as good (I remember the M6500 could hold 16 GB of RAM while the others could only take 8 GB, not sure if this has changed).

2. I strongly recommend you go with a quad-core CPU because of VMware. However, it doesn't have to be the extreme edition quad, a normal i7 quad CPU should handle your needs quite well.

3. SSDs are a great idea. However, the performance varies significantly from one brand to another, and I think Dell uses Samsung SSDs which are not that good. You might be better off buying the SSDs separately. It is very easy to install them, and it doesn't void your warranty.

4. I followed the official M6500 thread and I think people were extremely impressed with the RGB LED screen. It's not that costly (compared to the total price), so it's probably worth it. The main difference is a better color accuracy. It is a must for photographers and artists.

 

Thx for replying! Can you recommend any other manufacturers/products?

 

My personal knowledge is that OCZ has good SSDs at an affordable price while Intel has the very best, but with a premium price.

However, you will get the best advice by asking in the appropriate sub-forum. Here is the link.

 

From what I have found in the net, the Samsung 256GB SSD seems to be a quite good choice. Intel currently offers only SSDs up to 160GB, but I really need 250GB and more.

 

What about two HDDs in RAID0? supposedly they are comparable in performance to SDDs at this time while 2 SSDs in RAID0 show no performance improvements. I've gathered this info from the forum and am not sure of the truth to it but it's worth considering as you can have 1TB of data in a RAID array with comparable performance for about $180 or you can have 256gb for more.

 

It will depend on type of usage. One of SSDs key advantages is the <1m access times for random reads of data. However, random writes tend to be no better than with an HDD.

Another option is to use a smaller SSD combined with an HDD for bulk storage. This would work if the files that are most frequently read can be located on the SSD.

John

 

Thx guys, I probably will go the 2 x 256GB SSD route. It's the most expensive solution, but it should be the most performant solution too.

Now how about the Samsung 256GB SSD? Your experience? Any better alternatives out there?

 

I've used the Samsung PB22-J SSD and it suffered a major degradation in the write performance prior to installation of the firmware update supporting TRIM. Write speeds are now very respectable although time will tell. Read performance has always been good. I chose this SSD because it combined middle-ranking performance with low power consumption.

It will probably be less expensive to source the SSDs separately unless you can get a good deal from Dell.

John

PS: There is a long thread about SSDs in the hardware forum and Tom's Hardware has a useful set of charts.

 

wow i think i am thinking quite base. i am also vs developer, currently using 2008 but later 2010. so i was thinking to buy a hp envy 16 series with i7 720, 8gb ram 500 gb 7200rpm (costs 1490&#8364; in germany) but after i saw your preferences, i decided to revise my choose i am also from germany, maybe you can suggest me better.
PS, why do u prefer a strong notebook for development. isnt it better to have a monster desktop pc and enough good notebook?