Need some help; E6500 maybe?

Hi guys, just registered and need some guidance.
My boss has agreed to buy me a new laptop as soon as the clock ticks into 2010. Our company has a Dell only policy; which is fine by me. My existing Latitude has done me well for 5 years now.

So hears the deal; I'm a software developer that knows little about the pros and cons of modern computers. My needs are simple; I lose a lot of time waiting for applications to compile and launch. Because I often have several sessions of Visual Studio open as well as SQL manager, Outlook etc, my performance problems seem to be more related to resources and hard drive speed. Compilation is not too bad but the time to launch gets to be an issue.

I'm looking at a E6500 with T9600 processor, 4.0GB of memory and 250GB hard drive running at 7200rpm.

What I'm not concerned about is battery life, screen size, weight, wireless speed, speakers, microphone, appearance etc.

What I do need is portability so I can debug problems on the shop floor, lots of USB ports and, most importantly, reliability.

So, is this a good choice?
Is the M2400 a viable alternative? (extra $)
Is the T9600 a good choice?
Will I have overheating problems?
Am I missing something?

Your opinions would be much appreciated.

OldBrit

 

e6400 ;-)
get an ssd
get a p series

 

I selected the T9600 because Dell suggests that it drains batteries faster at the benefit of improved performance. Is there a reason that you suggest the P series?

What is a ssd?

 

P series processors are basically identical to their T series counterparts but they have a lower TDP (typically 25W instead of 35W). I believe you can undervolt the a T series processor to get the power consumption to a P series processor level but then you have to deal with the software required to do so and there's also no guarantee as to how much it will be able to undervolt.

So if a P series processor can fit your needs, I recommend getting it.

SSD - Solid state drive.

I don't think there's much of a difference between the Precision and Latitude lineup for the smaller models besides different video card options.
The E6500 has a WUXGA screen as an option. If you want a ultra high resolution display, I recommend the E6500. Otherwise, the E6400 would be my pick.

If you need some serious power, there's also the Precision M4400 with a quad-core CPU. Add in an Intel SSD and you'll have a blazing fast system.

 

Thanks WSX,
Power consumption is not really an issue to me unless you are suggesting that it will cause me other problems. Is there really any benefit to the T series other than Dell's claim that it improves performance?

Got the ssd abbreviation. I'm a little nervous about it because I've read that they deteriorate with read/writes. From what I've read it seems like disk access is probably the most critical feature for me. Any further help would be appreciated.

High resolution is definitely a bonus but I don't want a non-standard screen size because my users end up getting code that doesn't fit the screen correctly. I try to avoid this but my existing Latitude has this issue.

I'll check out the M4400 but I suspect that it's too expensive.

 

Picking a T series processor will only improve performance if its clock speed is greater than that of a P series processor. For example, a P9600 runs at 2.667Ghz and has 6MB of cache. The T9550 runs at 2.667Ghz and has 6MB of cache. They will both perform the same and the only difference between them is power consumption.

The highest clocked P series processor available is the P9700 (2.8Ghz) and the highest clocked T series processor is the T9900 (3.066Ghz). So, the T series processors offer improved performance if you get one that's clocked higher than any of the P series processors (assuming the cache is the same).

Since you're not concerned about battery life, the T9600 should be a solid choice.

SSD's do have a limited read/write cycles but they are high enough so that by the time you have to worry about it, you've already replaced it with something faster and cheaper. They aren't exactly cheap right now, so you'll have to determine whether or not the hard drive is enough of a bottleneck to justify the costs.

 

Ok, got it.
What threw me was that the E6500 is only offered with the P8800 @ 2.66Ghz. It then jumps to the T9600 @ 2.8Ghz or the T9900 @ 3.06Ghz

The E6400 has the option for a P9700 @ 2.8Ghz so in essence I can get the same performance if I chop 1" of the screen size. Price is almost identical.

Seems like the E6400 with P processor is the way to go. Funny, isn't that what MDR8850 said in half a dozen words! I just needed to have it explained.

Thanks guys.

 

Looking into this a little further I realized that I have this option:
1) Order a 64Gb SSD drive that I can load up with the OS and all my critical apps. This will add $100
2) Purchase the newmodeus caddy ($49) and install a Western Digital 320Gb 7200rpm SATA drive ($85) Model WD3200BJKT. I can then place databases, source code etc here.

This ups the price by $234 but gives me plenty of capacity. I hardly ever use/burn CD/DVDs so the loss of this slot is not critical.

So, is this a good option or is the performance benefit just not worth the hassle?

 

its a great option, an SSD makes everything really fast. However make sure you read about the SSD degradation issues.

 

You have two problems.

Slow compiling. Get the fastest dual core you can afford that come with a 6MB lv2 cache. Don't go for the lower ones. Does not matter whether it is a T, P, SP, if heat and power consumption is not your concern. Your HDD speed does not matter here.

Many apps open, slow when opening test build. Get an Intel x-25-M Gen2 sdd. About 220 bucks. Estimated to fail after 5 years of writing and deleting 20GB everyday. Extremely fast, and technology to minimize wear. Performance is expected not to reduce anymore than 10% of initial bran new performance. Your CPU speed does not matter here.