Need help choosing Quadro FX 2500M or 1500M for a new M90

I'm about to order a Dell M90, so need some help with configuring it. I have pretty much everything selected, except for the gfx card.

My current machine is a Dell M60. It's my work machine, on which I run 3ds max, Photoshop, Premiere as well as Visual Studio and Office apps. Since I do design work, I also lug around the laptop to meetings to show off mockups and finished designs. Also, while the M60 was still powerful enough, I also had a parallel, minimal Windows install for gaming in my spare time.
I use a D/Port port replicator at my desk at work and I also have another one at home, for hooking up to my personal monitor, keyboard and mouse. Still, most of the time when I use (surfing/email) the M60 at home I'm on the couch, with the PC on my lap.

So...

My main requirement for the M90 is to have as good graphics performance as possible, but still have enough battery life to be able to make it through a meeting without a power brick. I've heard that the power brick for the M90 is quite large and bulky, but never seen any pictures of one.

At work I use a Dell 2001FP monitor (1600x1200) and at home a 2005FPW (1680x1050). I'm looking to replace the work monitor with a 2407FPW (1920x1200). So my docked working resolutions are quite high, but I choose to have the same DPI on the laptop screen, so that resolution is naturally lower (see spec below).

My current M90 config would look like this:
2.0GHz CPU
2 GB RAM
100GB 7200rpm HDD
WXGA+ display (too bad WSXGA+ isn't available )
Intel wireless
Dell Bluetooth
DVD/RW

- The Big Question: Quadro FX 2500M vs 1500M?

- Is there a significant difference in battery life using the 2500M or 1500M? 100W vs 45W seems to indicate, but the performance of the 2500M seems so sweet... (note that I rarely use 3D apps when not docked/plugged in)

- ...and how about "real-world" performance differences? Any comments? I.e. is the 1500M 'enough' for my needs?

- Since the M90 has a larger powerbrick, do the power bricks for my D/Ports have to be swapped as well? If so, also if using the 1500M?

- I'd like a pretty quiet machine as well, but have understood that this is quite good regardless of configuration on the M90?

Any help you can provide would be much appreciated. I have to spec out this machine yesterday and then live with it for the next 3-4 years, so I'm naturally a bit anal about getting the best combination possible.

Thanks!

 

Comparing the FX 1500M to the FX 2500M is like comparing a Go7900GS to a Go7900GTX, since those are the cards they are based on. The difference is not huge. I'd say a 20% difference (roughly), give or take. The performance of both cards is so high already, that unless you are running extremely demanding applications, the difference will not be very noticable.
Given that the Go7900GS (FX 1500M) is one of the fastest cards in the notebook market and can handle anything, I'll let you decide whether it is worth it to get the FX 2500M.

 

I've yet to be disappointed in anyway with my 1500M. I also have the WXGA+ but I have only 1GB of RAM. And I run F.E.A.R. at native res all settings at max besides AA with virtually no hiccups. And to be honest, I know that RAM is my bottleneck. That game just tears up the virtual paging file when I get lag. Battery life is pretty good in my opinion. I get 3+ hours a lot of times surfing the web. No complaints considering my old 14" gets about an hour. If you had the WUXGA screen, I would say go for 2500M for top of the line gaming. But considering you have WXGA+, the 1500M should give you plenty of power for everything you need. I also run SolidEdge better than my schools Precision Desktops btw with 16xAA turned on throught the Control Panel.

 

Well, everything else being equal I'd like as much horsepower I can get, as long as my battery life is still good enough and I'm not forced to carry a huge power brick around. I'm already conditioned by my M60 to run 3D apps when docked and stay 2D when not.

I think I understand the basic performance difference between the two cards now, but what's not clear is the *concrete* drawbacks of getting the more powerhungry 2500M?

Most of the time the M90 would be docked, using one of the monitors I described above. So primarily, this is a desktop replacement. Also, I'm planning to use the laptop's own display as secondary when docked.

 

With me, I will go for Quadro FX 2500M and 9 Cells battery. The Quadro 2500M is perfect for 3D application with 512mb on it so I think you dont have to upgrade it for about more than 1 year .

 

After paying for a 2500m i'd hope it would last for more than a year!!! infact that should last 3 years.

 

I agree I would go with 9 cell battery and quadro fx 2500m

 

Doesn't the M90 always come with a 9 cell battery?
Or do you mean get an additional 9 cell battery? You can't have two batteries in the M90 at the same time, though?

How long have you been able to use your M90 (and with what gfx card) running on batteries?

Does anyone have some experience regarding using the M90 with the D/Port? (see my original post)

Thanks for all the help so far. Keep the advice coming!

 

I think with the M90 dell only gives you the option for the 9 cell. It gets around 3hrs max battery life. I suppose you could burn the battery in 1:30 or less. Those of you considering an M90 do check dell outlet. Some of them are going for around 40-50% off!

 

Using the 1500M I can get over 3 hours of battery life surfing the net with the screen dimmed two or three notches. I took it to class one day and did some work in SolidEdge and got over two hours unplugged, dimmed three notches down. Unplugged and downclocked, the 1500M was spanking the newer Dell desktops with P4 HTs and 64MB FireGLs. The 1500M is plenty powerful enough for me. Would the 2500M be nice? Sure. But at the expense of price and battery life? I'm happy with what I got.