T61's Quadro NVS 140m

Hey everyone, first time posting here.

Through a fair bit of research and co-workers convincing me, I am considering a 14.1" T61 notebook for my next notebook purchase. I will mostly be using this notebook as an all around tool and game (cs/wc3/soon sc2) occasionally. I was wondering if anybody has any experience with the specified notebook computer/graphics card would share their experience.

Note: I currently have a 2.16GHz Macbook with Intel GMA950 and I am wondering if I will have a significant boost with the Quadro.

Your input is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

kd

 

it's working station version of 8400GS, I am sure you can run those games well.
and yes it will be a hugh boost compare to your GMA950. 8400GS score roughly 6 times more in 3dmark05

 

If we use the benchmarks from Notebookcheck.net

The x3100 benched 642 on 3dmark06 and the Quadro 1610—roughly 2.5x better.

These game benchmarks will give you a better idea of how well the Quadro performs:

Quake 3 Arena - Timedemo (Max Settings at 1024x768): 174 FPS

F.E.A.R. (Max Settings @ 1024x768): 14 FPS

F.E.A.R. (Max Settings @ 1024x768): 31 FPS

Here's some more information about the Quadro cards from Paul. The original thread is here.

 

As for the notebook, the T61 itself, I highly recommend it.

Keep in mind, that by going with a dedicated graphics option, you will lose a decent amount of battery life. As a casual gamer, I find the x3100 more than suits my needs and can play CS and WC3 well at high resolutions.

In addition, new drivers come out monthly, which typically increase benchmark and gaming performance. The lastest 15.9 drivers actually made the x3100 DirectX 10 capable.

Given that Blizzard's games have always been fairly compatible with older graphics cards, it's safe to say that Starcraft 2 should be playable with the x3100 albeit at lower settings.

 

Thanks for the input; it really gave me more understanding of what the NVS 140m can do. However, I'm still concerned about the heat that is produced by the Thinkpad.

I currently have a 2.16 GHz (Merom) Macbook and I can now say that this little machine puts out quite the heat. When ever I watch a movie/youtube flash video, the temperature would rise from a 35*C idle to a 72*C peak. Also, when the temperature reaches 45*C-81*C the fans will roar. I found this to be troublesome because I attend lectures that allow water drops to be heard.

I believe I will lean towards a 14.1" T61 with the Quadro NVS 140m.

 

kdhar I understand what you meant. internal of Thinkpad might got hot, but I can assure you that you won't feel them through palm rest. Thinkpad did excellent job for heat isolating. (so is my new sager )
my t43p hitted 93C for need for speed: most wanted, but I can never noticed the heat physically.