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    Lenovo W500 versus Dell M4400, Please Help

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by Paul386, Dec 20, 2008.

  1. Paul386

    Paul386 Notebook Evangelist

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    Well I was trying to buy the M4400 a few days back and the call dropped with the rep and she never called me back. So this gave me time to take a look at the W500 again and I was pleased to find that they had the P9500 offered, so now I am having difficulty deciding which to get.

    I will be using the laptop for a lot of CAD work. I do finite element analysis, CAM programming, and part design using CATIA v5r17. I also use MATLAB and Simulink. So CPU, memory, and videocard performance are quite important to me. However I also travel around a lot and I would be bringing this laptop around from the office to the machine shop several times a day, so it needs to be rugged.

    What I like about the W500 is that it has the switchable graphics so that it will run cooler and save battery life when graphics power is not an issue. I also like the fact that it has the lower power consumption and higher performance DDR3 memory. Finally, I like that it can be configured with the low power P9500 processor (2.53Ghz, 1066Mhz FSB, 6MB L2, 25W).

    The M4400 also has some key advantages, mainly the excellent screen (WUXGA RGB LED) and the graphics cards (Nvidia FX770) which I imagine is more powerful that the one found in the W500. The backlit keyboard also is pretty nice and everyone seems to like it.

    I plan on purchasing my own memory and my own SSD drive. I also have Windows Vista Ultimate on hand so I plan on configuring with the lowest option. Here is how I would buy each and the price I would buy them for:

    W500

    P9500 (2.53Ghz, 1066Mhz FSB, 6MB L2, 25W)
    Windows Vista Home Basic
    15.4" WXSGA+ (1680x1050) CCFL
    ATI Mobility FireGL V5700 512MB + Intel X4500M Hybrid
    1GB DDR3-1066 (1 DIMM)
    160GB 5400RPM SATA HDD
    CD-RW / DVD-ROM
    Integrated Bluetooth
    Intel Wifi Link 5300
    6 cell Lithium Ion
    3 year warranty upgrade

    $1284.83


    M4400:

    T9400 (2.53Ghz, 1066Mhz FSB, 6MB L2, 35W)
    Windows Vista Business
    15.4" WUXGA (1920x1200) RGB-LED Glossy
    Nvidia Quadro FX 770M 512MB
    1GB DDR2-800 (2 DIMM)
    80GB 5400RPM SATA HDD
    DVD Burner
    Integrated Bluetooth
    Intel Wifi Link 5300
    Backlit keyboard
    6 cell battery
    3 year warranty

    $1881


    Clearly the W500 is a lot cheaper. But is the M4400 worth the extra $600?
     
    Paul386, Dec 20, 2008
    #1