Thinkpad for a Programmer: T61 or X60?

I'm looking to get a new laptop and I'm having trouble choosing between the T61 and X60 Thinkpad Notebook. Here are the stats I'm looking at for each:

T61:
Core 2 Duo T7300
nVidia Quadro NVS 140M
1 Gig Ram
80 Gig Hard drive
Intel Turbo Memory 1GB
DVD/CD-RW
Thinkpad 11a/b/g/n wireless card
7 cell Li-Ion Battery

X60:
Core Duo L2400 LV
1 Gig Ram
60 Gig Hard Drive
Thinkpad wireless
8 cell Battery


I really like the fact the the X60 has about double the battery life of the T61, but I'm not sure if the X60 will be able to do what I need of it. I do a lot of development work with Eclipse, and I run VMWare quite a bit, anyone know if the X60 will be able to run these programs fast enough, or should I go with the faster, but less mobile T61?

 

I think the Core Duo is fine. Memory and hard drive speed also play a role in overall system performance.

 

I'm a programmer and I'll go with T61 with 15.4" ( T61p ?? ) when available. The current 14.1" screen is a little small for programming i think..

a+

 

You should consider waiting for the new X61 which is slated for release on May 31st. It will have the new Santa Rosa chipset, including the GMA X3100 graphics. You can choose between the X61 (standard voltage cpu, 2-2.2ghz) and the X61s (low voltage cpu, 1.5-1.66 ghz, lighter weight).

 

Why is this?

 

T61 is cheaper than X61 and I don't have a lots of money for my notebook. I'm at university and I programming a lots for my student team.

 

If you don't move too often, I think T 61 is better. 12" is too small to see the codes comfortably.

 

Eclipse will run fine on much older, slower technology.
CPU is a non-issue.

I agree with those who suggest you might want to see more code. So I'd get a 15" (4:3 aspect, and *not* widescreen) for programming with SXGA+ 1400x1050.

Or else a 14.1" SXGA+ standard aspect if you're moving around more.

The X is really best for high mobility.

 

hmm, just as real life shows:
- eclipse has a number of side panels. without widescreen you will see only part of your code lines. a number of my devs requested widescreens just because of eclipse
- screen size. 12.1 seems too extremal for development activities.
- consider doc station with 19 or 20" monitor in your permanent work place.
- memory. get 3gb. it will save a lot of your time when you will run debug session in eclipse and vmware guest at the same time
- processor. do not consider anything other than dual core and likely even dual 2 core. again, you will get profits on your debug\vm sessions
- hdd. highly recommend 7200. it will speed up your vmware

 

Thanks for your input.

I've basically decided its an issue of screen real estate vs battery life. I kinda wish I could test out an X60 to see if the size is worth it.

 

Well... not really... I find it very easy to develop software on my 14.1", but that may be because my resolution is 1400x1050. I'm not sure that a wide screen would help, either. Quite honestly, the best solution is a high resolution while maintaining readable text size.

Matt

 

There is only one advantage of wide screen compare to 4:3 for codding.
You can see all line of code if it is longer than average line, and in the same time you can have your side panel (like most coding software using right now.)

 

I was wondering why Grattier thought 14.1" was too small for coding. Could you elaborate on that please, Grattier?

 

Mmmm... there are other reasons. For example, I use VI, and will often have two files open at once (say a header and source file). Wider screens are good because all the code will usually fit on their lines. I would go with the bigger screen, I find it almost a necessity (I can't imagine a 12 inch screen). As for battery life, its your choice, but keep in mind Lenovo offers an extra 6 cell battery you can slip into your ultrabay (in exchange for your CD drive) if you're really concerned with up time.

 

It is actually 3 cells, but it certainly does help.

 

Exactly. 1400x1050 trumps widescreens 1200x800 or 1440x900

That plus a great screen like the IPS, which you can stare at for 12 hours without eye strain. IPS is available only in 15.0" standard aspect. Best screeen in the world.

The widesceen (all with poorer quality) gives ppl eyestrain/headaches after 8-12 hours of nonstop continuous use. The developers will be less productive.

 

True but if it's only two programs/documents, you can easily hot-tab between them. Or stack them vertically.

I thought that it was better to see more vertical space of the program, just like it's better to see more vertical space of a webpage or most documents.

 

I'm sure its all personal preference. Interestingly, I prefer to have more horizontal space than vertical. That doesn't mean I don't appreciate vertical, but usually anything above 1200 vertical works well enough for me when programming and the issue becomes the limited horizontal at that point, which hi-res widescreen solves.

In other words, I like to see a nice proportional amount of horizontal with respect to the vertical.