X201 or T410s for grad school?

Hi guys,

I am currently using an old Fujitsu P7120 and it is VERY slow despite the presence of a SSD, so I am thinking of getting a new 1.

WWAN is a must so X201s is out of the question. It is either the X201 or the T410s. Would the integrated graphics help my study? (involves MRI and medical images).

Any suggestion?

 

Is your MRI already processed? or is it raw data?

If it is raw data, then you would need a Workstation GRADE computers with quad core CPU and couple of Quadro FX4800/5800 cpu running CUDA. Otherwise, the computer would usually struggle to process all the data in real time.

If it is saved images, then it is not going to be graphically intensive, but to view some MRI in high detail it is better that you get a high quality LCD, like a FHD on the T510 or W510.

There is a reason why LCD used in MRI labs are mostly Eizo and NEC that costs several thousands dollars.

 

Pretty much saved images. I do agree with you that a reasonable, if not HQ screen is quite important, I guess I'll go for the T410s (anything over is going to burden me a lot more)

Does the T410s comes with a 65W charger which my GF's X200s uses?

PS: Just noticed you are in MEL! I am actually in SYD! *wave*

 

Hello my northern brethren...

If you are using the laptop with integrated GPU, then they will all use the 65 watt adapter, unless you choose the 90 watt adapter when you order the laptop online from Lenovo.com.au.

And yes you can use the x200s's adapter, they are the same.

your laptop can use 65w, 90w, or 135 watt from a W510.

 

Since you are discussing adapters...the 65w adapter comes by default with the T/R series. And, we can buy the 90/ 135w adapters which also work with these machines. So, what is the advantage of using the 90/ 135w adapters?

 

As somebody who also works with a bunch of medical/scientific imaging, I will have to say that neither will cut it in my experience. I had a T400s for a few months, and an X200 as a backup machine.

Both become bogged down by huge images and can't cut it if you ever have to do a 3d reconstruction of whatever you are imaging. Also both X200 and T400s have absolutely dreadful screens with <1:100 contrast ratios. Fine for text, horrible for images.

I was not happy until I got myself a W510 with FHD panel. Handles everything I throw at it just great and I dont have to use an external monitor just to look at stuff (decent contrast on display).

 

From what I understand, using a 90w adapter will speed up charge times, that's about it. I wasn't aware the 135w adapters were compatible with the T/R/X, I thought they were exclusive to W's and certain docks.

If you must get one of those two I would suggest the T410s, you'll be thankful for the higher resolution since you're dealing with images. However I also agree that neither screen will satisfy your needs.

 

Thanks. Just to clarify. I don;t exactly know whether the 135 w adapter can be used with the T/X Series. I was just guessing and thus stand to be corrected. So, basically, the 90w adapter just charges faster.

 

Just anecdotal, but I tagged along with a department at a hospital near me for about a month. Almost every doctor had 17 inch MacBook Pros and used them to view medical imaging (most of which was high quality imaging pulled off the hospital intranet server). They also had iMac desktops in clinic offices where they did endoscopic examinations. There was the occasional Dell Latitude notebook here and there, but they were mostly for giving presentations on projectors and for paperwork (accessing digital medical records, patient histories, clinical check-ins and check-outs).

For medical imaging, you're going to want a very good screen, and Macs were the screen of choice for this department. I wouldn't be surprised if other departments had similar setups.

 

yes you can run the 135 watt adapter on all the Lenovo thinkpads, i am using them right now. However, it is a brick sized contraption that i would highly suggest you don't bring it on trips with you, unless you have a urge for gym workout. The 135 watt adapter weighs more than half of a X series laptop.

Some of the Lenovo Thinkpads see the 135 watt adapter as 90 watt adapter or 120 watt adapter. In fact Lenovo have released bios update to make some laptop recognise the 135 watt adapter.

Don't worry you won't blow up the laptop by using the 135 watt adapter.

Whether you get the 65 watt or 90 watt adapter depends on two things:

1. If your laptop has the discrete GPU, then you get the 90 watt adapter by default.

2. If you order the laptop with integrated GPU and option it for the 90 watt adapter.

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The benefit of the 90 watt adapter, is that it charges the battery faster, it also prevent the laptop cpu getting throttled when run without a battery.

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Regarding the choice of laptop for viewing medical images, this varies hospital to hospital, as they have different IT procurement plans set out.

Apple is quite good with their LCD quality, especially the iMac 27 inch, which uses the H-IPS LCD (also used in the Dell U2711), this is the cheapest desktop to come standard with an IPS screen.

3D rendering in the MRI lab, is done by a Workstation grade desktops that uses CUDA type of graphic card (i have seen quite a few Tesla cards been used), the computer needs to perform a lot of matrices operations during the rendering of the images, which is done more efficiently by the CUDA technology.

Doctors don't really choose which computer they use, it is decided by the hospital management usually.

But most hospitals favour the use of high quality IPS monitors when they work with MRI images.

 

Here is the new Coupon code for the Thinkpad sales, it is between 25 to 35% OFF depending on the configuration and model you choose.

Lenovo 25%-35% Off For ThinkPads. 2 DAYS ONLY - OzBargain

 

Apologies on misleading as I was trying to keep a low key...

I mentioned about grad school, in fact it's med school that I am doing, hence all the medical images. The number of people rushing for a single power outlet is outrageous in the lecture theater, which is why I need a machine that is reasonably light and long lasting. T410s is good enough, but X201 seems better.

What I am a bit concern is the build quality, as far as I know X201 is chunkier and has a magnesium alloy lid, whereas T410s has a carbon fiber lid and a bigger screen. Would the extra weight and shorter battery life of T410s justify by its build quality?

Moreover, while I am personally in Sydney, my Aunt in Chicago is the actual person buying, so I am not paying Australian premium for it, even though I have yet find a way to ship that machine without getting caught for GST.

Any further inputs?

Thank you very much in advance.

 

If you declare the good as used (so packaging has to be opened) and is below 1000 dollars in value, then you could avoid the 5% Tariff and additional 10% in GST. But if you lose this machine, then insurance would only pay the declared value.

When buying over the internet

Also, make sure the laptop you are buying actually has warranty in Australia.

you need the first four digit of the model number.

Lenovo Support & downloads - International warranty service (IWS)
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Also, congratulation on the Post Graduate Med, i was thinking about it for a while, but decided i couldn't stand another 4 or 5 years in Uni living on AUSTUDY allowance.
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I would recommend that you get the T410 with WXGA+ instead, it is only half a kg heavier. And you can get another 9 cells battery slice for the laptop that is attached directly to the bottom of the laptop, giving you over 15 hrs + of usage time.

To give a really good experience on the T410 get a travel bay cover, which means you don't have an ultrabay optical device.

Also, get a fast SSD, this is essential for viewing large jpeg files.

The image the medical school give out is not CPU or GPU resource intensive. Uni computers are pretty slow, you would be lucky if they even have the E6400 CPU with more than 2 gigs of ram.

 

It must be hard for the Australian goverment to meet the demand for free money for students when people are cheating them on import taxes....


But yeah, now that we know it's med school...pretty much any configuration is going to be good enough spec wise.

 

The X200(s) and X201(s) have excellent build quality. Despite being an ultraportable, it holds its own against the bigger ThinkPads both in terms of performance and ruggedness.

They have excellent battery life, a small footprint, low weight, great build quality and still packs a big punch.

The T410s is a great machine, but footprint wise a bit to big to frequently carry around for my taste.

If you can live with with WXGA the X201 would be my preferred choice - if you have been using a 10.6" WXGA screen in the past, I guess you'd be fine. I'd also consider a X201s WXGA+ with and external WWAN adapter.

Eventhough it is not on your list of machines, I would also consider the X301 with SSD. While the CPU power is not on par with T410s or X201(s) I don't think it will be an issue for your use. It comes with WXGA+ and you can add an Ultrabay battery to extend battery life.

 

While, the X301 is an excellent machine. Given that the OP would be using this laptop for the next 4 or 5 years, i would think something with a slightly better CPU/GPU would be in order.

 

That would depend on usage. Most people over estimate their CPU needs. Office, Media or Internet, don't really push that much. Unless the OP has a need to run the CPU at high capacity frequently, I think the X301 is fine. I myself run my X200 in low power mode almost exclusively and all the dual core downclock to 1GHz anyway.

 

The increasing prevalence of HD streaming online video I would think would give some value to a high cpu speed.

 

Cheers guys

Streaming is actually quite important as there are some very good histopathology video on youtube. I thought about the X301 but X201 has much better battery life.

Cost of a CTO i7 X201 is just ~USD1500 in lenovo site so I guess I'll get that, possibly with an extra Ultrabay and X25-M (yea, I am also a geek too!)

 

I don't know if you need the i7, I was just pointing out that the X301 vs X201 cpu speed is something to consider.

What do you mean by with an extra ultrabay?

BTW, be sure to look for coupons. There's a 15% off one going on right now (check logicbuy.com)

 

i7-620m dual core is pretty in line with the i5-520m in terms of performance (okay maybe around 10% to 15% faster if you run synthetic benchmark).

It is like getting a Holden Commodore Executive V6 3.0 litre versus say 3.6 litre one, but performance wise it is giving you a better max speed and it gets 0-100 km/h 0.2 sec faster. But you have to pay 15000 dollars more for it for pretty much the same trim level. (This is an hypothetical example).

It is i7 dual core is not worth the money you for it. The only i7 that you should consider is quad core, but that is only available in W510.

@OP, just get the i5-520m and a SSD. Get 64 bit OS with at least 4 gigs of ram.

 

So I finally made my decision on buying the X201s (514328U) for USD1399. Now I'll need a few things to get it the way I want it to be.

1. a Wireless WWAN adaptor, preferably the one that doesn't stick out of the laptop too much;
2. a Windows 7 64bit version;
3. perhaps X25-M

How would you guys recommend Sierra Wireless Aircard503? And how could I get the 64 bit windows 7 recovery media?

Thanks in advance.

 

For anyone who has used these what is the difference in portability? I use a 12" now and had planned on getting the x201, but the T410 would be nice for the screen.

Does the extra 1.5 lbs make a difference? I carry my laptop around all day.

 

I think it depends a lot on what ELSE you're carrying. If it's just the laptop, maybe it's noticeable. But if you're carrying 2 textbooks, a 5 subject notebook and other misc. items, then 1.5 extra lbs probably won't kill your shoulder any more than if you had an X201. I think what's more important in that case are the dimensions. I didn't think my T400 was particularly light, but it wasn't a pain to carry around either. I usually do carry around textbooks, stuff for work, etc. What bothered me more were the dimensions. It's just too bulky and too large to handle with all that other stuff. It actually feels lighter than it looks in my opinion. That's why I like the T410s, the width and depth of the laptop are the same as my T400, but it's much thinner and even lighter, making it more manageable for me to stuff into bags, carry around, one hand it, etc.

 

My problem is that I stuff my bag full no matter how large it is. So I have to get smaller bags or the weight becomes unbearable. I think I'll stick with the x201 as I won't be doing as much web development when I'm out and about.

Thanks MAA83

 

Updates:
Finally got my X201s from UPS. Here's a few thoughts:
1. Boot time with X25-M was 25 sec, as compare to my GF's X200s' 1min10sec
2. You can use the 32bit Windows 7 code for the respective 64bit version as long as you have a 64bit disc.
3. Access connection requires a standalone install as a "bulk" install from Thinkvantage update will mess up with 802.11x authentication.
4. For some reason 720p youtube runs smoother in x201s than on my q6600 desktop, oh yea, Shotgun Histology rocks

 

what graphics card does your q6600 desktop have?

 

radeon 3750 as I recall

 

i am not sure radeon 3750 have native hardware acceleration for hd movies, make sure you update the video driver.

the 4500 MHD and 5700 MHD Intel GPU used on the Thinkpads were designed with 1080p decoding in mind.