w700: Best use of Money

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what is the best use of money depends on what you are using the laptop for, if you are doing a lot of CAD, then Nvidia GPU would be a better investment than the quad core GPU. If you do a lot of CPU intensive stuff, then the Quad Core would be more appropriate than the Nvidia GPU.

 

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I kind of question why you would want a W700 then - it seems to be overkill for your needs. Pretty much any Core 2 Duo and integrated graphics can handle Hulu and websurfing very well, you don't need the W700's discrete graphics and quad-core support.

 

this is like killing a fly with a sledge hammer, pretty much a waste of your money.... even the intel x4500MHD can handle native decoding of bluray movie... and all Penryn processors can handle efficient encoding and decoding of hd movie.

This obviously is not a good investment, if you have no utility for them. You could just get a T500 or R500 even if you just like to watch hdd movie and surf the web....... these are lot cheaper, and given the sales that is occurring in North America, you can easily get one for 600 to 800 USD.

 

On a $5000 graphics workstation?

 

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Honestly, for your needs, even the basic configuration will be plenty powerful

I wouldn't spend any additional money on upgrades.

 

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Your T61p will handle anything a new processor will. This includes 8 gb of memory. Mine is the largest of the t61p processors. Processor size makes a difference but not in your use of the processor.
Renee

 

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From a performance standpoint I wouldn't worry about the GPU unless you play 3D games or run workstation applications. Any recent discrete (and most integrated) graphic solutions provide plenty of performance for video playback (including HD), office applications, 2D games, and older 3D games. Flash is entirely CPU bound at the moment (and very poorly threaded) so neither GPUs or quad core CPUs give you much advantage.

If you mainly want more screen real estate at home, then an external monitor is a far more economical solution. Moving up to a higher quality display (S-PVA or a less expensive variant of IPS) is a far better use of your money for video playback than high end CPUs or GPUs.

The main advantage the w700 provides is to put a large amount of power in a relatively small package. It is better suited to professional users that need much of the power/features of a desktop workstation in a machine that can be easily ported onsite. Flash video playback was definitely not the design intent (although it can certainly do it). Also, the battery life isn't great due to the high power components.

The warranty on your T61 is another issue. This is particularly true if you have the Nvidia GPU model as these are prone to failure.

 

Wow, a W700 and all your using it for is watching hulu and web surfing ? Wow, if your throwing money away, please send some this way lol
In all seriousness, a Pentium 4 could probably do those tasks just fine, let alone Lenovo's most powerful laptop with a quad core processor. But, if it's screen size your looking for, just get an external monitor for your current laptop. That would probably be the best thing to do.

 

For your needs get the NVIDIA FX2700 gpu and the Intel Core 2 Duo processor P8700 cpu. Everything more expensive than these very capable base options would be extra to your needs. IMHO the best bang for bucks would be having one or (preferably) two SSD's - and max out the ram beyond 4GB and use a 64bit OS. I would suggest the WUXGA screen as well.

 

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If you are only wanting to buy this laptop for novelty idea then yes just get the DS option, but if you really want to optimise your spending then just connect your W700 to an external screen.

 

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The primary advantage of the second screen is to provide a secondary space to dock ancillary applications (e.g. an email or IM client) or reference materials while your primary application is using the ENTIRE 1920x1200 display. This could potentially be useful if you program frequently as you could have your IDE maximized on the main display and any reference/help materials on the ancillary display.

However, if you rarely intend to move your ThinkPad a relatively small (and very inexpensive) display to the side of your ThinkPad will work as well if not better than the DS. I know that the second screen is nowhere near as bright as the main one, is LED vs. CCFL, has a lower contrast ratio and color gamut, and has a different vertical resolution (1280 vs. 1200), and consequently a different DPI. TN panels also tend to perform very poorly when viewed on the skinny end, but Lenovo may have accounted for this by using a reversed design so that the horizontal angles remain decent (they should have, but I've never used a w700 DS). Here are the specs for the two screens (from tabook):

Primary: 17.0" (431.8mm) WUXGA ( 1920x1200) color, widescreen, anti-glare, CCFL backlight, 400 nits, 16:10 aspect ratio, 500:1 contrast ratio, 72% color gamut. Starting at 8.4 lbs and 1.6" thick.

Secondary: 10.6" (269.2mm) WXGA ( 768x1280) color, portrait, anti-glare, LED backlight, 230 nits, 9:15 aspect ratio, 190:1 contrast ratio, 45% color gamut, slides out of right side of top cover, 30° tilt, 40% of primary screen size. Starting at 10.9 lbs and 2.1" thick.

Again, the main reason for the DS is just like the w700 as a whole. It is designed as a easily luggable workstation for professionals. It can be transported on-site and provide much of the performance and features of a desktop graphics workstation in a relatively small package. In particular, it can integrate a WACOM digitizer, color calibrator, and secondary display into a single package (dramatically reducing travel load for people that want/need these features in the field). If you are mainly using your machine at home there are probably more appropriate and economical solutions.

 

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well i think the WUXGA screen should be sufficient for you programming needs and writing needs by itself.....

 

definitely an external monitor to your T81P* Renee hehe

 

Even if the performance might be overkill, I can understand why you would go for the W700. It is after all a 17" ThinkPad.

 

Lets try to stay on topic and post constructive comments. Posts have been deleted.

Thanks.

 

hm...as a computer science student i would definitely see the appeal of having that extra screen actually. think of the number of terminals you can keep open! or maybe irc + music player running on the side with your ide/text editor/whatever running on the mainscreen

 

More like killing a gnat with a tactical nuke... Just my $.02

 

I just ordered a W700ds entirely for the dual displays. I trade stocks for a living so the second screen comes in very handy, and yet I want to be able to lug the laptop from room to room, rather than being tied to a desk with an external monitor. So, I took the most basic configuration, except that I got an SSD (I love the one on my Samsung X360), 4gb of RAM, a camera and an extra power supply (not needing to lug THOSE extra two pounds from room-to-room). I think that with the current discounts, the total price was just under $2200, plus tax. I was thinking of waiting for the i7 machine, but for me, the quad-core would be meaningless. An alternative would've been a good single-monitor 18" machine, but none of them are available any more with a 1980x1200 display, as they've all gone to a 16x9 aspect ratio.