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salehin
25th June 2008, 16:23
I have chosen a few laptops. I'll be using it for h264 capture, and playback via DVB-S2 card (Technotrend), x264 encoding, MATLAB, Stata, LATEX and usual word processing, browsing, etc. For the laptop, emphases are on 5 things:


Mobility
Intel T9300
Screen 12-14, preferably 13.3" (at least 1280x 800) &
nVidia Discrete GPU
Budget: $1500-$1700



My Choices (so far):

Thinkpad T61 (http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:category.details?current-catalog-id=12F0696583E04D86B9B79B0FEC01C087&current-category-id=F2F5363C71FA4D61B176AD5FB80FA5D8): has an NVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M card
Dell XPS M1330 (http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&oc=DYDWTF1&s=dhs): with an NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS - have 128MB dedicated DDR3 graphics memory
Asus U6Sg (http://uk.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=5&l2=159&l3=696&l4=0&model=2065&modelmenu=2): with an NVIDIA NVIDIAŽ GeForceŽ 9300M G

I was wondering which one would you recommend as a long term solution (3+ years). I'm not sure about the difference between those graphics cards (even after reading from NVidia sites).

I've asked in other forums. But i'm asking here as well to have more informed decision. So, if you have other suggestions (laptops and fits those parameters) please do share them.

Regards

salehin
dat720
26th June 2008, 10:27
I'd prolly go with the Asus, the thinkpad has a Quadro which is more of a workstation GPU and will probably lack the grunt to playback HD content.

Toshiba A200 range are also nice.
fly_away
1st July 2008, 13:15
I personally prefer Asus, but in long term IBM seems to be a good choice - I have had an old TP and it was very resitant.
salehin
1st July 2008, 19:57
Thanks guys ... I'm also thinking about LG P300... most reviews I read, so far, seem to suggest that it's great laptop. The only problem is they don't sell it in USA. I'm hoping they'll do it soon.

Regarding Thinkpad, are they planning to introduce anything within 13.3 with T9300 and discrete GPU?
Dr.Khron
5th July 2008, 14:03
Thanks guys ... I'm also thinking about LG P300... most reviews I read, so far, seem to suggest that it's great laptop. The only problem is they don't sell it in USA. I'm hoping they'll do it soon.

Regarding Thinkpad, are they planning to introduce anything within 13.3 with T9300 and discrete GPU?

I doubt it... ThinkPad is a business PC, you can't get them with big screens and/or discrete graphics.

My work-issued PC is a ThinkPad, and I love it. For work.
I would never buy one as my primary PC.
Blue_MiSfit
5th July 2008, 22:06
Quadro is a discrete GPU - meaning it will not share RAM with the PC.

I think you guys may be thinking of a higher performing consumer grade GPU - with neat-o features like BluRay decoding, and reasonable 3d performance - in other words, things that mean fuckall to a business user ;)

Anyway, it depends on what you're using the laptop for.

Take a look at HP as well, some of their business class laptops are quite good!

~MiSfit
dat720
6th July 2008, 12:45
Which is why i suggested the Dell, as i find ASUS have quality issue's, i work with dell pc's everyday (there's like 9000 of them in the agency i work for) and think their quality is pretty good!
salehin
7th July 2008, 13:31
My work-issued PC is a ThinkPad, and I love it. For work.
I would never buy one as my primary PC.

Thanks a lot.

I'm expecting my M1330 (with T9300 and discrete GPU) by the 1st week of August, provided Dell delivers it on time.

But in the mean time, I'm still looking into Asus U6. I heard from a few sales rep that MONTEVINA AUS U6 will be released/introduced (i hope it's 'released') on July 15. If this is the case and I can get the new MONTEVINA U6 by 25-27 then i'll have to rethink if I want an M1330- I read too many bad experience about heating problem (http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=250129)...it has a solution though..but I'm quite risk averse when it comes to buying computer stuffs

Blue_MiSfit, which one do you have in mind (within 5.0 lb + T9300 + discrete gpu)?
cdanddvdpublisher
10th July 2008, 17:41
I doubt it... ThinkPad is a business PC, you can't get them with big screens and/or discrete graphics.

My work-issued PC is a ThinkPad, and I love it. For work.
I would never buy one as my primary PC.

Likewise... There's a lot to like about the ThinkPad, but not for graphic work
Dark Shikari
10th July 2008, 17:45
I got my Asus G1 for $1700; its barely over 6 pounds but has an extremely high quality 15" screen (1680x1050), a Core 2 Duo, 2GB of RAM, and a 7700GT (newer ones have newer graphics cards, of course; I got mine over a year ago).