Help an Engineering Student Pick a Thinkpad

[jb123]

Hello all,

I'm currently enrolled in 3rd year electrical engineering, and am looking for a new laptop. Right now I'm using a 4 year old 13 inch Macbook (2GB ram, 250GB HD, 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo) which I have never had a problem with. Thinking its time to switch to a Windows machine, and am looking to get a Thinkpad as I want a reliable laptop that will last me another 4 years (or so).

I'm having a difficult time picking between going with the X230 for portability, versus a quad-core equipped laptop like a T/W530. The laptop will be the only computer that I have, and will be used for several hours a day, almost every day. Typical programs I'll be using include a web browser, mail client, Skype, MS Office, Quartus, Matlab, Modelsim, Altium, maybe a VM for Linux, etc. I mostly work at my desk at home, but often bring my laptop to school so I can work during breaks. I also often need to meet for group projects, and will be bringing my laptop to such meetings.

I don't do any gaming, and rarely watch movies or shows on my laptop. I've also never had a problem with the screen size or resolution on my Macbook. I should also mention that I have an (old) 18 inch LCD monitor at my desk which I have rarely used with my macbook.

Price is not the most important consideration - by the end of my degree I'll have spent more than 40 grand on tuition alone, so why not buy the best possible tool I can considering how much I know I'll use it. With that being said, the best possible configuration for me isn't necessarily the most expensive option!

Regardless of which laptop I get, I'll purchase an SSD and additional RAM and install them myself.

In summary:
- wondering if the performance of a quad-core would be noticeably helpful
- wondering if a dedicated GPU would be a waste since I don't play games
- wondering if I've been depriving myself of a way better experience by using a 13.3 inch screen day in and day out, and if I should therefore not be looking at a 12.5 inch laptop

Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!
justin

General Questions

1) What is your budget?

Up to 2500

2) What size notebook would you prefer?

Not sure, from 12 to 15.6

3) Where will you buying this notebook?

Canada

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?

Prefer Thinkpad

5) Would you consider laptops that are refurbished/redistributed?

No

6) What are the primary tasks will you be performing with this notebook?

Web browsing, listening to music, VOIP calls, pdf viewing, programming, Matlab, circuit simulation, PCB layout

7) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places, leaving it on your desk or both?

Both

8 ) Will you be playing games on your notebook? If so, please state which games or types of games?

No

9) How many hours of battery life do you need?

At least 4

10) Would you prefer to see the notebooks you're considering before purchasing it or buying a notebook on-line without seeing it is OK?

Either is fine

11) What OS do you prefer? Windows (XP or Vista or Windows 7), Mac OS, Linux, etc.

Windows 7

12) From the choices below, what screen resolution(s) would you prefer? Keep in mind screen size in conjunction with resolution will play a large role in overall viewing comfort level. Everyone is different. Some like really small text, while others like their text big and easy to read. Click here for Screen resolution information.

Any - don't know

13) Do you want a Glossy/reflective screen or a Matte/non-glossy screen?

Either

14) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?

No

15) When are you buying this laptop?

Within two months

16) How long do you want this laptop to last?

4 year

17) How much hard drive space do you need; 80GB to 640GB? Do you want a SSD drive?

250GB - will get an SSD

18) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a DVD Burner, Blu-ray Reader or Blu-Ray Burner?

No

[wolfman]

Sounds to me like a T430 or T430s might be perfect for you. You are going to add an SSD, so that means in all likelihood you'll be just fine with the dual core, 4 thread CPU's in the T430 / T430s line for your workload. It doesn't sound like you have a use case that integrated graphics can't handle, so i'd go that way. The W series will have a huge power adapter (170 watt - I have one from work - it's a pain).

Looks like the T430/T430s is in the sweet spot for you. You get the flexibility of 3 internal drives vs. 2 in the X, lighter weight and much lighter power adapter options than with the quad core W or T and you can go with a higher resolution than is offered on the X230 (e.g., 1600x900 on a 14.1 inch display).

Food for thought...

[jb123]

That's a good idea; I had previously been thinking that if I wasn't going for the power of a quad core I had might as well get the X230 for portability... But maybe the larger screen and maintained portability of the T430(s) is the way to go.

Wolfman I noticed your setup is running 16GB of RAM, do you think a large amount of RAM like that would be a more noticeable improvement versus going to a quad-core?

[wolfman]

It really depends on your workload. I'm a software developer. I need a fast enough machine, but most of what I run is memory hungry (e.g., development tools and application servers / databases) and I use a number of virtual machines, so I need more RAM. I find the dual core, 4 thread works fine for me personally. My W520 I was issued from work is a quad core, 2.5 ghz. In that case, I need the quad core because they have the drives encrypted, very aggressive virus scanning (on read and write) and a number of programs running in the background for other security and system management tasks. We joke that we have 2 cores for work and security / desktop has the other 2 cores.

Finally in my case I was able to go with the lighter T420 instead of a W520 / T520 for the following additional reasons:
1) I use a docking station at home most of the time for my T420 connected to a 24 inch S-IPS panel @1920x1200 resolution.
2) I ruled out the T520 because often its the same price as a W520, but has slower graphics card and only goes to 16gb of RAM vs. 32gb RAM for the W520. The plus to the T520 is that it uses the physically smaller 135 watt power supply.
3) 1600x900 is good enough for when I use the machine away from my desk. Since I wanted integrated graphics (less worry of issue with the discrete card over time, less heat), the only thing the T520 offered over the T420 was the higher resolution (1920x1080) display - which I decided to pass on.

This is all very subjective - but hope that helps.

Steve