What is a mobile workstation?

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bhuiyan · #1 Post by **bhuiyan** » Sat Apr 16, 2005 7:03 am

Dear all,

First I am including a 3 year old Press release from Ziff Davis.

On 19th March 2002, IBM introduced it's first mobile workstation, A31p. it featured Intel Corp.'s 1.7GHz mobile Pentium 4 processor and the Mobility FireGL 7800 graphics chip from ATI Technology. A31p was billed to be "designed for mobile users who need high-speed graphics capabilities and wireless connectivity."

The A31p included support for both the Bluetooth and 802.11b wireless protocols. It weighed 7.1 pounds and came with a 60GB hard drive and up to 1GB of RAM. And a 15 inch UXGA Flexviw screen.

It also came standard with IBM's Embedded Security Subsystem, which encrypts and decrypts keys in hardware rather than main memory.

A little web surfing showed that the Mobility FireGL 7800 graphics chip is a Directx 7 compatible one that could be placed somewhere in between Mobility Radeon 7500 and 9000 (I am guessing here. I have never used a A31P).

I also guess that the other features that A31p had are all now available in middle-end non-P T42's (machines like 2373M3U or 2373N3U) barring UXGA screen and Floppy drives, which are not that important for me on a 15 inch screen.

So, what Workstation job can I not do with a T42 that could have been done with a A31p? Playing latest games don't count.

Can anyone please enlighten me on this? I am asking because I feel an itch to buy a T42p. But can not justify the higher cost to myself.

Regards

Shoaib

#2 Post by **carbon_unit** » Sat Apr 16, 2005 8:16 am

The T42 is smaller and lighter. The A31p is bigger and heavier. It depends on how much you are going to haul it around.

bhuiyan · #3 Post by **bhuiyan** » Sat Apr 16, 2005 8:36 am

To be clearer, I am planning to buy a mobile workstation. To have workstation class processing ability while I am on the move.

To that end, comparing the spec of A31p, which was touted as a mobile workstation, with current middle-end T42 (like 2373M3U plus another RAM stick), I could not justify spending more for the T42p (which is currently touted as a mobile workstation).

The question is not whether to buy a A31p Vs T4x, but rather a middle-end T42 vs. T42p performance/cost ratio. A31p never comes into the question. I want a Pentium-M on a laptop.

#4 Post by **K. Eng** » Sat Apr 16, 2005 8:58 am

Could you tell us what exactly you will be using your ThinkPad for? Some heavy tasks like OpenGL CAD applications will benefit from the p series GPUs, while other tasks like video encoding won't benefit much at all. Whether the p series is worth it depends on the tasks you will be doing.

bhuiyan wrote:To be clearer, I am planning to buy a mobile workstation. To have workstation class processing ability while I am on the move.

bhuiyan · #5 Post by **bhuiyan** » Sat Apr 16, 2005 9:17 am

While Iin windows XP, mostly less cpu intensive tasks like word processing (multiple files open simultaneously), net surfing (7 different URLs open simultaneously), occasional mail checking (and replying, if deemed necessary) through web mail, Some programming in C, some MATLAB, some Photoshop work.

Similar programs and activities in Linux too, but not planning to use VMware. currently plan to use one OS at a time.

An experimental machine. Will install, and delete, different programs from CD. Occasionally reformat, etc.

The most CPU intensive work that I plan to do in another location where I go once a week, is some volume rendering. But I may arrange to have a dedicated desktop over there for this purpose if necessary.

Very rarely, watching DVD movie.

#6 Post by **K. Eng** » Sat Apr 16, 2005 9:28 am

My guess is that you probably don't need a T42p for those tasks. A T42 like the 2378-FVU would probably be absolutely fine. You probably won't need a FireGL GPU or 15" UXGA display.

If you are installing and deleting stuff constantly, you may want to invest in a ThinkPad with a 7200RPM drive.

awolfe63 · #7 Post by **awolfe63** » Sat Apr 16, 2005 4:52 pm

A mobile worksation does not mean anything about hardware. What it means is that all of the components and drivers have been tested for compliance with many major industrial applications like CAD, animation, etc. Usually, those customers want the fastest components so the testing usually involves a pretty top end machine.

greg0815 · #8 Post by **greg0815** » Sun Apr 17, 2005 3:15 am

AFAIK the "mobile workstation label" is primarily a marketing issue. Even the cheapest actual model from the R-series has more workstation-abilities than the Thinkpad 750s used for Spaceshuttle missions...

Furthermore there are many "standard"-models than equal the p-models in every component, except for the video card: that seems to be the last domain of the "mobile workstations". The actual p's always have a 128 MB video card with special OpenGL-abilities.

a31pguy · #9 Post by **a31pguy** » Fri Apr 29, 2005 7:10 pm

Answer. Nothing that you cannot do on a T43p laptop. Except this:

Three Spindles.
==========
Three Hard Drives
Two DVD Burners
Boot multiple OSs on native filesystems
A DVD Burner and a CD Burner
A floppy, superdrive, or zip drive
A numeric Keypad
A Palm built in cradle

Having the flexibility to configure as needed for me as a consultant really does make a difference. Time = $$$.

I will be waiting to see another three spindle machine before I upgrade again.

awolfe63 · #10 Post by **awolfe63** » Fri Apr 29, 2005 8:31 pm

My guess is that you will neve see another decent 3-spindle machine. It is a remnant of the floppy-disk days.

BWT - why can't you do:

Boot multiple OSs on native filesystems

1) You can do 2 hard drives.

2) You can have at least 4 partitions on 1 drive with native file systems.

a31pguy · #11 Post by **a31pguy** » Fri Apr 29, 2005 9:06 pm

awolfe63 wrote:My guess is that you will neve see another decent 3-spindle machine. It is a remnant of the floppy-disk days.

BWT - why can't you do:

Boot multiple OSs on native filesystems

1) You can do 2 hard drives.

2) You can have at least 4 partitions on 1 drive with native file systems.

Well one can hope IBM will reconsider.

True - you can. But you'll have to sacrafice your CD/DVD won't you?

awolfe63 · #12 Post by **awolfe63** » Sat Apr 30, 2005 1:52 pm

Not if you do 2 partitions on 1 drive.

a31pguy · #13 Post by **a31pguy** » Sat Apr 30, 2005 4:34 pm

awolfe63 wrote:Not if you do 2 partitions on 1 drive.

ahh - but that's the trick of it isn't it. You can partition left and right - if you take the time. I'd rather just pop a drive in and preserve my regular hard drive. This way - I can load whatever and whenever.

LumberJack · #14 Post by **LumberJack** » Sat Apr 30, 2005 5:01 pm

Hey...

I also think it depends oh how much heavy duty stuff you are doing (ie percentage of your time0 and how complex it is. For perspective I run my X31 1.6Ghz... with matlab... and VCC++ at the same time and it runs fine... compiling large projects may take a while but relaly ont a hinderance.. On the cad side.. Solidworks and Catia run fine except in large assembies where HD tends to slow me down. Keep in mind though that the small screen on my x31 keeps my mouse more busy than i would like.

As far as the FireGL card.. you can probably get away with it and do CAD with no problem. on the other hand if you are doing it every day and on the road ( or in the air) then that extra power would probably save you some headaches...

Just my thoughts...

LJ

LumberJack · #15 Post by **LumberJack** » Sat Apr 30, 2005 5:03 pm

WOAH! I have been getting sloppy on my typing. please excuse all the obvious typos and spelling mistakes above...

LJ

What is a mobile workstation?

What is a mobile workstation?

a31p vs T42 vs t43 vs t43p

ahh - but that's the trick of it isn't it.

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