Desktop PC to T60 replacement - questions, experiences?

[commander]

Hello there!

I'm in this situation:

I've bought the T60 15" FlexView:

C2D 2.0 GHz
120 GB 5400 HDD
ATI X1400 mobile
2GB DDR2 RAM

At home, I have a workstation as a desktop PC:

P4 HT 3.3 Ghz,
2.5GB RAM DDR1
ATI R9800
500 GB 7200 HDD

I recognised, that I hate to servicing two OS. Both are WIN XP pro. My dream is to have only one OS with system, programs and necessary work files and on the other place media like music, films and backup. So I thought that the T60 and some great dock solution will be great.

I did PcMark05 test, and from this point things started to be bad.
PC: 3600 pts
NB: 4200 pts
But all the advantage of T60 is only C2D CPU, RAM and GPU are equals. Big problem is HDD.

HDTune:
PC: average: 66.5 MB/s
NB: average: 29 MB/s

So I need to solve this big problem. My idea was, to replace my NB HDD for some 7200rpm 200GB disc, and put my 500GB to dock. But I found, that all docks can handle only 2.5 HDDs, and as I found here on forums the UltraBay is USB-connected and limited to 35 MB/s!
Has any dock some interface (eSata, pci-e or sometning?), how to speed-up external HDD? Will 7200rpm system disc in T60 be faster than mine (I mean notably)?

If I want to get away my desktop, I need fast system and bigger storage area.
Also, i have 21" 1600x1200 eizo LCD, so I hope that x1400 with DVI on the dock is enough.

Another problem is my sound card, I have EMU 1212m, which is two-cards PCI solution, so I have to get away it too, and buy something external...

My question is, if exists any really good solution, solving my ideas. I think that many people work on theirs notebooks and at home or office they are connected via the dock, so I will be very happy if anybody tells me how everything works, problems and If T60 can replace my desktop.
My work is mostly adobe photoshop. No gaming.

P.S.: and sorry for my English

[Zender]

I'm using a T60 as full desktop replacement, but I managed to do so even with previous "non-brand" laptop (without using anything external).

X1400 + one of Advanced Docks' DVI is enough for your LCD, I'm using Advanced Mini Dock to drive 24" 1920x1200 panel and it works fine, except for some USB issues I mentioned elsewhere in this forum.

There's a second UltraBay in Advanced Dock, but I've also heard the reports of limited throughput. If it was really the case, I would recommend using Advanced Dock's PCI-Express slot for some SATA controller (there are reports of successfully using some in this forum). I'm not sure if this solution would be flawless (trouble with Windows and using the PCI-Express slot?), there's a solution that would be - ExpressCard SATA controller - but that would not be convenient, as you can't put that into the dock and would have to plug it manually every time.

Be aware that 7200rpm 2,5" drive is not as fast as 7200rpm 3,5". With the SATA controller you should be able to connect standard 3,5" drives with the good perfomance they bring. Also note that ExpressCard is either PCI-e 1x or USB2.0 (the card can choose), so using an ExpressCard SATA controller should bring about the same performance as using the Advanced Docks' PCI-e (which is 1x, despite looking like 16x).

As for sound card, depends on your needs, I bought some external USB soundcard from Creative to get 5.1, I'm not demanding in this area.

I don't have much peripherals plugged directly to the dock, just sound, keyboard, mouse, monitor. I also have desktop computer, which I use for storage and automatic backups (on 100Mbps network, which gives about 5-10MB/s performance, perhaps it could be also a solution to use 1000Mbps network, but I don't know how real-world speeds would be with such setup and Windows File Sharing is far from working always smooth).

[commander]

Thank you Zender for the comment, and greetings to Prague

The PCI-e SATA controller should be a good solution, I will check it. I'm only afraid that the dock-NB limited throughput of 35MB/s is overall, so maybe doesn't matter, if the HDD is connected by PCI-e or USB.

I found that 7k200 Hitachi HDD has average about 56 MB/s, my desktop has 66MB/s, so this can be enough.

ExpressCard is bad, as you said.

[commander]

One another question: Can I turn ON the docked notebook without opening the display? Is any button on the dock to do this?

[ZaZ]

Yes there is such a button.

[Aroc]

I had a similar problem when dropping down from a desktop with 15k U320 SCSI to a Thinkpad T43 a couple years ago. I "solved" that with a pair of 7k100 drives (one in the media bay adapter instead of the optical drive). These 7200rpm drives are still "slower" but fast "enough." Your 7k200 should be even better .

I have a couple 320GB 3.5 inch drives in external enclosures when when I need even more speed and capacity.

I plan to replace the T43 in another year or so (early 2009) when I can get a 64-bit system with (I'm planning) 8GB of memory and ready-drive boost.

[commander]

I have a couple 320GB 3.5 inch drives in external enclosures when when I need even more speed and capacity.

How they are connected? USB/FW/eSata?