Thinkpads Forum

Guys I really can't find an answer for that! I'm an architect and I want to buy a good high performance laptop! I somehow saw ThinkPad when I was doing my research, I didn't know they still exists! Anyways I was fascinated by this machine and I really love to get one but I am really confused! The newest ThinkPad in my country is the t450, we didn't get the 460 and I don't want to spend that much money anyways... so I saw the t450! I saw the I7, 5th generation, amazing! But when I knew it was only a dual core! I was surprised! Then I saw the t440p, it's I7 is a quad core!! So I am really confused right now! I'm buying this laptop mainly for performance! I do 3d modeling and rendering stuff so I need a powerful machine! So what do you guys think! I really need your help here

Well, one has more threads than the other. I think only you can determine how much your time is worth to you.

blank001 wrote:Well, one has more threads than the other. I think only you can determine how much your time is worth to you.

More threads and more cores! You said nothing dude! I know that! But I want to know if the 5th generation I7(dual core) can compete with the 4th generation I7 (quad core)? What does time have to do with it?!
All what I care about is performance! Is the 5th generation dual core as good as the 4th generation I7!?

Well, if everything you do uses only a single thread, then I would expect the newer chip to be faster (assuming equivalent market segmentation between generations, i.e. i7 vs i7). If you use all available cores/threads, then I would be extremely surprised to see a dual core beat a quad core one generation apart. Of course it depends on what you're running.

It will really depend on the model of i7 involved. Typically the quad core i7 will have a slower base clock frequency than a dual core i7, but if the program you're running is only one thread the turbo frequency comes into play - and that is usually pretty close between the dual vs. quad core models.

What you get with the quad core is more flexibility for more demanding multithreaded applications - but a higher heat output and power consumptin.

What 5th gen has over 4th gen is heat output and power consumption - for a given performance level the 5th generation will use less power and put out less heat. At a given clock speed the 5th gen is a marginally better performer over 4th gen, however due to intel's roadmapping they never released truly powerful 5th generation CPUs.

The T440 has a really awful clickpad. That's pretty much irrelevant if you use an external mouse - but you can also swap it out for the better system found in the T450.

If it was me, I'd most likely get the T440p and swap out the touchpad for the newer one (depending on price and specs between the two units).

Bit bigger, but don't forget the W540 with 4 RAM-slots (at least up to 32GB).
http://www.lenovo.com/shop/emea/content ... 40DSEN.pdf

blank001 wrote:Well, if everything you do uses only a single thread, then I would expect the newer chip to be faster (assuming equivalent market segmentation between generations, i.e. i7 vs i7). If you use all available cores/threads, then I would be extremely surprised to see a dual core beat a quad core one generation apart. Of course it depends on what you're running.

Haha man thank you for your reply, but I didn't really understand what you said! How can you know if the programs I used, uses a single thread?! I use AutoCAD, 3ds Max and Revit! I really appreciate your reply but I wish you could give me an answer that can help me in my decision! Thank you

theterminator93 wrote:It will really depend on the model of i7 involved. Typically the quad core i7 will have a slower base clock frequency than a dual core i7, but if the program you're running is only one thread the turbo frequency comes into play - and that is usually pretty close between the dual vs. quad core models.

What you get with the quad core is more flexibility for more demanding multithreaded applications - but a higher heat output and power consumptin.

What 5th gen has over 4th gen is heat output and power consumption - for a given performance level the 5th generation will use less power and put out less heat. At a given clock speed the 5th gen is a marginally better performer over 4th gen, however due to intel's roadmapping they never released truly powerful 5th generation CPUs.

The T440 has a really awful clickpad. That's pretty much irrelevant if you use an external mouse - but you can also swap it out for the better system found in the T450.

If it was me, I'd most likely get the T440p and swap out the touchpad for the newer one (depending on price and specs between the two units).

You confused me even more I use AutoCAD , 3ds Max, revit and some rendering programs! I'm afraid that the 4th generation even though it does have a quad core but it's an older version! And the laptop is a bit heavy and bulky! The 450 is a better looking device, but it's a dual core! Ughhh I'm really really confused!

RealBlackStuff wrote:Bit bigger, but don't forget the W540 with 4 RAM-slots (at least up to 32GB).
http://www.lenovo.com/shop/emea/content ... 40DSEN.pdf

I guess that's out of my price range, and I hate laptops with big screen! But thank you for you suggesting

NaC wrote:I use AutoCAD, 3ds Max and Revit!

the quad core is going to be much much faster.

5th gen isn't that much better than 4th gen.

Looks like it can be configured with an IPS display, as per review:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Len ... 423.0.html

but you'd definitely want to ditch the "clickpad," or have someone do it for you.

btw,
the slowest quadcore i7 4th gen is faster than the fastest dual core i7 5th gen,
even in single thread performance (because 45w vs 15w power)

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu ... hz&id=1923
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu ... 40+2.60GHz

bit_twiddler wrote:Looks like it can be configured with an IPS display, as per review:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Len ... 423.0.html

but you'd definitely want to ditch the "clickpad," or have someone do it for you.

The pad isn't really a big concern for me since I'm gonna be using an external mouse most of the time!

hhhd1 wrote:btw,
the slowest quadcore i7 4th gen is faster than the fastest dual core i7 5th gen,
even in single thread performance (because 45w vs 15w power)

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu ... hz&id=1923
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu ... 40+2.60GHz

Oh great it's good to know! So I'm probably going with t440p, but I need to see live! Because in all the pictures it looks bulky and really thick! So if it looks good I'm gonna get it! Thank you for your help