T400 or W500?

[kai920]

Time has come to replace my aging* T43. Current config with shown in signature.

I'm mainly considering the T400 or the W500 as shown here:
http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/8850 ... ji8.th.jpg

Questions;
1. Their weights don't seem like it would be much more than my T43... but is the W500 really 5.5lbs with a 15" 1920x1200 screen? (only 0.2lbs heavier than the T400?)

2. Which video is better? I understand both machines support switchable graphics, and I wouldn't mind playing the occasional game. Either should be a huge upgrade over my x300

3. Neither of them will allow me to run 2 LCDs + notebook display concurrently, correct? (3 monitors total)

I think I'm slightly leaning towards the W500 even though price is at least 30% higher but interested to hear your opinions.

*depends on who you ask - me or the wife

[awolfe63]

None of the current notebook graphics chips support 3 displays. Best solution is probably to use the advanced dock with a card. There are also some USB and Express-card solutions as well as some boxes that will run 2 moderate-resolution displays from a dual-link DVI.

[kai920]

Is that weight incorrect? On the datasheet the W500 says "6-cell battery models starting at 2.63 kg/5.8 lb" and I'm assuming this is for the WSXGA+ screen.

For what's listed (WUXGA) wouldn't it be even heavier?

[kai920]

Another question: how does the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3470 compare to the Mobility FireGL V5700?

[awolfe63]

Approximately 1/3 the frame rate for most graphics. Less for wire frames under OpenGL.

[kai920]

Wow, I had no idea they were that far apart. Even for gaming the V5700 wins out by that much? If so I might have to go with the W500...

[awolfe63]

Note, however, that the 3650 in the T500 is approximately equivalent to the 5700. Also, the CTO versions of the T400 have been listed as having a 3640. It is still unclear as to whether this is accurate - but my belief is that this is a slow version of the 3650 (80-90% as fast).

[NaT]

... but is the W500 really 5.5lbs with a 15" 1920x1200 screen? (only 0.2lbs heavier than the T400?)

My assumption are that: (1) WUXGA screen is heavier than WXGA+, (2) having bigger graphic card means having bigger heat sink and heavier weight, (3) Your travel weight usually have to include AC/DC adapter, and T400 & W500 includes different models (about 200g difference in weight).

With that said, I believe the information in the HK version of brochure is some how off. W500 would at least as weight as T500 with 3650. I personally wouldn't count on weight here, or even in tabook. I usually found that the actually much more than what it says. And from tabook, T400 6-cell starts at 5.0lb (2.3kg), T500 6-cell starts at 5.9lb (2.7kg), so I tihnk W500 6-cell would weigh almost 3kg.

[kai920]

NaT - do you know how much the T43 weighs while traveling, with the AC Adapter - I'm guessing it would be approximately 2.5kg +/-? I always take my T43 around in a small laptop trolley with wheels. I find it a bit too heavy if I have to carry it around with me all day, especially in the hot HK summers.

***

The order form has been published and they haven't changed any specs from the first post. Interesting though that they don't have the video card listed.

ThinkPad T400 (WXGA+)
Core 2 Duo T9400 (2.53GHz) / 2GB DDR3 (1066MHz) / 200GB (7200rpm) /
14.1” Anti-Glare TFT WXGA+ (1440 x 900)/ DVD+/-RW Drive / Modem / LAN /
5100 AGN / Bluetooth / 5-in-1 Card Reader / Webcam / Fingerprint Reader / 5.3 lbs /
3-years Warranty / Vista Home Basic

ThinkPad W500
Core 2 Duo P9500 (2.53GHz) / 3GB DDR3 (1066MHz, 2GB+1GB) / 200GB (7200rpm) /
15.4” Anti-Glare TFT WUXGA (1920 x 1200)/ DVD+/-RW Drive / Modem / LAN /
5100 AGN / Bluetooth / 5-in-1 Card Reader / Webcam / Fingerprint Reader / 5.5 lbs /
3-years Warranty / Vista Home Basic


***

- The Core2 Duo 2.5 would be a huge upgrade over my Pentium-M 1.7. Double the cores + faster clock speed.

- 200GB HD onboard would be nice. I've been having to cope with an external 80GB notebook drive.

- Wireless N- probably won't use for quite a while. (has 802.11n been ratified finally?)

- Webcam + Card reader: Nice to have built-in also...

- [edit] Video: anything I get, be it the 3470 or 3640 or V5700 will be a big (or huge?) upgrade over my ATI X300..

***

I spend at least 10 hours on my Thinkpad daily, and these are quite a few "nice to have's". Just can't decide for sure: should I really go for it? Or can I wait another year...? ....

[awolfe63]

Core 2 is also about 20% faster clock for clock than Pentium M.

3470 is about 3X an X300. 3650 is about 6X.

[kai920]

Thanks Andrew... so I get two cores, 20% faster at 1.7GHz AND the clock speed increase. Tempting

[kai920]

NaT - do you know how much the T43 weighs while traveling, with the AC Adapter - I'm guessing it would be approximately 2.5kg +/-? I always take my T43 around in a small laptop trolley with wheels. I find it a bit too heavy if I have to carry it around with me all day, especially in the hot HK summers.

I poked around the Lenovo site and found this:

T43 with 14.1inch display:

* Width: 311 mm (12.2 in)
* Depth: 255 mm (10.0 in)
* 26.6 to 31 mm (1.0 to 1.2 in)
* Configured system weight (with DVD-ROM or CD-ROM): 2.22 kg (4.9 lb)

Accessories:

* Battery pack (Li-Ion): 325 g (0.72 LB)
* AC adapter: 360 g (0.795 LB)
* Power cord for AC adapter: 90g (0.19lb)
* DVD drive: 345 g (0.76 LB)


***
The tabook has the W500 w/ 9-cell starting at 2.8kg (6.2lb), and the datasheet says 6-cell models start at 2.63kg (5.8lb).

Also, the datasheet says the Intel P9500 has 3MB L2 cache, and not 6MB as listed in the HK image scan. I assumed the image scan was incorrect, but Intel's own website lists 6MB cache.

This model is quite a bit wider than my T43 (357.5mm vs 311) but would just fit inside my current suitcase trolley

The T400 starts at 2.4kg (5.4lb) for the 9-cell model, and the 6-cell would of course be less.


***
Weight & physical size aside, is there anything else I have missed in comparing the two (T400 and W500)? Neither of them have these so-called LED screens correct?

Oh, the W500 has display port, but not sure how that would benefit me...

[NaT]

P9500 is indeed a 25W Core 2 Duo 2.53GHz with 6MB Cache.
T8400 is a 35W Core 2 Duo 2.53GHz with 6MB Cache.
T9600 is a 35W Core 2 Duo 2.8GHz with 6MB Cache.

However, W500 in US currently do not have an option for P9500. It's possible, though, that in your region, ASIA in particular will have a slightly different configuration. So, your Hong Kong brochure might be correct.

Actually, I would prefer to have a W500 with P9500 to W500 with T9600. I might sacrifice just a slight processing power but got longer batt life (10W or 28.57% less CPU power consumption).

For "LED thing", T400 do have an option for that in some models (you have to check if it is also available in Hong Kong but I believe it is) while W500 don't.