Software Developer, can't decide between T400 and W500

[tbessie]

I'm a software developer, so I love a ton of screen real-estate. I'd like to have something like a 4x3 aspect ratio, but don't want to go back to the T6x and T4x series.

So I'm looking at the T400 with the LED backlight, and the W500. The W500 has the 1920x1200 resolution screen, which would be great, but it's also bigger and heavier... granted, I won't be carrying it around TOO much, but I'd like it to be relatively convenient when I need to.


Also, I'm a little annoyed with the T400's lack of a DVI out... I mean, in this day and age, why just VGA?

Has anyone played with both of these, lugged them around, and, especially, is anyone a software developer or designer and has been able to compare working in 1440x900/14.1" vs 1920x1200/15.4"?

- Tim

[basketb]

Why don't you get the T400 and an external 24" (or larger) WUXGA screen? (or a 20" 4:3 UXGA monitor?)

[tbessie]

Why don't you get the T400 and an external 24" (or larger) WUXGA screen? (or a 20" 4:3 UXGA monitor?)

I have a monitor at home already... it's not a question of using a monitor, it when I'm on site or don't want the bother of connecting it to something else, I'd like it usable as is.

- Tim

[basketb]

In that case I'd go with the W500. Judging from my experiences with a WUXGA T61p and an SXGA+ T60p. Can't have enough real estate with the modern IDEs.

[tbessie]

In that case I'd go with the W500. Judging from my experiences with a WUXGA T61p and an SXGA+ T60p. Can't have enough real estate with the modern IDEs.

That's my main motivation for getting that one. But I'm on an old X40 right now (1024x768/12.1"), and despite it's tiny size and ridiculously slow hard drive, I've still done Java development on it (Eclipse, MySQL, Tomcat, all running at once), though it's pokey at such times and I have to move a lot of windows around.

I guess I wonder how much better 1440x900 would be compared to this x40.

Just did the math... looks like the T400 has 40% more pixels than this X40, tho' I'm not sure if that translates directly into usable area - do you know?

- Tim

[Puppy]

Judging from my experiences with a WUXGA T61p and an SXGA+ T60p. Can't have enough real estate with the modern IDEs.

That's true. SXGA+ is minimal reasonable resolution for modern IDEs (I use Visual Studio 2008). There is always tough decision between useability and portability. I'd prefer 12" SXGA+ but it no longer exists. WXGA+ limits the number of visible source code lines too much over SXGA+. Instead of 15" WUXGA I'd rather use smaller notebook form factor and external display.

[tylerwylie]

Judging from my experiences with a WUXGA T61p and an SXGA+ T60p. Can't have enough real estate with the modern IDEs.

That's true. SXGA+ is minimal reasonable resolution for modern IDEs (I use Visual Studio 2008). There is always tough decision between useability and portability. I'd prefer 12" SXGA+ but it no longer exists. WXGA+ limits the number of visible source code lines too much over SXGA+. Instead of 15" WUXGA I'd rather use smaller notebook form factor and external display.

X61 Tablets you can get with SXGA+. Otherwise I'd be looking at a 14" T61 with SXGA+.

[mdjtlj]

Greetings,

Developer here. I currently have the W500 and use VS2005/SQL Server quite extensively on this machine (64 Bit Vista, 4GB RAM, WUXGA+). I find the screen delightful and much better than the Dell D820 with similr specs.

I would suggest that you ditch the DVD and put in another hard drive (Hitachi 320 GB) in the ultra-bay, this makes a lot of difference for the space issues that I run into with various DB's and develpoment projects.

The screen has plenty of space to spread out the IDE without making the code window so small that it wraps too much. As for weight, I carry my machine around everywhere and I'm not complaining about the weight. I'd much rather have the raw power of these machines than some little light box that is only good for Word and IE. I travel over 150 days/year and lugging this thing around is not bad at all (even with the 9 cell). It's nowhere near those 17" monsters, I think it is a great size for all of the power that it contains.

As for the 64 bit part, waiting on prices to come down for 4GB modules, allowing me to bring this thing up to 8GB. I've not had any real problems with 64 bit, other than having to upgrade Adobe Acrobat and Cisco VPN clients (SSL only, no IPSEC on 64bit Vista). These were minor.

The whole switchable graphics things is a moot point for me, I don't even notice any difference other than battery life, but then again, I'm rarely aware from a socket anyway, even on an airplane.

Bottom line is that I don't see any reason to not go with the W500, especially if you need the real estate and pure power.

[WojtekJ]

Greetings,
I would suggest that you ditch the DVD and put in another hard drive (Hitachi 320 GB) in the ultra-bay, this makes a lot of difference for the space issues that I run into with various DB's and develpoment projects.

I suggest some other thing.
Choose the cheapest HDD available and then buy a new 320 GB HDD (or bigger if you want to) - for example on http://www.newegg.com/ .
It's a better deal - the price of that set (80 GB + 320 GB) is much smaller than Lenovo's 320 GB upgrade and you can always sell the small 80 GB HDD or use it as a big pendrive (you just need to buy a cheap casing for the drive).

Examples:
80 GB 5400 -> 320 GB 5400 upgrade costs 175$ + tax
80 GB 5400 -> 250 GB 5400 upgrade costs 95$ + tax

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... name=320GB :

Seagate ST9320320AS 320GB 5400 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s - 80$
Western Digital Scorpio WD3200BEVT 320GB 5400 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s - 90$

Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD5000BEVT 500GB 5400 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s - 150$

etc. ...