Thinkpads Forum

Dear all,

I am an Engineer and researcher, always on the move, and I run many simulations on my laptop, read big data and compile often C++/fortran source code with Visual Studio, plus an intensive use of Matlab. Often all of those simultaneously. Therefore, I am looking for a very powerful Laptop. I got a quote for the w551 with the following characteristics:

1) processor i7 4810MQ
2) 32 GB of RAM
3) 512 MGB Solide state drive
4) Planning to replace by myself the DVD drive with a cheap 1 terabyte HDD for extra storage

Lenovo quote for these specs is cheaper (by several hundreds $) than quotes for similar HP or Dell Laptops, so it seems like a good choice. However, I read here and there about throttling issues after 10-15 mins of use. Do you guys have any experience with this? Any suggestion? In the link below, processor is either not specified or 4910MQ. I got the quote for the 4810MQ since there is a big jump in price above 4810MQ while minimal gain in frequency. Wondering if the 4810MQ will still give throttling. I know running 4 processes at the turbo frequency is not possible, but what about 4 processes at the base frequency? With my old Y570 I am never throtted below the base frequency of 2.2 GHZ (checked with CPU-Z software), while in the links below people mention continuous fluctuation between 800 MHz and the base/turbo frequency.

Thanks for your help
V.

See a link here for the throttling issue for the W550s http://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/commen ... ng_issues/ or this post for the 541 http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 41#p755902 . Also here throttling is mentioned http://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-Thi ... 450.0.html

venexiano wrote:Dear all,

I am an Engineer and researcher, always on the move, and I run many simulations on my laptop, read big data and compile often C++/fortran source code with Visual Studio, plus an intensive use of Matlab. Often all of those simultaneously. Therefore, I am looking for a very powerful Laptop. I got a quote for the w551 with the following characteristics:

1) processor i7 4810MQ
2) 32 GB of RAM
3) 512 MGB Solide state drive
4) Planning to replace by myself the DVD drive with a cheap 1 terabyte HDD for extra storage

Lenovo quote for these specs is cheaper (by several hundreds $) than quotes for similar HP or Dell Laptops, so it seems like a good choice. However, I read here and there about throttling issues after 10-15 mins of use. Do you guys have any experience with this? Any suggestion? In the link below, processor is either not specified or 4910MQ. I got the quote for the 4810MQ since there is a big jump in price above 4810MQ while minimal gain in frequency. Wondering if the 4810MQ will still give throttling. I know running 4 processes at the turbo frequency is not possible, but what about 4 processes at the base frequency? With my old Y570 I am never throtted below the base frequency of 2.2 GHZ (checked with CPU-Z software), while in the links below people mention continuous fluctuation between 800 MHz and the base/turbo frequency.

Thanks for your help
V.

See a link here for the throttling issue for the W550s http://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/commen ... ng_issues/ or this post for the 541 http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 41#p755902 . Also here throttling is mentioned http://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-Thi ... 450.0.html

The last couple of W5xx devices have had throttling issues. From what I understand, the W540 was really bad with it and it was speculated to be a firmware issue that Lenovo did not fix. My maxed-out W530 throttles a lot when on battery and I am not sure if there is a way around that, so battery-mode throttling is also a possible issue. When plugged in it seems to work the i7-3920XM at max speed indefinitely as long as the ambient temperature is under 40°C.

The new W551 could very well have throttling issues, and that would not be a surprise given the issues in the last few generations. Sadly, it seems like this is a big thing with many current generation workstation laptops. It may just be that too much power is being dissipated in too small a form factor to meet the products' acoustic targets (since I think that most people are more irritated by a loud or hot laptop than a slightly-slow one).

It might be a good idea to wait for some reviews of this model to come out on Notebookcheck.net since they usually check for throttling issues.