Suitable ThinkPad for the Sciences

[emeraldgirl08]

Hi fellow ThinkPadders. I have an R60 with the X1300 and the 15” screen. My major is requiring some mathematics and a chunk of both chemistry and physics-related courses. This makes me wonder if I will need something a tad bit stronger than either the X200 I have or the R60 with the 64mb video card at some point soon? I’m a bit naive about what sort of laptop would make a good desktop replacement? I don't know if a T500 with FHD and the ATI card would suffice or would it be much more wise to save up for a W-series? I do plan on keeping my X200 for portability and working on the desktop replacement at my desk. I'm just feeling that a discrete graphics card, bigger screen, and up-to-date hardware would be appropriate and more productive as I finish up my undergrad work and into grad school afterwards. I’m wondering if I should somehow make plans to either get a more recent iteration of the T-series.... or (if by some miracle I had the funding) a W-series ThinkPad. I know there are TPers here who are in the science field so if anyone could kindly chime in with some suggestions I’d appreciate it. Thank you and its nice posting on this forum again

[craigmontHunter]

I have used my T61 with simmilar specs to your R61 so far (first half of first year, ymmv ) in my engineering degree without a problem, including matlab, PRO/E, and general programming. I would reccomend at least trying your R61 and seeing how it does; if it is insufficent, try to get a list of the programs you will be using to figure out what will be most advantageous to you (cpu/gpu/amount of ram) so you can build a system to fit what you need.

EDIT:
I just realized you said R60 with x3100, not R61 - I'd say my advice still stands, but if you are doing a lot of matlab/maple/simulation you may find ram to be a bit tight with only 3gb; ymmv, see how it goes and what reccomendations you can get from the school

[emeraldgirl08]

I have used my T61 with simmilar specs to your R61 so far (first half of first year, ymmv ) in my engineering degree without a problem, including matlab, PRO/E, and general programming. I would reccomend at least trying your R61 and seeing how it does; if it is insufficent, try to get a list of the programs you will be using to figure out what will be most advantageous to you (cpu/gpu/amount of ram) so you can build a system to fit what you need.

EDIT:
I just realized you said R60 with x3100, not R61 - I'd say my advice still stands, but if you are doing a lot of matlab/maple/simulation you may find ram to be a bit tight with only 3gb; ymmv, see how it goes and what reccomendations you can get from the school

Thanks for answering. I feel, for the moment, that I will purchase a higher-resolution screen (one with Flexview) and perhaps an SSD sometimes soon. I know that an SSD would make things operate more efficiently and the higher res Flexview would obliterate the sub-par XGA screen the R60 has. I will definitely ask about possible programs we would be using for my future courses. If it did become a bit mediocre in its performance for my needs then I'm sure I could get a decent sale price out of it and put that towards something that could handle my programs and function as a desktop replacement.

Thanks for your input craigmontHunter. Have a good day

[pianowizard]

Don't buy any new computer until you have tried running your scientific programs on your current computers. There are millions of scientific programs and they have very diverse system requirements. Even for the same program, hardware requirements will depend on the amount of data you are processing, e.g. if you are working with tiny Excel files, then any old Pentium III computer would suffice, but if you need to work on >1GB Excel files, then you would need something much more powerful.

So, ask again once you have started your graduate work.

[emeraldgirl08]

Don't buy any new computer until you have tried running your scientific programs on your current computers. There are millions of scientific programs and they have very diverse system requirements. Even for the same program, hardware requirements will depend on the amount of data you are processing, e.g. if you are working with tiny Excel files, then any old Pentium III computer would suffice, but if you need to work on >1GB Excel files, then you would need something much more powerful.

So, ask again once you have started your graduate work.

Hi Pianowizard

Not sure if I'll wait until graduate school but thanks for the input

[slangeditorial]

unless you are planning to do serious math modeling, simulations, design, or huge data processing, most machines around the *61 series are definitely enough to run any IDE (matlab/simulink, eclipse, visual studio, or emacs ) with no problem. I did a bunch of control systems design on a lenovo s10-3 netbook! (definitely sucked though!) However, if you are doing things like mechanical or circuit design, programs like solidworks, autocad, pSPICE will chew up RAM, and if you are running any complicated algorithm (say simulate then search) on a data set that will eat up your processor-- labview does both

So I'd reflect on what kind of research/classes/work I would be undertaking and go from there... a t4x0s will most def get you through grad school-legit screen resolution for writing papers, oomph for modeling/simulations, and low weight so you don't look like quasimoto by the time you finish!

I did a ton of simulations and modeling using different types of filters on an x200s and it was fine, I have since downgraded to an x61 and it works just as well...

Good luck!

[RealBlackStuff]

Update the 15" screen to SXGA+ or UXGA, and swap out the weak T2400 CPU for a Core 2 Duo T7200 (ca. $45-50).
That would be the best bang for your buck.

[ThinkRob]

Update the 15" screen to SXGA+ or UXGA, and swap out the weak T2400 CPU for a Core 2 Duo T7200 (ca. $45-50).
That would be the best bang for your buck.

Uh... she's already got a P8600, IIRC, and that should be faster than the T7200.

emeraldgirl08, what exactly do you need more of, power-wise? I'd imagine that most of the physics/chem. work would be CPU and RAM-bound, not GPU-bound, which pretty much leaves the screen size. At that point, couldn't you make do with an external display?

[RealBlackStuff]

A P8600 in an R60?
I don't think so!

[emeraldgirl08]

what exactly do you need more of, power-wise? I'd imagine that most of the physics/chem. work would be CPU and RAM-bound, not GPU-bound, which pretty much leaves the screen size. At that point, couldn't you make do with an external display?

Hi Rob

My X200 is my portable "take everywhere" laptop. The X200 functions primarily as something that is easy to carry to classes and on errands. It fits that purpose very well but it is not a graphics powerhouse (integrated intel graphics). I happened upon an R60 last year that I had snagged on fleabay for $50. It arrived in pretty good shape and has now become a project for me. I have made up my mind and am going to go with an SSD and a Flexview perhaps over the summer. I have a summer job lined up for me then

I feel that I could always take the SSD out if I decide to give the R60 away or sell it. I would have preferred an T/R 6X with the ATI X1400 but the R60 price was affordable. I figured I could always work toward something different in the future at some point also. I stated playing Portal over winter break and found the X1300 somewhat lackling in 3D performance. That made me wonder how it would perform if I needed more graphics power possibly for my classes. I'm on Spring Break (nearly over) and will ask members of the science department soon on what type of computers they suggest. Regarding your question on external monitors. When I take internships I don't plan on taking my monitor with me (by plane or any other form of mass transit) is why I'd prefer a desktop replacement that has some performance as well as >12.1 screen.

[ThinkRob]

Fair enough. I see the need for a better, portable screen.

Regarding GPU performance, you might have some issues if you want to start doing GPGPU stuff on the 6x series of machines. Up until the Tx00, the dedicated GPUs aren't very capable for that sort of thing by today's standards.

Then again, I'd hope that you don't need to do GPGPU stuff on a laptop anyways. That just seems like a recipe for frustration.