Thinkpad R50e or Compaq Mini 110 for streaming?

[mastermiaow]

Hi Everyone

I have the above two laptops. I would like to stream films onto an external 26" LCD monitor. The compaq is much newer. Both laptops are able to take up to 2gb RAM. I wanted to check is if it is better to use my Thinkpad R50e as the processor is same size as compaq (and I think a better make) 1.6 ghz and also has a bigger cache 2mb compared to 512kb for the compaq. However I am not sure about the graphics processor on the Thinkpad (I have been told that older Thinkpad graphics are not that good). The graphics processor is an Intel Extreme Graphics 2, Dynamic Video Memory Technology 2.0 whereas the compaq mini has Intel GMA 950, Dynamic Video Memory Technology 3.0.


Many thanks

Matthew

[RealBlackStuff]

That mini has an Atom CPU (and is soldered).
The R50e CPU can be upgraded.
Why don't you just try both and see which performs better?

[mastermiaow]

The reason I don't want to upgrade both is that I am pretty sure they use different memory sticks and therefore I would have to spend twice the amount of money to bring them both up to 2gb of RAM. I would have to spend £50 to bring the Thinkpad to 2gb and £25 to bring the Compaq up to 2gb. At the moment both are freezing when streaming onto the big screen - the Thinkpad has 720kb of RAM and the Compag 1gb of RAM.

[pianowizard]

The reason I don't want to upgrade both is that I am pretty sure they use different memory sticks and therefore I would have to spend twice the amount of money to bring them both up to 2gb of RAM.

If they are freezing now, they likely still wouldn't perform well even with 2GB RAM. Have you tried reducing the resolution to the lowest widescreen resolution available (probably 1280x720) and reducing the color depth to 16bit? If they still freeze with such minimal settings, I say sell both and get a new laptop or a good used laptop. You can probably get £70 for the R50e and £90 for the HP netbook.

[mastermiaow]

Thanks for this tip about changing resolution and colour depth. If the objective is to watch films on a bigger screen would changing those two affect the visuals of the film? Also are you saying that if they are freezing now it has less to do with the RAM and more to do with the graphics processors on the laptops?

Many thanks again

Matthew

[pianowizard]

Thanks for this tip about changing resolution and colour depth. If the objective is to watch films on a bigger screen would changing those two affect the visuals of the film?

Go ahead try it, then report your observation here, and we will go from there. It should take you only a couple minutes.

[mastermiaow]

Go ahead try it, then report your observation here, and we will go from there. It should take you only a couple minutes.

So I finally got round to trying things out tonight
The compaq works far better. The screen resolution changed automatically to 800x600 and colour to 16 bit. as soon as i hooked it to the monitor. Even with just 1 mb of ram the streaming from lovefilm was fine. The Thinkpad really struggled with lovefilm and froze despite me changing the resolution although I couldn't change it as far down as 800x600. So despite a more powerful processor it seems that the Thinkpad is not set up for streaming.
My only concern is that the compaq Task Manager is showing quite high CPU usage (66%) just using google chrome as I write this on the forum website. But I assume if I double the RAM that should take some of the strain off the processor?
Thanks for your help anyway and if you have any more advice I would welcome it

Matthew

[mastermiaow]

One more thing. tried to watch a comedy show on Youtube and it is buffering/freezing big time. So I assume there is just a difference depending on what I am trying to stream. Would more memory make buffering less likely to happen?

[pianowizard]

One more thing. tried to watch a comedy show on Youtube and it is buffering/freezing big time. So I assume there is just a difference depending on what I am trying to stream. Would more memory make buffering less likely to happen?

I don't think so. 800x600 is a very low resolution and if the videos still freeze so badly, adding more RAM would almost certainly not solve the problem, especially since you ultimately want to play them at 720p or even 1080p. If watching videos at 800x600 made all videos smooth, then I would say it's worth a try to increase the RAM.

My suggestion remains the same: sell both laptops, and use the money to get something that's much nicer than both. You should be able to get a fairly nice T60 or T60p with this money, and it would have much stronger graphics.

[mastermiaow]

800x600 is a very low resolution and if the videos still freeze so badly, adding more RAM would almost certainly not solve the problem, especially since you ultimately want to play them at 720p or even 1080p. If watching videos at 800x600 made all videos smooth, then I would say it's worth a try to increase the RAM.

Thanks again for your help. I like having the Compaq as something that I can take anywhere with me. I looked at the T60 specs and it would still be quite heavy to lug around to work etc. At the moment I am writing my dissertation on the R50e and it is fine for what I need it for.
However I am still a bit confused why one film seemed to stream fine and the other kept freezing. On balance I think I will try with £25 of RAM and see what happens..

Thanks again

Matthew

[pianowizard]

I like having the Compaq as something that I can take anywhere with me. I looked at the T60 specs and it would still be quite heavy to lug around to work etc. At the moment I am writing my dissertation on the R50e and it is fine for what I need it for.

Finish writing the dissertation -- these things typically take only a couple months -- then sell the R50e for £70, and get a T60 with dedicated graphics for £100. This way, you would end up spending about the same amount of money as keeping the R50e and 110 and upgrading the RAM for £25, but with the advantage that the T60 is a premium laptop and that it is guaranteed to play videos much better than both your current laptops.

However I am still a bit confused why one film seemed to stream fine and the other kept freezing. On balance I think I will try with £25 of RAM and see what happens..

Those films probably had different resolutions. The next time you get on YouTube, look for the row of icons right underneath the video. The "gear" icon allows you to change the resolution.

[mastermiaow]

Will follow your advice There are plenty of T60s being flogged on ebay. Should I look for one that is advertised as having a dedicated graphics card or do they come by default?

[emeraldgirl08]

For T60 http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:T60

For T60p http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:T60p

The T60's come with either Intel Integrated or variations of discrete ATI graphics (e.g. X1300, X1400, ATI V5200, ATI V5250). None of the T60 models have switchable graphics so it is either only with Intel Integrated or only with ATI discrete graphics. The T400/R400/R500/T500 models after the T61 feature switchable graphics meaning you can switch between discrete and Intel Integrated as you wish. As for the older ATI graphics in the T60/R60 series is along with the increase in GPU power there will also be an increase in heat generated.

[pianowizard]

Should I look for one that is advertised as having a dedicated graphics card or do they come by default?

You need to read the item descriptions to see if they use ATI graphics, as emeraldgirl08 pointed out above. If the description says nothing about graphics, see if the 7-character product code is provided. If it is, copy-and-paste it into the "Quick Path" box on this page: http://support.lenovo.com/en_GB/default.page? . For example, this eBay listing doesn't say what graphics this T60 has: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lenovo-ThinkP ... 19d779e5ee . However, it does say the product code is 1951-WY6, and looking it up on the above Lenovo page shows:

Based on 1951-CTO: T7200(2GHz), 2GB RAM, 60GB 7200rpm HD, 14.1in 1024x768 LCD, Intel 950, CDRW/DVD, 802.11abg wireless, Modem, 1Gb Ethernet, UltraNav, Secure chip, Fingerprint reader, 6c Li-Ion batt, WinXP Pro

The "Intel 950" part refers to the graphics. So, this particular T60 doesn't have discrete graphics. In general, it's safe to assume that all T60 models with 1024x768 resolution use integrated graphics, and all T60p models use ATI graphics.

[mastermiaow]

I bit the the bullet and purchased a 2 year old reconditioned T410 thinkpad - £300. It comes with integrated graphics card but I am not a gamer and was assured that it was fine for streaming.
Now to get it up and running!

Thank you everyone for your help