Please help me choose (was: ... best for a developer?)

[methinkso]

Please see list a few posts down

Do do a bunch of compiling, running processor intensive unit tests, image processing, and hyper-multitasking (meaning I have lots of apps open and all doing something all the time.) However, I don't play games, so that's not a requirement.

I would use the laptop for heavy basic hammering, business meetings, user groups presentations (projector), watching movings (tv outed), burning dvds, wifi, and the rest of the basics.

I run a amd 4800+ desktop machine (dual core) at the moment - that isnt' mobile at all, obviously

I'm wondering if you folks could comment on which model would fit my needs the most?

I will run Linux on it. Probably Arch, but may be Gentoo.

Finally, I'm an expat American living in New Zealand. So, an international warranty is important.

Thanks for any and all advice. I have about a week to sort this out. I'm leaning toward the T60P, but, I don't have a clue which process is the best value for money, considering I'm used to that 4800+. I'm also not sure if I should go with a 7200 or 5400 rpm drive (speed/battery burn), although that's not strickly a thinkpad issue.

Resolution is an issue, more the better, in theory, but I'm a bit concerned with UXGA; perhaps it's too small. And I leaning toward wide screen.

I hope this is the right forum. There just seems to be so much info out there, and a thinkpad is a big investment. I really hoping someone is in a similar boat as me, and can chime in.

[sugo]

I would suggest a high resolution T60/T61 with Core 2 Duo. Dual Core is a must for development. While most PCs are still 32bit, C2D's 64bit support is important for certain development.

[jdhurst]

For what you want, do not even consider a hard drive running less than 7200-rpm. Most of us who make this move (including myself) will never return to anything slower. ... JDH

[Melvyn]

When AMD tells 4800+ it reffers to a coreduo at 2.x each. and it means (according to them) "equivalent to a pentium core duo 2400. So, a laptop core duo at 2ghz will do the task similar to your desktop, considering the large caché (2mb or 4mb).

Regarding the screen, I do development too and I preffer more height than width. 1400x1050 do it well. I can't imagine 1280x800. I like vertical. Widescreen isn't usefull to view code (according to me).

The diference in battery between 5400 and 7200 isn't so much and you would like the speed, because you'll be using it all time.

While AFAIK linux don't have support for turbo memory you can preffer the T61. It's a machine for the future.

A T61 with intel video will save battery and compensate the hard drive hugh.

[methinkso]

Many thanks for the replies. So, I'm currently on the look out for something resembling these specs

P61(p)
Intel Core 2 Duo T7200
UXGA or WUXGA or SXGA+ or WSXGA+
intel video
2GB one chip
100GB 7200rpm
DVD RW
wifi a/b/g
gigabit eth
9 cell bat
3 years of warrany/protection, if possible.

see anything wrong here? There's no bluetooth or IR here. I don't have any bluetooth devices at the moment. It's looking like roughly $5000.00 NZD. OUCH!

If I get one on my next trip the states, I would need an international warranty. Do you know the T61's get that type of warranty?

[methinkso]

OK, assuming I went with a machine like this, and used a dock, external monitor, keyboard and mouse, would I really need the desktop machine anymore?

I remember a day when the Desktop was required as laptops just didn't have enough grunt. But, times seem to have changed. Perhaps a T61 is enough to replace my devl desktop.

Note, I run windows in vmware/virtualbox then sql*server on top of linux on my dev machine. Then, unit tests run and bang on this this virtually running DB. I think 2 cores is a big win for this set up. I noticed my amd machine shoot up in performance when I upped the processor from a single core 3000+ to this 4800+ X2.

[methinkso]

Can you help me pick, based on my needs above, which system is the best value, and will at least be grunty enough?

Rough New Zealand dollars I've been quoted.
(I don't have any more specs at the moment, but assume it's all even (ram, hd, etc.) except for what I've mentioned. I'm assuming you know what types of screens come with each model better than I do - I'm quite confused about what screens are good and which aren't.) I also don't know what all is understood about the difference between the R's T's and Tp's.

ThinkPad R61 Core 2 Duo T7100 1.8GHz $1800
Thinkpad R61 Core 2 Duo T7300 2GHz $2400
ThinkPad T60 Core 2 Duo T7200 2.0 $2,036
ThinkPad T61 Core 2 Duo T7300 2GHz $2800
ThinkPad T61 CORE2DUO T7500 2.2GHz $3734
ThinkPad T60p Core 2 Duo T7600 2.3Ghz $3993
ThinkPad T61p CORE2DUO T7700 2.4GHz $4,978

And, what is so good about the P's, anyway?

[lightweight]

OK, assuming I went with a machine like this, and used a dock, external monitor, keyboard and mouse, would I really need the desktop machine anymore?

I remember a day when the Desktop was required as laptops just didn't have enough grunt. But, times seem to have changed. Perhaps a T61 is enough to replace my devl desktop.

Note, I run windows in vmware/virtualbox then sql*server on top of linux on my dev machine. Then, unit tests run and bang on this this virtually running DB. I think 2 cores is a big win for this set up. I noticed my amd machine shoot up in performance when I upped the processor from a single core 3000+ to this 4800+ X2.

Dude, well kept Gentoo will fly with any of the Thinkpads in your last post. If you are worried about stability and development I think there's more issue serving SQL and hammering/anvil'ing software inside a virtual machine, especially when you could just use your current box as the hammer or anvil.