When does CPU horsepower really count?

[Skysurfer]

Hi,

I create economic models primarily in Excel. You push a button and wait 5 to 10 minutes for a recalc. Which Thinkpad and CPU would offer me the best performance for this kind of work? I'm currently using a T43 and the hamster inside is getting a little tired.

Thanks,

Lawrence

[Marin85]

Excel 2007 is capable of mutli-threads. Hence, the ultimate machine for your purpose will be W700 with the quad-core extreme QX9300 (4 cores @ 2.53 GHz, 12 MB L2 cache)

[aaa]

Basically just the fastest cpu you can afford. I would eye a desktop for this sort of stuff, you'd get something that would blow the W700 away for alot less.

[Marin85]

I would eye a desktop for this sort of stuff, you'd get something that would blow the W700 away for alot less.

Good point! Skysurfer, it you nevertheless want to stay with a ThinkPad (say for portability reasons, and actually for the same reasons W700 would be probably too much) and W700 is probably an overkill (since it offers much more than a powerful mobile cpu), you may want to consider a T400/T500 with a T9600 (2 cores @ 2.8 GHz, 6 MB L2 cache), which is the fastest mobile cpu available on a laptops less than 17''...

[Skysurfer]

Marin 85,

A desktop would be choice...but you nailed it, I do need the portability. Will the W500 add anything over the T500 in terms of what I need?

Lawrence

[Marin85]

Marin 85,

A desktop would be choice...but you nailed it, I do need the portability. Will the W500 add anything over the T500 in terms of what I need?

Lawrence

No, not really. The only performance-related difference between W500 and T400/T500 is the gpu. It´s also to note that T500 and W500 seem to have pretty similar gaming performance (T400 has a weaker gpu, but it´s also smaller and weights less). AFAIK, W500 weights slightly more than T500...

Marin

[Marin85]

I just found something interesting. It seems that W500 can take a T9800 cpu (but I don´t know about T500). AFAIK, no Lenovo ThinkPad is configurable with this cpu from their website.

[Skysurfer]

Thanks...you've been very helpful!

Lawrence