Re: Laptop recommendations?

Hahah, I find it funny that you say 4.5lbs is heavy. My last-gen Alienware
"laptop" is something like ~8lbs, down from ~10lbs before that. Can't wait
to even have a ~5lb laptop. :)

Speaking of which, Dell refreshed their XPS line up, but there still hasn't
been an Alienware refresh. I wonder what's going on, 'cause I've been
holding off buying a new laptop until I saw what they were going to offer.

Cheers,
Drew
On Fri, Nov 5, 2010 at 11:22 AM, Brad Wilson <[email protected]> wrote:

>
>
> C2D is a 5 year old architecture. Power management for C2D sucks compared
> to all modern i-family CPUs, including the i7, IMO. There's no way I would
> buy a C2D laptop today.
>
> There are 3 basic families: i3, i5, i7. The i3 is most similar to the C2D:
> fixed clock speed with no turbo boost. The i5 generally adds the ability to
> turbo boost, which means it self-overclocks when it determines you're
> running a single-threaded CPU-intensive task (like gaming typically is). The
> i7 adds hyperthreading to the mix, so your n-core CPU looks like an 2n-core
> CPU to Windows. This is better than the Pentium Pro days of hyperthreading
> in that it's physically 2 hardware threads, but still set expectations
> appropriately in that it's not a true doubling of computational capability
> (but perhaps +40%, vs. the +10% from the PPro days).
>
> Core i-family CPUs have desktop and mobile versions, and introduce new
> ultra mobile versions with very low clock speeds. I have an Alienware 11"
> with the ultramobile i7 640UM <http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=47700>,
> and the laptop feels extremely fast, owing more to good speed of disk and
> modern architecture than the seemingly anemic CPU speed (1.2GHz). I chose i7
> here because I wanted the hyperthreading to compensate for the low clock
> speed.
>
> I regularly get ~ 5-6 hours of battery life with it, and when I want, I can
> play games at very high detail level (since it has an NVidia 335M). It's
> heavy for an 11" laptop (~ 4.5 lbs), but it's built like a tank and is
> really a tiny desktop machine at the end of the day, which is what I wanted
> for travel (demos/Visual Studio + gaming).
>
> --
> Brad    http://bradwilson.typepad.com/
>
>
> On Fri, Nov 5, 2010 at 10:48 AM, Mark Levison <mark-r0EpITdELjZWk0Htik3J/[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>  On Fri, Nov 5, 2010 at 12:37 PM, Brad Wilson <[email protected]>wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Battery life will be much better with an i5 than an i7. Unless you intend
>>> to do highly compute intensive tasks, I would choose the i5.
>>>
>> Interesting I've naively assumed for years that more is better. Perhaps
>> its time to recalibrate. Is there any site that provides at least adequate
>> comparisons of CPU performance? My current laptop has a Core 2 Duo T8300
>> 2.40 GHz. I'm wondering roughly how much of jump I will get in performance
>> going to an i5 or an i7?
>>
>>
>> Google finds: http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php as a rough way of
>> comparing CPU's. It seems ok expect it doesn't list the i5 that Dell is
>> using (560M 2.66 GHz).
>>
>> Thanks
>> Mark
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, Nov 5, 2010 at 9:09 AM, Mark Levison <mark-r0EpITdELjZWk0Htik3J/[email protected]> wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Many years ago I used this group for its original purpose. Now I just
>>>> abuse it, sorry. The Canadian government has made it clear that I need to
>>>> upgrade my laptop by Jan 31 (its changed some taxation rules). So I'm
>>>> leaning on old friends for recommendations.
>>>>
>>>> My needs:
>>>>
>>>> 1. Budget <2000 Canadian
>>>>
>>>> 2. 15 inch screen
>>>>
>>>> 3. More battery life is better. Currently my XPS 1530 gets about 1:20
>>>> which I'm always looking for a plug. Ideally I would get 3 hrs when not
>>>> doing compute intensive tasks.
>>>>
>>>> 4. Weight no worse than XPS M1530 (6 lbs)
>>>>
>>>> 5 CPU Core I7 (at least this what I assume I want), 8 GB RAM. 500 GB
>>>> 7200 RPM Harddrive
>>>>
>>>> 6. Use: Development and photo editing (Lightroom and Photoshop). More
>>>> Horsepower better in these cases, although I'm happy to work using an outlet
>>>> in that case.
>>>>
>>>> 7. USB 3.0 and other goodies are nice but not mission critical
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Basically I spend a lot of time on the road and need a good machine that
>>>> I can carry and use every where. After digging for a few hours it appears
>>>> that the current Dell XPS's get bad reviews for: design and longevity,
>>>> battery life and lack of USB 3.0. The HP Envy takes a knock because the palm
>>>> rest becomes very hot even when browsing the web.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Thoughts?
>>>>
>>>> Mark
>>>>
>>>>     *Mark Levison* | Agile Pain Relief Consulting<http://agilepainrelief.com/>| Agile
>>>> Editor @ InfoQ <http://www.infoq.com/about.jsp>
>>>> Blog <http://www.notesfromatooluser.com/> | Twitter<http://twitter.com/mlevison>| Office: (613) 862-2538
>>>> Recent Entries: Self Inflicted Agile Injuries<http://www.notesfromatooluser.com/2009/12/self-inflicted-agile-injuries.html>,
>>>> Why use an Agile Coach<http://www.notesfromatooluser.com/2009/11/why-use-an-agile-coach.html>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
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