[billybob_jcv]

Last time I heard from him was a couple of days ago and he said he was buried in work. As if that was any sort of excuse...

 

[TwinQY]

BTW, love you and SO's new avatar....now there's some first-class stuff.
 
Stalked Warren's profile, says he just posted this morning...somehow he's become the only person I can talk to food about....

 

[TwinQY]

Oh, BTW, since you guys have more know-how on new rigs than me anyways, anyone have any thoughts on the to-be-announced Thinkpad T440? Was considering the Clevo W740SU for the screen (that gorgeous, gorgeous screen), the Iris Pro (Nvidia drivers, you can't get framebuffer working so no image preview in my file manager - not to mention Intel drivers being far more easier to deal with on *nix land anyways ), but the power usage benchmarks look wretched. The T440 looks real appealing. Talk about it being a TN panel still but who knows.  
 
Know I talked big about the cheapo old rigs, but truth is, lugging that many laptops across the continent is a no-dealer for me. Might just bite the bullet and downsize to a lappie and maybe one or two rPis. All assuming I do make the move.

 

[billybob_jcv]

Oh, BTW, since you guys have more know-how on new rigs than me anyways, anyone have any thoughts on the to-be-announced Thinkpad T440? Was considering the Clevo W740SU for the screen (that gorgeous, gorgeous screen), the Iris Pro (Nvidia drivers, you can't get framebuffer working so no image preview in my file manager - not to mention Intel drivers being far more easier to deal with on *nix land anyways ), but the power usage benchmarks look wretched. The T440 looks real appealing. Talk about it being a TN panel still but who knows.  

Know I talked big about the cheapo old rigs, but truth is, lugging that many laptops across the continent is a no-dealer for me. Might just bite the bullet and downsize to a lappie and maybe one or two rPis. All assuming I do make the move.

Hmm, well, I think it depends on your goals. I happen to love Thinkpads - they have been my favorite laptops for many, many years - and I'm typing on one right now (4 year old T410i). However - many people do not like Thinkpads because they are not sexy, they don't have the best screens and they aren't the thinnest or lightest or most powerful - they typically aren't the "most" anything. But, for me, they do all the basic things the best - the keyboards and the pointing stick (I hate trackpads) are excellent, they don't get scorching hot and they are very reliable - they just work really well. I'm not a gamer, not an artist, not a film maker and I run pretty vanilla Windows 7 and very vanilla apps - nothing odd or cutting edge - but I'm on it for many hours every day. I also tend to look at machines from a corporate IT perspective - which is different from a home user or hardcore hacker.

At work, our "Executive laptop" is a Sony Vaio - the Execs wanted them because they are very thin & light, have great screens and look really sexy. They also run really hot, the fans are noisy and the reliability sucks - there's always something going wrong with them - the charging circuit fails, the fan fails, the drive controller fails, the wireless antenna fails, etc, etc. Our standard workhorse laptops for the rank & file employees are either a Dell Latitude or a Lenovo Thinkpad. They are heavier, uglier and the screens are not nearly as nice as the Vaio - but they work! We have FAR fewer issues with the Latitudes & Thinkpads than with the Vaios. When I point this out to our Execs (with actual numbers) they don't care - they LOVE their Vaios. Clearly, *I* must be doing something wrong if the Vaios aren't working well... :rolleyes:

Your needs should drive your decision - there are big differences between a laptop for a road warrior and a laptop meant to be a desktop replacement for the occasional traveler.

Final silly Exec story: An Executive wanted one of the new top of the line Sony Ultrabooks. Man, that thing is SEXY!! Gorgeous screen and light as a feather! I7 processor, SSD - the thing is a dream!

He goes to an important meeting at a potential customer's location to make a presentation. Just like 99% of corporate conference rooms all over the world, the conference room has a projector with a VGA connection. Uh-oh - the Sony ONLY has an HDMI port - no VGA port. OK, so he has to look foolish and ask the customer if he can do the presentation from one of their laptops. So, he tries to email the presentation to the customer. The customer doesn't have a "guest" WiFi network, they have only a wired internet jack in the conference room. Uh-oh - the Sony has ONLY a wireless connection - there is NO wired ethernet jack on the laptop. He doesn't have a USB drive, so he has to borrow one from a customer. Now, ALL of this mess can be avoided by carrying around the appropriate USB adapters - and that is what he is now doing - but for crying out loud, can there be any better proof that the Sony Ultrabook is NOT made for business use?? It's a fashion accessory!!

 

[Magick Man]

No one had a thumbdrive!?!? My kingdom for a thumbdrive!!


I got on of the little ASUS Zenbooks for OBD stuff and it's the cat's PJs, what a slick little machine. i7, big SSD, beautiful display, Win7 Pro (!!), only $650 open-box @Best Buy.

 

[miceblue]

But I need Windows 7 Ultimate Pro Standard Home Basic Premuim Student Service Pack 005 at $400.

 

[jgray91]

Kay, enough of that ugly avatar.

 

[TwinQY]

Quote:

Hmm, well, I think it depends on your goals. I happen to love Thinkpads - they have been my favorite laptops for many, many years - and I'm typing on one right now (4 year old T410i). However - many people do not like Thinkpads because they are not sexy, they don't have the best screens and they aren't the thinnest or lightest or most powerful - they typically aren't the "most" anything. But, for me, they do all the basic things the best - the keyboards and the pointing stick (I hate trackpads) are excellent, they don't get scorching hot and they are very reliable - they just work really well. I'm not a gamer, not an artist, not a film maker and I run pretty vanilla Windows 7 and very vanilla apps - nothing odd or cutting edge - but I'm on it for many hours every day. I also tend to look at machines from a corporate IT perspective - which is different from a home user or hardcore hacker.

At work, our "Executive laptop" is a Sony Vaio - the Execs wanted them because they are very thin & light, have great screens and look really sexy. They also run really hot, the fans are noisy and the reliability sucks - there's always something going wrong with them - the charging circuit fails, the fan fails, the drive controller fails, the wireless antenna fails, etc, etc. Our standard workhorse laptops for the rank & file employees are either a Dell Latitude or a Lenovo Thinkpad. They are heavier, uglier and the screens are not nearly as nice as the Vaio - but they work! We have FAR fewer issues with the Latitudes & Thinkpads than with the Vaios. When I point this out to our Execs (with actual numbers) they don't care - they LOVE their Vaios. Clearly, *I* must be doing something wrong if the Vaios aren't working well...

Your needs should drive your decision - there are big differences between a laptop for a road warrior and a laptop meant to be a desktop replacement for the occasional traveler.

Final silly Exec story: An Executive wanted one of the new top of the line Sony Ultrabooks. Man, that thing is SEXY!! Gorgeous screen and light as a feather! I7 processor, SSD - the thing is a dream!

He goes to an important meeting at a potential customer's location to make a presentation. Just like 99% of corporate conference rooms all over the world, the conference room has a projector with a VGA connection. Uh-oh - the Sony ONLY has an HDMI port - no VGA port. OK, so he has to look foolish and ask the customer if he can do the presentation from one of their laptops. So, he tries to email the presentation to the customer. The customer doesn't have a "guest" WiFi network, they have only a wired internet jack in the conference room. Uh-oh - the Sony has ONLY a wireless connection - there is NO wired ethernet jack on the laptop. He doesn't have a USB drive, so he has to borrow one from a customer. Now, ALL of this mess can be avoided by carrying around the appropriate USB adapters - and that is what he is now doing - but for crying out loud, can there be any better proof that the Sony Ultrabook is NOT made for business use?? It's a fashion accessory!!

To be fair, I was looking and the Vaios and MBPs for their aesthetics (and partially because the salesmen were so nice), but the aluminium feels awkward on my wrists as I type, not to mention the trackpads....
 
...Which is relevant since the name of the game is portability. I'll be lugging them around the majority of the day and I'd like for the finish to at least feel pleasing to the touch. I'm also downsizing from 15' screens to 14' in general. Most of the rigs around the house are 15', but I've long since learned that I'd probably be far better off with the 14's. So in a nutshell, I guess power consumption and as minimal glare as possible (I don't mind color loss from mattes as any digital art I'll be doing will be in a darkroom).
 
I've never liked the trackpoint, in fact on my T40p, it's fallen off completely and I have no intention of replacing it. The weight could be a problem but I've had a couple of Y series that have turned out fine portability wise. Mainly, I'm looking for a nice balance between, say the-thin-enough-that-you-feel-like-it-could-crumple-between-your-hands Ultrabooks, and the more shapely Elitebooks.
 
The only reason I've held back from pulling on a cheapo $200 Thinkpad is that, well, needs change, and times call for a desktop replacement. They'll be a lot of compiling, a lot of VMs on to build binaries for the usual distributions, typical resource-intensive development stuff. I'd used to relegate that for my cluster, but again, simply no room to fit 8 roaring and ripping relics in the apartment.

 

[SonofSven]

Quote:

False. All you pansies liking Death Scythe and Heavy Arms are kids. Tallgeese for the motherflipping win!

I never said I disliked Tallgeese. It's possible to like more than one.

 

[TwinQY]

Well, when in doubt.....go with what works.

Placeholder until I can find something with a headphone...

 

[TrollDragon]

Want!

www.toneimports.com/lmaudio/212.html

Sent from my HTC Desire HD A9191 using Tapatalk 2

 

[billybob_jcv]

To be fair, I was looking and the Vaios and MBPs for their aesthetics (and partially because the salesmen were so nice), but the aluminium feels awkward on my wrists as I type, not to mention the trackpads....

...Which is relevant since the name of the game is portability. I'll be lugging them around the majority of the day and I'd like for the finish to at least feel pleasing to the touch. I'm also downsizing from 15' screens to 14' in general. Most of the rigs around the house are 15', but I've long since learned that I'd probably be far better off with the 14's. So in a nutshell, I guess power consumption and as minimal glare as possible (I don't mind color loss from mattes as any digital art I'll be doing will be in a darkroom).

I've never liked the trackpoint, in fact on my T40p, it's fallen off completely and I have no intention of replacing it. The weight could be a problem but I've had a couple of Y series that have turned out fine portability wise. Mainly, I'm looking for a nice balance between, say the-thin-enough-that-you-feel-like-it-could-crumple-between-your-hands Ultrabooks, and the more shapely Elitebooks.

The only reason I've held back from pulling on a cheapo $200 Thinkpad is that, well, needs change, and times call for a desktop replacement. They'll be a lot of compiling, a lot of VMs on to build binaries for the usual distributions, typical resource-intensive development stuff. I'd used to relegate that for my cluster, but again, simply no room to fit 8 roaring and ripping relics in the apartment.

Hmm - I suspect one of your challenges will be that although you would really like to have the speed of an SSD, storing a bunch of VMs is going to eat your space pretty quickly - you might be forced to use a mechanical drive just to get the space you need without it costing you as much as your car!

Since we know you're going to be running linux (what flavor do you prefer?) I would make sure you check for all the drivers you need - especially if you are looking at the latest models of laptops. The HW is changing VERY quickly these days and you could easily end-up with some components that aren't supported in all linux distributions. It really is shocking how short the product cycle is on laptops. We barely have time to buy a couple of machines and do the validation testing before the sales rep tells us the units aren't being sold any longer. We're lucky to get 6 months on a particular model!!

I also have another philosophy on laptops: If you are really planning on carrying the unit around and being mobile, then it will pay to have a good quality laptop from a major brand. The smaller brands that use more generic Chinese notebook bodies may have all cool stuff inside, but they often do not pay as much attention to having good quality hinges on the top, high quality keyboards, connectors that stand being plugged and unplugged a dozen times a day, good fans & cooling, etc. It's tempting to focus on the processor, graphics & storage performance like you would with a typical desktop - but the other stuff is also really important when you are tossing the machine around inside your bag and bumping/knocking it all the time. All it takes is for the power connector on the back of the machine to break a solder joint - and you are done!

 

[TwinQY]

Quote:

Hmm - I suspect one of your challenges will be that although you would really like to have the speed of an SSD, storing a bunch of VMs is going to eat your space pretty quickly - you might be forced to use a mechanical drive just to get the space you need without it costing you as much as your car!

Since we know you're going to be running linux (what flavor do you prefer?) I would make sure you check for all the drivers you need - especially if you are looking at the latest models of laptops. The HW is changing VERY quickly these days and you could easily end-up with some components that aren't supported in all linux distributions. It really is shocking how short the product cycle is on laptops. We barely have time to buy a couple of machines and do the validation testing before the sales rep tells us the units aren't being sold any longer. We're lucky to get 6 months on a particular model!!

I also have another philosophy on laptops: If you are really planning on carrying the unit around and being mobile, then it will pay to have a good quality laptop from a major brand. The smaller brands that use more generic Chinese notebook bodies may have all cool stuff inside, but they often do not pay as much attention to having good quality hinges on the top, high quality keyboards, connectors that stand being plugged and unplugged a dozen times a day, good fans & cooling, etc. It's tempting to focus on the processor, graphics & storage performance like you would with a typical desktop - but the other stuff is also really important when you are tossing the machine around inside your bag and bumping/knocking it all the time. All it takes is for the power connector on the back of the machine to break a solder joint - and you are done!

I was look to do a 512GB mSATA + 512GB RAID0 setup with the Samsung SSDs. Price...well, I don't really mind. The budget was intended for the C435s anyways so I had quite a bit saved up. Storage might be an issue, but it's very likely that I won't have any multimedia files stored locally. There's simply no way to fit 3TB of music on a laptop, and I recognize that. I mucked around on Mythologic's customization page for the 14 inch, and that sort of setup ran me up to about 2000, which is bearable. 
 
I'm primarily a FreeBSD user in my free time, Linux is just a necessity due to the power management and driver support (the stereotyped bad rep for day-to-day hardware for *nix I feel should be more or else targeted to the BSDs - of course they pretty much worked great on any and all of the server racks I've seen). In the end, if the wireless isn't a Broadcom or some esoteric crud, I probably won't have to install any additional drivers to get everything working - that seems to be the pattern with most of the stuff I've touch the past few years. Long story short, I'm not particularly worried about hardware support or the likes.
 
But, on one hand, since the geekfest over on the Linux side raves about Thinkpads, the driver support for *nix on that front is far and above some of the most comprehensive that I've seen - they take that sort of stuff quite personally into their own hands (apart from the fingerprint scanners). Some of the neatest ACPI and power-saving tricks. Case in point - with the 6-cell addon and all the Thinkpad scripts the battery life on a friend from another forums' T430u peaks around 12-13 hours during regular usage. I was just aiming for 8....
 
The plasticky feel I got from the Clevos did leave me hesitant. I was also looking at the Zenbook Infinity - shame about the screen. The fully folding hinges on the newer T series and the slicker, but still sizable enough to be reassuring, body is yet another plus for the Thinkpads. I guess I'm just pushing myself more and more towards the Thinkpads in the end. Another huge factor would be the ergonomics. I'm torn between chiclet-styled a la the MBP keyboards, or the classic Thinkpad ones. 

 

[AHorseNamedJeff]

That feel when only 5Tb of internal HDDs...

 

[billybob_jcv]

I'm not a big fan of chicklet keys - haven't liked them since the PCjr in 1983!!