Current and fast upcoming Thunderbolt laptops?

[fuzzybabybunny]

My friend is looking for a new laptop, something that will last him many many years due to financials. He would like to game on it as well and is ok with a desktop replacement.

I'm really pushing him to get something with Thunderbolt. The thought of being able to hook up an external graphics card to future proof the thing is too hard to ignore.

My problem is finding a Windows laptop with Thunderbolt. Any suggestions?

 

[akugami]

Sadly the Lenovo S430 won't be available which would really fit your buddy's needs if he was dead set on wanting Thunderbolt. There are also some Acer and Asus machines coming down the pipe with Thunderbolt I believe. I know Acer has the Acer Aspire S5 which includes a Thunderbolt port. But Acer is usually a value brand and the Aspire S5 is an Ultrabook so who knows what the build quality is like.

But rather than playing the waiting game, I'd get him something with a USB 3.0 port which is still very fast. Not Thunderbolt fast but still fast. Perhaps a business class system like the Lenovo Thinkpad T430 or T530, it should be built to last for years. It has enough upgrade options on the T530 with CPU and GPU upgrades as well as the option of a 1600x900 screen. Also, if he does a lot of his stuff on the road, he can remove the optical drive in favor of an extra 3 cell battery. I'm actually eying the T430 or T530 myself. Just waiting for the price to come down a bit.

Or you could get a Macbook Pro and install Windows on it...

 

[TheStu]

Sadly the Lenovo S430 won't be available which would really fit your buddy's needs if he was dead set on wanting Thunderbolt. There are also some Acer and Asus machines coming down the pipe with Thunderbolt I believe. I know Acer has the Acer Aspire S5 which includes a Thunderbolt port. But Acer is usually a value brand and the Aspire S5 is an Ultrabook so who knows what the build quality is like.

But rather than playing the waiting game, I'd get him something with a USB 3.0 port which is still very fast. Not Thunderbolt fast but still fast. Perhaps a business class system like the Lenovo Thinkpad T430 or T530, it should be built to last for years. It has enough upgrade options on the T530 with CPU and GPU upgrades as well as the option of a 1600x900 screen. Also, if he does a lot of his stuff on the road, he can remove the optical drive in favor of an extra 3 cell battery. I'm actually eying the T430 or T530 myself. Just waiting for the price to come down a bit.

Or you could get a Macbook Pro and install Windows on it...

He wants Thunderbolt because it is an external PCIe interface. USB 3 is most definitely not. He is hoping that at some point, external graphics card will be reasonably priced and available that will allow someone to augment their device's onboard graphics.

OP, how many years are we talking? Do you really think that the CPU will still be going strong at that point?

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

He wants Thunderbolt because it is an external PCIe interface. USB 3 is most definitely not. He is hoping that at some point, external graphics card will be reasonably priced and available that will allow someone to augment their device's onboard graphics.

OP, how many years are we talking? Do you really think that the CPU will still be going strong at that point?

We're both excited about the prospects of hooking up external GPUs to the system and being able to extend the life of the computer that way. He buys a new laptop maybe once every 4 years, but I believe that a current i7 processor should still be pretty good for basic photo work, web work, and 1080p video, and general activities even 4 years from now.

As for the price of an eGPU, it's just a matter of getting an external Thunderbolt x16 enclosure with a power supply.

 

[TheStu]

We're both excited about the prospects of hooking up external GPUs to the system and being able to extend the life of the computer that way. He buys a new laptop maybe once every 4 years, but I believe that a current i7 processor should still be pretty good for basic photo work, web work, and 1080p video, and general activities even 4 years from now.

As for the price of an eGPU, it's just a matter of getting an external Thunderbolt x16 enclosure with a power supply.

Do they make them, are they good?

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Do they make them, are they good?

MSI is going to release one. Not sure yet if it'll be good. The specs seem a bit lacking (for one they only put a 150W power supply in it, not sure how a company makes such a huge design oversight), but since the Thunderbolt interface provides the possibility I just know that someone will make a good solution, especially by the time my roommate's graphics card becomes obsolete (planning to get the GTX 670M on an Asus G75). The G75 will have TBolt in a couple months or so, so he'll have a card that can run everything for maybe 2 years. By that time an E-GPU Tbolt solution should be available.

Right now the more important thing is to get a laptop that has the Tbolt interface. Without it, there's not even the possibility of using this kind of future strategy.

 

[TheStu]

MSI is going to release one. Not sure yet if it'll be good. The specs seem a bit lacking (for one they only put a 150W power supply in it, not sure how a company makes such a huge design oversight), but since the Thunderbolt interface provides the possibility I just know that someone will make a good solution, especially by the time my roommate's graphics card becomes obsolete (planning to get the GTX 670M on an Asus G75). The G75 will have TBolt in a couple months or so, so he'll have a card that can run everything for maybe 2 years. By that time an E-GPU Tbolt solution should be available.

Right now the more important thing is to get a laptop that has the Tbolt interface. Without it, there's not even the possibility of using this kind of future strategy.

Yea, i am definitely interested in seeing where TB is going to go, and hope that it takes off. Right now it is just a couple external drives (which are absurdly faster, especially the Promise one), but I'm hoping that it will take off and expand into more options and devices.

 

[akugami]

I thought that the TB port was more of a side consideration in your OP but if it's a primary concern then you'll have to play the waiting game.

From what I can see, USB 3.0 is plenty fast for stuff like external HD's and consumer video transfer devices (camcorders, DSLR's, etc) but Thunderbolt would be what you want for the really high bandwidth stuff.

 

[weovpac]

He wants Thunderbolt because it is an external PCIe interface.

Unless he needs a ton of IO, a eSata ExpressCard can take care of this requirement. Even tho USB3 can probably work just fine, I too prefer PCIe using eSata. I have this[1] and works great on Thinkpad x220. And have used another eSata PCMCIA card for a long time on a Thinkpad x61s. Consistently get ~80 MB/s and burts up to ~120 MB/s with normal hard drives[nothing special]. TB is not worth the wait, IMHO.

[1] http://www.startech.com/Cards-Adapt...-eSATA-II-Controller-Adapter-Card~ECESATA254F

*NOTE: [1] ExpressCard is a SATA II. Can get a SATA III ExpressCard if you need that much IO.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Unless he needs a ton of IO, a eSata ExpressCard can take care of this requirement. Even tho USB3 can probably work just fine, I too prefer PCIe using eSata. I have this[1] and works great on Thinkpad x220. And have used another eSata PCMCIA card for a long time on a Thinkpad x61s. Consistently get ~80 MB/s and burts up to ~120 MB/s with normal hard drives[nothing special]. TB is not worth the wait, IMHO.

[1] http://www.startech.com/Cards-Adapt...-eSATA-II-Controller-Adapter-Card~ECESATA254F

*NOTE: [1] ExpressCard is a SATA II. Can get a SATA III ExpressCard if you need that much IO.

I'm specifically looking for Thunderbolt because I want it to support external graphics cards to prolong the useful life of the laptop.

 

[weovpac]

Yes, thought the IO was another reason. PC components are always going to be a moving target. Best to buy something now, use it until one cannot stand the speed/whatever of the system. Rather than try to future proof. But I don't play games or need a dedicated GPU.

Also Thunderbolt still needs some maturing to do before it becomes ubiquitous and really useful; plus prices need to come down. So whatever you buy now might not be useful down the road. In terms of the specs changing, etc...

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Yes, thought the IO was another reason. PC components are always going to be a moving target. Best to buy something now, use it until one cannot stand the speed/whatever of the system. Rather than try to future proof. But I don't play games or need a dedicated GPU.

Also Thunderbolt still needs some maturing to do before it becomes ubiquitous and really useful; plus prices need to come down. So whatever you buy now might not be useful down the road. In terms of the specs changing, etc...

I'm not trying to without a doubt future-proof it. I know there's a chance it just won't pan out, but at least there's a chance that if I wait for Thunderbolt it *might* pan out. That's better than just going for whatever's available and not even having that chance. As they say, the only way to guarantee something won't happen is to not do it.

 

[weovpac]

I'm not trying to without a doubt future-proof it. I know there's a chance it just won't pan out, but at least there's a chance that if I wait for Thunderbolt it *might* pan out. That's better than just going for whatever's available and not even having that chance. As they say, the only way to guarantee something won't happen is to not do it.

Heh, indeed. Just making sure one takes those things into account. I thought too of waiting for Thunderbolt. My thinking was more towards as one cable dock and IO. For me it was not worth the wait.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Heh, indeed. Just making sure one takes those things into account. I thought too of waiting for Thunderbolt. My thinking was more towards as one cable dock and IO. For me it was not worth the wait.

I just think we live in a very unique computer age.

Current i7/i5 mobile processors + a fast SSD is more than enough for any kind of passive media consumption (movies, music) or work related activity apart from maybe real time video encoding and CAD work, which most people don't do. But a lot of people *do* still play games, and the video card will always be a bottleneck. Always more polygons, better textures, greater draw, complicated effects, etc. Being able to keep the video card up to date is critical. The CPU and SSD and memory, not so much. My current laptop is old but still awesome for everything I need it to do, except the video card. And now I have to ditch my entire laptop to get a better video card? I wish I had a Thunderbolt port and could just hook up an external graphics card when I needed it, because my current system specs are going to be fine for even 2+ years to come based on everything else I do.

 

[weovpac]

Yes, it sucks too change everything; for just one component. Thunderbolt has a lot of potential, hope it lives up to all of it.