I have to select a new laptop - what's best for seti?

[Wiz]

Like clockwork, my employer is requiring me to select a new laptop this fall because my "old" one is now 3 years in service.

I want one with a BD player (maybe burner) and loads of ram but beyond that am open to suggestion. Please point me in the right direction people, I'll be running seti on it of course so I'd like one that is a great performer and I'll be connecting it up to my HT to play Blu-Ray movies at home / or watch them on the plane etc. It's got to have HDMI output and it would be nice to have separate digital audio out as well.

I use it when they ship me out of town primarily, or when I'm on vacation so I can connect to work machines in case of "emergencies". Having the ability to plug in a cell sim card is a plus as I want to be able to get online whenever / wherever by as many ways possible.

Budget is about $3k

Recommendations please? (Preferably with links to the recommended product.)

 

[Fardringle]

As far as SETI goes, I would say the biggest concern is cooling. Laptops generally have very inadequate cooling so you'll want to make sure to get one that can get rid of the heat created by running SETI. I don't have a lot of experience with high budget laptops, but I can say that low/mid range Dell, Acer, and HP laptops have very poor cooling (some only work just well enough to keep the machine from melting while running basic office applications) so I would stay away from those if you plan to run SETI a lot.

 

[Wiz]

That's a good thought - thanks!
Maybe I should add one of those cooling attachments as an accessory.
Additional cooling can't be a bad thing.

I'm looking at these:
Lenovo ThinkPad SL500 2746 - Core 2 Duo T9400 2.53 GHz

and these:

Sony VAIO AR870ND - Core 2 Duo T9500 2.6 GHz

 

[Smoke]

Man, I wish I had a boss that made me get a new $3K notebook every three years and paid for it!


(Of course, I'd have to have a job first.) :laugh:


I've got two different types of notebook coolers that are in the form of a base on which you place the computer. The oldest has a couple of fans that run off the USB ports and the newest is a passive model that works really great and is completely silent.

Mine are several years old so I won't make a specific rec.

 

[Wiz]

I'd rather they just pay me more, but I guess a person has to take the benefits they offer.

Employment is that way, I spent a lot of time being self employed.
Self employment means lots of freedom but is light on benefits.
I could keep every dime I made (after sending what was due to the government or paying out to vendors) but goodies like health care always seemed just out of reach.

Now I just do what I'm asked and collect benefits. I'm on a quasi government pay schedule so I know that's not going to change any time soon so when they budget $3k for a laptop that's about what I want to spend. Since I "have" to work from home they have to provide me a way to do it.

 

[Wiz]

No one has preferences for one brand over another?
Any that are easy to keep running on full power?
My last Vaio always wanted to throttle the cpu back as far as possible to save power.

 

[bryanW1995]

I've looked into the external cooling that smoke mentioned and strongly agree. I have a dell with a t7250 that is otherwise bargain-basement, and its cooling is woefully inadequate. I would get the fastest cpu that your budget allows within the bounds of your other constraints and just get the external cooling pad(s).

edit: newegg has a lot of info on them, iirc you can get a pretty good one for $20 or less. you might even be able to convince your boss that you need it for the computer

 

[Wiz]

you might even be able to convince your boss that you need it for the computer

That parts easy, my boss has serious trouble with the overheating laptop.

I'm also looking at the Dell XPS & the Asus notebooks.
So many choices.

Is there a lot of difference between the Core 2 Duo 2.53 ghz and the 2.6 ghz?

 

[bryanW1995]

the 2.53 is going to be a bit faster b/c it has a 1066 fsb vs the 800 fsb of the 2.6. However, you might check and see if any of them have the Q9100 mobile cpu out yet...yep, you guessed it, 2.26 ghz quadcore LAPTOP!!! the 1000 unit tray price is 851 vs 316 for the T9400, however, so, um... you might have to do some fast talking with the boss-man. check out the wiki link on all the cpus:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L...rd-voltage.2C_45_nm.29

note that the Q9100 is E0 stepping vs C0 of the older cpus. the quads are only 45w vs 35w on the T9400 or T9500, so you'll be fine especially if you end up using one of the cooling pads. Let me know how they work out, I keep looking at them and then I always end up not hitting the "order" button.

edit: I'd lean towards the dell XPS. Their low end laptops are crappy but the XPS lineup has a strong reputation and is much more "reasonable" than most of the boutique shops.

re-edit: of course, I just checked their site and didn't see any that offered the new 1066 fsb cpus, much less the Q9100. :thumbsdown:

 

[Wiz]

Thanks, I'm limited to either Dell or CDWG for sourcing the things.
I'll search for the Q9100 though, that sounds nice!

 

[bryanW1995]

good luck. dell should have something out pretty soon with the Q9100. can you stall for a couple of weeks while you "research"?

 

[Wiz]

can you stall for a couple of weeks

Oh yes, this is a Government job!
My old laptop still works fine, I just have to get the new one ordered with 2008 funds.

If I get pressured to make the decision there are plenty of nice Core 2 Duo machines available and I'm sure they will work just fine.

 

[Wiz]

I really like this Asus notebook - if I am forced to choose before any new ones hit I'm leaning towards this:
ASUS M70VM C2