DELL or IBM mobile workstation?

Question

The recent discussion on the DELL notebook has me doing some research. Prices seem decent & I'm considering making the change from desktop to mobile workstation.

These machines have some pretty serious specs. (Compared to what I'm working on now).

So a .. multipart.. question:

Can a mobile workstation (with apparently the same specs) perform as well as a desktop machine? Expandability aside.. i'd be using this only for CAD work. With the kind of processing power I'm seeing, are these little things just going to melt?

DELL or IBM. The thinkpad series workstations look really appealing. Theres a sale on. Display size is smaller, but I'll be working with an ext monitor 90%+ of the time.
Solidworks Hardware page throws the FujitsuSeimens Celsius series mobile workstations into the mix. Any experience with these out there?

Thanks. Looking for some advice before putting out $2.5k.

-Tony

iQ · Accepted Answer

i did testing on Dell M65 core2duo laptop and Dell 690 dual core zeon and i found only a 5-10% increase of speed on the desktop. i was supporting buying a lot of the laptops for the upgrade before our manager stepped in and said desktops because they were faster. the speed increase was fairly unnoticable.

you could do as i did. i got various computers with the intent of returning them prior to the 30-60 return policy dates. we had Dell send us different platforms that we selected with the full understanding that we were testing them for compatiblity and something would be returned. Dell was fine with this, i am sure taht IBM or whoever would extend the same offer. you just have to plan on testing time on your models. benchmark times to open, refresh, create drawing views, ... iQ

Ronni · Answer

The question shouldnt be IBM or DELL.I only think you can get the gfx card you need to run SW with a HP orDELL.

Markku Lehtola · Answer

Get IBM with Quadro, you'll love it.

post · Answer

Really leaning toward the IBM w/ quadro.  Used to havean old thinkpad (T50?) and loved the way it looked/felt.Now, sacrifice processing power for memory --or memory for processing power?-Tony

Bo · Answer

No mention yet of on-site repair & warranty work.

I've not used IBM, but 2 of my Dell laptops have had Complete Care and each one has been repaired (1 was a replacement of the screen & backlight & video card in one case) in less than 24 hours from when I phoned.

Worth thinking about. Lenovo/IBM has warranty and I assume it too likely has on-site warranty repair.

Bo

Jerry Steiger · Answer

Depends on the size of the models you typically work with. If you never go into swap space with the size of RAM you have right now, it's enough. More won't help, except to future-proof you when Windows or SolidWorks ups the requirements. (I just noticed that just opening SW, with no models loaded, on XP takes over 500 MB. I think when I started that it took a little over

100 MB.)

Jerry Steiger

morten.gronberg · Answer

We have just upgrated our CAD laptops from Dell M65, 2,0GHz, 2GB ram, Nvidia FX350M to Dell M6300, 2,2GHz, 3GB ram, Nvidia FX1600M. Cost rice app. 252 US$ because of problems with large assy's. We will run with the 3GB switch in the OS system, so that windows only can allocate 1GB and not half of the ram.

Regarding Dell, IBM or others, thats up to you.

MGR

DELL or IBM mobile workstation?

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