Business performance presentation laptops

Caporegime
Joined
21 Apr 2004
Posts
33,225
Location
Bristol
Hi Guys,

I'm trying to spec a laptop for the sales team which is compact, light, powerful and offers good connectivity. The power is needed for displaying 3D models generated by our 3D Laser Scanner, in turn with Autodesks Navisworks Freedom application for fancy 3D models of work created byt the company.

We usually buy the bottom of the range HP ProBook 6830s/4710s series about around £600 each but they unfortunately don't cut the mustard.
I've looked at the Lenovo T series with an i7-620M and a NVIDIA NVS 3100m Graphics 512MB - but on the chart here the GPU is rather pants, and I don't think it'll be up to the job. I'd rather not go for a big heavy mobile workstation which although will offer unparallel display power its practicality for carrying around is limited.

Do any other manufacturers offer the GPU's displayed towards the top of this chart in 15" casings? Ideally with high resolution displays?

Any help appreciated, I'm not very good at laptops!
 
Caporegime
OP
Joined
21 Apr 2004
Posts
33,225
Location
Bristol
I've just been looking into that and you're right http://www.nvidia.co.uk/page/quadrofx_go.html they only come in 17" form - oh well I'll put it to them!

Lenovo does offer SSD's in Raid-0, that does make me slightly moist at it's capabilities.


4k for

Intel Core i7-920XM Processor Extreme Edition (8M Cache, 2.00 GHz)
17" WXGA+ LED-BL
NVIDIA Quadro FX 3800M 128-core CUDA parallel computing processor 1GB (dedicated)
16 GB PC3-10600 DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz SODIMM Memory (4 DIMM)
Dual 128GB RAID Enabled Solid State Hard Drives, Serial ATA

:o
 
Soldato
Joined
27 Feb 2003
Posts
7,171
Location
Shropshire
Have you looked at the HP EliteBooks? The "w" are the workstation models.

8440w:
Core i5/i7
NVIDIA Quadro FX 380M graphics with 512 MB dedicated gDDR3 video memory
14" (1366 x 768 or 1600 x 900)

8540w:
Core i5/i7
ATI FirePro M5800 graphics with 1 GB dedicated DDR3 video memory
NVIDIA Quadro FX 880M graphics with 1 GB dedicated DDR3 video memory
NVIDIA Quadro FX 1800M graphics with 1 GB dedicated GDDR5 video memory
15.6" (1366 x 768 through to 1920 x 1080)

I've just done a CTO (Configure To Order) 8540w build on one of my trade distributor's sites:

i7 720 CPU
15.6" Full HD Display
16GB RAM
500GB HD
WWAN
Quadro 1800M Graphics
Windows 7 Pro x64

That came to £2100+VAT ("trade").
 
Man of Honour
Joined
13 Oct 2006
Posts
90,805
You can get the GTX260m in smaller than 17" and its very capable (equivalent to a desktop 9800GT on steroids) tho they are still a bit heavy as laptops go. (I have one based on the Clevo M860TU chassis). Would make a very good business/presentation laptop tho with DVI, HDMI, firewire, eSATA, the works.

http://aten-hosted.com/images/x70_1.jpg

http://aten-hosted.com/images/x70_0.jpg

As you can see fairly compact, good serious look for business useage and lots of connectivity, only downside its slightly heavier than normal laptops due to the copper cooling. The latest versions have i7 mobile and better screen.
 
Last edited:
Caporegime
OP
Joined
21 Apr 2004
Posts
33,225
Location
Bristol
Have you looked at the HP EliteBooks? The "w" are the workstation models.

8440w:
Core i5/i7
NVIDIA Quadro FX 380M graphics with 512 MB dedicated gDDR3 video memory
14" (1366 x 768 or 1600 x 900)

8540w:
Core i5/i7
ATI FirePro M5800 graphics with 1 GB dedicated DDR3 video memory
NVIDIA Quadro FX 880M graphics with 1 GB dedicated DDR3 video memory
NVIDIA Quadro FX 1800M graphics with 1 GB dedicated GDDR5 video memory
15.6" (1366 x 768 through to 1920 x 1080)

I've just done a CTO (Configure To Order) 8540w build on one of my trade distributor's sites:

i7 720 CPU
15.6" Full HD Display
16GB RAM
500GB HD
WWAN
Quadro 1800M Graphics
Windows 7 Pro x64

That came to £2100+VAT ("trade").

You can get the GTX260m in smaller than 17" and its very capable (equivalent to a desktop 9800GT on steroids) tho they are still a bit heavy as laptops go. (I have one based on the Clevo M860TU chassis). Would make a very good business/presentation laptop tho with DVI, HDMI, firewire, eSATA, the works.

http://aten-hosted.com/images/x70_1.jpg

http://aten-hosted.com/images/x70_0.jpg

As you can see fairly compact, good serious look for business useage and lots of connectivity, only downside its slightly heavier than normal laptops due to the copper cooling. The latest versions have i7 mobile and better screen.

I'll have a look at what HP can offer - we've got two older xw9440 laptops and still perform fine for what we ask of them but they are very heavy - i had no idea you could customize a HP.

A rethink of the scenario and what Lenovo can offer with built in SIM card slot and powerful wireless does stand out as being far more practical. Another overlook a few manufacturers seem to be making in RGB out - we need it for using other companies and our own projectors, adapters don't always fit snug in the sockets which makes them useless as sales laptops. Great for external monitors of course.



Sony Vaio Z?


Don't think I'd like the idea of using Samsung/Sony, no idea what their support is like, HP's distribution of replacement parts has always been top notch also with comparability of docking stations etc
 
Soldato
Joined
27 Feb 2003
Posts
7,171
Location
Shropshire
I'll have a look at what HP can offer - we've got two older xw9440 laptops and still perform fine for what we ask of them but they are very heavy - i had no idea you could customize a HP.

Don't think I'd like the idea of using Samsung/Sony, no idea what their support is like, HP's distribution of replacement parts has always been top notch also with comparability of docking stations etc

HP's CTO service is something I forget about. I'm not sure HP offer it for direct sales, maybe only via a reseller working through distribution.

WWAN (Wireless WAN) is an option on the Elitebook, not sure if there's any choice of the WiFi chipset - I'll have a look.

One thought I had before - do you need the laptops to be ISV certified by Autodesk or anyone? That might push down the Lenovo / HP route.
 
Associate
Joined
5 Mar 2009
Posts
45
Location
Wakefield
Gaming cards such as GT's / GTX wil not perform at the same level as Quadro cards for modeling / Autocad (not sure if you are just playing videos / presentations). Unfortunatly most performance tables report Quadro's slower on average as the tests generally relate to games intensive on one procesors...... provided the software can exploit all the cores.

I've a 15 inch Dell Precision for work (AutoCAD); no real preference for Dell over IBM or others. Its cheap and cheerful with reasonable performance (old now though).

I really like my Kobalt, but I would be wary of buying one for business (calls go unanswered.... which is fine until your livelihood relies on it).
 
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