E6500 - High proc worth the extra $$ p8400 - T9400

Im going to be buying the Latitude E6500 and I could do with some advice on the proc, I have seen some info in these forums, but I thought I would give full details on my situation.

The system I am getting is the Latitude E6500, 4gb Ram, 250gb 7200rpm HD, Nvidia 256mb Quadro NVS 160 GPU (dont know much about this). Led backlit screen Wxga+, Bluetooth, Intel 5100 wireless N, XP pro (downgrade).

Most of my work is web development, php coding, mysql, javascript etc. I use aptana studia (eclipse, Java based) and very often have apache, mysql etc running on the laptop via xampp. I also do a number of tutorial videos (screencasts) and a fair bit of photography editing as im a keen photographer. My firefox will also be pimped out, as will my desktop Obviously I often have a lot of these apps open at the same time, or running at the same time so I can test/debug/code create new graphics etc.


So I have a choice of 5 processors

P8400(2.26,1066MHz,3MB)
P8600(2.40,1066MHz,3MB) +£40 ($80ish)
T9400(2.53,1066MHz,6MB) +£103.00 ($200ish)

P9500(2.53,1066MHz,6MB) +£135.00 ($260ish)
T9600(2.80,1066MHz,6MB) +£261.00 ($500ish)

Im using the laptop as a desktop, docked with the e-view notebook stand and connected to a truelife 22" widescreen monitor. So battery power is not a major need, although when i do have to work away from the office its usually really remote and for long periods of time, so battery usage is important, so is heat as I tend to fall in love with my IT equipment and keep it for a while. 4yrs +

The last two are out of my price range, but im wondering if its worth just sticking with the p8400 or if the extra cost is worth it for the T9400?

Any thoughts greatly received.

 

I am using my laptop for development also, Visual Studio, SQL Server/Photoshop

My system is the R6500 with the P8400, 4GB Ram, Intel Graphics, 7200RPM FFS HD, LED Backlit, Bluetooth, Backlit Keyboard, Intel 5300 wireless and XP SP3.

I have the 9 cell battery and think it's valuable to be sometimes on my laptop since I might not be plugged in all the time and though that the base processor gives a good balance between power and battery life.

If you're going to be plugged in all day than go for a higher processor but if you won't be all the time than go for the base one.

8400 => 8600 is not worth it since the cache is the same.
If I were to upgrade from the P8400, I would go for the P9500 since it should be better on the battery than the T series processors.

I also highly recommend you go for the 8300 wireless card and a quick search on these forums shows the 8100 to have problems.

 

u have heard of speedstep havent you ? which will alter your cpus speed and current draw depending on load

also programs like rmclock can let u manually fine tune this for even better temps and longer battery life ,

also think of it this way , a slow cpu will take longer and be at full power longer to complete its tasks where a faster one will get the job done faster and return to its idle state far quicker than a slow one

its a false belief that the slowest cpu is the most efficient one , especially when your in your scenario, me i took the plunge and got the 2.8ghz cpu as i only plan to keep the machine for a year maybe 18 months at max so it will have a good resale value

and i wont be wishing i stumped up the extra cash for the top cpu, its been a while since i maxed out a laptop and i thought it was nice to treat myself again

 

Thanks for the thoughts guys, some interesting points to think over

I will definitely look into the 5300 wireless card too.

Any other thoughts/insights greatly received.