Help me decide: E5470 or E7450?

Did you read the E5470 thread? There may be some useful comments and any follow-up comments placed in that thread may get attention from the E5470 owners.

John

 

Surprising, but more than fair. I assume the lack of a good deal on it is the answer to "why not the 7470?" as well.

15" would be nicer, but short of the very price Precision 5510 (or similar MacBook Pro semi-clones from other companies) light and powerful and 15" is definitely a "pick 2" situation.

Personally, from what you've said about the development, I'd probably err on the side of the more powerful machine, but trying to translate my own software experience (big Java apps that take 5+ minutes to do a full rebuild even on a beefy quad-core machine, and a very CPU-and-memory-hungry IDE) to other environments can be tricky.

I haven't seen any particular discussion of this on the thread, but as John Ratsey said it may be worth asking there for newer experiences:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/new-latitude-5470.785426/page-6#post-10206957
suggest it does not get particularly hot.

 

well, that i5 6300U is still ULV 15W processor, not 45W

notebookcheck says the T460p (competitor for the E5470) throttles the i5 6440HQ from 45W to 35W at load, but no perfomance loss on paper (meets the minimum frequency spec)
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-ThinkPad-T460p-Notebook-Review.160923.0.html

 

Thanks again for the replies. As suggested, I've posted on the E5470 thread ... hopefully there will be some more feedback from there.


15" better for sharing the screen?
Yes, you're probably right. They're just so damn massive! Also, getting a 15" machine to meet my other requirements at a similar price point seems a hard task. A lesser point, but I never use the number pad on any keyboard, and would much prefer the 'centred', 'number-pad-less', keyboard/trackpad set up. There are 15" laptops with these keyboard configurations, but not many.

The 5510 a good option?
Yes, this looks like a very good option, but it's going to cost a load more. Unfortunately, it gets ruled out on price.

Thinkpad T460p
I'd just read that article before coming here. Very interesting. You think they'll be a few more E5470s in the hands of reviewers right now? There does seem to be a dearth of reviews out there.

So what's it going to be then?
I'm not quite there yet on the final decision, but I am leaning towards the E5470, primarily for the C++ builds: the quicker these are, the more likely I am to do some work when away from my desk ... I think this is a good thing. Running against this though is that the E7450 is a much more tried-and-tested machine, with lots of happy users.


Cheers,
Aaron

 

Perhaps reviewers see the E5470 = E5450 upgrade, not worthy to test (even though new version offers quad core)

If you wait a week, I'll have my quad core E5470 and can run some comparisons

My sandybridge desktop i5 2500k(quad 3.3ghz) builds my Java backend project(gradle, ubuntu) in 5s

My macbookair (dual core i5 1.4ghz ulv) builds it between 30-180s(can't remember which one, but it's frustrating slow). It's on el capitan, so not exactly 1:1 comparison

My E5470 has a i7 6820hq (quad 2.7ghz w/HT), should be similar performance to my desktop with the architecture improvements, barring any throttling issues(sandy bridge->skylake = 25% improvement.. Plus HT)

Planning to get the Dell dock to hook up my existing dual 22" monitors at home, 14" won't be an issue.need to check if I can run triple monitors (2x external DVI via dock + laptop)

 

That would be great. I think I can wait another week without clicking the 'Buy' button ...

Cheers,
Aaron

 

Speaking as another Java developer (larger projects; I'm at about 2 minutes on my current built on a M3800/i7-4712HQ), assuming equally good SSDs and similar internet connection you should see the newer machine outperforming the desktop. I saw build times improve by about 25% with just the Sandy Bridge->Ivy Bridge jump.

The other off-topic tip is that Gradle and Maven both do much better on a fast network connection if any of the build files are set to latest versions rather than specific ones (and often even if they are) -- if you find the laptop build slower than it should be, try a wired internet connection and see if it improves. It may not, but in general I hate doing development over wireless.

 

Doesn't matter?

(At least for maven), maven always uses local repo(if available) for stable version. It only updates SNAPSHOT version if its over a certain time interval (or you explicitly ask it to update)

My desktop is actually on a second router (wirelessly bridged to first one) .. Don't think wireless is a big issue(ssd/CPU is more of a bottleneck)

Anyways, off topic...

 

E5470 + i7 6820HQ,

the same project built in 3.8s with a spinning HDD
(desktop had SSD, 4.1s, though there's more stuff installed on desktop)

able to drive 3 screens independently (laptop + HDMI + VGA), planning to get the e-dock plus

think I'm happy... going to run some stress test+thermal comparison, and get a 1-2TB SSD

(right trackpad gets hot, probably because the 2.5" spinning hdd is right below it. bottom left gets hot because the fan is right there. not noisy, and fan can cool CPU from 90C to 60C under a minute when I stop stress test)

http://ark.intel.com/products/88970/Intel-Core-i7-6820HQ-Processor-8M-Cache-up-to-3_60-GHz

only a couple of concerns/questions

1. CPU Idles around 40+... bad?
2. At full stress, CPU goes to 35W + 2.5ghz (under rated base frequency 2.7ghz)
3. Does WWAN slot accept m.2 2242 ssd (ordered one, coming in 1 week for testing)

 

Thanks for the feedback. I hope you're still enjoying your new machine.

I'm wondering if the i5 quad core processor maybe needs better cooling so that it can be let rip, full blast ... ? I'm probably completely wrong, but I really don't like the idea of throttling.

Maybe I should be sensible and go for the less powerful, lighter e7450, and stick to doing the beefier work on the desktop ...

Okay. Right.

Conclusion
In sum, one gives me a bit more portability (not the highest priority) with a tried-and-tested record. The other gives quicker C++ builds (might do more when on laptop), and is maybe a little more future-proofed.

Decision time
I reckon I'm going to be happy either way. Although the comment about the 15" screen is nagging away at me now. Time for the credit card to meet the beer-based random number generator. That'll do it.


All the information and opinions have been very helpful. Thanks gain for taking the time to wade through the pros and cons.

Cheers,
Aaron