About to pull the trigger on a W500, have some final questions

Hey all, new member but I am down to the wire and need some last minute advice. Here is my config.

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P9500 (2.53GHz 1066MHz 6MBL2) 25W
Genuine Windows Vista Business with Windows XP Professional Downgrade****
15.4" WUXGA TFT
ATI Mobility FireGL V5700 (512MB VRAM) with Intel AMT
3 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1067MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM)
UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad)
250 GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm with Disk Encryption4
CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo 24X/24X/24X/8X Max, Ultrabay Slim (Serial ATA)5
No Bluetooth
Intel WiFi Link 5300 (AGN) with My WiFi Technology10
Integrated Mobile Broadband upgradable
9 cell Li-Ion Battery

I am primarily using this for work with audio editing and production, so gaming performance does not matter that much to me, but the WUXGA display did, which is why I ruled out the T500, unless of course someone can educate me better as to HOW much better the WUXGA is over WSXGA+ and if I really need it. ProTools is a big software and it uses a lot of windows so I figure the extra program real estate would be worth it.

The one thing I am hung up on is the processor. I researched the t9400 vs p9500 argument very well, and know the latter is a 25w as opposed to 35w rating, which saves on battery life, but apparently the earlier benchmarked better in multithread processes. Being involved with pro audio, the higher number is important to me, but so is battery life as I will be mobile in college. I just cannot decide if the extra money is worth it for the P, if it's really that much better with battery life, or if the T model's numbers would be better for what I want to do. I could not find a straight comparison for the w500 using both processors

The build price for above, with the savings and the 15 percent off coupon comes to 1635.40. Fair price?

Any and all help or feedback is greatly appreciated, I just can't pull the trigger on this yet and be satisfied with the unknowing.

 

If you work your CPU (100% load) while on the battery, the P series processor will give you a significant more battery life, else get the T series (on idle the power consumption is <1W difference)

 

I'd add the bluetooth, it comes in handy-- unless you already have a dongle that you'll be using.

With the integrated graphics my W500 with a T9400 gives me about 3.5 hours of battery life (6 cell) with no other power saving features enabled, with the Wifi on and doing things like browsing or IM. Not really that impressive. Enable some of the power saving features like adaptive CPU and screen brightness + wifi off, it adds about 2 hours. Doing CPU intensive tasks will drop that time by about 20%, roughly.

You're already getting the 9-cell battery so I'm sure with a few of the power saving features on you'll get a lot of mobile time. How many hours do you really need in one go? You could always pick up a spare 6 cell along with that 9 cell you're gonna have.

 

Make sure your getting 64bit vista business, also, don't get 3G ram, go for the 2G (1Dimm) and buy a stick later, you ll save a lot of money. Why get the Disk Encryption 250GB? If your doing audio editing and production buy your own 500GB for less than that 250GB.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227350

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136314

Go for the T9400, cost isn't worth the slight increase in battery life, if anything you can learn how to under volt.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Comparison-of-Intel-Centrino-2-CPUs.11100.0.html





"Finally, after using Vista for two weeks and downgrading back to XP (I’ve been only an XP user before getting the W500), I feel that Vista runs smoother than XP in some ways."

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=315910 - XP

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=311572 - Vista

 

Great advice, thank you.

As for Vista 64, I use Pro Tools, and Pro Tools isnt compatible with any 64-bit version of Windows. On my desktop, I actually have to dual boot XP 64 and XP 32 since I rely so heavily on it. This is also why I picked 3G ram, since 4 is useless to me in a 32 bit enviornment

 

I'd stick with the P9500, or else move to the T9500/T9600 (higher performance). The P8600 (or P8700 if you can find it) is also a good choice (identical energy consumption to the P9500 and only a slight drop in performance [mostly reduced cache size]).

However, I am a bit of an efficiency maven and am willing to pay extra for improved battery life and/or performance per watt (I also tend to keep things a LONG time).

 

Thanks everyone for all of your help! Just placed my order after getting distracted by the w700 . It would have been nice, but I didn't want the hassle of lugging it around and the reduced battery life, not to mention the premium over the w500 which included a video card I did not need. The screen size would be better for audio recording, but I'm sure the 15.4 high res will fair well.

Here was my final config:

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P9500 (2.53GHz 1066MHz 6MBL2) 25W1
Genuine Windows Vista Business with Windows XP Professional Downgrade
15.4" WUXGA TFT
ATI Mobility FireGL V5700 (512MB VRAM) with Intel AMT
4 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1067MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM)
UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad) with Fingerprint Reader
160 GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm4
CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo 24X/24X/24X/8X Max, Ultrabay Slim (Serial ATA)
No Bluetooth
Intel WiFi Link 5300 (AGN) with My WiFi Technology10
Integrated Mobile Broadband upgradable
9 cell Li-Ion Battery
4058: 1 Year Depot Warranty - TopSeller7
1 Year On Site Upgrade with 1 Year ThinkPad Protection
Computrace LoJack for Laptops 1 Yr lic.

The DVD-R drive I saved some money on as I havent burned a dvd in about a year, year and a half, and if I ever really need to, Ill go out and get an external burner later.

I feel better with the additional warranty and accidental damage protection, as well as the lojack...going to school and all, if someone manages to swipe it, I would like some hope Ill see it again.

All of this with tax came to 1945.21. I feel as though I got a good deal, and hopefully the 9 business day delay in shipping doesn't go too much further beyond that.