Best 15"

What is the best 15" hight end lenovo. Wish 1GB Graphics mem..hard to find in a 15" right?? Is lenovo as good as Dell and sony? Is it good as the original IBM thinkpad regarding the quality and customer issues?? How about screens.. Why are these laptops expensive..What is the highest end processor I can pack in a 15" and what is the highest resolution..Any one with a beast of a 15" please advice..

 

The "best" would depend on your uses. For gaming, it's the T500. For CAD work, it's the W500.

The amount of graphics memory does not really matter, since these machines all have video cards with a 128-bit bus - anything past 256MB graphics RAM is negligble/a waste.

Lenovo's Thinkpad line is comparable to Dell's Vostro/Latitude/Precision family. Sony does not have a direct competitor.

These machines are slightly more expensive than consumer laptops with the same specification because they are built with a much higher build quality, and made to last for business users.

Currently, the highest end processor you can order in the T/W500 is a T9600 2.8GHz Core 2 Duo, I believe, but unless you do a lot of CPU-limited tasks, you won't need that power. I would advise sticking with a P-series processor, to run cooler and save battery.

The highest resolution is WUXGA, which is available on the W500. The T500 and W500 both have a WSXGA+ option as well. I have an LG WSXGA+ panel on my T500, and it's great.

Read my review in my signature for more information.

 

search function is your friend.....

 

why do u need 1gb gpu memory?

 

that would be the thinkpad W500

the important thing to note is the actual GPU, not the amount of memmory, the actual GPU can only process so much memmory that anymore would be a waste.

the W500 comes with ATI Mobility FireGL V5700 (512MB VRAM)

are you planning to use 32-bit OS? keep in mind that this will eat further into the 32-bit 4gb memmory limit.

Is lenovo as good as Dell and sony?

i better not answer this, as it might start a flame war, and which part is good? if you want to compare like thinkpad T500 vs dell latitude e6400, i think thinkpad is superior in many ways. keyboard lighting, hdd sensor, thinkvantage, keyboard, keyboard layout.

sony does not make good rugged notebook, they make good ultraportable which is not as solid as thinkpad, the VAIO Z-series and VAIO TT-series is a very impressive ultraportable.

in general, they are still very good.

thinkpad used to offer IPS screen, sadly they are no longer available. the screen they offer now is better than the old ancient thinkpad of the past of course, and now you can opt for a very high-res screen also.

they pack so much feature, and very well built. thinkpad series also doesnt have the feeling of budget made... except maybe the R and SL series.

in W500 you can go up to: Intel Core 2 Duo processor T9800 (2.93GHz 1066MHz 6MBL2)

which is a ridiculous amount of processing power... for now. what are you gonna do with that much power anyway?

WUXGA 1920x1200.

i think the W500 is a good rugged choice. it will have decent battery life, and will not be too noisy or hot. any more and it will probably be thick, hot and noisy laptop, which will have horrendous battery life.

are you gonna do gaming only on this computer?

gonna travel with you computer?

 

for as much as i love thinkpads, for gaming its not the best choice, and the panels are not the best out there. For 15" screens, the dell E6500 has much better options, such as higher resolution very nice LED panel and RGB-LED option. The graphics card, however is comparable to what lenovo offers on t/w500.
I got the thinkpad for work and ability to stand up to some abuse. After owning both gaming and business laptops I noticed that both of them were engineered with some compromises to perform their intended function better. The gaming laptops seem to always have terrible battery life, they run much hotter and are usually bulkier, while business laptops are build for higher durability, long battery life and portability.

 

What do you mean with a 128-bit bus, you mean it can not address more than a 256MB space, that is why any more memory will be a waste?? Or what?

 

If you are primarily a hardcore gamer, ThinkPads are not that great. ThinkPads are loved for their build quality. They just do not offer high-end GPUs for their notebooks. The best that ThinkPads offer are mid-range GPUs.

The memory bus size of the GPU affects how much bandwidth the GPU has. The wider the bus size, then the greater the bandwidth. The more bandwidth, the faster the GPU. Low end GPUs tend to have only a 64-bit bus. Mid-end GPUs tend to have a 128-bit bus. High-end GPUs have at least a 256-bit bus.

Video memory size only matters if the GPU is fast enough to process it. 1GB of video memory will not be useful on a weak GPU.

 

I stand corrected

pacmandelight answered the GPU bus-bit question very well. If you're looking for a hardcore gaming computer, Thinkpads are not for you (well, I guess the W700 could work...).

 

While this doesn't affect Thinkpad models currently, it is important to note that GPU memory type is also a big factor. For example, the HD 4860 is 128-bit but uses GDDR5 memory, which is quad data rate (should be QDR), as opposed to GDDR3's double data rate. This means that 128-bit GDDR5 = 256-bit GDDR3.

I suggest filling out the FAQ so that you can be directed in a more helpful manner as to the best notebook for your needs. Just because things are more expensive doesn't mean you really need it (as if you don't use it, something lesser will suffice); however, if you understand the options available and have the money then you are still free to throw it around at whatever you want.