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    Confused by W700 Options in Canada

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by Snowkarver, Apr 13, 2009.

  1. Snowkarver

    Snowkarver Notebook Consultant

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    Hi, I'm currently considering the purchase of a W700, but I'm confused about a couple of options available in Canada that don't seem to match their US counterparts.

    1) The much-vaunted WUXGA, high nit, 72% adobe gamut screen is an absolute must, as this machine will be used for professional photo editing. In the US, the choices are crystal clear:

    17" WXGA+ LCD 200NIT
    17" WUXGA 400NIT TFT [add $175.00]

    In Canada, we have:

    17" WXGA+ TFT
    17" WUXGA TFT [add $167.00]

    Both prices are without any EPP discount for comparison purposes. AFAIK, there are only two screen options available worldwide - the lesser WXGA+ and the fancy WUXGA. Is there some kind of third, cheaper WUXGA they are selling in Canada, or is it really the same 400NIT screen at a better price?


    2) In the US, the GPU options are:

    NVIDIA Quadro FX 2700M 48-core CUDA parallel computing processor 512MB (dedicated)
    NVIDIA Quadro FX 3700M 128-core CUDA parallel computing processor 1GB (dedicated) [add $400.00]

    While in Canada, we have:

    NVIDIA FX1700 512MB
    NVIDIA FX3700 1GB [add $400.00]


    Since this would primarily be used for 2D edit work, I would actually prefer the 1700 for its cheaper price and lower power consumption - but it raises the question of why these options are mismatched - presumably, they are being built at the same plant from the same stock. I understand that different markets frequently get different options, but for some reason, this one struck me as a bit odd. Any ideas?

    Thanks!
     
    Snowkarver, Apr 13, 2009
    #1
  2. sgogeta4

    sgogeta4 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    Call Lenovo about the options?
     
    sgogeta4, Apr 13, 2009
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  3. Snowkarver

    Snowkarver Notebook Consultant

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    I'm lazy that way :)

    But in case anyone was wondering, I did call up Lenovo here in Toronto, they checked their spec sheets, and confirmed it is indeed the "WUXGA ultra high resolution, 72% color gamut, 400NIT, 500:1 CR, 16:10 display"

    Currently a good deal here, with the Spring sale + Visa Perks or Friends EPP, and the lower-priced upgrades compared to the States...
     
    Snowkarver, Apr 13, 2009
    #3
  4. antskip

    antskip Notebook Deity

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    The gpu's offered are all the same family but with quite different levels of power/ability/heat:
    The 3700 is 75W 1GB with 128 CUDA Parallel Processor Cores, and Memory Bandwidth (GB/sec) of 51.2.
    The 2700 is 65W 512MB with 48 CUDA Parallel Processor Cores, and Memory Bandwidth (GB/sec) of 51.2.
    The 1700 is 50W 512MB with 32 CUDA Parallel Processor Cores, and Memory Bandwidth (GB/sec) of 25.6.
    So the two gpu options in Canada (and Australia) are much further apart than the options in the USA.
     
    antskip, Apr 13, 2009
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