Excel / SPSS on the X200

Hi again,

It seems I need to make more compromizes than I ever thought I had to do, and it proving to be very exhausting

The T400 was abit too heavy for me to carry around all day when I also got alot of books in addition. The X301 is way to expensive here and so is the Lenovo T400s.

This has lead me to the Lenovo X200. I know I said before that the 12 inch screen probably is too small for me but as I said, compromizes needs to be done.

Now I spend alot of time in Excel and SPSS, working with rather big chunks of data, drawing graphs, doing statistical calculations etc.

Is there anyone else with similar workload who uses the X200? Does it run smoothly or would I need a faster processor? (Was thinking of getting either the SL9400 or the P8400).

Secondly, how is it to work with alot of rows/coloums on such a small screen? Is it an endless scrollingexcercise?


I'm pretty sure it would be annoying to only have the X200, but my compromise would be to get this computer for portablity, and when I need to spend longer times infront of the laptop whilst working, I would get an external screen.

Just trying to get an idea of how it would be to sit infront of excel a whole day at UNI, with such a small screen. Is it comfortable?

I know I'm probably being rather annoying, bouncing back and forth like this, but for me, as a student, it's quite alot of money so I need to be 100% sure I make the right decision.

Thanks for your help, and patiance ;-)

 

Performance wise the X200 is a smaller version of a regular notebook. There won't be many trade-offs for going smaller. It'll perform about the same as a mainstream notebook. Scrolling is pretty effortless on the stick. You're other option would be the WXGA+ X200s, but text will be small.

 

I don't think you have to worry about the weight or processing power of the X200. It is very lightweight. I have the 9cell battery with mine and when carrying it, it feels like a small elementary text book. The Processor, like Zaz said, is just the normal processor used on other models. The Low voltage processors(LV) on the X200s are throttled down, but not the X200 processor. But where I think you won't like it is with huge complicated spreadsheets. I find it very comfortable with web surfing and document typing, but I suspect that large spreadsheets could be a bit annoying. How complicated and large spreadsheets do you deal with? I use spreadsheets occasionally on my X200(very simple personal spreadsheets with like 10 columns) and it is comfortable.

 

That's the thing, I could be doing a historical analysis of the stock market with loads of data.

If I only do a normal historical analysis (let's say the past 3 years) of the norwegian stock market as an index, which is rather small, I could easily be using well over 500 coloumns and around 5-7 rows.

Although, other times I'm just typing essays in word, browsing the net, listening to music or doing a presentation in powerpoint. How is it to type on for longer periods of time (by longer I mean 5ish hours a day for a week or so)?
I never used a screen smaller than 14 inch. is it a very noticible difference?

man, whenever I am about to buy a new laptop I wish I lived in the U.S

 

If you do alot of Excel calculations then a processor with a large L2 Cache is important, so either the P8xxx or T9xxx should be used.

There is only screen size in X200 available in most countries, which is the WXGA which is equivalent of WSXGA+ in a 14.1 inch widescreen or about.

The keyboard on the X200 is the same size as the T400, T500, R400, R500, etc, so if you are comfortable using in the 14.1 inch laptop, i am sure you weren't be disappointed about the X200.

 

With 500 columns I don't think there's much of chance of getting out of doing some scrolling.

 

hehe yeah I'm expecting scrolling for sure, I have to do that on the large external screens at UNI as well hehe.

Im just wondering if you see the same amount of coloumns on a 12 inch laptop as you would on a 14 inch?

Let's say you can see 20 coloumns on a 14 inch (just an example) without scrolling. Would I be able to see 20 coloumns on the 12 inch as well, only smaller or would it be less than 20 coloumns shown?

 

the amount of columns shown would depend on the screen aspect ratio i.e. 4.3 or 16:10 and screen resolution.

So if you have if you were using the same widescreen WXGA from a 14 inch laptop in a 12 inch laptop, then the number of columns shown will be the same.

 

in your situation, you would see fewer columns on an x200 than on, say, a t400s or an x301. you would need an x200s to get the same resolution as the bigger screens, though of course you would have the crippled chip.

I run Stata (similar to SPSS) on my T400s, which has a chip only slightly faster than the x200, and it is great.

 

The keyboard is a pleasure to type on, just like my T61p's keyboard. Very solid and no flex at all. As far as the keyboard, I have no complaints. The nice parts is that the keys are not shrunk at all. It uses the full size keyboard that the T or R series uses.

I came from my 15.4" T61p screen to this 12.1" screen and I didn't have any trouble adjusting to the smaller size at all. The only real complaint I have with the machine is the screen. On lower brightness it can be a pain to use and the viewing angles are very very narrow even for a TN panel.

 

You mentioned you plan to get or already have a larger monitor for when you are at home. If this is true, then the standard X200 will work fine.

I use the X200 in grad school for Excel and a different albeit weaker stats package, Minitab. I have had no problems.

If you are getting Vista 64 I do recommend having 4gb of ram, otherwise get 3gb. 2gb can get maxed out pretty easily.