DELL or IBM mobile workstation?

The recent discussion on the DELL notebook has me doing
some research. Prices seem decent & I'm considering making
the change from desktop to mobile workstation.

These machines have some pretty serious specs.
(Compared to what I'm working on now).

So a .. multipart.. question:
1. Can a mobile workstation (with apparently the same specs)
perform as well as a desktop machine? Expandability aside..
i'd be using this only for CAD work. With the kind of processing
power I'm seeing, are these little things just going to melt?

2. DELL or IBM. The thinkpad series workstations look really
appealing. Theres a sale on. Display size is smaller, but
I'll be working with an ext monitor 90%+ of the time.

3. Solidworks Hardware page throws the FujitsuSeimens Celsius
series mobile workstations into the mix. Any experience
with these out there?

Thanks. Looking for some advice before putting out $2.5k.

-Tony

 

i did testing on Dell M65 core2duo laptop and Dell 690 dual core zeon
and i found only a 5-10% increase of speed on the desktop. i was
supporting buying a lot of the laptops for the upgrade before our
manager stepped in and said desktops because they were faster. the
speed increase was fairly unnoticable.

you could do as i did. i got various computers with the intent of
returning them prior to the 30-60 return policy dates. we had Dell
send us different platforms that we selected with the full
understanding that we were testing them for compatiblity and something
would be returned. Dell was fine with this, i am sure taht IBM or
whoever would extend the same offer. you just have to plan on testing
time on your models. benchmark times to open, refresh, create drawing
views, ... iQ

 

The question shouldnt be IBM or DELL.

I only think you can get the gfx card you need to run SW with a HP or
DELL.

 

Get IBM with Quadro, you'll love it.

 

Really leaning toward the IBM w/ quadro. Used to have
an old thinkpad (T50?) and loved the way it looked/felt.

Now, sacrifice processing power for memory --
or memory for processing power?

-Tony

 

No mention yet of on-site repair & warranty work.

I've not used IBM, but 2 of my Dell laptops have had Complete Care and
each one has been repaired (1 was a replacement of the screen &
backlight & video card in one case) in less than 24 hours from when I
phoned.

Worth thinking about. Lenovo/IBM has warranty and I assume it too
likely has on-site warranty repair.

Bo

 

Depends on the size of the models you typically work with. If you never go
into swap space with the size of RAM you have right now, it's enough. More
won't help, except to future-proof you when Windows or SolidWorks ups the
requirements. (I just noticed that just opening SW, with no models loaded,
on XP takes over 500 MB. I think when I started that it took a little over
100 MB.)

Jerry Steiger

 

We have just upgrated our CAD laptops from Dell M65, 2,0GHz, 2GB ram,
Nvidia FX350M to Dell M6300, 2,2GHz, 3GB ram, Nvidia FX1600M. Cost
rice app. 252 US$ because of problems with large assy's. We will run
with the 3GB switch in the OS system, so that windows only can
allocate 1GB and not half of the ram.

Regarding Dell, IBM or others, thats up to you.

MGR