T410 vs W510 for a programmer

[eddieslab]

Hello everyone, im asking for a suggestion on my future purchase, as soon as those new models hit the Italian soil.

I'm a .Net programmer and at the principal utilisation of my future Thinkpad will be developing applications/studying for MCPD certification.

The Thinkpad will be used mostly at home and at the office, so most of the time i will have a desk and a power source, even tough i will much appreciate the thing to be light an portable as a 14".

Sometimes i will need to use the battery for 3-4 hours time.

I will have 2 or more instance of Visual Studio opened all the time, plus Chrome and Thunderbird always on.

Vmware Workstation has to be installed and used several times during the week, it will emulate xp machines.

Often i can find myself using Expression Blend and Adobe Photoshop too, so in the worst case scenario, consider all those apps opened togheter.

Will a T410 with discrete graphics and 7200 hard drive suit my needs?

I have no problem with the display as my previous laptop was a 1440x900 MacbookPro and i found myself pretty comfortable, but im seriously concerned as the use of the above mentioned applications will be too much for a T410.

The other option is a W510... if i have to go for a bigger, heavier notebook, ill go for the most powerful 15.4", but i hate to carry around a backpack and the battery life will be surely not more than 3 hours.

Thanks for the suggestions, and excuse me for my poor english.

[silent200]

I'm also a .NET programmer, I finally chose T510 (i7/4G RAM/320G 7200RPM).

I think 14'' screen is a little bit small for coding and W510 has a shorter battery life. Some people don't like 16:9 ratio screens (T510/W510), but I like it, I believe this ratio is perfect for coding.

[zoltanthegypsy]

Hi,

Maybe pick up a T400?  (just kidding, I guess...)

I use a T400 w/Win 7 Pro 64.  Screen is 1440x900 and that works OK for me.  I do some app and driver coding and run VMWare from time to time.

When you consider the window decoration that VMWare adds to a client - more or less depending on the VM host software - there isn't a whole lot left for the actual client's display in the vertical dimension.   I don't like being forced to run 800x600 in the client to just fit it on the screen.  I can just cram in x768 on my T400.

1440x900 is OK for me but I wouldn't consider a display with a single pixel less in the vertical dimension.  I haven't looked into what the newer machines support, but the trend to 16x9 format is a concern.

Just my $.02,

Z.

[phuongdnguyen]

I don't know about visual studio (I'm a linux dev guy), but gcc tool chain can make great use of multi cores to do parallel compilation so the W510 would be better for that purpose.

[joer80]

Go for the higher rez of the 15 inch.   Plus it gives you cheaper ram upgrades with 4 slots vs 2.  I can see a large differnce in productivity on my t500.  (The extra graphics card power probably won't matter in your case, but is good for resell value.)

A case with a nice padded handle will help.  My top load lenovo case with my t500 is very comfortable, and doesn't feel heavy.  Much lighter than my 5 year old gateway.

[eddieslab]

Thank you all for your suggestions, im still undecided, but still have to check what configurations will be available on the italian Lenovo website.

I've sent several emails asking for when the products will be available, but received no answer.

[eddieslab]

Just ordered my T510 today from an italian Lenovo Business Partner, it should arrive at the end of the next week:

Thinkpad T510 NTH4JIX

Intel i7-620M (1066 MHz DDR3. 500-766 MHz 4M 35W)

RAM 2x2GB DDR3

HD 320GB/7200rpm

DVD±RW DL

Intel 5 Int + NVIDIA N10M-NS Discrete 512MB

15.6" HD+/LED 16:9 non Glossy 1600x900

Eth Giga

Wlan Intel 6300 AGN (3x3)

9 Cell Batt

Win7 pro 64bit

[joer80]

Looks good!

Why does it list both the intel and nvidia card if it doesnt have switchable?

Thinkpad T510 NTH4JIX

Intel i7-620M (1066 MHz DDR3. 500-766 MHz 4M 35W)

RAM 2x2GB DDR3

HD 320GB/7200rpm

DVD±RW DL

Intel 5 Int + NVIDIA N10M-NS Discrete 512MB

15.6" HD+/LED 16:9 non Glossy 1600x900

Eth Giga

Wlan Intel 6300 AGN (3x3)

9 Cell Batt

Win7 pro 64bit

[joer80]

Thinkpad T510 NTH4JIX

Intel i7-620M (1066 MHz DDR3. 500-766 MHz 4M 35W)

RAM 2x2GB DDR3

HD 320GB/7200rpm

DVD±RW DL

Intel 5 Int + NVIDIA N10M-NS Discrete 512MB

15.6" HD+/LED 16:9 non Glossy 1600x900

Eth Giga

Wlan Intel 6300 AGN (3x3)

9 Cell Batt

Win7 pro 64bit

[eddieslab]

---

joer80 wrote:

Looks good!

Why does it list both the intel and nvidia card if it doesnt have switchable?

---

Frankly, i don't know.. i've never been interested on the switchable graphic feature, i just needed to be a discrete card.

If you google the model number "NTH4JIX", you will find results from italian stores selling that model, and they all list both the Intel and Nvidia card.

I agree, that is indeed a little "strange"