W520 is a fine choice [ Edited ]

[Chatbox]

Case and point...needs "Innovation".

Some people may not notice...but back when TP was in the IBM days...there was a fair bit of research projects on the side that went into the TP product line.

Lenovo, on its own...isn't really much more than an OEM parts assembler.

If Thinkpad was still under IBM... that would have got us somewhere (old article): http://technology.ezinemark.com/ibm-invests-in-battery-research-7d2cb997a5f4.html

[j9kewa]

Thanks for the information everyone. You are all so quick.

Anyways, if those issues are resolved, I think I may finally buy it.

I contemplated waiting for the W530 or whatever it will be called, and I have been doing this since September thinking it would be announced in January. I even asked opinions on waiting in another discussion in September of last year. As time keeps moving forward, there is no upcoming product announced and my current desktop ages more. If it is announced next month, that's unfortunate but if it doesn't come out until September, I don't think I would regret getting the W520. Anything is a big jump from my current technology.

Again, thank you everyone! Time to jump on the President's Day Weekend sale combined with an educational discount!

[ColonelONeill]

You can't innovate against the laws of physics.

Plus, if there were any breakthroughs, I don't we'll be seeing them from Lenovo considering there are way more specialized research teams working on the very same ideas. NASA's probably a decade ahead in this research compared to mundane computer manufacturers.

Li-ion/li-poly is essentially the best we've got so far.

[salzrat]

I don't think the throttling issues have been resolved. The machine is still unbearably slow sometimes when on battery (it really crawls when in Thunderbird), and this is using a fast SSD. I've never had these problems with a machine before that. Monitoring with the latest intel power gadget tells me it just doesn't go beyond 800Mhz. I can kick it out of that mode using Throttlestop, but it's really very erratic. It may have to do with whether the last cold boot was on battery or plugged in, but it's really hard to investigate.

[ColonelONeill]

If you have anything triggering the discrete GPU, the system will throttle the CPU. Check with the Optimus Tester Tools.

[salzrat]

This is with discrete GPU off as evidenced by the NVIDIA GPU activity icon. What are "Optimus Tester Tools"??

[ColonelONeill]

It does something similar, except it will identify the specific processes that are invoking the GPU.

There are evidently three states to Optimus: discrete GPU off, discrete GPU on, and discrete GPU on but idle. Optimus Tester Tools seems to show the third state explicitly, while the tray icon seems to consider it as off.

The one I use is from here: http://forums.laptopvideo2go.com/topic/26992-optimus-test-tools-finally-in-users-hands/

[j9kewa]

I finally bought it, here it is, and with all the discounts and taxes - $1467.33

I am going to buy the docking station on Amazon for $60 cheaper...

Intel Core i7-2760QM Processor (2.40 GHz, 6MB L3)

Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64

15.6" FHD (1920 x 1080) LED Backlit Anti-Glare Display, Mobile Broadband Ready

NVIDIA Quadro 1000M Graphics with 2GB DDR3 Memory

8 GB PC3-10600 DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM)

500 GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm

Bluetooth 3.0

Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 (3x3 AGN)

[ZipZap]

Hi, J,

Congratulations! What a great configuration and price.

You're going to love it.

Yeah, getting the dock is a smart move.

                                             Best, ZZ

[Chatbox]

---

ColonelONeill wrote:
You can't innovate against the laws of physics.

Plus, if there were any breakthroughs, I don't we'll be seeing them from Lenovo considering there are way more specialized research teams working on the very same ideas. NASA's probably a decade ahead in this research compared to mundane computer manufacturers.

Li-ion/li-poly is essentially the best we've got so far.

---

True, and that's not what I meant.  Have I been mis-understood?  No research in the world can go against the laws of physics.  Reasearch and innovation are what provide the boundaries of knowledge.  This is what limits us, and it's something that can be change by us - our level of knowledge.

It wasn't too long ago when magnetic storage density was thought to be at a limit.  And it wasn't too long ago when silicon-based transistor fabrication was also thought to be at a limit.

"Li-ion/li-poly is essentially the best we've got so far."  Unfortunately for us.  But wasn't hydrogen full cell was supposed to be just around the corner? ...wait, Apple got there first  http://inhabitat.com/patent-application-reveals-apple-is-researching-fuel-cells-for-macbooks/  (and I'm not an Apple fanboy at all, no iphone, no ipod, no mac)

And this is back in 2008: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2008/10/panasonic-promi/