2011 laptop: the features to look for

[Ilya]

Personally, I pretty much stopped using desktops (other than servers). Laptops are so powerful these days and are just so much more convenient.

 

[diogen]

Monitor real estate is what keeps me with desktops.
It gets too expensive to run two 2048x1152 monitors and impossible to run more.

Diogen.

 

[navychop]

At that point why would you just not purchase a port replicator for the laptop. This way you only have one connection to the laptop. I would hate having that many items plugged into it.

That would be one more thing to carry around. I have a couple of them. Might just leave one at a remote location that I frequent.

 

[JAG72]

That would be one more thing to carry around. I have a couple of them. Might just leave one at a remote location that I frequent.

But do you really need to have all of these you stated connected at the same time at a remote location?

3G dongle, printer, keyboard, mouse, thumb drive, EHDD.

 

[Ilya]

That would be one more thing to carry around. I have a couple of them. Might just leave one at a remote location that I frequent.

Well, you probably don't carry your printer and keyboard.
So just leave the port replicator (or USB hub) with the printer and keyboard.
I think 4 USB ports on a laptop should be enough.
I currently have 4 and I don't remember ever using them all at once.

But I wonder if a single USB 3.0 port will be sufficient...

 

[navychop]

Yes, I've needed more than I had at the campground ("remote location"). Needed the 3G dongle, obviously, and the printer. Also, the thumb drive. Had to go back to using the laptop keyboard and (oh joy!) touchpad. It was a terrible ten minutes!

Yep, I guess a USB hub will soon be mounted atop the printer out there.

 

[Ilya]

Looks like a Sandy Bridge-based HP dv7 is already in stores:

User buys, tests HP dv7 with Sandy Bridge early | Electronista

 

[Ilya]

Intel has just announced their new 40 and 80 GB compact m-SATA SSD drives (310 series) just for that very purpose:
Intel® Solid-State Drive 310 Series - Overview

Lenovo has already confirmed that it plans to include the new drive (Intel SSD 310) across its ThinkPad laptop lineup.
Intel claims that the SSD 310 provides the same performance as drives in the company's X25 lineup of desktop SSDs.

Intel's tiny new SSD 310 drive to appear in Lenovo ThinkPad laptops | ZDNet

Lenovo director Tom Butler stating that "the Intel SSD 310 series will allow us to provide the advantages of a full-performance Intel SSD paired with the storage of a hard disk drive in a small, dual-drive system."

OEM pricing for the SSD 310 series has been confirmed by Intel at a reasonable $99 for the 40GB and $179 for the 80GB, both assuming that you're an OEM buying trays of at least 1,000 units.

Intel SSD 310 series shrinks the X25 technology | Geek with Laptop

 

[Steve Mehs]

I find it disappointing that it doesn't have a 1080p display. I was hoping when the Sandy Bridge processors came out HP would redo their laptop product lines and make a 1920 x 1080 display standard for the DV7T line.

 

[diogen]

The 2nd Generation Core processors - aka Sandy Bridge - specs released
Intel's 2nd Generation Core processor family announced, includes 29 new CPUs and enhanced graphics -- Engadget

3D Blu-ray playback with HDMI 1.4 support with on-die graphics...

Diogen.

 

[Ilya]

Impressive Sandy Bridge notebook test results by PCMag:

Intel's Mobile Sandy Bridge Tested | News & Opinion | PCMag.com

 

[Ilya]

According to CNet.com:

"Quad core goes live in January, dual-core goes live in February," said an industry source involved in the Sandy Bridge laptop rollout. "OEMs [original equipment manufacturers--PC makers] are going to be going public with their quad-core laptops [at CES], but they can't go public with their dual-core laptops until mid-February."

 

[Ilya]

2011 Sandy Bridge CPUs

Here are the new mobile 2nd Gen Intel Core "Sandy Bridge" CPUs (with OEM prices mentioned for reference):

Quad-core Extreme Edition (4 cores/8 threads):
i7-2920XM 55W 2.5GHz TB:3.5GHz DDR3:1600MHz L3:8MB Gfx:650MHz ($1096)

Quad-core (4 cores/8 threads):
i7-2820QM 45W 2.3GHz TB:3.3GHz DDR3:1600MHz L3:8MB Gfx:650MHz ($568)
i7-2720QM 45W 2.2GHz TB:3.4GHz DDR3:1600MHz L3:6MB Gfx:650MHz ($378)
i7-2630QM 45W 2.0GHz TB:2.9GHz DDR3:1333MHz L3:6MB Gfx:650MHz - rPGA
i7-2635QM 45W 2.0GHz TB:2.9GHz DDR3:1333MHz L3:6MB Gfx:650MHz - BGA

Dual-core (2 cores/4 threads):
i7-2649M 25W 2.3GHz TB:3.2GHz DDR3:1333MHz L3:4MB Gfx:500MHz ($346)
i7-2629M 25W 2.1GHz TB:3.0GHz DDR3:1333MHz L3:4MB Gfx:500MHz ($311)
i7-2620M 35W 2.7GHz TB:3.4GHz DDR3:1333MHz L3:4MB Gfx:650MHz ($346)
i7-2657M 17W 1.6GHz TB:2.7GHz DDR3:1333MHz L3:4MB Gfx:350MHz ($317)
i7-2617M 17W 1.5GHz TB:2.6GHz DDR3:1333MHz L3:4MB Gfx:350MHz ($289)

i5-2540M 35W 2.6GHz TB:3.3GHz DDR3:1333MHz L3:3MB Gfx:650MHz ($266)
i5-2520M 35W 2.5GHz TB:3.2GHz DDR3:1333MHz L3:3MB Gfx:650MHz ($225)
i5-2410M 35W 2.3GHz TB:2.9GHz DDR3:1333MHz L3:3MB Gfx:650MHz
i5-2537M 17W 1.4GHz TB:2.3GHz DDR3:1333MHz L3:3MB Gfx:350MHz ($250)

i3-2310M 35W 2.1GHz (no Turbo Boost) DDR3:1333MHz L3:3MB Gfx:650MHz

It's interesting, even though Intel calls these chips "2nd Gen Intel Core" (rightfully so), they are still named Core i3, i5, i7... which may confuse consumers.

 

[diogen]

It's interesting, even though Intel calls these chips "2nd Gen Intel Core" (rightfully so), they are still named Core i3, i5, i7...

I believe this is the essence of Intel's Tick-Tock design strategy...

Diogen.

 

[Ilya]

Yeah, I think it's done intentionally to help with sales of the last year's computer models that stores stocked up for Christmas.
The delay with the dual-core release (till mid-February) is intentional too: for the same reason.

 

[Ilya]

Looking at the CPU specs and prices, I think I want to go with the i7-2720QM (or maybe even i7-2820QM for its bigger L3 cache).

The Extreme Edition is way overpriced, as always.

 

[diogen]

The delay with the dual-core release (till mid-February) is intentional too...

I think this is to milk the early adopters.
ATI/NVidia do the same thing with new silicon...

Diogen.

 

[Ilya]

I think this is to milk the early adopters.
ATI/NVidia do the same thing with new silicon...

Diogen.

No, I think early adopters are likely to go with higher-end CPU models anyway and they are also more likely to wait an extra month or so for the new generation of chips: delaying the release of high-end CPUs won't help. It's the mass market that they are mostly concerned about.

From CNet:

Despite all of the consumer-centric hoopla surrounding CES, January is actually a difficult time to introduce products for PC makers, according to this person. "A little a bit of that [delay in introducing dual-core systems] is allowing OEMs to shift inventories of the older products that they have," the source said. "CES frankly is a very bad time [to introduce products] for OEMs. Because they've now built up all of their systems for holiday and now you have new product coming out in January that has to replace the old stuff and it's not an easy transition for OEMs to manage."

 

[diogen]

I don't believe this.

Dual core is obviously easier to manufacture.
Having to chose between one of the 2- and 4-core introduce today, why not start with 2-core and move 4-core to Feb.?
I think there is just one answer: out of the gate only early adopters buy. And those are not price sensitive.
Hence, the most expensive models go first. Just like video cards.

Diogen.

 

[Ilya]

Here come the new and faster SSD drives!

Today Micron has announced a new line of RealSSD C400 drives based on 25-Nanometer NAND Technology.

The drives will range from 64 to 512GB and will be available in 1.8-inch and 2.5-inch form factors. As with its predecessor (C300), the new product line will support SATA 6Gb/s interface, but will be able to reach 415 MB/sec read and 260 MB/sec write speeds, which is 17-20% faster than C300.

Samples are already available to OEMs, mass production is expected to begin in February. Crucial, a division of Micron, will begin selling the portfolio under the name, Crucial® m4 SSD in the first quarter of 2011.

Micron Technology, Inc. - Micron Introduces Faster, Higher Capacity Solid-State Drives for NAND Flash-Based Notebooks