What laptop for numerical Simulations?

[JackONeill]

Hi there,

I must buy a laptop to run Numerical Simulations.
What would you recommend?


Dell Latitude™ D630c
--------------------
Base D630c - Intel Core 2 Duo T7800 (2.60GHz)
OS: Windows® XP Professionnel authentique, SP2 (NTFS) - Anglais
RAM: Mémoire SDRAM DDR2 667 MHz de 4, 0 Go (2 x 2048 Mo)
Disque dur 120GB serial ATA HDD 7200RPM
LCD Screen 14.1 WXGA+ (1440 X 900 resolution) Wide Aspect Ratio display

or

Dell Precision™ M6300
---------------------
Base M6300 X7900 2.8Ghz 4Mbwithout finger print reader
OS: Windows® XP Professionnel authentique, SP2 (NTFS) (avec support) - Anglais
RAM: SDRAM DDR2 667 MHz de 4, 0 Go (2 x 2048 Mo)
NVIDIA® Quadro® FX 1600M with 256MB dedicated graphics memory
Disque dur 120GB SATA (7,200 rpm) Hard Drive
LCD Screen 17" WUXGA (1920 x 1200) UltraSharp display with non-reflective technology (anti-glare)


comments are welcome !


cya

 

[wahnula]

Main difference I can see in these two machines is the second one is capable of handling the Core 2 Duo Extreme Edition, 64 bit CPU's, and has better graphics options. Since I don't know precisely what Numerical Simulations are, from the Wikipedia page it looks like you would want the most CPU processing power possible and not so much GPU performance, unless there's 3D modeling involved. The Precision is really a workstation desktop replacement, so are portability and battery runtime important?

If so take the Latitude with the fastest CPU it will hold. Personally, my next laptop will have a 14" screen or smaller as I like the portability factor. If not, there will not be much difference between a 2.64 and 2.8 GHz CPU in 32-bit XP, but then again the Precision is capable of 64-bit and for numerical applications I think a 64-bit OS & CPU could be a benefit by the little I've learned about Numerical Simulations. You will be toting a powerful GPU around that will eat up your battery, so some info on how you plan to use the machine would be handy...and listen to the advice my tag line offers.

Tony

"Buy what you like, or you'll be forced to like what you buy"...me

 

[Glenn9999]

And if the numerical simulations are heavy enough (read time consuming), it might pay to look into a FPU board (assuming they work in laptops).

 

[JackONeill]

There are some 3D...

But now it seems that 4Gig of Ram with XP Pro is not allowed...

http://www.smallmadtv.com

 

[wahnula]

NOt allowed, incorrect, but it can't access all 4gig of the RAM, but the rest is available for other hardware and programs. I tweaked my BIOS and ended up with 3.456 usable RAM. So, with dual-channel, go for it. And Vista will support it. If your worried just start w/ 2 GB w/ option for 4.

Do you feel you will benefit from a 64-bit OS in this specialty? Now's the time to make this decision. And you never did answer what you expect out of the laptop as far as battery life and portablilty (weight & size) go. We can't be matchmakers without ALL this info.

Tony

"Buy what you like, or you'll be forced to like what you buy"...me

 

[NekoRuri]

I use XP x64 and really love it. It does take some time to find drivers for certain items, or trick the OS into using a 32 bit driver. The x64 support up to 8gb of ram, though 2gb sticks are still pricey. At this time though no one is recommending using Vista x64, finding stuff for XP x64 is hard enough; for Vista its almost non-existant.

There's some number crunching programs I run on my main machine and it chews through them like like a hot knife through butter. When I switched from XP to XP x64 I noticed a drastic improvement in cpu performance. Right now it runs at 0.6 Teraflops; wheras before it would barely reach 0.2.

The same program I run on my laptop sometimes while I do other stuff, and can usually get close to 2 hours of battery(Dell E1505) unless I'm watching a video.

 

[JackONeill]

Battery : I don't really Care. but a minimum. more than 1hour..

Size: As i'm travelling with my numerical simulation, I prefer a 14" Size like ... Too big is really to Big...

64-bit: I don't really know if my simulation software will run on 64-bit...

It's Quite hard to choose a good one, especialy when local IT try to minimize the computer performance...

http://www.smallmadtv.com

 

[Nelviticus]

At this time though no one is recommending using Vista x64, finding stuff for XP x64 is hard enough; for Vista its almost non-existant

Er, that's not correct. Vista will only allow you to use 'signed' drivers. You can only get your drivers signed by Microsoft if you provide them in 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Therefore, if there's a Vista 32-bit driver for something then there's also a 64-bit driver. That wasn't the case with XP x64 which is why almost nobody runs it.

I'd rank the importance of components for number-crunching in this order:

1. CPU speed
2. Memory quantity
3. Memory speed
4. Everything else.

Regards

Nelviticus

 

[kmcferrin]

Nelviticus is correct about the Vista x64 driver situation, it's much better than with Windows XP x64.

However, one other correction to NekoRuri, Windows XP x64 supports up to 128GB of physical memory, not 8GB. It also allows you to have several terabytes of virtual memory. And prices have come down a lot lately. You can get a 2x2GB memory kit for about $150. I paid that much for a 2x1GB kit a few months back.