New PC - 2009

It's been a long time I'm surviving with the same PC at home. May be it's time to buy a new one...

Requirements

• Main requirement: silence!
• Form-factor: Laptop would be a nice-to have. Would free some space on the desk, reduce cable clutter. But more expensive
  • On battery time is secondary. I'll mainly use it as a desktop anyway
• Resolution: laptop, min. 1440x900, ideally 1920x1200. Desktop, min 1920x1200 mandatory.
• Ports: IEEE 1394 interface mandatory to acquire DV Video from digital handycam
• OS: PC must be Linux compatible. Let's get a Windows license for ease. Windows 7 english 64-bit Professional minimum.
  • Ultimate + Media center would be nice-to-have
• CPU:
  • 2 cores mandatory + Intel VTx instruction (or similar)
  • 4 cores ideally
• Graphic cards:
  • NVidia used to have good Linux compatibility, but I heard many troubles with these cards nowadays. This constructor builds Ubuntu laptop, and includes a NVidia GeForce GTX 460M card (1.5GB).
  • Intel' GMA series work perfectly well on my DELL E6500 with Lucid 10.04.
• Bluetooth
• Wifi 802.11 n

Hardwarde information

Intel Core i5 / i7

See the pages on wikipedia (Core, Core i7 list, Core i5 list):

Brand	Codename (desktop)	Arch	Brand name	Cores	Codename (laptop)	Arch	Brand name	Cores
Core i5	Lynnfield Clarkdale	Nehalem Westmere	7xx / 7xxS 6xx	4 2	Arrandale	Westmere	4xxM / 5xxM / 5xxUM	2
Core i7	Bloomfield Lynnfield Gulftown	Nehalem Nehalem Westmere	9xx 8xx / 8xxS 980X	4 4 6	Clarksfield Arrandale	Nehalem Westmere	9xxXM / 8xxQM / 7xxQM 6xxQM / 6xxLM / 6xxUM	4 2

• Nehalem microarchitecture — the successor of the Core architecture.

• Westmere micorarchitecture — a 32nm shrunk down version of Nehalem, which features some improvements like:
  • AES accelerated instructions
  • Integrated graphics
  • Better virtualization support

NVidia

See this post on GuruHT:

FX 3800M	128 cores	1GB DDR3	256-bit mem itf	100W
FX 2800M	96 cores	1GB DDR3	256-bit mem itf	75W
FX 1800M	72 cores	1GB DDR3/DDR5	128-bit mem itf	45W
FX 880M	48 cores	1GB DDR3	128-bit mem itf	35W

DELL

Mobile Workstation

Model	Code	Price	OS	CPU	RAM	HD	Monitor	GPU	Other
Precision	M6500	2759€ HT 2939€ HT	Win 7 Pro 64	i7-840QM 1,86GHz	4GB 8GB	500GB	1920x1200 17" RGB	NVidia FX 2800M 1GB	802.11n + DL DVD+/-RW slot-in + Base service
Precision	M4500	2249€ HT 2429€ HT	Win 7 Pro 64	i7-840QM 1,86GHz	4GB 8GB	500GB	1920x1080 15.6" LED	NVidia FX 1800M 1GB	802.11n + DL DVD+/-RW + Base service
Precision	M4500	2014€ HT 2194€ HT	Win 7 Pro 64	i7-840QM 1,86GHz	4GB 8GB	500GB	1920x1080 15.6" LED	NVidia FX 880M 1GB	802.11n + DL DVD+/-RW + Base service

TBC:

• Alienware
• Z600
• Latitude

HP

Cfr laptops for small & medium businesses.

HP EliteBook NoteBook

Model	Code	Price	OS	CPU	RAM	HD	Monitor	GPU	Other
EliteBook 8540p	WD921EA XN715EA	1915€ HT 1786€ HT	Win 7 Pro 32	i7-620M 2,66GHz	4GB	320GB	1600x900 15.6"	NVidia NVS 5100 1GB	802.11n + BD ROM + DL DVD+/-RW + 3G telephony
EliteBook 8440p	VQ667EA	2048€ HT	Win 7 Pro 32	i7-620M 2,66GHz	4GB	500GB	1600x900 14"	NVidia NVS 3100 512MB	802.11n + BD ROM + DL DVD+/-RW + 3G telephony
EliteBook 8440p	XN710EA	2025€ HT	Win 7 Pro 32	i7-640M 2,80GHz	4GB	SSD 160GB	1600x900 14"	Intel HD Graphics	802.11n + BT + BD ROM + DL DVD+/-RW + 3G telephony incl. GPS

HP EliBook Mobile Workstation

Model	Code	Price	OS	CPU	RAM	HD	Monitor	GPU	Other
EliteBook 8740w	WD939EA	2379€ HT	Win 7 Pro 64	i7-620M 2,66GHz	4GB	500GB	1920x1200 17"	NV Quadro FX 2800M 1GB	802.11n + BT + BD ROM + DL DVD+/-RW
EliteBook 8540w	WD932EA	2478€ HT	Win 7 Pro 64	i7-720QM 1,60GHz	8GB	500GB	1920x1080 15.6"	NV Quadro FX 880M 1GB	802.11n + BT + BD ROM + DL DVD+/-RW
EliteBook 8540w	WD743EA	2881€ HT	Win 7 Pro 64	i7-740QM 1,73GHz	8GB	500GB	1920x1080 15.6"	NV Quadro FX 1800M 1GB	802.11n + BT + BD ROM + DL DVD+/-RW

HP ProBook NoteBook

Looks too cheap to be good.

Essential NoteBook

None (Old CPU's, like C2D, pentium, celeron)

HP Mini

None (out of scope).

HP Mobile Thin Client

None (out of scope).