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denim
03-27-13, 07:06 PM
I always value the input from the experts, as every computing related item I am going to get it on the team crunching efforts. With my big horse lappy out of commission at the moment, the need is for a small, compact laptop I can use all over the house and take on the road much easier then the mega laptop. Now with the NativeBOINC available, I have thought about Chromebooks, but they might not be all that great for my needs.

Requirements:


14" or smaller
Light weight
$450ish and under
Solid choice for daily and BOINC needs


I found a few good deals here: http://www.geeks.com/products.asp?cat=NBB&sort=DESC



Thanks ahead of time. :)

zombie67
03-27-13, 10:19 PM
I would start with CPU and/or GPU selection, and then go from there.

- Maximize the number of CPU threads.
- Maximize the GPU. If the GPU is inside the CPU, then maximize that. For intel, HD 4000 will crunch. Not sure of the AMD choices, and what will crunch.

Assuming Intel, i7 mobile is outside the budget. And according to the wiki info, there is almost no discernible difference between the IB i3 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Core_i3_microprocessors#.22Ivy_Bridg e.22_.2822_nm.29_2) and i5 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Core_i5_microprocessors#.22Ivy_Bridg e.22_.2822_nm.29). Both are similar in speed and threads. The i5 has turbo boost, but I am not sure if that is actually helpful with a CPU that is full out crunching steady at 100% all the time. *shrug*

All the rest is kinda noise. That budget will not allow super hi-res screen or SSD.

Make sure that you get at least 8gb RAM! And factor that into your budget if you need to upgrade to get there. So count slots, can you add or do you have to replace, etc.

denim
03-28-13, 01:20 PM
That is a tall task. Few come with more then 6GB RAM in the price range. Even less come with a GPU of substance. The i3 chip does help a little on price. I believe a friend of mine who is helping out a little to the team has an i3 in his laptop, but I believe the AMD Athlon II P360 in my mothers laptop is out pacing the i3 in my friend's.

It is a shame that screen size increase seems to be almost a linear increase in capabilities.

DrPop
03-29-13, 12:40 AM
Hi Denim, take a look at Newegg's refurbished laptops. :). You can pick up an i3 or i5 or equivalent AMD unit (which may have a better crunching GPU built in) for that price. Let us know if you see a specific model you want us to comment on. ;)
Here's a link to a search:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100017489%2040000032%204016&IsNodeId=1&name=Laptops%20%2f%20Notebooks#

denim
03-31-13, 12:54 PM
Here are some possibles that are close to what I am going for:

ASUS: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230778

HP: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834256716

HP: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834256619

HP: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834256891

HP: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834256788

denim
03-31-13, 02:07 PM
Dell: http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=SIL-14Z-5423-I5170-2R&cat=NBB

Dell: http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=SIL-DELL-5323-R&cat=NBB

Dell: http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=SIL-5323-I5170-B&cat=NBB

ACER: http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=V3-571G-6407-FB-R&cat=NBB

So far for me, the ASUS and the little Dell's are seeming to be top choice.

denim
04-03-13, 11:04 AM
Any opinions on the above choices with in what I am needing while still being very SETI.USA friendly?

John P. Myers
04-03-13, 04:21 PM
I'd go with the ASUS or HP. I got my sister and brother-in-law an ASUS for xmas and it's pretty nice. Also i've never had any real trouble out of HP.

Slicker
04-04-13, 11:25 AM
I'd go with the ASUS or HP. I got my sister and brother-in-law an ASUS for xmas and it's pretty nice. Also i've never had any real trouble out of HP.

I like ASUS because their keyboards have a better feel. Also, many of the HPs have shiny screens which cause reflection issues. My ASUS laptop doesn't have that problem.

denim
04-04-13, 01:31 PM
Thanks guys. I will look back at the ASUS and probably pull the trigger here in a day or so. Surprised no votes for the little Dell's.

John P. Myers
04-04-13, 02:37 PM
It would be quite difficult to get anyone around here to vote for a Dell. From my personal experience when i used to repair computers for a living, Dell laptops are prone to having the LCD screen backlight burn out prematurely. A very labor-intensive fix.

denim
04-04-13, 02:40 PM
It would be quite difficult to get anyone around here to vote for a Dell. From my personal experience when i used to repair computers for a living, Dell laptops are prone to having the LCD screen backlight burn out prematurely. A very labor-intensive fix.

Thanks for the heads up. The two I had used in the past, work machines, had no issues that I can recall.

zombie67
04-04-13, 10:27 PM
Thanks guys. I will look back at the ASUS and probably pull the trigger here in a day or so. Surprised no votes for the little Dell's.

I like the specs for the Asus. The only downside is the graphics. Intel HD Graphics 3000....probably not able to crunch even in the future as projects add intel apps.

denim
04-05-13, 12:55 PM
I like the specs for the Asus. The only downside is the graphics. Intel HD Graphics 3000....probably not able to crunch even in the future as projects add intel apps.

Well crap, that's not good. Don't want to order something that will be GPU WU obsolete for our efforts. :(


Will the HD Graphics 4000 be enough?

DrPop
04-05-13, 04:35 PM
Yeah, that's just it Denim. I don't know if you can upgrade the GPU in any of those Intel laptops or not? The other trade off with AMD is that their built-in GPU is better, but the CPU is not nearly as powerful as Intel's i5 or i7, so I don't know what to think?

It seems kind of like either you buy better CPU power or better GPU power - and to get high performance in both is going to be costly.

Another way to look at it, is what can you do with your desktop better? For example, if you could eventually (down the road) get a strong GPU in your desktop rig, then I would be more apt to go for a better CPU in your laptop. All else being equal, you could get a lot more credits crunching with a desktop GPU than a laptop GPU because of the power and heat limitations on the laptop.

denim
04-08-13, 09:30 PM
Yeah, that's just it Denim. I don't know if you can upgrade the GPU in any of those Intel laptops or not? The other trade off with AMD is that their built-in GPU is better, but the CPU is not nearly as powerful as Intel's i5 or i7, so I don't know what to think?

It seems kind of like either you buy better CPU power or better GPU power - and to get high performance in both is going to be costly.

Another way to look at it, is what can you do with your desktop better? For example, if you could eventually (down the road) get a strong GPU in your desktop rig, then I would be more apt to go for a better CPU in your laptop. All else being equal, you could get a lot more credits crunching with a desktop GPU than a laptop GPU because of the power and heat limitations on the laptop.Well said. I will pull the trigger on the one with good CPU and a usable GPU.

Thank you.

denim
04-11-13, 10:45 AM
Ok, one more.... (I feel like I have asked way too much on POV for an inexpensive lappy, but I am so hell bent on finding the best cruncher with in the budget)

With the lack of GPU work for Intel HD Graphics 3000, I think I am going to pass on the great ASUS refurbs from Newegg, despite them having an i7 (but only a dual-core i7 BTW). Skipping the Dell's due to screen issues from the experts. So with the suggestion of wanting at least 8GB of RAM, and coming to my senses on realizing I could order a lappy with less then 8 and buy a second stick, my options opened back up. Which gave the possibility to spend less on RAM that comes with the machine, and budget more towards CPU and possibly a GPU that can do some work.

So I found a couple options that I could buy a second stick of RAM and have 8GB+ of RAM, a decently fast CPU, and a GPU that is stronger then the Intel HD 4000.


Thoughts on these guys or ones close to them? I will order tonight:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834216458

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834256721

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834216467

:)

DrPop
04-11-13, 01:39 PM
EDIT: Denim, please see my post below, I deleted all the behind the scenes deliberation post for you. ;)

DrPop
04-11-13, 01:43 PM
EDIT: After looking at benchmarks for a while, this is the best bang for $499, the A10 ...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834256941

Here is a second, smaller model with the A10 CPU/7660G GPU combo - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834256880 - it is $50 more ... but if you don't want the big screen, then here's a small one.

It's a quad core, at 2.3GHz w/ 3.2GHz turbo; and has the better 7660G graphics. That has 384 shaders. 381 GFLOPS, Open CL 1.2 (so it can crunch), OpenGL 4.1 and DirectX 11.1 (gaming) w/ shader model 5.0.
Compare this to the Intel HD 4000, which is somewhere around 83 GFLOPS. In OpenCL computing it will roughly double the output of the HD 4000.

Now, the 4 CPU cores are still not going to be quite as powerful as a nice i5 with HyperThreading, but they should get close, and the GPU should crunch about 2x as fast as the best Intel GPU.

Last edit: The absolute best CPU you're going to get for $500-ish in a laptop is the Intel Core i5-3210M. The price is directly comparable to the AMD A10-4600M units I listed above. The trade off with going Intel at this price point is certainly faster CPU cores, with the sacrifice of roughly half the GPU OpenCL crunching power.
A link to a good candidate is here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230927

I guess in the end only you can decide if you want better CPU cores or better GPU, because that's the trade off at this price point.

Hope that helps, I'm done. :D ;)

denim
04-11-13, 04:59 PM
EDIT: After looking at benchmarks for a while, this is the best bang for $499, the A10 ...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834256941

Here is a second, smaller model with the A10 CPU/7660G GPU combo - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834256880 - it is $50 more ... but if you don't want the big screen, then here's a small one.

It's a quad core, at 2.3GHz w/ 3.2GHz turbo; and has the better 7660G graphics. That has 384 shaders. 381 GFLOPS, Open CL 1.2 (so it can crunch), OpenGL 4.1 and DirectX 11.1 (gaming) w/ shader model 5.0.
Compare this to the Intel HD 4000, which is somewhere around 83 GFLOPS. In OpenCL computing it will roughly double the output of the HD 4000.

Now, the 4 CPU cores are still not going to be quite as powerful as a nice i5 with HyperThreading, but they should get close, and the GPU should crunch about 2x as fast as the best Intel GPU.

Last edit: The absolute best CPU you're going to get for $500-ish in a laptop is the Intel Core i5-3210M. The price is directly comparable to the AMD A10-4600M units I listed above. The trade off with going Intel at this price point is certainly faster CPU cores, with the sacrifice of roughly half the GPU OpenCL crunching power.
A link to a good candidate is here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230927

I guess in the end only you can decide if you want better CPU cores or better GPU, because that's the trade off at this price point.

Hope that helps, I'm done. :D ;)

Wow, holy crap. I feel like I owe a consulting fee now. That is some excellent info. Not sure how, but I missed or passed over both of those models. I will really take a peak tonight. Thank you!!!!

DrPop
04-11-13, 05:54 PM
My pleasure, no problem. If you choose the AMD route, I would suggest not going with anything less than the A10 because it is the only one with a GPU powerful enough to make it worth losing out on the Core i5 HT CPU horsepower.
I think it's probably going to come down to ... do you want to crunch a certain project (or a couple favorites) and then see if those particular projects have GPU available. If they do, then the AMD route will get you more credits, because parallel GPU crunching beats serial thread CPU crunching any day of the week for points.
However, if they are mostly CPU only projects that you want to crunch, then you can't beat the i5-3210M for CPU power at this price point.

Fire$torm
04-11-13, 08:28 PM
Here is one more to consider.

lenovo IdeaPad Z585 - $499.99 (Link (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834312434))

Although this lappy only has an AMD A8, it makes up for it with TWO GPUs! It has the integrated HD 7640G + Radeon HD 7670M (Discreet Mobile GPU)

GPU Specs (Both support OpenCL 1.2)

HD 7640G iGPU
Bus: PCIe 3.0 X16
RAM: Sys
Clock/ Core - MEM: 496/685 - Sys
Unified Shaders/Texture mapping unit/Render Output unit: 256/16/8
GFLOPS (SP): 253.95
DP Support: Yes


HD 7670M
Bus: PCIe 2.1 X16
RAM: 1024MB GDDR5
Clock - Core/MEM: 600/900
Unified Shaders/Texture mapping unit/Render Output unit: 480/24/8
GFLOPS (SP): 576
DP Support: ???

BTW: My A8-5600K desktop APU (HD 7560D) can crunch Collatz so this lappy APU should be able to crunch it also.

denim
04-11-13, 11:21 PM
My pleasure, no problem. If you choose the AMD route, I would suggest not going with anything less than the A10 because it is the only one with a GPU powerful enough to make it worth losing out on the Core i5 HT CPU horsepower.
I think it's probably going to come down to ... do you want to crunch a certain project (or a couple favorites) and then see if those particular projects have GPU available. If they do, then the AMD route will get you more credits, because parallel GPU crunching beats serial thread CPU crunching any day of the week for points.
However, if they are mostly CPU only projects that you want to crunch, then you can't beat the i5-3210M for CPU power at this price point.

I agree with you DrPop. Not being able to do Lattice on any of my current machines, stinks. So the AMD/GPU combo seems the best route with this choice. My favorite projects are obvious by my credit distribution, top heavy on PG GPU with a bunch of other moderate CPU return projects. I really appreciate everyone's help.

denim
04-11-13, 11:33 PM
Here is one more to consider.

lenovo IdeaPad Z585 - $499.99 (Link (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834312434))

Although this lappy only has an AMD A8, it makes up for it with TWO GPUs! It has the integrated HD 7640G + Radeon HD 7670M (Discreet Mobile GPU)

GPU Specs (Both support OpenCL 1.2)

HD 7640G iGPU
Bus: PCIe 3.0 X16
RAM: Sys
Clock/ Core - MEM: 496/685 - Sys
Unified Shaders/Texture mapping unit/Render Output unit: 256/16/8
GFLOPS (SP): 253.95
DP Support: Yes


HD 7670M
Bus: PCIe 2.1 X16
RAM: 1024MB GDDR5
Clock - Core/MEM: 600/900
Unified Shaders/Texture mapping unit/Render Output unit: 480/24/8
GFLOPS (SP): 576
DP Support: ???

BTW: My A8-5600K desktop APU (HD 7560D) can crunch Collatz so this lappy APU should be able to crunch it also.

Oh man, you just threw a monkey wrench in there. That is wild about the two GPU's making it very tempting, but I am not seeing the 7640i GPU on the NE specs.

DrPop
04-12-13, 03:13 AM
Denim, F$ brings up a good option - to get a laptop with a discrete GPU. That one he linked would blow the doors off the integrated GPUs (both AMD and Intel). You sacrifice some CPU power, but if you're after bigger GPU credits in a laptop....
...BTW, are you dead set on a laptop? :)) ;)

denim
04-12-13, 08:57 AM
Denim, F$ brings up a good option - to get a laptop with a discrete GPU. That one he linked would blow the doors off the integrated GPUs (both AMD and Intel). You sacrifice some CPU power, but if you're after bigger GPU credits in a laptop....
...BTW, are you dead set on a laptop? :)) ;)

I had my CC out to grab the HP you linked, then F$ really threw me for a loop with that one. Really got me thinking, as the reviews find it to be a semi-exotic option as it is a rare all AMD piece. AMD CPU (sorry APU), and twin AMD GPU's. I had been so easily swayed by the minor ignorance of the Intel "i" chips having total superiority enough to just ignore AMD CPU's for our crunching purposes, I had really fallen out of touch with what was going on with the AMD offerings. Which is really silly, as the little Toshiba laptop (Satellite L645D L645D-S4100WH Notebook AMD Athlon II Dual-Core P360(2.30GHz) 14" 3GB Memory DDR3 1066 320GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi ATI Radeon HD 4250) that we bought for my mother just about 2 years ago, has not skipped a beat the entire time. Anytime I stop over, I just adjust the BM to which ever challenge we are doing, so I should have been looking for one similar to that machine as it is the right size and has a GPU that can crunch.

Out side of the PG work, the rest of what I crunch is probably 90% CPU work. If the consensus is that the drop off of CPU power with the Lenovo is too much, I will go with the HP, if the difference between the A10 2.3Ghz and the A8 1.9Ghz is not worth sweating, I think I will grab the Lenovo.

As for this purchase, yes I need to go with a laptop for daily portability. My big horse (Qosmio X500-S1811 Intel Core i7 740QM(1.73GHz) 18.4" 4GB Memory 500GB HDD NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M) needs to go in for repair and is just too big to lug around even if it was in service right now. So I needed a light weight, crunching laptop for daily use that was around the $500 mark. Once my big laptop is back up and running, it has the power rivaling many moderate desktops. I think later this year, I will readdress a super desktop, with suggestions from the team with a 1500 budget or so.

Thanks again guys for all the help, this has been a good learning experience too.

DrPop
04-12-13, 01:30 PM
OK, just took a look for you, the laptop that F$ linked with discrete graphics added, has the A8-4500M, which is actually a Trinity CPU as well, with same cores and cache as the A10-4600M. Difference on the CPU side is speed only. So apples to apples, 2.3GHz to 1.9GHz is a 21% drop. So you will be taking a 20% hit on your CPU, and then on the built-in GPU side, a 50% hit in the shader count.
This is offset by the addition of the discrete GPU, which is 200 GFLOPS more than the built-in GPU in the A10-4600M.
I would say it's worth it if you don't do a lot of CPU and/or you just want to maximize GPU on the laptop for $500. Hard choice. What I wonder is if BOINC will actually "see" both the built-in GPU on that A8-4500M AND the discrete GPU. If it will see both and you can use both to crunch, then it would be an easier choice.

denim
04-12-13, 02:05 PM
OK, just took a look for you, the laptop that F$ linked with discrete graphics added, has the A8-4500M, which is actually a Trinity CPU as well, with same cores and cache as the A10-4600M. Difference on the CPU side is speed only. So apples to apples, 2.3GHz to 1.9GHz is a 21% drop. So you will be taking a 20% hit on your CPU, and then on the built-in GPU side, a 50% hit in the shader count.
This is offset by the addition of the discrete GPU, which is 200 GFLOPS more than the built-in GPU in the A10-4600M.
I would say it's worth it if you don't do a lot of CPU and/or you just want to maximize GPU on the laptop for $500. Hard choice. What I wonder is if BOINC will actually "see" both the built-in GPU on that A8-4500M AND the discrete GPU. If it will see both and you can use both to crunch, then it would be an easier choice.

I didn't think of that until you said it. Wish there was a way to know. If it does, then I will go that direction.

Fire$torm
04-12-13, 02:53 PM
I didn't think of that until you said it. Wish there was a way to know. If it does, then I will go that direction.

Maybe drop Slicker a line..?

denim
04-12-13, 09:52 PM
Maybe drop Slicker a line..?
You got it. Thanks. :)

denim
04-16-13, 01:40 PM
Ok, for $79 more, I took both of your suggestions. Hahahaha.

This little guy is on the way: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834310645

It has the A10-4600M & the dual GPU's, 7640 and 7660!

This is hobby is crazy, don't want to know how much it has cost over the years. Anyway, huge thank you, and I am very happy I was able to merge both suggestions into one laptop. So it has a strong quad core and the pair of GPU's. Yippie! ;)

DrPop
04-16-13, 06:47 PM
Er...uh...Denim, my friend, I really don't want to be the messenger on this, but I think that one you just bought has only 1 GPU - the one that is bundled with the A10. The A10 comes with the 7660G on die. Sorry to be the bearer of the news, I think it's a fine looking laptop, but - well, someone correct me if I'm wrong here please...

denim
04-16-13, 07:30 PM
Er...uh...Denim, my friend, I really don't want to be the messenger on this, but I think that one you just bought has only 1 GPU - the one that is bundled with the A10. The A10 comes with the 7660G on die. Sorry to be the bearer of the news, I think it's a fine looking laptop, but - well, someone correct me if I'm wrong here please...


As per this review: http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Lenovo-IdeaPad-Z585-Notebook.83889.0.html

I thought it is supposed to have dual GPU's like the version with the A8 chip. They make is seem as all versions of the Z585 have dual GPU's.

kmanley57
04-16-13, 08:37 PM
The review is a European one, so it might be available there. That was a translated page/review if you did not notice.

Fire$torm
04-16-13, 09:47 PM
Sorry DP & K but denim is getting two GPUs ---> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834312434

Equipped w/ 2GB AMD Radeon HD7670M

M = Mobile (Discrete Card)

kmanley57
04-16-13, 10:53 PM
Then that is the wrong link to his laptop, as the other says it comes with the extra card.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834312434

Notice different Item #


So I hope he did not order the wrong one.

denim
04-17-13, 09:37 AM
Sorry DP & K but denim is getting two GPUs ---> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834312434


M = Mobile (Discrete Card)

I didn't order that one as the model with the A8 was out of stock when I was ready to order. :(

denim
04-17-13, 09:39 AM
Then that is the wrong link to his laptop, as the other says it comes with the extra card.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834312434

Notice different Item #


So I hope he did not order the wrong one.

Here is the exact model I ordered, per newegg.com order history: lenovo IdeaPad Z585 (59345759) AMD A-Series A10-4600M(2.30GHz) 15.6" 6GB Memory 1TB HDD AMD Radeon HD 7660G Notebook

If I screwed up seeing that this one does not have the "M" model GPU, I feel fairly stupid as I based it on a review of a similar model, but not too bad as I get a decent GPU and a strong APU that Dr Pop suggested. If I did luck out and get a second, integrated GPU, then that's a bonus. :)

DrPop
04-17-13, 12:50 PM
Well, I will keep my fingers crossed for you! The thing is that the 7660G is the on-die GPU that is built into the A10 CPU/GPU chip.

So you might luck out and you have an added GPU card, but I'm not so sure, because if the 7660G is all they are quoting, then it seems redundant to me, given it's onboard the chip already. I'll be rooting for you either way, and hope it works out in your favor. :)

Fire$torm
04-17-13, 02:16 PM
Damn it.... Sorry about the mix up.

The models

lenovo IdeaPad Z585 (59345759) w/A10 APU - no discrete GPU ---> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834310645
lenovo IdeaPad Z585 (59363062) w/A8 APU - w/Discrete GPU ---> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834312434

So the unit you ordered doesn't have 2nd GPU but will have longer run time before recharge. I do not know, in BOINC terms, which APU crunches CPU work better.

kmanley57
04-17-13, 06:54 PM
I hope the machine works out for you! b-)

denim
04-17-13, 09:20 PM
I hope the machine works out for you! b-)

It shipped in one day!! Newegg is crazy fast and that is why I keep shopping with them. I am sure it will, not super worried about the dual GPU deal as I still landed a stout CPU. I will open it up tonight as soon as I get all work emails caught up.

Duke of Buckingham
04-17-13, 09:37 PM
It shipped in one day!! Newegg is crazy fast and that is why I keep shopping with them. I am sure it will, not super worried about the dual GPU deal as I still landed a stout CPU. I will open it up tonight as soon as I get all work emails caught up.

I am following this discussion with most interest, I have been kind of lurking but I think this kind of information exchange is quite good for future use, Congratulations denim and to all others that contributed to make this posts very interesting. We should do this more often.

Have a nice and long use of your new computer denim.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PHCEDZkpRE0/UVCJXiVwhZI/AAAAAAAAALM/GCAyd5IrRKY/s400/computer_love.jpg

denim
04-17-13, 10:09 PM
Damn it.... Sorry about the mix up.

The models

lenovo IdeaPad Z585 (59345759) w/A10 APU - no discrete GPU ---> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834310645
lenovo IdeaPad Z585 (59363062) w/A8 APU - w/Discrete GPU ---> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834312434

So the unit you ordered doesn't have 2nd GPU but will have longer run time before recharge. I do not know, in BOINC terms, which APU crunches CPU work better.

No worries, I know I got a great machine. If I give up a little GPU power for more CPU power, it's ok. Just wanted one of the best options that matched my needs and would help the team the best. I am sure, we found something quite good. :) Thank you again.

denim
04-17-13, 10:09 PM
I am following this discussion with most interest, I have been kind of lurking but I think this kind of information exchange is quite good for future use, Congratulations denim and to all others that contributed to make this posts very interesting. We should do this more often.

Have a nice and long use of your new computer denim.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PHCEDZkpRE0/UVCJXiVwhZI/AAAAAAAAALM/GCAyd5IrRKY/s400/computer_love.jpg

:o:o:o

John P. Myers
04-17-13, 11:33 PM
It didn't even cross my mind before when you were asking about which brands were good, but i also would've given Lenovo a thumbs up if i had thought of it (and Toshiba as well) :p So, yes, good choice :)

denim
04-18-13, 09:22 AM
Thanks John, adds one more positive bit of support on the choice. This is my first personal Lenovo product. What is very cool about a topic like this is the team pulls together, because the best choice for one, is the best choice for all (Team). ;) I hope to have it on line and crunching tonight. Excited. So far, it is a very attractive machine and seems to be just the right size, this will be my daily buddy. :)

denim
04-22-13, 11:28 AM
Now that I have this little guy crunching finally, (thank you again to all the help choosing) where would everyone feel is the best place to focus the little GPU?

Choices are limited to:


PG
MW
Moo
Einstein
SETI


I have most of my GPU work on PG, but the other AMD GPU I have is doing mostly Moo. I have no chance of catching anyone in MW/Moo/Einstein/SETI so I have favored PG for that reason, but was not sure if it was more efficient for the team to keep on PG or put this little GPU on Moo or MW etc.

Fire$torm
04-22-13, 01:20 PM
Ooooooh, Slicker is gona be real mad.... You forgot about Collatz :P I haven't verified this but it looks to me like the new Collatz app, "Solo_Collatz", gives better credits then its cousins. Although that may be limited to CUDA cards. Maybe give it a run then compare. IIRC Collatz also runs cooler then other projects which would be a plus for any IGP/APU crunching.