Lenovo Thinkpad W530?

[Michel Rabe]

I'm considering replacing my lousy desktop with a Thinkpad W530 (i7-3720QM, FHD screen, 32GB Corsair 1600Mhz RAM, 256GB Samsung 830 SSD, Quadro K2000M).

That setup apparently beats the Retina MBP at PCMark7 but I'm not sure what that tells me about performance for video work.

http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/W-Series-ThinkPad-Laptops/Thinkpad-W530-PCMark7-Score/td-p/771319/page/3
(last two posts)


Has anyone already worked with one or even edited/rendered/CC some r3d files on it?

[Subhadip Sen]

Firstly, PC Mark 7 is a largely irrelevant benchmark, it is overly influenced by SSDs, developed at a time before SSDs were commonplace. Do consider the RAID option as well.

I have been using the previous gen Thinkpad W520 and it is bulletproof, quite literally. I wouldn't trust any other laptop. It makes very light work of 5K R3Ds, comfortably playing them back at 1/4 res, hitting 1/2 res with 4K material. Final 4K R3D renders to 1920x1080 are about 1.8x real-time (this number should get closer to real-time with W530's top CPU option). Unlike many performance laptops which throttle and choke under heavy stress the W520 stays impossibly cool and quiet and always offers the maximum clocks, uncannily outperforming otherwise similarly specced laptops. The battery life for such a powerful machine is also unexpected (with 9-cell option).

W530 improves on the formula with even better CPU performance. However, the GPU side is disappointing. For a time-to-market advantage it tops out at Quadro K2000M based on GK107, which is so new that NVIDIA have not yet officially announced it. A Quadro GPU is also essential for the W530's primary customer base - engineering CAD and architecture. In the high-end of those markets the W series is the de-facto standard. However, for applications such as Premiere Pro CS6 or Davinci Resolve, the Quadro means much less versus GeForce. In terms of pure performance, the K2000M is a mid-range GPU at best, equivalent of GeForce GT 650M 2 GB. Given that we have consumer laptops shipping with GTX 680M which is 3-4 times as fast as GT 650M and offers incredible GTX 580-like performance on a laptop, K2000M is a bit off-putting. That said, higher-end GK104 based Quadro GPUs are coming, with Quadro K5000M set to be faster than Quadro 6000. Yes, that's right, for the first time ever we have a laptop GPU faster than a workstation GPU! K2000M is certainly "good enough" for editing at 1/2 res 4K, the 2GB buffer helps, but don't expect to grade 4K+ material. The display itself takes similar compromise for the primary audience. The top spec is only 1920 with less-than-perfect viewing angles but it is also the only laptops display covering 95% AdobeRGB under $3000-$4000. It even has an integrated colour calibrator which means unprecedented Delta E figures. (although you could always calibrate other displays yourself this is a priceless feature if you are on location with vastly different viewing environments) There are tons more features which makes it the best laptop for content creation in many visual oriented industries, excluding perhaps motion pictures and gaming. The Quadro K2000M also introduces 4K output and the Thinkpad W530 does have a DP 1.2 port which supports 4K off a single cable. As far as I know, this is the first laptop to support 4K external displays. You can output to 4 displays as well, though I am not sure if all 4 can be 4K.

Sorry, that was a bit of a scrambled rant. I suppose my recommendation is - if you are looking for performance you should look for a GTX 680M based laptop. If you are only looking to edit, the W530 will be "good enough" if you are OK with 1/4 res playback.

[Michel Rabe]

Subhadip,
thank you for the write up!

I didn't know the K2000M is that mediocre :(

I searched a bit for GTX 680M laptops available and they are still very rare here. From the largest German online Compter seller you can configure a setup with GTX 680M, Intel i7 3720, internal SSD and HDD, 32GB Ram for a bit less than my desired W530 setup, BUT it would be in a MSI barebone chassis and I know nothing about the mainboard, screen, built quality and feeling, connectivity, let alone stability of the whole system. They claim to use quality components and it seems to be true but still...

What I'm looking for basically are reasonable render times for 4K RED projects (editing at 1/4 res is ok for me), good but not necessarily great performance for AE motion graphics stuff and reliability.
Especially for reliability I know Lenovo will deliver.

My current desktop performs worse than a 2011 Macbook Pro, so I suppose the W530 would still be a significant step up?

BTW and a bit off topic but preview of graded RED footage in Speedgrade works flawless even on my lousy desktop while even a slight and simple curve adjustment at 1/4 resolution in PP kills realtime playback, how the heck is that possible?

[Subhadip Sen]

Subhadip,
thank you for the write up!

I didn't know the K2000M is that mediocre :(

I searched a bit for GTX 680M laptops available and they are still very rare here. From the largest German online Compter seller you can configure a setup with GTX 680M, Intel i7 3720, internal SSD and HDD, 32GB Ram for a bit less than my desired W530 setup, BUT it would be in a MSI barebone chassis and I know nothing about the mainboard, screen, built quality and feeling, connectivity, let alone stability of the whole system. They claim to use quality components and it seems to be true but still...

What I'm looking for basically are reasonable render times for 4K RED projects (editing at 1/4 res is ok for me), good but not necessarily great performance for AE motion graphics stuff and reliability.
Especially for reliability I know Lenovo will deliver.

My current desktop performs worse than a 2011 Macbook Pro, so I suppose the W530 would still be a significant step up?

BTW and a bit off topic but preview of graded RED footage in Speedgrade works flawless even on my lousy desktop while even a slight and simple curve adjustment at 1/4 resolution in PP kills realtime playback, how the heck is that possible?

I was speaking from a purely compute performance point of view, of course. Quadro has its benefits over GeForce, I wouldn't call it mediocre. Even so, it is a relative matter. For instance, coming from your Macbook Pro, the K2000M is still better than any GPU that has ever made it to any Macbook Pro, which is still the overwhelming standard in this industry. It is just that GK107 is an entry level chip and we are spoiled by immense options such as the GTX 680M.

I am not sure about GTX 680M availability but it is a massive step over GTX 675M (which was really just a rebranded GTX 580M) - nearly double the compute performance and on par with the desktop GTX 580 (!). For editing in 1/4 res 4K the W530 is certainly "good enough" and will no doubt be a significant step up over the 2011 MBP and subsequently your desktop. Do note that the K2000M is very new and not officially supported by CS6 yet, but adding it manually to the CUDA list should work.

SpeedGrade is in a league of its own in terms of performance. Instead of using GPU compute, i.e. use the GPU to mimic CPU functions, it directly leverages the GPU's shaders through OpenGL. The result is performance an order of magnitude better than the likes of Premiere Pro or Resolve. Interestingly, the SpeedGrade team recommends Quadro GPUs. Maybe the Quadro K2000M will show its weight in SpeedGrade over its GeForce counterparts. The K2000M in W530 might just enable real-time grading at 4K...

[Michel Rabe]

Always great to read your posts!
Thanks a lot for the insight, I think I'll pull the trigger on the W530 over the GTX680M setup I mentioned above mainly because of Lenovo's reliability and built quality.
From what you say it should fit my needs, once I get it I'll post some findings.

Thanks Subhadip!