Finding the perfect laptop.

[The Toaster]

I plan on upgrading the laptop a bunch. I need it to have good cooling for a quad core, an additional Mini-pice slot for my SSD, and an expresscard adapter for my homemade desktop graphics adapter. The more I.O. the better, and I can cheap out on some stuff like Intel graphics and a 720p screen. Is barebones cheaper? Low price is good! I do not know if skylake is an option, but I would at least want Haswell. I know this is hard because expresscard is pretty outdated. I haven't had much luck myself and you guys always come in handy.

[PokeCatz]

1 minute ago, The Toaster said:

I plan on upgrading the laptop a bunch. I need it to have good cooling for a quad core, an additional Mini-pice slot for my SSD, and an expresscard adapter for my homemade desktop graphics adapter. The more I.O. the better, and I can cheap out on some stuff like Intel graphics and a 720p screen. Is barebones cheaper? Low price is good! The newer the generation of laptop the better, I do not know if skylake is an option, but I would at least want Haswell. I know this is hard because expresscard is pretty outdated. I haven't had much luck myself and you guys always come in handy.

Get a clevo laptop. 

[GoZone]

What's your budget.

[The Toaster]

2 minutes ago, GoZone said:

What's your budget.

Pretty low. I'd say under 400 USD. As long as it has the I.O and chipset I need, I can upgrade the internals. I have a desktop graphics adapter, so no gpu is needed.

EDIT: I am open to buying used, I just need to know laptops that would work with my needs.

2 minutes ago, PokeCatz said:

Get a clevo laptop. 

Too expensive.

[GoZone]

Used or new?

[The Toaster]

Just now, GoZone said:

Used or new?

Whatever costs less.

[GoZone]

Best bang for the buck here.

http://www.amazon.com/F555LA-AB31-15-6-inch-Full-HD-Laptop-Windows/dp/B011KFQASE/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1460646613&sr=1-1&keywords=laptop

[Dackzy]

3 minutes ago, The Toaster said:

Pretty low. I'd say under 400 USD. As long as it has the I.O and chipset I need, I can upgrade the internals. I have a desktop graphics adapter, so no gpu is needed.

Not going to happen very few laptops has support for eGPU and the few that has are gaming laptops or the blade that cost from $1k and up.

And let me just make this clear just because a laptop has usb 3.1 with thunderbolt does not mean that it will support eGPU

[NotJude]

yo why dont i have my toast yet?

[The Toaster]

1 minute ago, Dackzy said:

No going to happen very few laptops has support for eGPU and the few that has are gaming laptops or the blade that cost from $1k and up.

And let me just make this clear just because a laptop has usb 3.1 with thunderbolt does not mean that it will support eGPU

I currently use a lenovo T420, which works with my desktop adapter. All I need is expresscard.

 

1 minute ago, NotJude said:

yo why dont i have my toast yet?

Sorry bro working on it.

[GoZone]

1 minute ago, Dackzy said:

No going to happen very few laptops has support for eGPU and the few that has are gaming laptops or the blade that cost from $1k and up.

And let me just make this clear just because a laptop has usb 3.1 with thunderbolt does not mean that it will support eGPU

 

1 minute ago, GoZone said:

Best bang for the buck here.

http://www.amazon.com/F555LA-AB31-15-6-inch-Full-HD-Laptop-Windows/dp/B011KFQASE/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1460646613&sr=1-1&keywords=laptop

There is not graphics adapter in that range of pruice but the one I recommend is something decent for the price and has somewhat a lot of ports.

[Dackzy]

Just now, The Toaster said:

I currently use a lenovo T420, which works with my desktop adapter. All I need is expresscard.

umm can you use the GPU with it?

[ShadowCaptain]

3 minutes ago, Dackzy said:

Not going to happen very few laptops has support for eGPU and the few that has are gaming laptops or the blade that cost from $1k and up.

And let me just make this clear just because a laptop has usb 3.1 with thunderbolt does not mean that it will support eGPU

 

he us using the expresscard slot for the E-GPU, kind of a hack way of doing it

[The Toaster]

1 minute ago, Dackzy said:

umm can you use the GPU with it?

Yes, I am currently using it right now.

[Dackzy]

Just now, The Toaster said:

Yes, I am currently using it right now.

Why dont you just get a used thinkpad with a quad core in it then?

[Dackzy]

3 minutes ago, ShadowCaptain said:

 

he us using the expresscard slot for the E-GPU, kind of a hack way of doing it

Hmmm maybe I should do that with my next thinkpad the T460s  

[ShadowCaptain]

1 minute ago, Dackzy said:

Hmmm maybe I should do that with my next thinkpad the T460s  

If its a new one, it probably doesnt have it

[The Toaster]

Just now, Dackzy said:

Why dont you just get a used thinkpad with a quad core in it then?

I upgraded my current thinkpad to a i7-2720qm. Do the new generations support expresscard?

5 minutes ago, ShadowCaptain said:

 

he us using the expresscard slot for the E-GPU, kind of a hack way of doing it

Yes.

 

Also, here are some pictures in case you are curious,

 

 

 

[Dackzy]

2 minutes ago, ShadowCaptain said:

If its a new one, it probably doesnt have it

It has that expresscard thing under it.

https://imgur.com/a/JJJjT#QBVKAM2

[ShadowCaptain]

1 minute ago, The Toaster said:

I upgraded my current thinkpad to a i7-2720qm. Do the new generations support expresscard?

Yes.

 

Also, here are some pictures in case you are curious,

 

how much of a bottleneck is the expresscard slot

[The Toaster]

5 minutes ago, ShadowCaptain said:

how much of a bottleneck is the expresscard slot

Really depends on the card. If you are using something high end like a 980 or a 390 it is going to bottleneck. Anything with lower bandwith should not be a problem, currently I use a HD 6950 that I had laying around.

 

Here is the exact adapter I use.

5 minutes ago, Dackzy said:

It has that expresscard thing under it.

https://imgur.com/a/JJJjT#QBVKAM2

Mine has that as well. I don't really know if it works or not. I'll try it out sometime.

EDIT: upon closer examination of the "express card thing under it" It looks different and will probably not work.

 

If any laptop has (an unused) mini pcie, expresscard, a decent cooler, and supports newer generation cpus. Holler at me.

[Dackzy]

5 minutes ago, The Toaster said:

Really depends on the card. If you are using something high end like a 980 or a 390 it is going to bottleneck. Anything with lower bandwith should not be a problem, currently I use a HD 6950 that I had laying around.

 

Here is the exact adapter I use.

Mine has that as well. I don't really know if it works or not. I'll try it out sometime.

What adapter do you use?

[Hamako]

Why exactly do you need another laptop? What's wrong with your T420?

 

I was going to recommend something like a W520, but if you have already upgraded your T420 to a quad core and you don't seem to care about screen quality, what exactly is it that you are hoping to achieve?

 

Newer ThinkPads don't have ExpressCard anymore, except for the P50 and P70. Even mPCIe is not an option, unless hwtools makes an M.2 eGPU set now, as newer ThinkPads only have M.2 slots.

[Dackzy]

Just now, Hamako said:

Why exactly do you need another laptop? What's wrong with your T420?

 

I was going to recommend something like a W520, but if you have already upgraded your T420 to a quad core and you don't seem to care about screen quality, what exactly is it that you are hoping to achieve?

Maybe less bottleneck? I dont know.

[Hamako]

I used to use my X220 with an eGPU back in 2012. The bottleneck is the single PCIe lane. Gen 1 only allows 250MB/s, which limits the GPU to about 60% of its original performance. Gen 2, which the T420 supports, can do 500MB/s, which brings GPU performance up to 80%. Gen 3 will do 1000MB/s, which is enough to almost remove the bottleneck at about 90% performance.

 

I assume OP has the hwtools PE4L, which offers Gen 2 speeds. I'm not sure if Ivy-Bridge ThinkPads offer Gen 3 or if hwtools has released a Gen 3 adapter. I would guess so, but I haven't kept track of the eGPU's since 2013.