Laptop Graphics Cards

[Multibocks]

I read that nVidia is releasing their new line up around March-April time frame and was winding if anyone had any info on them? So far all I see is that they are going to 28 micron fabrication process. Is that it? Just a 580M with reduced architecture? Dies that provide any speed benefit or is it just power consumption and heat produced are reduced?

[MiRai]

A smaller die always means less heat. Here are some specs (http://www.anandtech.com/show/5200/introducing-amds-radeon-7000m-and-nvidias-geforce-600m-mobile-gpus). Doesn't seem like a whole lot of improvement at the moment.

[pinotnoir]

When I was doing research for my new laptop I found that people were very upset at the upcoming cards. From what I read it was due to renaming of the same chip. The performance was not that much better. ATI an Nvidia will have new names for their cards soon. I went with the Nvidia 570 with 3gig ram. So far its works really well for my needs. I can't remember if I read that at tomshardware or some other place. Do a search and you will see what I am talking about. People were pissed.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

This isn't new. Cost reductions, smaller dies resulting in less heat and lower power requirements, etc. For 95% of the laptop market, this is a Good Thing(tm) as it results in much better longevity for the system and battery life. For the 5% that play high-performance 3D games, they would obviously prefer performance at the expense of efficiency.

[Multibocks]

5444 MAINGEAR eX-L 15 (laptop-eXL15-SB)
View printer-friendly version (http://www.maingear.com/boutique/pc/printableQuote.asp?w=400&idconf=11227)
Customizations: Special Promotions: special-rat5free - Winter Promotion - Get a Cyborg R.A.T. 5 Gaming Mouse FREE! Primary Display: disp-8690-1920x1080 - 15.6" HD+ 16:9 LED Display (1920x1080) with Super Clear Screen Chassis: case-8690 - eX-L 15 Performance Chassis Processor: cpu-intel-i72720QM - Intel® Core™ i7 2720QM 2.2GHz/3.3GHz Turbo 6MB L3 Cache GT2 Graphics and GPGPU Accelerator: integrated-580m-P150HM - NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 580M 2.0GB GDDR5 Memory: mem-16GBDDR3-1600so-dimm - 16GB Patriot DDR3-1600 SO-DIMM (Dual Channel) Hard Drive Bay One: hdd-corsair-forcegt-240gb - 240GB Corsair® Force GT SSD SATA 6G (w/ TRIM) [555MB/s Reads] Memory Card Reader: fcr-allinone - All-in-One Integrated USB 2.0 Flash Card Reader & Writer Optical Drive One: optical-integratedlaptopDVD - 8X DVD Dual Layer Burner Network Adapter: nic-onboard - On-board Gigabit Ethernet Wireless Network Adapter: wireless-killer-80211n - Bigfoot Networks® Killer™ Wireless-N - Ultimate Wireless Network Accelerator! Audio: audio-integratedHD - Integrated High Definition Audio Bluetooth: bluetooth-integratedintel - Integrated Bluetooth Technology Module Web Cam: webcam-integrated2.0 - Integrated 2.0MP Webcam Primary Battery: battery-8690 - Removeable Li-Polymer battery pack 3800mAh, 42.18Wh Mouse: mouse-rat5 - MadCatz® Cyborg® R.A.T. 5 Adjustable Gaming Mouse Security Software: security-MSSEssentials - Microsoft Security Essentials Operating System: os-windows7-ultimate64 - Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit Angelic Service Warranty: warranty-1yearstandard - Lifetime Angelic Service Labor and Phone Support with 1 Year Hardware Warranty

Also Origin PC does something similar at a similar price. I'm inclined to go with MainGear because they made my current desktop and it rocks.

[Multibocks]

QTY SKU Description
Price
1 laptop-eXL15-SB MAINGEAR eX-L 15
1,362.00
Customizations: Special Promotions: Winter Promotion - Get a Cyborg R.A.T. 5 Gaming Mouse FREE! (special-rat5free)
$-59.00
Primary Display: 15.6" HD+ 16:9 LED Display (1920x1080) with Super Clear Screen (disp-8690-1920x1080)


Chassis: eX-L 15 Performance Chassis (case-8690)
Included
Processor: Intel® Core™ i7 2720QM 2.2GHz/3.3GHz Turbo 6MB L3 Cache GT2 (cpu-intel-i72720QM)
$243.00
Graphics and GPGPU Accelerator: NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 580M 2.0GB GDDR5 (integrated-580m-P150HM)
$650.00
Memory: 16GB Patriot DDR3-1600 SO-DIMM (Dual Channel) (mem-16GBDDR3-1600so-dimm)
$178.00
Hard Drive Bay One: 240GB Corsair® Force GT SSD SATA 6G (w/ TRIM) [555MB/s Reads] (hdd-corsair-forcegt-240gb)
$413.00
Memory Card Reader: All-in-One Integrated USB 2.0 Flash Card Reader & Writer (fcr-allinone)
Included
Optical Drive One: 8X DVD Dual Layer Burner (optical-integratedlaptopDVD)
Included
Network Adapter: On-board Gigabit Ethernet (nic-onboard)
Included
Wireless Network Adapter: Bigfoot Networks® Killer™ Wireless-N - Ultimate Wireless Network Accelerator! (wireless-killer-80211n)
$49.00
Audio: Integrated High Definition Audio (audio-integratedHD)
Included
Bluetooth: Integrated Bluetooth Technology Module (bluetooth-integratedintel)
Included
Web Cam: Integrated 2.0MP Webcam (webcam-integrated2.0)
Included
Primary Battery: Removeable Li-Polymer battery pack 3800mAh, 42.18Wh (battery-8690)
Included
Mouse: MadCatz® Cyborg® R.A.T. 5 Adjustable Gaming Mouse (mouse-rat5)


Security Software: Microsoft Security Essentials (security-MSSEssentials)


Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit (os-windows7-ultimate64)
$129.00
Angelic Service Warranty: Lifetime Angelic Service Labor and Phone Support with 1 Year Hardware Warranty (warranty-1yearstandard)
Included

Total:

$2,965.00

Better formatted version

[pinotnoir]

I went with an MSI and it cost $1899. 16gigs ram 1.5t drive in raid 0 with the 570 graphics and the same cpu + blue ray drive.

[Multibocks]

I want SSD, not a HD. So a little more for the drive and the 580. Hmm guess I should look around and see if I can find a better price.

[pinotnoir]

I want SSD, not a HD. So a little more for the drive and the 580. Hmm guess I should look around and see if I can find a better price.

There is nothing stopping you from dropping a $120 SSD in the laptop. It's much better than spending $1000 more.

[Multibocks]

120dollar isn't going to cut it. I like the newest and best in SSDs and those are around 400-500 for 240GB. Also I don't care for 17 inch laptops, I've owned one before and I don't like that size. I prefer 15 or smaller, but its tough to fit good components in a really small package. Most manufacturers have 15s the smallest they make for awesome performance.

[Multibocks]

Heh I found that Sager puts desktop i7s in their laptops and you can get dual 580m cards too. Expensive, but the same laptop I have configured above with an i7 CPU is only 100 more. Its tempting.