You are currently browsing the towards the optimal laptop blog archives for November, 2007.
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Notebookjournal.de benchmarks a laptop sporting a Nvidia GeForce 8800M GTX and an Intel Core 2 Extreme X7900. The article is in german, you can use Babelfish to translate it or skip directly to the graphs.
I think you would like to know this: Crysis demo at 1600×1200, medium shadows and the rest of the settings at high or very high scores an average of 24 FPS. Not bad for a laptop!
Nvidia has just launched the GeForce 8800M, you can find the relevant info at Nvidia’s web. Simultaneously Alienware has made (finally!) public the new laptops sporting this card.
AnandTech has talked to Nvidia and explains a few points about the 8800M and gaming laptops. Sadly, there is no an actual review of the hardware…
Much later than Intel, AMD launches (finally!) its quad-core processors for desktop computers. Phenom processors are aimed to the middle-range, offering performance and price just below that of Intel’s Core 2 Quad Q6600. Along with the Phenom, AMD unveils the 790FX chipset. Both products, plus Radeon HD3800, define the Spider platform. Phenom processors can be used both in AM2 and AM2+ motherboards, and up to four Radeon HD 3800 cards can be used in CrossFire mode, so the Spider platform is a very scalable one.
We find mixed feelings in the media: while at Tom’s Hardware (where you can find a 42-page review) they think it is a very promising platform, for AnandTech (11-page review) it is a weak release that cannot solve AMD’s problems. And according to CNet it is an irrelevant launch: desktop computers are becoming less and less important, because the only important thing now are laptop computers.
Think about it: take a look to the “launch” of Intel’s QX9770. Maybe Phenom is something to worry about.
Rumors say that Alienware is about to offer its 15.4″ laptop M15x with the option of a Nvidia GeForce 8800M GTX and the 17″ laptop with the option of two 8800M GTX in SLI. It seems that the info has been momentarily available at Alienware’s site but has been removed.
More info: Notebookreview. News found in Xataka.
Think about it:this laptop has to be hot. Really.
The first bechmarks for the new Radeon generation are out! And, know what? Things are getting very interesting.
AnandTech publishes extensive benchmarks and TG Daily too.
A few conclusions from the tests:
1) The ATI Radeon HD 3870 performance is a bit lower than that of the Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT at a price slightly lower too, so it is an equally good option. As you know, 8800 GT has been very welcome because of its excellent performance/price ratio.
2) The ATI Radeon HD 3850 offers lower performance, but greatly outperforms the Radeon 2600 XT and GeForce 8600 GTS.
3) The new Radeon generation is compatible with DirecX 10.1 and, according to the preliminary results, do offer a good scalability (two 3850 Crossfire offer the same performance as a single 8800 GTX at a lower price), so they seem more future-proof.
We can say that the middle range is healthy again: we have several options offering good performance at around 200 $. We know nothing about next generation high-end ATI cards, but looking at its middle range products, things seem very promising.
Think about it: power consumption data in AnandTech’s report show that the HD 3850 uses an amount of power similar to the 8600 GTS while offering much better performance. Should ATI launch a similar card for 15.4″ laptops (GeForce 8600M GT is the most powerful option at the moment for laptops this size) mobile users would get a great performance increase.
It is well known that hard disks are the main bottleneck for today computer’s performance. Several aproaches based on Flash storage, with better transfer rates and access times, have been tried to enhance computer responsiveness, but hybrid hard disks and Intel Turbo Memory do not seem to improve anything, and solid state disks are at the moment too limited and too expensive. The new player in the game is SanDisk’s Vaulter Disk and it looks, at least to me, as a winner.
Vaulter Disk is a PCI Express module (available for both desktop and laptop computers) sporting 8 or 16 GB of Flash storage, that work in conjunction with the conventional hard disk. Contrarily to hybrid hard disks or Turbo Memory, the Vaulter Disk is big enough to store the Operating System, virtual memory and frequently accessed data, so the performance improvement is likely to be real, and the smaller size will keep the cost much lower than that of a 32 or 64 GB SSD.
Vaulter Disk is expected for early 2008, so we can expect to have pricing information and reviews very soon.
More info at LaptopLogic.
The rumored ultraportable from Apple could be presented at Macworld, on January 15th.
It seems that the ultraportable would be a 13.3″ laptop, like the current Macbook line, but much thinner and lighter, lowering he weight down to about 1,7 kg (compared with Macbook’s 2,3 kg). It has also been said that it would sport a SSD instead of a conventional hard disk, and that it would lack an optical drive.
More info: news at LaptopLogic and News.com.
Think about it: last week rumors were about a tablet PC from Apple. It is likely that is the same laptop.
Are you looking for a gaming laptop? Are you interested on the Dell XPS M1730? Notebookreview features extensive benchmarks on this laptop of the following games: Crysis Demo, Unreal Tournament Demo, Call of Duty 4, DIRT Demo and Star Wars Battlefront II. If you cannot afford this laptop, the results are a good reference.
Intel launches its first processor for desktop computers manufactured using 45 nm technology (codenamed Penryn), the Core 2 Extreme QX9650. This processor, with 1333 MHz FSB and L2 cache of 12 MB, is aimed mainly to hardcore gamers.
Intel has launched simultaneously 15 new 45 nm Xeon processors (for servers).
More info: news at Laptop Logic and specifications at Intel’s site.
Think about it: manufacturers keep developing hardware aimed to hardcore gamers, like this processor that costs over 1000 $. That is good for people looking for the best performace at any price, but it is a problem for people who likes gaming but does not want to spend a fortune, because games are developed with hardcore gamers in mind. Moving to consoles as gaming system is becoming usual.
Think about this too: last week AMD catched the headlines in the professional field, but this week Intel does the same in the desktop arena, a field where Intel keeps being the leader from too long. AMD needs a big success in this area, SOON.
I have got a little problem with the way Technorati handles my blog, and I think it can be useful to explain how it went.
As you know I use Wordpress for the blog, in fact I have three different installs, one for each language. Today I signed in Technorati and I tried to claim the three blogs, but I just succeeded with one of them. After a lot of tests (Google did not save me this time) I realized that the blog that I could claim without a problem did use the the “pretty” permalink format, while the others not (by mistake). So I have activated the same permalink format in the rest of the blogs and, “magic!”, Technorati has claimed the blogs without a problem.
Think about it: small news can be important too!
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