I got an evaluation sample of MSI GT680R, one of the first gaming laptops with Intel Sandy Bridge processor, thanks to MSI Iberia. The review is already online at my other site about laptops, Gaming on Laptops.
Source: MSI GT680R review
gaming laptops
MSI GT680R reviewed at Gaming on Laptops
Tuesday, January 11th, 2011First MSI laptops with Intel Sandy Bridge processors
Monday, November 29th, 2010As I have mentioned in Gamingonlaptops, MSI is about to launch two gaming laptops with Intel Sandy Bridge processors: the GT680 (with Nvidia GeForce GTX 460M graphics) and GX680 (with ATI Mobility Radeon HD 6870 graphics). As far as I know, these are the first announced laptops with Intel Sandy Bridge processors. They are expected in January 2011.
Source: Portables4Gamers. Via: Gamingonlaptops
Gaming on Laptops, the new site by Towards the optimal laptop
Wednesday, November 17th, 2010I’d like to introduce you my last project: the website about laptops and PC games Gaming on Laptops.
This new site, in English and Spanish, covers the intersection between laptops and PC games: from gaming laptops to anything related to playing PC games on laptops. While it’s not exactly a news site, it’s going to cover the most important events about gaming laptops, in addition to collect useful information and publish articles about game performance on laptops.
I hope you find it useful!
The Intel Core i7 upgrade for the Alienware M11x is well worth it (in some games)
Friday, July 16th, 2010Clerarly the older processors are OK for most games, but I was amazed by the performance improvement of the Core i7 640M processor over the older Pentium SU4100 (even overclocked at 1.7 GHz) in some games, namely Shattered Horizon and Battlefield: Bad Company 2. So if you can afford it and don’t mind losing some battery life (45 min of Internet use), go for the Core i7 option.
Update: Looks like Dell has released a software update that gives an extra 45 minutes of battery life, so the Core i5/i7 models get much closer to the original Pentium/Core 2 Duo version.
GeForce GTX 480M benchmark compilation
Thursday, July 8th, 2010The main benchmarking sites have already published results of the Nvidia GeForce GTX 480M (mobile Fermi). In case you missed some of them, here you have a compilation:
- Notebookcheck (Core i7 920)
- Hot Hardware (Core i7 920)
- Notebookjournal.de (Core i7 920)
- Tom’s Hardware (Core i7 820QM)
- AnandTech (Core i7 820QM)
Please note that only the last 2 ones are apples-to-apples comparisons, because the older ones are comparing the GTX 480M paired with a desktop processor against the 5870 paired with a notebook processor.
In some games the GTX 480M gets an advantage of 25 or even 30%, but in many games both cards score similar results (maybe within a 10%; the average is a 19% in favor of the GTX 480M at Tom’s Hardware).
You can configure laptops with the Nvidia GeForce GTX 480M at well known assemblers such as Xotic PC, Cizmo and others.
Nvidia GeForce GTX 480M benchmarks (mobile Fermi): 10% faster than ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870
Tuesday, June 15th, 2010As usual, the guys at Notebookcheck.net are among the first ones providing benchmarks of the lastest mobile graphics cards. They have published a review of the GTX 480M in the Clevo D901F that you can read in depth, but from their results, I have to say I’m not very impressed.
- In Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Metro 2033 (DX11) the GTX 480M is 7-10% faster than the best score of the 5870
- In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 both cards get nearly identical scores, and in Crysis the GTX 480M is a 6% slower than the 5870
- DIRT 2 (DX11) is the only game where the GTX 480M really owns the 5870: it is a 38% faster.
So, is the GeForce GTX 480M faster than the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870? Yes, it is. And probably the GTX 480M is going to perform better with newer drivers and newer games. But at the moment the price premium of the GTX 480M (490 USD over the GTX 285M, that is 75 USD over the 5870 configuring a gaming laptop at Xotic PC) is hard to justify.
Update: the guys at Hot Hardware have benchmarked different games and get different results, more like a 30% in favor of the GTX 480M.
Update 2: more benchmarks at Notebookjournal.de
Update 3: even more benchmarks at Tom’s Hardware and AnandTech.
Gaming laptop section updated
Monday, May 31st, 2010Second section updated today! The gaming laptop section has just been updated, including options sporting the all-new Nvidia GeForce GTX 480M.
There are interesting things happening at Computex, but I don’t have the time to write about them, only to retweet a few. Follow me on Twitter!
Nvidia GeForce GTX 480M (mobile Fermi) available for preorder at Xotic PC
Wednesday, May 26th, 2010We don’t have any benchmarks yet, but it seems the last mobile graphics card from Nvidia, the Fermi-based Geforce GTX 480M, is going to be the fastest graphics card for laptops in the market (at least for a while). Do you want it in your next gaming laptop? You can pre-order a Sager NP9280 (based on Clevo D900F) at Xotic PC. It’s going to cost you 550 USD MORE than the GTX 285M and ETA is mid-June. Did you expect something cheaper? Really?
Update: do you want it in SLI? So you have to wait for the new monster from Clevo, the X7200!
Laptop graphics card comparison: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870, 5850, 5730, 5650, 5470 and Nvidia GeForce GTX 480M, GTX 285M, GTX 260M, GTS 360M, GT 330M, 310M
Thursday, May 6th, 2010My last compilation of laptop graphics card benchmarks is too old, so here you have the new version. I’m only covering the last generation of graphics card, and only the most common ones: if the graphics card you are looking for is not here, go to Notebookcheck or use Google (look for the 3DMark Vantage Performance score of the card for a quick comparison). Some remarks:
- I know, the tables at Notebookcheck are much more informative, but can be confusing and some info is lacking. I think this presentation is more useful for many people.
- 3DMark Vantage is a synthetic benchmark. It gives you an approximate idea of the performance of a graphics card, but actual gaming performance of a card can be quite different. It’s better to compare ATI vs ATI or Nvidia vs Nvidia, because many games are better optimized for a brand or the other.
- Crysis benchmarks on High settings (1024×768) are included. Crysis is not a very current game, but it gives you a good idea of the ability of a card to play current games at high settings (remember that 30 fps is generally considered as smooth gameplay). But some newer games, such as Metro 2033, are more demanding (have a look at the comment about quality levels of Metro 2033 in the Yougamers review).
- I have only included single card configurations, mainly to keep things simple, but also because the contribution of the 2nd card is very variable depending on the benchmark/game, driver version and so.
- Bottom line: get at least a Nvidia GeForce GT 330M if you plan to play games, or a GTS 360M or faster if you are serious about gaming.
Feel free to post comments to add your experiences and other relevant information (preferably with links to the sources!).
Are you interested on laptops sold in Spain? Go to the Spanish version.
Finally! Alienware M17x available with ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 CrossFireX
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010While the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 is already available in other laptops such as the Asus G73JH or some Clevo models, the Alienware M17x is first with the CrossFireX dual ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870. As usual, let’s wait for some benchmarks, but the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 is the fastest graphics card for laptops, and by a good margin, so the CrossFireX configuration can be awesome…
- Alienware M17x (US) (note: 5870 not available at the moment of this writing, but probably in a few hours)
- Alienware M17x (UK)
Update: As Portables4Gamers points out, the dual 5870 option has disappeared!
