Acer's continued descent into blandness.

Test Acer Aspire V3-771G Notebook - Notebookcheck.com Tests

So Asus might hate MXM, but Acer has a war on GDDR5, they refuse to use it! This means that my 7738G when it had the 5870M with GDDR5 card is still the fastest acer to ever exist :/

 

Sucks. I'm gonna work on my MXM Gateway nv78 right now but someday I'll get a new mobo for your old 7738g and throw a 5870, 560m or even a 7970m for it.

 

Highend GPU laptop doesn't really sell in high number and Acer is all about the low margin high volume game. I used to go for highend GPU on laptop too but it's a hassle to carry around (~10lbs with PSU). Especially after testing out a S3 and S5 on my recent trips. Under 4lbs including PSU spoils you. The good thing with the new thunderbolt port is that external GPU is now a real possibility without suffering bandwidth problem and thunderbolt external GPU will be available later this year. I'll probably pick up a S5 or the next model then and get an external GPU for when I'm home.

 

The GTX660M could be really interesting in the 7738G.

 

It's not just about the high-end GPU - Acer is cheaping out on VRAM. They are handicapping their GPUs with DDR3 (and sometimes DDR2) RAM, to save a few bucks (or just cents?).

 

They ditched MXM, I don't know why you guys are expecting something good from them I didn't have a lot of laptops (5315, followed by 5920G), but they were Acers. So far I can't see a model that would make me to buy from them again.

 

No offense but MXM is a bit like eGPU- a toy for selected few.
Most people never upgrade their desktops let alone notebooks.

Acer is making business decisions and ditching MXM was one of them- it was cheaper and allowed them to produce thinner notebooks.

As for memory I agree in principle but that's nothing new- they did it back in 2005 when they used DDR instead of DDR2, then they moved to DDR2 seemingly ignoring DDR3 and moved to DDR3 only when nVidia started using it as standard in an effort to make another re-badge of their 32 stream GPU slightly faster yet again.
Now they are continuing the trend that is at least 7 years old and while doing that they have moved to second place in notebook sales (ahead of Lenovo again).

So it's working fine for them and from a business standpoint that's enough.

 

What if you snagged an 8735g MXM 3.0 and upgraded it to 7970m for under 800 USD?

Don't think you can do that with any other brand (except gateway)

 

It would be interesting Are they quad capable? Currently I'm not looking for a new machine, but it would be nice to know.

 

8940G

Only model with MXM and an i7.

 

Yes, but the 8735g, 8935g, 7738g and Gateway nv78 can take core 2 quads.

Also the Gateway nv73 can take Phenom II and whatnot with MXM 3.0 B cards.

BTW, I believe there is a 7738g motherboard that does not need modification to fit type B cards. I'm thinking about buying it but I don't really trust that its not just a picture of 1 ES motherboard they have or something.
Wholesale DHL free 7535 7535G 7735 7735Z 7735G 7735ZG 7738 7738G MBPCA01001 JM70 MV 48.4CD01.021 deliveryMotherboard

 

Those are nice machines indeed, but I'm looking at 8740w with DreamColor dispaly. I'm running dual-lamp 90% color gamut display for a week now, and it's simply amazing even on single lamp (waiting a repair guy to mod the dual-lamp inverter). I could only imagine how a DreamColor would look like, and it's MXM, right? I wont give 16:10, no matter what... at least for the next couple of years

 

Is 8740W a HP EliteBook machine? If so, don't count on MXM upgradeability - other EliteBooks are known to use not merely a whitelist, but a complete DRM scheme (using strong cryptography) to prevent MXM upgrades. Basically, the cards and motherboards are cryptographically paired in the factory, and any change can only be done by an authorized HP service partner with a hardware dongle to restore the pairing. (Fortunately the pairing is based on model numbers, not serial numbers, so identical replacements are OK, unlike that infamous Zepto machine.)

 

You might want to contact Eurocom... they used to have stock of 8740w barebones, and they sold me one with HDD, CPU and RAM for about 500$, all heatsinks and LCD included.

You've really got to look at the prices though, the Gateway nv78 can fit those 90% gamut, 16:9 LED backlit 17.3" LCDs all the Sager and MSI laptops have and I think theyre just a little over 100$.

Yes.
I believe this is true for some models, however I've come to believe this is strongly tied to the the ODM.

For example, between the Elitebook 8510, 8710, 8530 and 8730, all 3 Quanta, Compal and Wistron were ODMs for these 4 machines, I can't remember which. The 8710 and 8510 use some cards without an EEPROM but others like the 3600m which is standard.

Additionally, I've owned an hp 8740w, and it was fully working with AMD/ATI reference 4850 gddr5, 4860 gddr5, MSI 5850 gddr5 and more, plus others have tested it with the 6970m.

And crazily enough, some guy with like 2 posts here seems to have upgraded is 8540w (MXM 3.0 A) to an MXM 3.0 B Quadro 3000m.

So, we have to conclude they have changed their ways for the most part.

 

"Awesome" news Damn HP, that's why I hate them so much, the reasons I ever looked to them are - HDX Dragon (pretty old tech), and 8740w. I know that they are locking things, but I never knew this about the EliteBooks. So it's impossible+1 to put another GPU in there (7970)?

EDIT: That's a relief. So 7970 is possible, means there is no BIOS limitation, and actually get it to working state is another question