ASUS F8 news - possible bad news, 8600GS?

However, they only mentioned the 'F8', nothing about the specifics. Nothing on their product page as well.

It's the global site though, it's not confirmed for other regions. No need to freak out or anything just yet.

 

But the laptop is very heavy : ~2.6KG.

 

As you say, it may be a mistake, but bear in mind that this is the first official F8 spec announcement we've seen from ASUS (ignoring the leaflets from a few days ago, which I don't really think were a public thing).
It could be that ASUS had trouble getting a 8600 GT comptible with a 14"er? Hence, going for a GS in the V2S and F8?

Update:
It also seems to have a TV Tuner, which I didn't know it would have before.

 

Bummer, it makes me doubt if I want it now. Well, we'll see how things develop. I hope is the GT even though it's gonna have ddr2 ram

 

That sucks. I was really debating between waiting for the F8 or getting the Inspiron 1520. That F8SV-A1 package looked so sweet

 

Agreed. Maybe it sounded too good to be true eh?

 

Yeah it did. So much for the perfect notebook!

 

Yeah but the HD2600, does anyone know if it is more comparable to a 8600gs, or is it closer to the 8600gt.

 

i think it's more comparable to the GS, but slightly more powerful.

 

HD2600XT- better than 8600GT. HD2600 is at par with the 8600GS or slightly better.

 

PC World magazine said the F8 would have the GT...

http://usa.asus.com/Newsletter/July/ASUS_SEPT_PCWORLD_sm.pdf

 

I guess it's Dell for me......

Asus, I was going to give you my laptop virginity (I'm buying my first laptop)

NOOOOOO!!!!! I LOVED YOUR LOOKS!!!!!! BUT YOUR GPU, IS THIS TRUE?????

 

NOOO
STAY AWAY FROM DELL PLEASE!!!

 

As mentioned, it's too early on to say until it reaches shore.

So take it with a grain of salt, whether it's the end product or not, well, we'll see.

 

Yes, you don't want to loose your virginity to dell!!! Let alone going gay

 

I think this actually can be true. F8 supposed to have 8600GT or HD2600 but 2600(non XT) is not ATI competitor to 86GT. So I think it's quite possible to see 86GS or 26. Of course it's not bad for me cause those cards are not capable to handle DX10 titles and in DX9 games performance will be more than fine.

 

That's a good point. Also, at the moment it looks like Asus will release the nVidia version before the ATI one. If the nVidia one were to be the 8600GT, then their subsequent release (the HD2600) would have poorer performance. Profit-wise, that wouldn't really make sense.
(One may argue that they would make the later version cheaper, however F8 is already a cheap, budget model)

 

And what's so bad about Dell?

 

dell support, dell build quality....

 

Well, the way I see it, the HD2600XT, as a 128-bit card put in 17"+ notebooks, is the competitor to the 8700M-GT, though slightly lower performing (on current drivers). Thus the HD2600 should be the high-end 15.4" 128-bit card, so expect it to be a competitor to the 8600M-GT, though lower performing. Thus I expect the HD2600 to sit somewhere between the 8600M-GS and the 8600M-GT, possible close to the 8600M-GT DDR2 version. Also, it's rumored that the HD2600 will be more power efficient than the 8600M series, so it's possible that battery life would be decent.

 

good point...ASUS will just have to market the power saving if the ATI version is being released after nVidia

 

It will be around $200 cheaper, as with the A8Ja and A8Jp (when compared to the A8Jm and A8Js). So it does make sense.

And making both versions have similar performance would make no sense whatsoever, because then neither would sell as well, since it would make it so that the F8Sa would need to have the same price as the F8Sv.

 

You really think we'll see the F8sa at the 1300 dollar price point? I kind of doubt it, as the HD2600 should perform better than the 8600M-GS.

 

I have a feeling that, the 8600GS will be the global F8, while the N.A. model will feature 8600GT. Reason being that ASUS N.A. convinced ASUS Taiwan to put 8600GTs in there, they've(ASUS N.A.) have done moves like that in the past.

 

You're right about the similar performance point. However, I never said they'd release identical performance machines, I was implying that their later machine should have a better performance (which the HD2600 is expected to be [this is in comparison with the gs]).

If the HD2600 does have better power efficiency, then it may be marketable as a later machine.

 

Meh. I'm going to spend the extra $$$ on the V1/V2 series so I can have the sturdier option.

 

Coriolis, could you provide an example of this? Do you really think that this is what they are planning to do?

Also, has that flyer that was to go into the magazine actually published yet, or was it never published?

 

when the a8js and the a8jp came out in asia they were similar priced.

No one bought the a8jp and it wasnt for sale in NA for about 3 months. Then when it was for sale it was much cheaper than the a8js only through newegg

So heres the thing, why are they going to do that again, make a 8600 gt that makes the 2600 hd version look like crap?

You think people buying the f8 dont care? All 100% of them look at the 3dmark scores they are buying it to play 3d games.

 

The A8Jp was sufficient for most people's 3D needs, and the fact that it had the same specs (except GPU) plus bluetooth for around $300 cheaper than the A8Js made it an excellent deal. Quite a few people bought that instead of the A8Js after it came out, but the A8Js was still the best selling Asus model.

 

Good news, Ken emailed me saying that the F8 would have the 8600GT

 

Who is Ken, and why would he know what it was? If this is true, then I will be getting an F8 for sure!

 

If it does turn at to be a GS, I'm getting the V1S for sure.

 

Ken (aka GenTechPC) is a reseller. He may be privy to the North American pre-production models, or he may have been assured by the Asus reps that the 8600GT will be included. But if he's really sure, then that eases my mind some.

 

Thank you for the response, Odin. Your information has secured my interest in the F8.

 

For the price they are offering the F8 at I would not be surprised if they put in the 8600M GS.

The 8600M GS is direct competitor with the HD2600

The 8600M GT is direct competitor with the HD2600 XT, at the same configurations, so both either DDR2 or DDR3.

What the hell are you talking about? The 8600M GS and HD2600 will be very capable of handling DX10 games. They are DX10 cards dude, and at the mid-range section meaning they are meant for average gaming and entertainment.

 

Actually, the HD2600XT is the direct competitor the 8700M-GT, and the HD2600 is the direct competitor of the 8600M-GT, though it's performance may not be as good.

 

I know exactly what I'm talking about, I got Acer 5920 with 86GT and 2GB of RAM since Monday for tests. I made some REAL GAME benchmarks, not those briliant 3dMarks. You want to know how good 8600GT performs in DX10? I can assure you that you don't. Unless you want to watch at slideshow . I agree that new cards support DX10 technology. But do they handle DX10 games? No. At least not on 86/26 level. Sorry.

 

Does anyone have any info on the F8 model that's supposed to come with the HD2600??? That's the one that really interests me...

 

Totally agree

-Jabriiiz

 

Not really, we actually aren't sure that it will even come to the US. Currently we only have info about the F8Sv with the 8600GT.

 

I assume you used benches like the Call of Juarez DX10 demo and the Lost Planet DX10? If so, those games are very well known to have very poorly optimized DX10 codepath, and performance in those tests will very likely have little relation to performance in actual fully optimized DX10 coded games, perhaps like Crysis.

 

What odin said. DX10 should in fact give you better perfromace on the same level of pretty than DX9. Operative word being SHOULD. The available DX10 tests are quite un-optimized and i think Lost Planet DX9 is un-optimized as well. I'm sure I've read that somewhere.

Too bad it might not be 8600M GT here in sweden. Although this is too heavy for 14,1", so a 15,4" wih 8600M GT or the V2S would have better for my needs, if I was buying today.

 

Thanks bud....when's the expected release date? This month? Next?

 

Ya you guys are both being ridiculous sorry. You cannot base your info on games that are still in development stage, and with cards that don't even have a good set of drivers released for them yet.

Lost Planet is the absolute worst "Real Life" gaming benchmark to use because it is absolutley terrible coding that is still in development for DX9 as well asa DX10. I have seen people with 8700M GT's struggling with Lost Planet simply because it has compatibility issues.

Personally I played Call of Juarez DX10 demo, at high settings on my 8600M GS and it ran beautifully at a resolution of 1280X800, my max screen resolution.

You have to wait until companies start releasing DX10 only games before you can make such a judgment.

Absolutley agree.

Finally some other here with common sense, and not jumping to quick assumptions and conclusions.

By the way, I really don't care what specs say, marketing wise, the HD2600 is in direct competition with the 8600MGS. The HD2600 XT is in direct competition with the 8600M GT. These cards are comparable.

ATI is already releasing their 2700, and have already released their 2900 to go against the 8800 (all desktop to be precise).

The 2700 will be an overclocked 2600 XT, and the 2900/2800 will essentially be the same just different variants of power, clocks and memory types, but built on the same architecture.

 

Oh, you played CoJ DX10 demo at high settings @ 86GS. So tell me why I got literally 4 fps (1024x768, AA off) on CoJ DX10 benchmark? Bad drivers? No, I changed to XtremeG from June. Not enough RAM? 2GB it's more than that. CPU? C2D 1,8 also should work like a charm. Besides I also checked it on Company of Heroes patched to DX10 and the situation was similar. I didn't say that those cards are bad, actually they are pretty fast but I really doubt that they will perform well in future games (by saying "well" I mean native resolution WXGA, some AA and other eye candies. 800x600 with all settings @ LOW are not acceptable for me).

Also you said that we have to wait to DX10-only games to make a judgement? So we must wait 2 years? Because I don't expect to see DX10 ONLY titles earlier. I would prefer to be wrong, but it's better to be suprised than disapointed so I don't expect much from present mid-end cards.

 

The present games are poorly coded DX10. Bioshock is coming soon and that's released as a DX10 game, while these two got some slap-dash code. What's your gpu? It doesn't say, and your asus is not dx10.

 

Actually, preliminary results indicate that the HD2600XT actually performs equal to, if not better than the 8700M-GT. It is not a competitor to the 8600M-GT, because as far as I know it's not available in a 15.4" chassis. The HD2600 is, again AFAIK, the fastest ATI DX10 mobile card available in a 15.4" chassis, so it would be the competitor to both the 8600M-GT and the 8600M-GS. It should perform nearly as well as the 8600M-GT.

 

Actually I said it couple posts earlier. I made benchmarks on Acer 5920 with C2D 1,8 + 86GT + 2GB.

 

Ah, sorry, I missed it.

 

We don't mean wait for games that are released on DX10 only, merely that you have to wait for games that are fully optimized with a DX10 codepath built from the ground up. Not the crappy beta/ported/patched, poorly optimized DX10 stuff out now. Once we see how Crysis and Unreal Engine 3 games run on DX10 cards, then we can say for sure what the DX10 power will really be, as those engines should have fully optimized DX10 codepaths specifically designed for modern DX10 cards.