Regarding of XPS 15' Battery Life and GT435 GPU

Because the battery life was the main concern for my old Studio 16... indeed, I do like those new series of XPS 15'.

However, I do have a question. Does NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 435M 2GB graphics which is hooked up with the new XPS 15' come with (OPTIMUS Technology*)??

Dells website doesn't recite whether GT 435 have an optimus technology or not, but anandtech team confirms that it has one.. I am getting confused guys!

can someone helps me out. i really do appreciate it.

Thanks
Cheers..

Edit: when i went through Dells website, and trying to configure Nvidia GT 435 with i5 560m core processor. its a fact that it pops up this weired message continuously. and here it is> Errors, The NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 435M 2GB graphics card requires a Intel® Core™ i7 Processor. Please update one of the selections.

 

I'm pretty sure it does have Optimus.

 

I think the 435M does support Optimus...

...but on the XPS 15 you can only get it with an i7 processor, which doesn't have an integrated GPU, so whether the 435 supports Optimus is irrelevant.

 

That is correct. And don't get excited by Dell's 9+ hour battery life claim. That does not apply to Quad with 435M. The battery life is probably similar to the XPS 1645.

So to answer the original question, the 435M on the XPS 15 doesn't actually come with Optimus Technology.

 

when it comes to stuff like this, i think that if the manufacturer doesn't advertise it, then it likely doesn't have it.

well i don't know about all i7's not supporting integraded GPUs, as my friend's Asus N82 has the i7-720qm with the nVidia GT 335M, and she has Optimus on her notebook. so evidently her machine does have *some* sort of integrated GPU.

i think it's just a matter of whether the manufacturer uses the motherboard that supports it?

 

thanks for your great replys guys, but there is a complicated issue.. Dell just offers i7 core processor with GT 435 but NOT i5 core. and here is the automatic message i got when i tried to configure my xps 15'. > (Errors, The NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 435M 2GB graphics card requires a Intel® Core™ i7 Processor. Please update one of the selections*) then if i choose i7 processor, i will not have that optimus.. will i

At the end, i guess everyone who likes optimus, he must get GT 420. someone corrects me if its not!!

 

Yes you must get 420 with the i5. Compatibility is one thing but they won't even customize it for you anyways, so don't waste time researching whether it's truly compatible or not. Dell's laptops are not meant for gaming anyways so they didn't think the graphics card would matter that much. Correct me if I'm wrong but there should be minimal difference between 420 and 435 anyways, they're pretty close on the GPU ranks list I believe? Either way NVIDIA GPUs are inferior to ATI anyways. XPS looks slightly better than Lenovo's IdeaPad Y560, but has an inferior graphics card (GT420M vs ATI 5730, I think Y560 is the only laptop below the $1000 mark to carry a 5730... you have to give it to Lenovo for being so generous), both have the exact same price. That's the trade-off I guess.

 

The Y560 is garbage. I had it, then returned it to get the SXPS 16. The whole thing was flimsy (you could literally twist the frame), and it had a horrible display, no backlight keyboard, no expresscard, no firewire, no displayport. A better alternative would be the ASUS N61Jq, also around the $1000 mark w/ 5730. They both only come with 1366x768 screens though.

 

The N61JQ only has i7, so I can't get that as it would be a complete battery killer. I'll mostly need it for classes. Second thing is the N61JQ (here in Canada) is $1100, $200 more expensive than the IdeaPad. Yes it does look better but at that price my choices are still confined to Y560 or XPS 15.

 

Y series build is crappy. I'll never buy one again.

XPS 15's battery life could potentially be much worse than that of a Studio XPS 1645. Why? Clearly Nvidia GPUs will be way, way more hot, compared with HD 5730 or even 565v. Not to mention these aren't the very low Nvidias (which are still very very hot) but their "better" middle class ones. Which just spells disaster.

i7-740 is also higher clocked than i7-720 by a little, but most of the problem stems from using Nvidia. Not only that, Dell continues to lie to its customers and refuses to allow i5 + GT 435M.

I suggest you go to Studio XPS 16 which will be equal in GPU with Lenovo but way better overall, especially in screen and build.

Don't buy XPS!

 

Can anyone tell me what happens when the GPU gets very hot? Using a laptop with a hot palm rest IS terrible, but is there anything else to it?

 

I wonder if the GPU memory is what makes i5 and GT 435m not compatible.You know,the GT435m comes with 2GB dedicated ram.Maybe the i5 is just not strong enough to keep up with it and will even become a bottleneck

 

The 435 itself isn't fast enough to take advantage of 2GB of RAM. The much faster desktop 460 only has 768MB or 1GB of GDDR5 vRAM. You can't tell me that 2GB of much slower regular DDR3 RAM will make any difference at all.

 

goha, there are some laptops on sale that have i5 with 1.5 and 2GB VRAM configurations. It is Dell that has continued to lie to me and others about the whole thing. Similarly, would you say "i7 is not strong enough to keep up with GT420M" just because Dell tells you they're incompatible?

 

If it reaches a certain point it may throttle. Performance may be reduced by any amount if this happens (maybe 90% +).

The following are all possible consequences of very high GPU temps:
Louder fan noise
Battery health reduced (even if on AC power, heat kills batteries)
System life shortened (mainly the GPU, but a hot GPU means the other components like the HDD will be hot since laptop heat spreads)

To be honest, heat affects the user WAY more than it affects the system. If it doesn't personally bother you, don't worry about your system. It literally couldn't care less.

 

Ooooh that's why everyones going ballistic about it!

 

The I5 and the GT435m ARE compatible. The combo is offered on the XPS 17, but with 1GB memory.

 

He meant if it was because of the 2GB VRAM. Which, clearly, is not incompatible.

Don't Buy XPS!

 

One person is going ballistic about it. Just a (possibly) obsessed individual.

 

What about the TimelineX ????
Acer Aspire 5820TG-7357 w/ Core i5-460M, 4GB, 640GB, DVD+/-RW, 15.6in HD,
Radeon HD 5650 899.99$ $857.38 You can try to price beat it

 

I really doubt the GT420/435M are going to get that 'hot' and ruin battery life, I'd wait for reviews, I know anandtech has a review unit and we should see a review from them shortly, I wouldn't go crazy over it, we have no idea how the GT420/435 in the XPS 15 performs, heatwise and performance wise, sounds like one individual hates Nvidia with a passion and thinks ATI cards are the pure win. ATI cards have been out for months, Nvidia's are just hitting the market, unless you can back up your claim they're 'very very very hot' then don't try to stir up drama.

Edit: Acer Sucks.

 

Optimus technology involves hot-switching the GPU off and using the integrated graphics on the CPU. The current generation of Core i7 chips does not have integrated graphics, so if you get an i7, you can't utilize the graphics switching.

Right now, you cannot pair the 435 with a dual-core processor with an integrated graphics solution. In early January, Intel is rolling out its next generation of chips, which will all include integrated graphics, for precisely this reason. It's possible that Dell will offer configurations that pair dual-core processors with the 435 in the XPS 15 before then.

 

Then let us hope it is very soon that they do.

 

in all honesty there's no reason they 'can't' something tells me they have far more GT420M's than GT435M's, does anyone have graphs showing the perf difference?

 

The only difference between the two gpu's is clock... GT420 is 500/1000/800, while the gt435 is 650/1120/800.

 

I don't know if that's true or not. Do you have any expertise in the architecture of these devices or are you just speculating? I can't believe Dell would waste the resources to put VRAM on a card that does absolutely nothing.

 

It's true.

Even the most powerful desktop graphics card (GTX 480) only has 1.5GB of VRAM, and even then it only really makes a difference with VERY demanding games at 2560x1600.

Putting 2GB and 3GB of RAM on these machines is a marketing move and nothing more.

 

Also, you have no idea how frakking ticked off I am that Dell's not allowing the dual-core XPS 15 models to be configured with the GT 435M. What were they thinking?! Clearly it's possible, because the base configuration for the XPS 17 is dual-core + 435M....

Also, why is everyone hating on these Nvidia chips so much? They're based off the same design as the GTX 460, which is an INCREDIBLE card that runs cool and fast.

 

Somehow I don't think XPS 15 with GT 435M is going to have more battery life than SXPS 16 did.

You should get a M1330 if you want battery life. Good god that thing can go on for bloody hours, and it's so old.

 

GF104 powers the GTX 460.... GF108 powers the GT420/425/435M's

 

GF108 is just a cut-down 104, whereas the 104 is somewhat redesigned compared to the 100 (aka GTX 480/470)

 

I'm not an expert and I was wondering if I could get an answer from you guys. I just placed an order for XPS 15 with i7-740QM and GT 435M. Reading from the posts, I assume that this laptop won't have the Optimus technology. Is this configuration necessarily bad? I guess I want to know whether not having the Optimus technology a big deal. I'm not a gamer and I just use the computer for running some stats softwares and everyday use.

 

You are correct, because you have a quad-core i7, there is no Optimus. It's not necessarily bad, it just won't last as long when running on battery. If you're not a gamer, then why did you spring for the i7/435 combo?

 

Thanks for the response. As I said, I don't know a whole lot about computers. I just wanted it to be super fast so I ordered the best configuration I could afford. Would i5 have been a better option?

 

If it's just general use, then i5 provides better battery life, and it's more valuable than a little speed-- think working on something in the library, or lounging on the couch checking email. If you're a power user and need it to be fast as possible, only move the computer to place it on another desk (ie. home -> work), then the quad and more robust GPU is the better option.

 

Nicely put gloomy. But surprisingly I get over two hours surfing with the i7 and 6 cell battery so have actually been sat using it on my lap on the sofa. I would have like the 4hours of the i5 and optimus but there are still issues with optimus that havent been resolved for months!