Studio Xps 1647 Switchable Graphics Support?????

Does anybody know if dell has had the guts to enable the switchable graphics support on the new sxps 1647? Because after all, that was the whole point behind Intel whacking an igp on the cpu package- so that you could change seamslessly between intergrated and discrete graphics, wasnt it?? It looks like Dell will be upgrading to the mobility HD 5730 (which is lame, by the way, since there will amost certainly now be no gddr5 memory but thats for another thread). But my question is whether they have enabled the switchable graphics or are making us pay for an IGP we will never be able to use. I'll bet the lazy engineers at Dell wont bother with it and argue that you dont need intergrated graphics if you have discrete graphics and so on!

If switchable graphics is not enabled, then i'm not going anyway near the new studio XPS's. BY THE WAY, PROMISING A BIOS UPDATE WHICH WILL ENABLE IT WONT DO EITHER. ITS GOTTA BE WORKING BEFORE THEY START SHIPPING!!!!

 

I haven't heard anything about switchable graphics as of yet...But I still like the 10TPW savings in power. If they disable the on-chip graphics, we might get a bit more power savings. I'd probably use the radeon anyway most of the time.

L.

 

That's also what I am looking for. Only when the Studio XPS offers the possibility to switch between integrated and dedicated graphics card it will be an option for me.

Otherwise I will need to go for a Macbook Pro, the Sony Z11 series or whoever comes out with this option at an interesting price first.

I also do not understand why only that few suppliers are planning to make use of the switchable graphics. Intel had a good idea to improve mobile computing (and increase their turnover), but now hardly any suppliers is offering this option. That's sad (( Hopefully this will change soon.

 

Note that you aren't necessarily saving 10W in power drawn from the wall. Intel uses their "2nd Gen Hi-K" tech to make the Arrandales, which supposedly allows less current leakage, making the processors bleed less power into waste heat. So you could be using the same amount of power (even more, theoretically) with a better on-die efficiency and thus a lower TDP.

 

For some reason they've announced it for their M17x (which I'd hardly expect them to become renown for battery life) yet not the SXPS 16.

 

My understanding, and I may be wrong on this one, is that for switchable graphis support, you need the any intel series five mobile chipset with the exception of the pm55-as this is the only one that does not support switchable graphics AND an arrandale cpu core i5 or dual core core i7.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/mobile-core-i5-arrandale,2522-4.html

 

Correct, for one exception. PM55 supports Arrandale, but not switchable graphics.

I posted here about it earlier on today.

 

Why is Dell shipping the pm55 with the dual core (arrandale) core i7's? You would think they would know better. Perhaps the intention is NOT to enable switchable graphics on arrandale ever. Guess i'll just have to settle for the top core i5. In fairness, the performnace difference isn't much between the 2.67 arrandale and the 2.53 arrandale. Indeed if this test is to be believed, arrandale i7 is to be avoided for its excessive power consumption alone.

If it means i can get switchable graphics on a sxps 16 in the near future, then arrandale i7 is definitely worth passing by.

 

That's a very good question. I suspect the possible reasoning is to keep it simple (i.e. like with like). From their website:



In my opinion, there shouldn't be a i7-620M. It should be a i5-560M. It's far closer in design/specification to the i5's than it is the other i7's. But as mentioned in that thread, Intel's naming confusion at it's finest! Maybe it's even confused Dell!

I'm just pretty much waiting for a SXPS 16 i5 owner to confirm it does have switchable graphics support, because there's no reason it shouldn't. Unfortunately, the i7-620M has been (but shouldn't have) limited by the PM55.

 

I think dell haven't redesigned motherboard yet. In order to use igp, it need to be physically connected to monitor.

 

Well, that's pretty disappointing if they haven't. They went to the trouble of pairing the 32nm i5's with the HM55, and they didn't bother to connect up the IGP? Why don't you order one and find out?

I know some reviewers have said that switchable graphics isn't the main advantage of Arrandale, but on the SXPS 16, I think it is. Sure just think of the power saved by turning off that big HD 4670!

 

Thanks for all the confusion you have caused Intel.

Now just waiting for that bios update for Core i5 parts from Dell (and maybe one of the new DX11 Ati parts too, so that im right up to speed). I read a poster in one of other forums saying that he had spoken to the Dell reps who said that swithchable graphics was on the way for Core i5 SXPS's only, but gave no specifics other than that. Hopefully we will see it sooner rather than later along with an ATI mobility 5000 part.

Switchable graphics is the future of multimedia computing!

 

In my oppinion Intel did a great job in bringing a processor with integrated graphics core. This gives the possibility to save power and perform based on the same hardware. OK some of the naming is a little bit confusing, but a brand like Dell should be able to handle this.

The main problem are incompetent product managers working for Laptop manufacturers. If those guys don't realise the potential of the technology and get confused that easily the should be watching out for a new job.

Sorry to be that hard, but sometimes the truth has to be spoken.

Hopefully Dell and all the other brands start to market laptops with switchable graphics soon. Whichever brand places such a laptop with a good price-performance ratio first and promotes it propperly will be VERY successful.

 

Can't speak for the marketing part but the closest thing that comes to mind is Asus's N61JA-A1 which has switchable graphics, a Radeon 5730, and Blu-Ray for under $1,100...though an annoyingly low screen resolution. OEM's really should support Intel's IGP whenever possible.