Dual Graphics

Hi there! Well I been meaning to ask this question for a year or so. I ALWAYS dreamed of a laptop with dual graphics, one which uses built-in to save battery and one dedicated for gaming. So when I found out about Sony SZ...I was very excited.

However with all the bloat ware that sony installs and being so expensive, I wanted to see if there are other options. After searching, searching, and more re-searching I found NOTING!

Does sony own the rights or something to this dual graphics?? I mean this such a great feature, why don't other laptop makers do this?????? If so do you know of any, or if anyone else is planning to do the same???

Many thanks,
cheers.

 

If it helps, I didn't find the bloatware on Sony any more annoying than the bloatware installed on other consumer oriented notebooks. And it is ridiculously easy to uninstall the stuff you don't need. It took me no more than 2 hours to get my machine just the way I want it without junk on it. In the scheme of things, if dual graphics is something you want, it is definitely worth the little bit of time and money.

 

The Sony SZ is a fairly nice computer, and the dual graphics framework is a creative setup.

Still, I've been holding out for the more extreme version of this I read about several months ago that AMD/ATI was considering. They planned on creating some sort of PCI Express slot in the back of a laptop or on the side which would accept an external video card module. The idea was that your laptop would use integrated graphics until you attached the external video card, which could theoretically be as powerful as needed (think "HD 2900 Mobility or Geforce 8800m" attached to a 14 of 15 inch laptop with integrated graphics). This would provide travelers with the option to have an extremely powerful gaming computer that wasn't the size of a desktop replacement.

I yearn for this development, and I hope AMD is still creating it. I would absolutely love to have a light 15.4 inch that was capable of attaching a high-end mobile graphics chip when I was more settled and near an outlet.

 

Nope, there is no other dual GPU system. As for the reason, I don't know, I doubt Sony owns the rights to make it only.

 

There was another dual graphics system, built by Uniwill, buts it had a Go 6600 and the integrated GMA 900. It also had a older Pentium M processor, something that wouldn't cut it for most users nowadays. I can't think of any dual graphics machines.

 

Also note that the dual graphics requires a complete reboot to switch between cards. You can't just switch on-the-fly. It's a neat idea, but it's clumsy in actual implementation.

 

Alienware's Auora laptop had dual X1950's. But this was about a year ago, they might not make it anymore. and here is a link to 2 or 3 computers that have dual graphics: http://alienware.com/product_pages/notebook_all_default.aspx but they will sure as hell run your wallet on empty.

 

He's talking about the power savings of an integrated card and still have a performance card for games, not an SLI type system

 

I never realized it was so difficult and unreasonable to restart your computer. Hm.

 

Do you restart your computer to connect to a new network? To start a different program? To plug in an external hard drive?

Like I said, it's a neat idea, but the way the tech works currently is unwieldy as compared to other types of "switching" that you can do on-the-fly. I'm sure you have an SZ and are quite happy with your purchase, and I'm glad for you. But that doesn't mean it couldn't (and shouldn't) be better.

 

I've read that the new puma platform from amd will support dual graphics, without restarting, if they are both from ati-amd, since they will share the same drivers there would be no need to restart