What is the ATI equivalent of an 8800 and when will either be in a 15.4in notebook?

I've heard summer but im moving in a few months and need to know if theres anything more specific. will it be a month or so? like 3 months minimum? will there be a big premium at first for these laptops?

 

It's the HD 3850, HD3870, and the X2 versions. No idea when it will come (or if it'll come) to a 15,4".

 

just approximating, but the hd3870 is not as fast as an 8800gt, and the 3870x2 is faster than the 8800gt.

 

^you can never know...

 

cool, now how about when the 8800 or the ati card will be in mainstream 15.4in laptops?

 

Mainstream? Probably never.. Now, you can get the insanely expensive Alienware and similar models, but keep in mind they are hot and bulky. Additionally, because of the other, lower level cards already out there (8600GT, 8700GT), i really doubt there would be a "lower" 8800..

 

never mainstream??? i thought i remembered someone saying sager would have one this summer, is that not true?

i really want to be able to play gta4 and other current games well and i really dont think an 8600 will cut it

 

Well, there is never a shortage of me being wrong, so it could certainly happen.

Frankly though, i would say your best bet is to look at a 17". They aren't that much bigger, but you certainly have moree options at more price ranges. If you are on a budget, the Gateway 6860 FX is a great machine with an 8800, and is cheap enough too ($<1350)...

 

i really was considering the gateway but i really really need battery life, 4 hours doesnt seem long enough as it is, let alone the one hour to 90 minutes of the gateway. thats why i must have a 15.4in instead of a 17.

 

if your gaming why are you worrying about battery life? get a desktop then....any gaming laptop is not going to have good battery life period

 

because im moving out of country and i dont think theyll let me take a desktop on a plane. and when im gone im going to be moving around every single day. im worried about battery life because i dont want my battery to die on me every single day, which is why i need a 15.4in laptop, and i need a decent graphics card because i dont want to be left in the dust when games like GTA4 come out.

make sense?


if what i heard about the 8800 series going into 15.4in laptops very soon was false then i guess i'll have to settle for something like an 8700 or 8600 but i can afford to wait a few months if i must.

 

Slapping an 8800 in a 15" laptop still won't save you much battery. Now, for not gaming, I can (and have) do 3+ hours of web-browsing with Wi-Fi. Sure, I won't get that for gaming, but neither will a 15"..

 

well yeah, i wouldnt be gaming on it without it being plugged in. but i will need to be very mobile for email and video chatting.

still no one that can confirm or deny such a laptop being in the works?

 

there is a new clevo coming. It will not be mainstream though (few clevos are) and it will not likely have good batterylife. Wait a few generations and the midrange gpu performance will be the same or higher than the 8800m GTX.

 

yeah get an extra battery or two then, you could prolly game for 3 hours with three batterys

might I suggest this http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/prodde...gon=&langid=EN

15.4 inch with an ATI 2600XT, equal to an 8700m GT, not near as powerful as 8800 seires, but this would be the perfect compromise for battery life and power

 

ok that bit of info helped, its called the 860TU. it does look really high end... but none of the articles i was looking at mention any kind of pricepoint or battery expectation.

that link didnt work, or im doing something wrong. I didnt consider getting a second battery but i guess that does make sense if it can fit my budget ($1500)


so i guess the new questions would be:

what do you guys expect the pricepoint of the Clevo860TU to be?



if all the articles announcing it are from the beggining march, how long after based on past notebook releases is a notebook released after its been anounced?

EDIT: and to answer my own question i found stuff that says it will be late June at the earliest. but thats not too long to wait.

thanks so much guys youve been really helpful so far

 

i would assume it to be a little less than the m15x, you will not be getting an 8800 for $1500, the only way would be the gateway laptops but they are 17 inch

here is the correct link my apologies

http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/prodd...=25253&PCName=laptop_gateway&logon=&langid=EN

 

I don't think anyone mentioned the m15x other than the side reference...

Here's the link:
http://www.alienware.com/product_de...Code=PC-LT-AREA51M15X-AI1&SubCode=SKU-DEFAULT

It's probably more expensive than the M860TU will be but it is available now

 

The alienware seems to have a good battery(or so this site said on its review) more because of the integrated intel than because the size of screen. Maybe if you put an extra battery on smart bay it may have lots of autonomy. If another manufacturer does this kind of thing...
Althoug very few notebooks will last much longer than four hours.

 

Gaming laptops are the antithesis of good battery life in notebooks, you can't get it both ways. Like narsnail said if you're moving and can't seem to pack a laptop on a plane for some reason then buying 2-3 batteries for emergency use is the only way to go for hardcore gaming laptops without mains power.

 

Alienware has a smartbay battery ; that's what keeps the battery life really long

 

I somewhat take issue with this. The 8800GT / GTX desktop versions are faster than the 3870, but keep in mind the notebook versions are nerfed. The 3870 is running on a smaller process so it's possible (And likely, given how badly ATI needs to get back a share of the mobile gaming market) that the 3870 and 3870 X2 will make it to the mobile sector with the same specs as their desktop equivalents. If this is the case, it will not only be faster than an 8800m GTX, it will be pushing for title of top 3 fastest cards period.

 

Hooooooly ****. The forum wasn't registering my post and apparently now it posted 3 times.

 

You can go to the "delete post" option in the edit box.

 

Already taken care of...In the future, please use that option. Also make sure you only click reply once(the forum sometimes has "hiccups").

 

Dang, Kdawgca pulled an MiB on us. NBR admin/mods always seem so kick-ass like that.

I'd expect an ATI highend mobile card really soon considering their 4000 series will be coming out within the next month. We never really saw a 2000 series high end mobile card, so money is on a 3870m really soon, or about three months and a 4870m model if they don't release the 3870m.

 

Chaz said he got three hours on the primary with all power saving features turned on (stealth mode + integrated graphics) which is pretty respectable even without the smartbay battery.

 

lol no matter what notebook you buy 15-17" even if you use it simply for internet or video chat and word etc... you will still have to charge it every day unless you use it for maybe a few minutes at a time. NO WAY you will be able to go more than a day on a single charge even if just surfing. unless as i said you are on for maybe 20-30 min at a time. even my toshiba's and compaq's at my office which have built in intel gpu's dont get more than maybe 3 hours or so while surfing.

as far as gaming is concerned forget about it in the same sentence as battery life. not gonna happen. i get maybe 30-45 min at best when my 5791 is used for any heavy gaming. solitare is different but any current major title will eat your battery up FAST...

imo i would prob stick to no more than a 8600 or 8700 and even then before i put in the 8800 in my sager the 8700 i had only gave me maybe an extra 10-20 min or so of battery life nothing more..

def not wanting to reign on anyone's parade but imo not a single one of the systems mentioned will give you much battery life at all. even my 5791 sitting IDLE... will die in prob 4 hours or so unless i put it to sleep or hibernate or shut it down..

 

I highly doubt a notebook GPU will be as powerful as the desktop version due to power constraints, unless you want your battery life to be 30 minutes and high heat generation. Notebook GPU's are slower mainly for two reasons: power and heat.

 

I agree with you 100%


BUT


ATI's cards are on 55nm proccess, which could allow for more powerful cards that consume less power and produce less heat. We will see though.

 

Don't read too much into the fab process though. To use NVIDIA as an example, the desktop 8800 GTX is on a 90nm process while the 8800M GTX is on 65nm, but that doesn't stop the desktop card from absolutely destroying the mobile part.

 

the fabrication proccess has nothing to do with how powerful it is....it can just alow for the same performance at lower power and heat, or a more powerful card at the same consumption and heat

 

Despite all the speculation on fab process (poor process and fab like the 80nmHS and such never enters the equation) it seems clear from the ASUS tri-headed thingy that the mobile HD38xx will have the same composition as the desktop part, but the major question will be clock speeds.

Don't know why anyone thinks 30minut battery life matters, how much power do you think those SLi 'laptops' with mobilized desktop CPUs chew through. f anything the HD38xx series would do better on battery life for a notebook, because as we saw with the desktop part the 2D and idle numbers on it were great. So add that to already stellar powersaving mobile features, and it'll be at least just as good as the other products out there on power consumption.

As for performance, still depends on frequencies, because really it's essential a GF8800GT vs HD38xx battle, which is far from a guaranteed win for ATi there, so I would suspect to see alot of variability in the mobile segment too.