best video cards for 12.1 lappies

I was wondering, what is the actual best vid card for 12.1 laptops? Is it the 8400 GS ? Do you think there are going to be much better cards in the futur?
Im asking that because I just baught a little toshiba R100 for university(my g1s was way too big and heavy to take with me) and I know now that I will never buy anything else than a 12.1 laptop in the futur but I will still want something with powerfull dedicated graph.

(please don t talk about the dell 1330 because imo it s far to be a real ultraportable).

 

You're having problems carrying even a 15.4" laptop? Sounds like time for some exercise.
I carry a 17" laptop with me to class almost every time. It takes a little getting used to but not much. (Yes, I do have to walk far across campus to most of the classes. And for engineering class, I not only have to carry the laptop but a textbook and a tool box at the same time, up 4 flights of stairs! Then again, they say those Aggies are tough...)

 

It's embarassing to carry such a huge laptop that it won't even fit on the desk and a standard backpack. It's just as much the footprint as the weight. Why carry a 17" notebook around? Because it's somewhat more powerful? Nobody needs it for taking notes and doing the work at school? 17"ers are more powerful, but it's going be obsolete junk in 2 years anyways since tech grows by leaps and bounds. My desktop is far more powerful than your 17"er, easily upgradeable, and my notebook is very portable... which is the point of a notebook, and actually does the work of a notebook. Desktop for the job of a desktop, notebook for the job of a notebook. The best of both worlds for an equivalent price of a 17"er. Huge notebooks are a poor compromise that does neither job well.

 

I also prefer smaller laptops, as long as it doesn't lose screen resolution. I've been eyeballing the SXGA tablets for a while, and hope they eventually upgrade the resolution further on the 12.1" tablets.....I'm okay with using a magnifying glass! Another benefit of smaller laptops is longer battery life. That's the most important thing to me.

 

As far as I know there are no 12.1 laptops that are using the 8400GS graphics card it is only 13.3 laptops that are using them. I don’t know where you live OP but the Samsung Q45 and the LG R200 have as far as I know have the best graphics card in a 12.1 notebook. Some Q45’S models come with a 8400G graphics card and there is also a dedicated card option for the LG R200 notebook. Those notebooks though are just as heavy as some 13.3 notebooks.

Yes better graphics cards will come up as that is technology for you.

I can walk around and transport a 13.3 XPS M1330 no problem. Lots of college students manage a MacBook in college without any problem.

I can understand the importance of an <12.1 ultra portable though for travellers who maybe frequent flyers and for people in need of the best battery life. If you are looking for more power though then this will sacrifice your battery life.


Take a look at this picture if it is indeed real most of the students there use 15.4 notebooks for university.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=2547285&postcount=1

 

Even my 1700 is less than 1/10 the volume and less than 1/3 the weight of my desktop. I think that qualifies as portable. It also has about the same horizontal size as my desktop monitors so all the documents come out at about the same size.

Embarrassing? I think it is a way to show that I'm pretty, tough, and an expert Gentoo user at the same time.

 

The ASUS F9s and F9dc are both 12.1" notebooks with the 8400G card.


And 15" is large for students, I don't know how people say they can handle it. Some may be stronger(muscular?) then others, but weight adds up very fast. Especially if one is using a messenger bag and commutes to school(usually standing in bus/subway and walks 20~30 minutes cause of the traffic and rush hours), a 6lb laptop with a 1lb A/C adapter, with 2 textbooks, with 2 binders, with a few accessories, and boom, that's a good 16+ lbs of stuff one is carrying up the stairs, around campus, on one shoulder.

 

Everyone has their own idea of how heavy or big is too much. There's not much sense in arguing over any of this. I'm pretty sure everyone is capable of lugging 20 lbs around every day - has nothing to do with strength or image, it's just some people are willing to sacrifice performance to not have to carry around so much.

 

get an sz then. lighter than the xps

 

Yes the F9S is the one I was looking...do you think they will make others but with better cards in near futur ?

No thank you I m fine. But you see, My R100 is 3 time thinner than my G1S and weight 1 kg and the best thing is that it does everything I need, including microsoft Word and wireless internet, and the keyboard is the best i ve ever seen, way better than my g1s ( we re talking about a 2003 notebook here, well it costed 2800 us at that time tho). So explain to me why the hell should I take a monster with me that use all my deskspace and that looks ridiculous?

Anyway, the question i was asking is if they are going to have better vid cards for 12.1 lap in the futur.

 

my 12.1 inch laptop is only 1.8kg, which is hardly alot.and i put it in a normal bag.no probs. Enough battery life so i dont need an ac adapter either.

it was an ati 200m though which although runs games nicely is not the 8400 you were asking for

 

Use a backpack and it feels a lot lighter. And maybe I'm just a lot stronger than most average college students...

Of course, back in high school, I had to carry a handheld PC, 2 binders, and 4 textbooks every day. It probably totaled to 20 to 30 pounds. (There was 5 minutes between classes that meet every day so definitely no time to go home to get books.)
In college, there is 20 minutes between classes at the least and most classes do not meet every day. Most classes also usually do not require textbooks in class so I just have to bring the laptop and at most a textbook or two for the few classes that do require textbooks. I only need to bring a small folder for paperwork as I digitally archive most of the paperwork. Overall, I carry about 15 to 20 pounds at the most, more like 10 pounds most of the time.

While 17" is not for everyone, I think anyone who complains about the weight of a 14" or less is of the lazy type who doesn't bring textbooks to class in high school despite instructions.

 

I think a 17'' is a bit heavy to carry. But I only need a one computer and no external monitor, when I was looking for a notebook, I was searching for som 15.4'' 14.1'', but I found this 17'' and I like the big screen and the dual hard drives

 

i had a 14" notebook, heavy and thick as hell. the 13" was much welcomed although not as powerful, its more compact and easier to carry around.

 

The question isn t if we are strong enough to carry a big laptop, everyone can of course, but why should I carry something heavy if i can t take something that weight 1kg...simple common sense. I mean, if mobile phones are ten time smaller than 10 years back is it because ppl weren t strong enough to carry them? no it s because it s much more ergonomic, and this is called technology.

 

It's not just the weight, it's also the bulk. I'm also a college student, and a personal trainer. But I generally carry less than 2 lbs to class, because that's all I need. I could carry more. But why? Yeah, it's smaller than a desktop, but it's also large enough that it won't fit in a standard backpack. You'd need a specially large one just to carry it to class. And in class, it's larger than most desks in lecture rooms will accomodate. In 5 classes, with over 1000 students in total, I have never seen anyone carrying a 17"+ notebook. It'd be an entertaining spectacle though. In the course of 3 years, I've only once seen some video game nerd with a 17" XPS (complete with bright glowing neon XPS imprinting on both sides of the notebook!) when I was at the school library, but it has an underground parking lot so he probably didn't have to carry it more than 50 feet.

It's just has no advantage at all . It's large size, poor battery life, and need for special equipment to carry, make it completely inferior to a small portable when you're in class. It's laptop-level performance and limited upgradeability make it completely inferior to a desktop when you're at home. It's just a terrible compromise solution, that usually doesn't even save you money, costing as much as both combined! I do see a use for the 17"ers, but they have a very limited scope of usefulness. For someone like a business owner who needs a computer to store and process large amounts of data, but semi-frequently needs to move it, from room to room or by vehicle to another location. But for 99% of other people, going with a real notebook or a full out desktop or one of each just suits their needs better. Why give the OP a hard time about being weak because he doesn't want a big notebook to go to class with?

 

I totally agree with you...

 

I don't know, star . . . that seems like quite a jump to an unjustified conclusion to me. Some people (me, for instance) simply don't like 17 inch, or large heavy machines, and have no need for the power most of them provide.

 

For everything else the same, the 1700 only costs a tiny bit more than the 1500. (Something very trivial like $10 or so.)

I often like to have several documents open at the same time, each one occupying a section of the screen, so I really like the 17" screen. Not to mention the full keyboard that is very useful for entering numbers and essential for D2X-XL gaming.

At Texas A&M, 17" laptops are surprisingly common. Not as common as the 14" and 15" ones, mind you, but there's still a lot of them. In contrast, 13" and below is quite uncommon. (Few would pay the premium for a smaller screen just to take off a pound or two.)

Does a pound or two or a trivially smaller amount of volume really matter? A 14" laptop is only a little larger than an average textbook.

I suppose that if there was a way to make a 20" laptop that is as light as and takes up as little volume as a 15" laptop (mini laser projectors (projecting onto rollup paper screens) or multifold OLED screens come to mind), it would be very popular.

And last but not least: I like the idea of getting a workout while walking to and from class.

 

star882 I'm on your side, but screen realestate is not really dictated by screen size but resolution. I like to carry my 15.4" in my backpack and throw a 1 Kilo weight in my pack to keep my huevos in shape.

 

Everyone's laptop is lightweight compared to mine. I own the heaviest laptop to date. My ENVY U709 tips in at just under 18lbs.

I lug my U709 everywhere, not only because I love my voodoo, but it is unparalled in performance.

Although I love my 17.7 lb server replacement laptop, I am thinking about purchasing a Samsung Q1 Ultra, so that I can type my homeworks in class without the professor knowing. It is nice, no screen to flip up, very portable and easy to hide.

I think the Samsung, 1.5lb ultra portable will balance out my 17.7 lb ENVY U709.

K-TRON

 

I was going to say something about this but I decided that i wont

 

There are reasons why you should pick up a 17 DTR:
If you are training or bodybuilding than carrying a 17" laptop 24/7 is piece of cake.
If you are overweight, the 2 extra kilos will help you lose more calories.
If you are a man than you have nothing to be ashamed especially heawier equipment.
Watching to bigger screen.
Ussually higher performance.

Hmm in our school you will find rarely a 14"inch or smaller but every 4rd person is running around with 17" and to me it does not seem strange, it would be very weird though if someone was moving around with a HDX everytime. I myself cant understand why people want anything smaller than 14" inch its just so small and not good to work with for a long time, same can't be however said about 17"

So if you still think that 17" is bad after reading this than you can only be:

a girl
business traveler
weak/handicapped
someone who goes too much up in design
lazy b******

If you are neither of the above and still refuse a 17" than you are a kitty.

No i dont have a 17" reason they cost alot more than 15"

 

You think you do but you do not

if you get yourself your hands on HDX or 2110XPS than we will see

I hardly believe that apart from people with well physique anyone else can carry those around in a backpack...

 

17' + is too big

< 13 inch = too small

15.4, 14.1, 13.3 = best

anything larger than that, a desktop can do both better and cheaper

anything smaller than that is impractical for working for long periods of time without external keyboard (say hello to carpal tunnel) and the screen/words are way too small (say hello to myopia).

 

then you are also a kitty =D

 

well not exactly i only, i only miss the cash

 

Yeah... but in which class do you need to have several documents open at the same time? You only use one at a time to take notes on. For the things in which you do, and games, or other hardware intensive stuff, you can do them better at home on the more powerful, cheaper desktop with 24" or however big you want screen.
The volume is not trivial. 17" doesn't fit in a standard notebook, and very few people want to carry around a special backpack for their stuff. It's also bigger than most desks will accomodate.

And what advantage does having a 17"er have over a compact in class? None at all. It's just extra bulk, lower battery life, weight, and expense. The trivial power difference between a portable and a 17"er is what's really trivial.

Both will be pretty equally outdated in 2 years anyways. The 17"er won't have enough of a hardware advantage over the smaller notebook to matter, but the smaller notebook will still be more portable.

Lastly, it's a terrible workout. Just go to a real gym... most universities let you use the school gym for free or a small cost. Your body will adapt quickly and make it a terrible ineffective workout that does nothing for you. The 5-10 minute walks barely get your body out of the anaerobic stages and into the aerobic. If you're doing aerobics, you need to keep it at 55-75% of your VO2 max for about half an hour or more if you want to burn fat, 75-85 to improve cardio conditioning... It's enough with the weight stuff with you and the teenage boy... I hate talking credentials cause it's cheesy and lame...but as I said, I'm a certified personal trainer and was a competitive powerlifter before going to school.... I can PM certification numbers to check at the national academy of sports medicine. I could carry more, but why? I generally carry less than 2 lbs to class. Why carry more if you don't have to and there's no benefit?

I think people who carry 17"ers to class are like those who carry satellite phones in New York. Yeah, if you need it, the power is there to get you a signal anywhere on earth.... but you live in New York... you're not going to have any problem with a normal cell phone that you can put in your pocket anyways. And it's still not that heavy and it's carriable, but why choose the extra weight and expense anyways when a compact phone will do? And you've also got a more powerful, cheaper alternative at home?

 

In engineering class, I have one document open to view the lab instructions and another to record the results. In my case, the 17" costs only about $10 or so more than a 15" with everything else the same, so why not? The extra pound is insignificant. Of course, I was used to carrying a 20-30 pound load in high school so 12 pounds or so is no problem.

I get the idea of depreciation, but it's mostly the CPU, video card, etc. that depreciate, not the screen. If the larger laptop only costs a little more, it's worth it. And if it is fast enough to run a certain game or application, it will continue to be able to as long as it works.

And actually, my favorite workout is pumping a 5 gallon air tank up to 80 PSI with just a bicycle pump. (Just try that! The bicycle pump loses efficiency at higher pressures so you get even more of a workout as the pressure goes up.) Then I use the compressed air to clean my computer. Why waste energy in workouts when you can use it? I plan to build a lightweight generator that is powered by bicycle pedals.

Besides, if you really are that fit, wouldn't a 10 pound load or so feel like almost nothing? Laptops smaller than 14" cost more so why pay extra when the weight saved doesn't really matter?

 

The fact is that I would be way too embarassed to bring a 17inch lap at university. I'm really not surprise that it s very popular in texas but in my university (55 000 students) nobody use them. In fact they all have a 12.1 mac or 12.1 Dell business classe. There are some 15.4 tho, because we can buy one for 350$ in the uni. And btw my bag weight more than 10 kg without my 1 kg lap because i must bring at least 3 law books everytime and they are enormous, I have absolutly not prob with it, but lol, i m not stupid enought to feel like a ''real man'' because of it.

 

Well, it's the bulk of it more than anything to me. A 17"er doesn't fit in my backpack. I don't want to buy a special backpack or a notebook case to carry it around. I can lift tons of weight in the gym. When I was powerlifting, I'll move 7,000 lbs over the course of an hour long workout. But it's different when you're carrying it around all day, it wears on you gradually. You can barely feel 10 lbs for the first 30 minutes. Then as the day goes on, you feel the backpack straps digging into your shoulders...

Does your school not let you work out at the gym for free? To get a decent aerobic workout, you need repetitive, low intensity movement of one of your major muscle groups. Quads are the best, lats next. I guarantee it'll be much better than a bicycle pump.

Yeah, the larger notebook will run more intensive stuff for now. But in a year, the compact notebook will be more powerful than a current 17"er so what's the point? The smaller notebook will do everything that needed in class, and the desktop will easily take care of everything else. The desktop will have much better performance and power and upgradibility than the desktop replacement size notebook, and the portable or ultraportable be much easier to move around. Get both and have the best of both worlds for the same cost. You can have a more powerful pc than any 17"er and a more portable notebook than any 17"er, for about the same cost. The desktop will have a better screen and the notebook will do the job of a notebook, being carriable.

I don't want a special backpack or notebook case to carry around a desktop replacement notebook. I don't want to carry any weight I don't have to. War in the gym, peace on earth. I haven't carried more than 5 lbs to class since freshman year of high school.

 

It's kind of like mathematics textbooks - rather than the ginormous calculus book I carried around last year, one half the size for each semester would've been more convenient. I don't think anyone would've preferred to carry the huge one over a small one and change the book at the semester.

But laptops give the advantage of having better performance and a bigger screen with the heavier weight. And while you can watch movies on a 12.1 inch, who wouldn't prefer a 17-inch screen for watching movies? It's all striking one's own balance between portability and real estate/power.

Personally I wouldn't consider smaller than 15.4 inch just because I love larger screens. A 17-inch model would've been nice, but my 15.4 inch one already is somewhat large for carrying cases (requiring a 17-inch case due to an extended battery) and I don't really want to replace my Backpack of the Gods (OK, maybe not that good, but I like it a lot). I don't mind the weight, but I understand why you wouldn't want to carry more than necessary.

The balance at my university seems to be mostly 13.3 and 15.4 inchers, with the MacBook helping 13.3 inch significantly. There's a few 12.1 inchers, and not very many 17-inchers at all. But Compsci and Engineering are not very common majors here.

 

The high school you went to was obviously very different from the one I went to. I guess they kept textbooks in the classrooms so you didn't have to bring yours? The high school I went to required the books to be brought every day as they did not have enough in the classrooms. It was not a good experience the first few weeks, but afterwards, it felt "normal". That's 20 to 30 pounds of weight.

I think that's why we think different. I'm used to carrying over 20 pounds so 12 pounds is a light load compared to that. Since you are used to carrying only 5 pounds or less, 12 pounds would feel like an unusually heavy load.

Finally, losing the number keys and the extra screen area was the deal breaker for me. Several of the classes I take (chemistry, physics, and engineering, but ironically *not* math!) involve lots of number entry. And like most desktop users, I'm just used to working with a lot of screen area. Besides, I like some weight to balance out the weight of my "natural features".

 

.. Some classes had textbooks on hand, but also we had lockers. We didn't carry all the books around all day, we just left them in there and got them one at a time if we needed to. So 5 lbs max. While it was reccomended to have the books in class to highlight stuff, the classes didn't require them and we rarely took them to class.

I'm also taking physics and chem right now. I see how a numbers key is useful, but I just take the numbers stuff by hand... Don't you still find it time consuming to write down formulas when you have to use lots of exponents and parenthesis? It's so much faster to write formulas down by hand. I actually just take a lot of notes by hand now. It's also easier when you need to draw examples.

When it comes to watching movies and stuff... I have a 48" TV and an audio setup at home, which blows away any notebook screen and speakers, of course. And if I'm just killing time at an airport or something rather than really trying to get a quality experience watching a movie, slight differences in viewing quality doesn't really matter to me. It's still going to suck watching movies on any notebook, so I don't really care if the screen is 3" bigger if that sacrifices portability.

yeah.. that's uh honestly...a bit of a lil weird thing to say. but I know(think?) you're kidding... But if it's that bad.. you know they have surgeries for that kinda thing? =p jk

 

I use OpenOffice, so I just learn to type OpenOffice formula code. (e.g. c^2 = a^2 + b^2 , tan %THETA = {sin %THETA} over {cos %THETA} ) Then when there's a brief break in taking the notes, I just highlight the code, click the button to convert it to a formula object, and there it appears!

When I do have to actually write or draw something on paper, I just type an identifier tag like <extref1.png> into the document, title the paper `extref1.png', and later replace the <extref1.png> tag with a scanned image of the paper or a computer drawn version of the content. It's just so much easier to stay organized digitally.

Yeah, engineers can consider those "natural features" as unnecessary weight. However, they are a "big deal" for electrical engineers since very few electrical engineers are lucky enough to have them. And since it would cost a lot to remove a feature that is still somewhat good even in electrical engineering, why bother? No, they're not causing any problems, unless you count some jealous classmates looking at them.

 

I think that's enough about "natural features"! Having said that they are a bonus in IT as well. Still, enough of that.

Personally I'd find a 17"er too much. Respect to you star882 for having the sturdiness to carry all that around all day long! I'd want something super portable for class, 14" thin and light or smaller, ideally 12" without an optical drive if I could get away with it!

 

With how far off topic this has gotten, why don't you just suggest he take online courses instead?! While this is an older thread....

He doesn't want a 17". Drop it. If you're still looking dude, the ASUS U6SG-A1 came out about a month ago. Got a 9300M 256mb in it, which from what I can tell and read is a slightly better 8400M. Thats about it for the 12" variety. LG P300 13" with a 8600GS is still awaiting US release. Hope this helps if you still haven't made a purchase....