News Bits: Notebook Battery Supply Problems, New Sony VAIO Announced Overseas

Nvidia GPU problems not so bad after all?

In an op-ed piece over at Fudzilla, editor Fuad Abazovic took a closer look at the Nvidia mobile graphics card issue, and suggests that the problems are not as bad as they have been made out to be. Dell and HP, both major notebook companies, have yet to issue a recall for notebooks with Nvidia graphics cards. Abazovic argues that since Dell and HP are major users of Nvidia graphics cards and both are not seeing the need to offer much more than a software update, the issue cannot be as widespread as it is believed to be.

Full Story (Fudzilla.com)

Notebook battery supply problems to continue

Simplo Technology, the world's largest notebook battery manufacturer, said that a global shortage of power cells will last an additional three months more than expected. The shortage was originally expected to end by Q1 2009, but it now looks like supply targets will not be met until Q2 2009. The current notebook battery shortage will impact prices, shipments, and sales according to industry sources.

Full Story (ChannelRegister.co.uk)

Sony introduces VAIO A-type 18.4-inch notebook for photographers

Image credit: dc.watch.impress.co.jp

Sony has introduced a notebook for photographers, the 18.4-inch VAIO A-type. Its large screen has a full HD resolution of 1920x1080 pixels and an anti-glare coating. The monitor is already color-profiled, and photo and video editing software come standard. Other specifications include a Core 2 Duo T9400 2.53GHz, 4GB RAM, Blu-ray drive, Nvidia GeForce 9600M-GT graphics card, dual 250GB hard drives, and an eSATA port. The standard battery life is two hours.

Full Story (dc.watch.impress.co.jp) (Google translated)
Via (Engadget.com)

Compal drops 2008 notebook shipments estimate

Compal Electronics president Ray Chen is blaming weak demand in Europe and the US for the estimated drop its notebook shipments this year. The company has adjusted its shipment goal to 28 - 29 million units, down from the original 32 million. In 2009, Compal expects to ship 30 - 40 million.

Full Story (DigiTimes.com)

Voodoo Envy 133 now shipping

After months of waiting, customers are finally starting to receive their much-anticipated Voodoo Envy 133 ultraportable notebooks. The Envy 133 was originally announced on June 10. It features a low-voltage Core 2 Duo processor, LED-backlit display, backlit keyboard, and a starting price of $2,099.

Full Story (TheNextBench.com) (Voodoo Official Community)
Via (Engadget.com)

 

Ahhhhhhhh, finally some positively sensible article on the nVidia issue!! Thanks so much Chaz for this article

 

do they have to do a recall if they sell a defective parts? cant they keep their mouth shut and hope everyone didnt notice and forgot the whole deal. certainly the majority of user wont even know that there is a problem with their gpu.

im liking what sony is doing with its new VAIO lineup recently.
just saw the 16:9 notebook today. definitely not my cup of tea, the vertical viewing space is too low, which in turn give to an already low notebook, it will be more of an ergonomics issue, since u need to hunch more.

 

I think the argument made over on Fudzilla is pretty funny. Nvidia's response to this whole situation reminds me of the " Ford Pinto Memo" back in the 1970s.

For those of you who weren't alive back then (or never bothered to study American business history), Ford knew there were problems with their Ford Pinto automobile back in the 70s, but they determined it would be more cost-effective to deal with individual repairs or even settle the occasional lawsuit out of court rather than recall all of the cars in question.

This is actually a common business practice ... it's just a cost-benefit analysis. What's worse: losing a ton of money in product recalls, or just having to pay for repair/replacement if something is still under warranty?

I'm NOT saying there's a problem with Nvidia graphics. However, using the lack of recalls as "proof" that there isn't a problem is just ... naive.

 

i dont get the point of that sony

 

Well, I also think that, with this resolution and LCD ratio, its target are movie editors rather than photographers (for whom 16:10 ratio seems to be enough to fit a 15:10 picture and PS's toolbars side-by-side).

 

Sensible? The logic is flawed. The aricle is factless based purely on ASSUMPTIONS..How can you compare a battery recall (ie potential SAFETY issue) to a GPU issue? Obviously in cases of potential harm to a person a recall is mandatory. They are under NO OBLIGATION to issue a recall for a defect with no possible safety implication.

It is in Dell's/HP's and Nvidia's best interest to keep the issue quiet and handle problems as they arise on an individual basis. This accomplishes two things. First, it enables the OEMs and Nvidia to spread the possible cost out over several years and second, sweeps the issue under the rug getting it out of the public eye and requiring individuals to fight for a fix down the road, most likely out of warranty. Much easier and cost effective than a big public announcement.

Until this guy who wrote the aricle has some real hard facts I think he does a disservice to the public leading them to believe failure rates are low. He has assumed too much based on little information from any of the players. Time will be a big factor in this which he also neglects to take into account.

 

Of course they aren't going to recall the notebooks; that would cost them a ridiculous amount of money, since not everyone with defective chips are going to suffer problems. Moreover, as Mark500 pointed out, they're certainly under no obligation to recall notebooks just because part of them are defective; it's not like the graphics card is going to go down in flames (unlike parent company NVIDIA, ba-dum-dum). Regarding the article, the companies have done more than a software update; they've extended the warranties as well. Large corporations don't undertake something with such a cost lightly, so you better believe that there is something behind this. For what it's worth (not that anecdotal evidence is really worth all that much), someone's laptop in the office has already bought the farm from this issue, and it's only a year-old Dell.

 

The example with "Ford Pinto Memo" case sounds exactly like what I think is the case with defective nVidia GPUs. The reason why there are no recalls is because the software BIOS updates postpone the failure of the GPU to an after warranty place in time. This is what I think and if I am not right it is about time someone from Dell, HP or nVidia officialy tell me that I am wrong!

 

The reason Dell and HP haven't issued recalls is because nVIDIA hasn't exactly been forthcoming! Actually, nVIDIA has been deceptive and only divulged bits and pieces of the story at a time....and the full extent of the problem is still anyone's guess!

Dell and HP's lack of a recall is, in large part, because they don't want to be stuck with the bill. At least Dell has extended the warranty on the models they believe to be affected. HP has issued a BIOS update to run the fans 100% 24/7 in an effort to delay the nVIDIA GPU failures until AFTER the warranty has expired! At least that's the way I (and countless other consumers) see it.

The worst part of it all? I have a new dv7t orderd and it has the nVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT graphics card. I'm debating whether to return it as soon it as it lands on my doorstep....

I wonder if Dell Studio, Toshiba Satellite and the countless ASUS notebooks that use the ATI Radeon Mobility HD 3450, HD 3470 and HD 3650 are seeing an increase in sales???

 

All this talk of the Ford Pinto (or "Barbeque for Four" as many called it) has me even more freaked out about my new HP dv7t! Will it overheat and fail or, worse, will I tap the case of the notebook and trigger an explosion??? =)

 

see this is why nvidia needs to come clean so they can put costomers minds at rest. If they don't costomers will avoid ALL nVidia GPU's, like stated above.

right now one thing is sure
Ati = safe
nVidia = ????
Intel = Yikes!

 

Abazovic's thinking skills are bankrupt...

Not only is this an assumption that the manufacturer's decision is in the best interests of the consumer, but it is also irrelevant in light of the seriousness of the problem; the fact that Dell and HP haven't issued sweeping recalls is no confirmation that there is no problem. One needs to simply look online to see that HP and Dell have posted that several mainstream models are affected - as well as the fact that forums are truly seeing a rise in Nvidia failures. Personally I would not trust a manufacturer to take a massive financial blow over a recall that does not involve safety or guaranteed failure of the product; anyone who does trust the manufacturers to do the right thing to the extent that Abazovic does is either very naive, or an idiot.

The fact that the BIOS updates merely delay failure and that HP and Dell have not issued recalls is testimony that Nvidia and laptop makers have decided to screw the customer and save themselves the financial burden of fixing their mistakes. The decision of Dell and HP to not announce recalls has been for business reasons, not for the interest of the consumer and not in light of the fact that certain Nvidia laptops are dropping like flies.

 

That 18.4" Sony VAIO A-type would be perfect for either me or my dad, considering we both do some photo editing from time to time (he does it a lot more than I do, though). Now, if they just made a smaller version of it (Like a 15.6"), then I'd be in heaven.

 

Don't know if you're aware of it but the FW comes with an optional double lamp Hi Color 16.4" inch screen and Sony claims it has 100% color accuracy.

 

I can't believe no-one has mentioned the HUGE ENTER KEY and the tiny space bar on the Sony.

What's all that about?

 

I believe that's a foreign multi-language keyboard ... possibly Japanese. The reason we haven't covered this notebook with a separate news article is that we haven't received an official US press release yet. Sony may or may not release this notebook in the US.

 

Several configurations of the AW are now available for order in the US:
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...Id=10151&langId=-1&LBomId=8198552921665527716

The tiny space bar is indeed a japanese model.

 

The Nvidia article:

Was the guy payed a fee by someone to write some baseless spin article?


The New Sony AW:

Professional HD Photo/Video/3D Graphics applications require massive cpu/gpu/ram power. I think this needs a quad core cpu and a higher end graphics card.

 

Mr. Abazovic spouts conjecture as if he actually believes it himself! The thought process that led him to his ássumed conclusion- "they'd tell us if there really was a big problem....if the powers-that-be (nVIDIA, Dell, HP) don't say it's a wide-spread issue, then it must not be" is the scariest part of all!

He'd make a great writer for the Obama campaign, though!

 

May I suggest we all write Mr Abazovic and tell him how off base he is and what a disservice he is doing to the general public...it seems he needs a bit of an education on how business works in the real world....

Go to the web page and click contact...

 

Lol, all he needs to do is remember the business motto "me first!"

 

They don't have to do a recall unless either (i) they've contractually promised to do so, or (ii) they're ordered to do so by a gov't agency with jurisdiction - this usually only occurs with matters of safety or security, not dashed expectations.

So, yes, they could just "keep their mouth shut and hope everyone didn't notice" - trouble is, like Ralph Nader of yore (someone else who's outlived his usefulness), someone always notices.

 

What other conceivable motto could there be for a for-profit enterprise, pray tell? The difference between a good business and a bad business is not that the latter uses such a motto while the former doesn't, but that the former realizes that "me" only gets ahead if the business offers customers what they want at a price they're willing to pay - perhaps the motto of good business would then be "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" ?

 

^

I didn't say there are really any other mottos; but there are some people (like Abazovic) who clearly think that companies follow mottos that allow them to make decisions honestly and responsibly.

 

The same thought occured to me. My camera, and most others that I'm aware of, default to 4:3 mode. I've set mine to 3:2 to almost match by 8:5 screen, but that's all the farther it goes - and it does that by cutting off the top and bottom rather than taking a wider picture. Getting a 16:9 screen would be worse for viewing and editing photos. If I cared a lot about editing photos, I'd get a 4:3 screen so it filled up the entire screen without stetching, and certainly not a 16:9.

I understand there are panoramic cameras, but I'm pretty sure those aren't anywhere near the majority, even in professional applications.

Seriously 24/7? That would be seriously annoying, unless those are some really weak/quiet fans. I could stand low fan speed running most of the time, but 100% would just be unacceptable in some places (class/library/reading). I've set my fans to run at 0% almost all the time (except the ones actually on the CPU/GPU of course - but I can't hear those anyway), and it's quite nice to have a very quiet computer.

 

Well because of the uncertainty with the Nvidia gpu's I went with a laptop that uses ATI. I believe as others said it's a replace them as they fail policy since less are likely to fail before the warranty period is over and many people are not going to be playing the latest graphic intensive games so why recall all laptops with these gpu's?

My brother in law bought a HP dv6700t several months ago with a Nvida card for business and personal use. He will never play any games other than solitaire and I doubt he will have any problems.

I prefer Nvida and use them in most of my desktops and never had any problems. The laptop is a different beast and I didn't want the hassle if something did go wrong.

Heck I bet extended warranty sales are up !

 

Yeah right, sure. Just like there's always gas shortages somewhere. I think it's BS. Just an excuse to charge more.