Upcoming Hardware Refresh Concerns

Hi all,

My Clevo M570RU is getting a bit old (friend spilled water on keyboard, also 9800m GT is deteriorating), and I'm nearly set on purchasing a P150HM from Xotic. However, its no secret that the P150EMs are just around the corner and I was hoping that the Sager/Clevo crew at NBR would be able to clear a few things up for me.

Obviously I'd like to make my money go as far as possible (doubly so because I'm a student). I originally wasn't worried about the closeness of the refresh (I reasoned the cheap 6990's available now would last) and because I thought backlit keyboards and Optimus weren't necessities (I mostly only game), but given recent approximations of P150EM pricing ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/sag...urate-speculative-pricing-details-p150em.html , consistent with Chinese/Taiwanese estimates I've seen) and the ludicrous statements Nvidia seems to be making about the 600 (700?) series' power ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/gaming-software-graphics-cards/638044-gtx-660m-13.html), I am having doubts.

I'd obviously prefer to buy sooner than later, but I can definitely stomach an extra few weeks of computing at the library if it means dramatically better value. I was hesitant to wait until mid April to purchase since I figured there would be a hefty premium put on the newer models, but I am now curious whether NBR members who have seen more hardware turnovers could help me predict whether the price/performance of the P150EM would be significantly higher than right now (it seems like a relatively bare EM with a 660/IB would be only marginally more expensive than an HM with a 6990 and 2670), and secondarily whether the release of the newer generation Clevos would drop older generation pricing by a noticeable fraction.

I'm sorry for asking a question that is so often rehashed, but as someone relatively inexperienced in decoding the snippets of convention and leak information, I want to make sure I don't pull the trigger on a 150HM only to have new hardware pour out immediately and decimate its relative value.

 

I think they'll refresh, and the HM's will be immediately replaced with EM's; with the EM's starting within $150 of the HM starting price.

It doesn't seem as though Ivy Bridge CPU's will be much more powerful than the Sandy Bridge equivalents. Looks like the GPU's will see the biggest performance increase.

 

Performance gains are relative to cost, so the $1500 notebook now may have a 10-15% performance difference on a $1500 notebook 6 months from now.

It's typical of this industry to talk about how great their next generation is, but when it comes right down to it they bump up performance on the top end of the market and add a couple extra features like 3D or DX11.

My advice: don't wait. When the next generation of consoles come out and the latest game developers start optimizing for that hardware, then you'll see some substantial gains from hardware manufacturers. Not to mention some games that can actually take advantage of the hardware currently on the market. (I'm talking to you Activision and your 7 year old Modern Warfare engine.)

 

sha7bot? did you just compare pc with console graphics???
I recommend waiting since you are so close to the end cycle of sandy bridge and 40nm graphics! 40nm is really getting old! you def want to get the 28nm. If you are fan like me with how much transistors you can put in a die, you will enjoy waiting. You will get a min of 20-40% increase for the same price for gpu. probably 15-20 with ivy

 

The number of transistors isn't everything.

I was reading this article a little while back and it has a really nice picture explaining the current hardware issues which aren't improving very well with increasing numbers of transistors:


The death of CPU scaling: From one core to many — and why we’re still stuck | ExtremeTech

Also, the later of what you said isn't true at all. Or at least, it won't be for a while. New technology is always more expensive for those early adopters, ESPECIALLY when there's a die shrink.

If you can wait, though, it would be at least worth waiting to hear what new stuff is coming from CeBIT which is in a couple weeks. I believe that's when Sager/Clevo announce their new hardware.

 

I'm really interested by the w150hrm, especially because this is the only mid sized portable gaming laptop I've found on the internet. Thanks to optimus, we can get power AND battery life, which is great for students like me who want a laptop to play but also to take notes.

Two major drawbacks of this w150hrm ;

- No backlitghted keyboard ; why ?!
- The 555m is a special version with 128bits, and seems hard to o/c (compared to the M14x one) and so is not as powerfull as expected.

I've seen some prevision about the 650M, being 70% more powerfull than the 555m and build in a ... 11" laptop. So it seems logical to think than the next version of the w150hrm will be ;

- More powerfull
- Have a extended battery life thanks to the 28nm

But, the point is ; does Clevo will put a backlight option and a bigger battery option this time ?

 

The refresh models are being offered with a backlit keyboard (at least on the P150EM and up). It's something that it looks like Clevo will be adding to quite a few of the newer models.

 

Could you reveal which models they'll add it to? Besides the obvious P1x0EM,

 

Personally i'd recommend waiting for the video card refreshes also. If you can tough it out of course, and that would be later than sooner

 

if it's a "Need" buy now, if it's a "want" then you can wait a bit for it

 

I need and want it... .

 

I will wait until the new version. I'll be in the US from June to September, so I should be able to pick one while arriving (price are usually more interesting in the US, compared to France, even if I'll have to pick a 300$ insurance >.>)

 

I kinda did. Unfortunately, consoles are driving the market. Why? Because of games like Mass Effect and Call of Duty. Game developers have to optimize for consoles for numerous reason. The foremost being: piracy and profit.

The alternative is what EA did with Battlefield 3 and Crysis. Which is to create a graphics engine around seven year old hardware, and then add texture packs and DX11 features in a patch! We all know that OOB Battlefield 3 had major issues for the PC, and a driver update fixed it. Did the x-box have those issues?

When the new console market is released, then you'll see developers starting to take advantage of new hardware.

This isn't the case for every developer out there, but the major ones that are looking at development times and support will patiently wait to get the SDK from Microsoft.

 

I am facing the same dilemma as the OP. I'm planning to get the NP8130 and now I'm worried that it will be discontinued before I have the chance to order it. I am content with the current price for this model, so I'm not looking forward to buying the newer model if the price will be significantly more expensive than the current one.

I'm also wondering if there's a chance that the price will be lowered before the newer model goes on sale or will it suddenly be discontinued once the newer model is officially announced.

I've been doing a lot of research and I'm planning to go with the i5-2540M over the more popular i7-2670QM because higher heat with the i7 is a concern for me and I don't think that a lot of what I'm going to be doing will take advantage of what the i7 offers. I thought about future-proofing with the i7, but the more I thought about it I think that I will just buy a new computer if I really need a quad-core processor. I appreciate it if anyone can give me his or her opinions on the i5 versus the i7.

 

If you plan on gaming mostly i5 is fine, if you plan on using adobe CS5 or other CPU heavy tasks i7.

 

Im nervous about this as well, considering how im so close to order Sager NP8180 / Clevo P180HM just for it to be refreshed for almost the same price. Would be a serious kick in the nuts Does anyone know if it will be refreshed as well or is that the end of the line

 

There is no more refresh for P180...but a 17inch with dual gpu and mobile chipset planed for Q4...