Well, I suppose I give Sager a shot... probably

Ordered one of the new NP9170s from XoticPC all kitted out. Hopefully I'll like it.

Main concern I have is if they can deliver it to me in time. I need to get a laptop by June 11th and I'm kinda wondering if that timeframe is doable with a 7970M. Guess we'll see.

 

Should be doable if they actually get the cards in on time. Which we can't blame resellers/sager for.

 

Can you post ur specs of NP9170s? I am currently wondering if i should buy one now or wait till nividia 680m gets released :yes:

 

Well I don't have anything yet, other than an order in with XoticPC so I don't really have an NP9170. However what I have on order:

--i7-3720QM (2.6GHz)
--16GB 1333MHz RAM
--90% NTSC Glossy display (really agonized over this or matte, since I like matte, but it is apparently the better display)
--AMD 7970M graphics
--750GB Seagate hybrid HDD, it is also going to get a 256GB SSD that I already have
--Windows 7 64-bit home
--Intel 6235 wireless
--CD/DVD drive
--IC diamond thermal compound
--No dead pixel warranty

About $2300 all said and done (not counting the SSD). Kinda overkill but whatever.

Only real issue is timing. Mom would like my old laptop and I'd like to give it to her. That means that I need a new one before I leave though. I also can't get it like a day before I leave, need a couple weeks to test it, shake it down, and have time to RMA it if necessary. Hence the June 11th deadline.

I don't know if they'll be able to get it to me in that timeframe. I thought about just getting a 675M, and I will if they say I need to to get it in the timeframe specified, but I'd like a 28nm card in there.

Were it not for this deadline, I might well just wait for the 680M because I'm quite a fan of my real GTX 680 in my desktop, though given the low rate of production with nVidia 28nm parts I can imagine it being a couple months before they are available.

The 7970Ms seem to be out and about, problem is they are all going to big OEMs like Dell. I can't blame AMD, you need to keep Dell happy, but it does mean I may not be able to get my ship deadline.

 

Well, if you can afford to wait for the 680M, then wait for it. See exactly how it contends with the 7970M performance and price-wise, then make your decision.

 

Isn't there any consensus out about how the 680M might perform against the 7970M as of yet?

 

It's all speculation so any "consensus" is a fake one. In general they are probably going to be int the same arena, much as the actual 7970 and 680 are. No doubt one will be faster than the other (again as the desktop cards are) but I can't imagine it'll be a big amount.

Particularly on laptops they just have much harder limits on things like power draw, so there's only so much hardware to cram on a chip when 100 watts is all they are allowed.

In theory the 680M is probably going to be a bit faster since the actual 680 is a bit faster and since nVidia's architecture seems to be pretty efficient this time around. The actual 680 is slightly more efficient than the 7970, power wise. So it would stand to reason they could pack a bit more performance in to the 100 watt MXM budget.

However as I said, all that is speculation. Nobody will know nothin' until the cards launch.

 

yadda yadda yadda http://forum.notebookreview.com/gaming-software-graphics-cards/658185-amd-7970m-vs-gtx-680m-104.html

From what I've seen the 7970m is still running extremely cool and is not anywhere near 100w. Under 70c in notebooks where the 5870m runs hotter. So if the 680m is anything like the 485m and whatnot in terms of heat it should be a no brainer.

 

Unfortunately, that's no confirmation. And comparing the 680M (true 28nm) to the 485M? If you go 28nm to 28nm it will likely be very close. Right now, the 7970M brought it. The 680M is not out and Nvidia is likely re-tooling whatever pre-production hardware posted up those benches above.