no generational leap in gpu power since 8800M. gaming laptops don't seem worth it now.

the 8800M was the last card that actually rivaled it's desktop counterpart. the previous two cards also did the same thing, the 6800 go and 7800 go series.

everything since the 8800M was basically half the power of it's desktop counterpart. this is the main reason i exited the gaming laptop world and went desktop.

so i ask you this, is the portability still worth the $3k & $4k dollar costs for these rigs when you can build a desktop with over twice the gpu power for half the cost?

 

I don't know where you get your pricing. You can get a top of the line gaming laptop: Sandy Bridge i7 quad with a GTX 485M for $2k. My thought process was why spend $1k-$1.2k on a gaming desktop when I can spend a little more and get the best of both worlds?

 

I'd love a desktop, but being a uni student overseas makes the portability option the optimal choice, especially during the holidays. Even more since I can bring it over to a friends' house and LAN there.

 

I value portability and power. I have both though, so I'm probably an outlier here. I've got an i7 930 at 3.4ghz, 2x 470 GTX in SLI, 12GB RAM, etc in my home desktop. I still wanted a decent gaming machine for on the road because now that I have that at home, most laptops are just a pain to work on when mobile. I'm in college and travel a lot for jobs and vacation as well, so a portable machine is nice a lot of the time.

And that's almost an unfair comparison. In the days of the 6800, 7800, and 8800, the main desktop cards didn't produce tons of extra heat and didn't need extra power connections. Since then, that's changed. Cards have become bigger, not smaller, and have sucked far more power, not less (my 470's can attest to this). To even have half that power in a 15" form factor at 6lbs is pretty darn amazing to me. My 470 GTX by itself weighs maybe 3lbs. The 485m actually hits a performance mark fairly close to my 470's, more than I thought it ever could.

So yes, you can get twice the power and the same cost in a desktop, but you also have to remember you're settling for something that needs 1) more space 2) more power 3) better cooling 4) to sacrifice portability.

For a scale of reference, my desktop and laptop have similar price tags (2k for the desktop, 2.3k for the laptop) and the desktop is still 2x the performance. But I'm ok with that because my laptop will do everything I want to do while mobile with no sacrifices. If I need tons of power and bigger screens, etc, I have my desktop.

It's a choice for some, but for a lot of people mobility is the biggest reason to avoid a desktop. The performance delta doesn't matter much because I don't think I even own a game that my desktop can't play on highest settings AND with 3D. My laptop should be able to do the same at it's lower res without a problem from what I've seen. So really, I'm getting less total performance, but it's not going to matter in gaming either.

 

If your not playing Metro 2033, there is nothing these can't run so what is the tradeof truly? The sandy bridge processors in these make them as powerful as most servers in use right now, so why not?

 

Mobility is the top reason laptops like my own are bought.

The reason for your observation is the fact that with increase in gpu power also comes increase in power draw, despite the shrinkage in manufacturaing proces.

THat happens because of the following logic.

Say we have random gpu at 100nm using 100w producing 10.000 3dmark score.
Improvement in technology yield that the same 10000 score can be obtained using 50 nm techology using 50W
But humanity isnt satisfied with this, so they use 50nm consuming the same 100W but this time obtaining 20000 3mark.

THe thing is no mater the shrinkage in manufacturing process we will still have to fight with the same at the very least, if not bigger, levels of consumption.

Thats the reason you will never see the same thing you saw with the 8800m gpus happen to any future gpu.
Does that mean you will never use laptops again ?

I use the following logic:
While it is true the maximum gpu power one has available in the laptop world is smaller than the power one can attain in desktop world, that small power is still enough.

So i use laptops. Even more than that, i say here for everyone to hear it. I will never use dektops ever again.
Its far to much hassle to own a desktop. I like to have the ability to cary my pc with me, and this is why laptops shine.

Besides, top of the line laptops will always be 125-130w for the cpu and 2x100w for the gpus. So im fine with this level of power usage.

Hopefully over time, the power brick will get smaller, lets say a 500w power brick the size off an atom 10" netbook powerbrick.
Then there will be nothing left to fear about.

Unless a miracle in power technology happens, and we can have 580gtx performance using only 5Watts.
But even then one will tell himself:
Shieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet, i can have 25 times that gpu power by creating a chip that draws 100Watts, cause that x7200 laptopi used to have 10 years ago could cool down 100Watts gpus.

 

Yeah, I'm just disappointed that the GT 540M is the only option on an NP 5160 :/ It can't even beat a GTX 260M which was 3 'generations' ago or ye ole 9800M GT which was 5 generations back! At least give us a GT 555m :/

 

In all fairness, that's a laptop designed to save power. It's got optimus and a dedicated card, which makes it somewhere between a netbook and a gaming laptop. The 15" chassis it's in CAN do up to the 485m (or rather, not that chassis in particular, but say, the 8150 15" frame can). That card is almost equal to a desktop 460 or 560 ti- which when you consider how big that desktop card is (12" long or so), that's darn impressive scaling.

 

its simple, its portability, would you rather go to your cave and have desktop because you usually settle in you own home after work? or are you the one who travels a lot in various places in the scope of your work? in my case i travel a lot, and its part of my job, whenever im at home (or vacation) i don't play much and make up with my social life. for me if you ask? yes it is definitely worth it.

i will ask you the same question on topic, do you prefer rigging your laptop around you and you do gaming/photoshop in a low performance laptop or might as well drag around a 3k beastly laptop that will suit your real needs in work and leisure? thought so.

 

i fully understand about the portability and if you have the cash to do it all. that is not what i am arguing about. what i am saying is that the wow factor in these "beastly" laptops is not what it used to be.

i bought the d900t and d900c "beasts" when they first came out. $3500 on one and $4500 on the other. they were indeed beasts because they actually rivaled the most powerfull desktop rigs out there. they went toe to toe with the best.

right now for loaded units and warranties, you are paying $3k for a gtx 460 equivalent or $4k for a gtx 460 sli equivalent gaming rig. that is simply asinine.

 

Sandy Bridge i7 quad plus GTX 485M is $2k. I don't now where you are getting your prices.

 

On the contrary, OP, I think it's a great time to buy these parts

The 2820QM was reviewed by Anandtech to matching the i7-920 desktop, which is certainly no slouch.

The GTX 485M and 6970M, while certainly not matches for the GTX 580 or 6970 desktop - are no slouches either. Yes, they're underclocked versions of the GTX460/560 and 6850, but those cards can hold their own at 1920x1080 - especially when one considers that PC gaming isn't advancing as fast (graphically) as it was years ago.

The next big jump for GPUs isn't coming til 28nm, which ain't ready til the end of this year, and new cards probably won't be out for the next gen until next year at the earliest it appears as well

 

As people have said, the reason is that desktop GPUs have changed. The TDP of the 8800 GTX was around 150W while the TDP of the GTX 480 is around 250W. You can fit the former into a desktop replacement "laptop", but to do it with the latter you will need what amounts to a desktop case.

Clevo might have been able to do it, but why bother? When the 8800 GTX was released, there were still some PC games that needed it. Today, there is practically nothing out there that requires a GTX 480. With the shrunken 1920x1080 displays, do you really need anything more than a 460 to play the console port of the day? In fact, it's getting to the point where you don't even need high-end laptop cards; the mid-range has nearly caught up.

 

Yeah, not sure where he's getting $3K to $4K. Sure you can spend that much if you RAID large SSD's, SLI, and get and XM CPU but that's not necessary for gaming. Less than $2000 can get you a GTX 485m in your machine which is top of the line at the moment.

Plus the 485m is equivalent in power to 460m in SLI, so there's a significant improvement in performance. Heck this system is more powerful than my aging desktop (Core 2 Quad Q9550 2.83GHz, GTX 260 core 216). I could have thrown $1200-$1500 towards a new Core i7 desktop but like the portability of a laptop, and it suits my needs. Cost me a little more than a desktop but I'll get more use out of it.

 

I smell troll. Stop feeding it.

 

Here is a 3.5k configuration, though I didn't checked it myself:
MALIBAL Lotus P150HM Review