Better vid card in Sony S series?

Hi guys,

Does anyone know if Sony have any new S series models on the horizon with better graphics cards? Like maybe ATI X600/X700's instead of the Geforce GO 6200?

Im in love with the S48, Im just put off by the Geforce GO 6200. I want to play high end present and future games.

Cheers,
Jason

 

considering that they just came out with the S4** series with a reduced performance graphics card you can bet that they are not planning on including anything close to high end in that series any time soon.

 

So on the newest model, they actually downgraded the GPU!? Why on earth would they do that!?

 

Sony is very quiet when it comes to new models, but we've not heard anything.

 

Thanks for the info guys.

Jeez thats annoying! I love the S series! Just the Geforce GO 6200 in it...

Are there any other laptops out there the same sort of size, quality and specs of the S48, but with a better graphics card?

I don't care about the price, just need something small and portable with as much grunt as possible.

 

The Toshiba M3 isn't bad at 14" and with a 6600.. probaly the fastest laptop with 14" screen or smaller. IMO Sony will probaly put in a 6400, x300, or maybe but less likely x600. The x700 and 6600 both are lot faster than the latter 3 I named but more expensive so Sony won't use these.

 

Nvidia GeForce 6200 can even beat the Ati X600 when it is overclocked.
For proof see the below link ...
http://www.digital-daily.com/video/nvidia_geforce_6200/

 

HOLY CRAP! wow, that is impressive. if anyone overclocks the s460 , you better get a cooling pad...

 

Yeah, that's true, but I wouldn't oc it that much on something like the s460 because of slow heat dissipation due to its small size. Anyone with a s460 care to comment?

 

The desktop 6200 is much faster than the laptop version...

 

I have the S460 and it plays Battlefield 2 and Unreal Tournament 2004 blazing fast. I don't know people freak out so much at the GeForce Go 6200. Actually I'm relieved that the changed from ATI to NVIDIA. ATI cards have driver issues up the wazoo. I've played games on both the S360 and the S460 and there really isn't that much of a noticeable difference.

 

Thanks for the replies guys

Soulreaver, Im just more interested in future proofing. I've heard the Geforce GO 6200 has problems running Doom 3. I consider that game to be sort of a bench mark for the next generation game average graphics.

The reason Sony aren't putting better graphics cards in is probably mainly due to the heat issues... Of course this is all just speculation on my part.

The Asus W3V looks like a great machine. Just wish it had 128megs instead of the 64meg ATI in it...

Damn, I'd pay a major premium if I could find a laptop like the Sony S series with a nice graphics card in it.

Do Sager make any small portables with nice graphics cards? I had a look at their website the other day, but couldn't get any size comparisons.

I'll have to have a better look when I get time.

 

I've played Doom 3 on the S460 and haven't had any issues with it. Doom 3 is a very poor game to use as a benchmark and to be considered the future for graphics. It's nothing but darkness anyway. So far I've played Battlefield 2, Unreal Tournament 2004, Prince of Persia 2, Counterstrike Source, and Half Life 2 which are all considered intense graphics games on the S460 and it handles them all great. But if you are that adament on getting the S360, you can still find some in Circuit City or Office Depot, which are clearanced.

It's very hard to find a laptop at the size of an S with a comparable graphics card. The larger laptops such as the Fujitsu-something (don't remember the model) has an X700 but it's a big brick.

 

you can get an older S3xx series with the M9700 card, which performs to around 3% of the X600. Or an Asus W3V (bigger and heavier: 5.5 pounds, 14" widescreen) with an actual X600 64MB.

the X600 is basically an M9700 switched over to PCI-E instead of AGP, so performance wise, those two should very close to each other. Also, ATi drivers are on-par if not better than nVidia driver these days. They had problems when they first started out, but they've been ironed out. They're also very good about solving specific game problems; heck, if you go on driverheaven.net forums, you can chat with the senior project manager for the catalyst drivers there.

 

Yeah, I had some problems installing the 5.6 cat drivers. Kept saying I didn't have the proper hardware. Then I checked out forums and I think there's a thread that talks about a program that mods the 5.6 cat drivers so it can run smoothly. I ran it and worked great.

 

I have both older and newer 'S' and they both perform as well as can be expected for a notebook of this size. My guess on the next 'S':

-2006 Spr/Sum (because of the release dates of the technologies below)

-Yonah (because this replaces Sonoma, Q1 2006)

-Nvidia 7200 G74M Chip (because this replaces the 6200, Q4 2005)

I mean looking at the roadmaps this is the logical assumption, my only reservation is that perhaps Sony will revamp the lineup completely, who knows? However you look at it, one thing is for certain, the future looks bright, very bright. B)

 

how about S270P? It has ATI 9700 in it..not bad

other similar size and great performance would be my baby asus w3v(see my post please) w/ x600^^ or chembook 2030 has nvidia 6400, which comparable to x600
EDIT: I saw that you mention w3v has 64mb. That is incorrect. It actually 128mb , with 64mb dedicated and 64mb shared called when it needed (hypermemory technology).

also there are some acer out there with x700 i'm not sure if it is in the small notebooks but you could check at newegg.com to be sure.

 

Don't forget that the 6200 is unclocked in the S series, so you can always raise clock speed to get better performance.

 

How do you do that? Are there any instructions on the web? Also, would that be harmful for the computer as far as overheating goes? Thanks.

 

Im not so keen on the overclocking route as I've been hearing much about the heat issue in the S series. Although that is a possibility I did not previously consider.

Out of interest, why do you guys not consider Doom 3 to be a decent future bench marking game?

Aren't F.E.A.R. and Quake 4 being built using modified versions of the Doom 3 engine?

And does anyone have any experience with Sager or Alienware? Do they make small portables with excellent spec dedicated graphics cards?

Thanks for that info on the X600 in the W3V nogocchumi. I didn't know it could share 64meg with the onboard memory...

 

Q: What year did Doom 3 come out?
A: 2004

Q: What year is it now?
A: 2005

Also keep in mind, if one videocard doesn't perform well on one game, it does not mean it won't perform well on other games. But as I've said before, I've run a lot of titles on my S460 including Doom 3 and it works fine.

 

gaming wise, I don't think that there will be a game released within the next 2 years that the s360 or s460 can't handle. I'm running BF2 right now at high resolution and medium settings with 4xAA. When you first join the game, there's some lag, but it immediately gets better and runs at 35+fps. The main reason that people can't play battlefield 2 on their vaios isn't because of video card, but because they don't have enough ram.

 

I saw somewhere says NV Go6400 is the same with Go6200 except higer core clock.Anyone knows if it is true. But as S460 is already somewhat hot,don't know if overclocking the GPU will make the situation noticeably worse.

 

similar to the x300 and the x600. so far from reviews made on the 2030 which uses the 6400, there's been no complaints about heat.