NeXT gpu on Sony Z

What Will be the next gpu on Sony Z ,
Optimus ? But on now manual switch graphics modes are better no ?

Gt330m is a good choice or it better to Wait 2011?

 

Dunno if it's Optimus (which is just the switching capability, not the chips themselves). Personally I like the manual control, the current automatic switching based on power supply is good enough for me

I don't know about the graphics chip forecasts, I suspect that'll play a big role. Maybe someone who has been tracking that sort of thing can shed some light...

 

Just my two cents:

Given that Sandy Bridge (new 2011 Intel Procs with new Intel HD graphics) are showing huge promise, Sony might just switch to fully integrated graphics come Christmas 2011. Doubtfull, but possible.

To my mind, the Z1x ( Z11, Z12, Z13 and the next probably just 14 and 15) will keep the GT330M maybe overclocking it and/or addind Optimus in the last series. Come March or April 2011, Intel will refresh their chipsets with USB3.0 and/or Light Peak. Until then I see no significant refresh coming up.

At that time though we might se the Z21 or whatever, with Optimus and some sort of Fermi card (GT460M or a probably less power hungry version). To me, the next significant refresh should come around April 2011. Until then we will only be seeing SSD and minor Proc upgrades, as evidently seen in the Z13.

Hope I helped!

 

I know Intel would like to kill off Nvidia and AMD with their integrated graphics, but it's still some way in the future before Intel's graphics capability catches up, right? At least I think I hear some people saying that... Do you know how big a gap there is between Sandy Bridge's integrated GPU versus discrete?

 

Sandy Bridge's gpu core is dx10 compliant and is said to beat out nVidia 210M and ATI HD5450 which means it effectively wipes out low end graphics cards by making them redundant. Like the cpu core, the gpu core can also turbo boost.

It means system builders targeting non gamer demographics can pretty much source all of their parts from Intel and it looks like a smart move by Intel to get a strong foothold in the graphics card market. They have wanted to do so for a long while now but they were never going to do it with GMA.

 

Considering the GPU positioning of the Z I assume next upgrade should be GT 435M, which would be considerable gain over GT 330M (I hope it will not be GT 425M, which is better than GT 330M, but close to overclocking performances).

As the 330M is considerably better than 210M or HD5450 (and then should be better than sandy bridge graphics), I think sony will keep dedicated GPU...

 

The next Z13 series will use the GT330M so no changes there. The F-series do get an upgrade, they get the GT425M. I guess the Z cant use the fermi-based graphic cards with its switching trick.

 

We're talking about loooooooooooooonnng term upgrade...

 

Well we don't know what gpus will exist a loooooong time from now. Nvidia 5xx? Ati 6xxx?

 

The only changes you'll likely see on the VPC-Z1 are SSD sizes, CPU changes, and RAM alterations. GPU will remain the same; it will only change when a new model is announced (like the switch over from the VGN-Z to the VPC-Z).

There was an exception to this. The SZ refreshed from the nVidia 7k series to the 8k series, though this was due to the CPU families being upgraded as well. Provided the VPC-Z is still in it's 3rd / 4th refresh, and Sony considers doing a 5th refresh, there is a SLIGHT hope that Sony goes along and changes out the GPU with the new gen CPUs.

...Though that's unlikely... Knowing Sony, and assuming the VPC-Z is in it's 5th refresh stage when the new hardware comes out, they'll just roll out a new Z model altogether, starting again with newer hardware. Seeing how long the VGN-Z was on the market for (a year and a half ish), one would expect the VPC-Z to become redundant sometime in the middle of next year.

A note though; Japan only did 4 refreshes of the VGN-Z while the rest of the world did 5. There may be a twist with the VPC-Z for all I care...

 

I saw the title of this thread with NeXT in it and though that Steve Jobs was getting into the gpu business!

Gary

 

On the other hand, the F series is getting an upgraded GPU, the 425M instead of the 330M like the Z, starting with F13.

This both shows hope in a possible GPU upgrade during a mid-cycle; yet kills it because the Z13 is still 330M-equipped.

 

So Z13 will mantain Nvidia 330M, but what about S-series?
I've read about VPC-S13 but no GPU info, I hope there won't be a 310M :S