Factor consider when implemnting a GPU in laptop.

[iwodo]

Well today i just saw new Sony VAIO ZI series. Not only the style attrated me but also the spec.
Until i found out that it has a ATI Radeon Moblity 16 DDR Ram as its video controller.........

ATI Radeon Moblity is basically a ATI Radeon VE. Which is very very old. Considering that Acer are shipping a new Travelmate 800 with ATI Radeon 9600 Pro and others like NEC are having ATI Radeon 9000 as their new basic standard across all range of Pentium M notebook.

Just why Sony does have something better inside the new Z1 series. a ATI Moblity 7500 would be the minium requirement i would think for todays notebook.

So before i fire off a email to sony....... i am wondering what sort of factor does concern in implememnting a GPU in notebook. Making price irrelevant in this issue.

In terms of heat. I don't see a Radeon 9000 or the new 9600 much hotter than the Radeon VE.
And 9600 should only have a slightly higher power consumtion than VE. ( That depends on core and memory clock of coz ).

Any comments and suggestion would be welcome.

 

[pukemon]

I think the Z1 series isn't really intended for gaming use. I think they're sort of going for the "digital lifestyle" kind of thing where 2D is more important than 3D.

I don't think it's so much heat as it is the power consumption of the chip that they're concerned with. Granted with the Mobility Radeon 9000 and newer it doesn't really matter when you're plugged in with AC power, but on battery, playing a full blown 3D game will eat up battery life pretty fast. Granted the new Pentium-M/Centrino platforms offer great battery life, I don't know for sure whether it can overcome the huge power draw from these high powered video chips.