***Official*** Sonoma launch thread

[Pandaren]

http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets/mobile/915_fam.htm

As expected, the chipset has all the goodies (PCIe, SATA, High Def Audio, DDR2). Curiously, there is a 915GMS, which is essentially a 915GM in a much smaller package (27x27mm instead of 40x37mm) specifically aimed at the extremely small notebook market.

Edit for reviews:

Digital Life on Acer tm8100

Adrian's Rojak Pot - 2 Sonoma systems

Extremetech: Sonoma + ATI Mobility X700

http://www20.tomshardware.com/...le/20050119/index.html

The THG was the most in-depth review I've seen so far. The one thing I found dissapointing was the fact that the Sonoma notebook tested got worse battery life than the original Centrino by about 20 minutes! The performance gains were pretty minimal as well (5% at most). And to top it off, notebook manufacturers might not even use all the Sonoma's nifty features like high definition audio and ExpressCard!

I think it may be until the next generation of notebooks that we see all of Sonoma's benefits (like SATA and ExpressCard) used.

None of the review sites have said anything about dynamic backlight control. Hmm...

 

[JeFTuX]

Yes the wait is finally over

Acer introduced two new notebook with 915 chipset today

http://global.acer.com/products/notebook/tm8100.htm
and
http://www.acer.com.sg/product...690/psp_aspire1690.asp

 

[NeuronBasher]

Anyone seen any other product announcements for Sonoma based notebooks yet? Particulary Mobility 6800 systems that are orderable now.

 

[Pandaren]

Review of the Acer tm8100:

http://www.digit-life.com/arti...cer-tm-8100/index.html

 

[Hikari]

The tm8100 looks nice, aside from the memory. Need DDR2 533 or DDR1 400 to get max memory performance out of this chipset.

 

[NeuronBasher]

Acer has a full spec page up for the TM8100 now:
http://global.acer.com/products/notebook/tm8100.htm

 

[Conroy9]

Hmm Mobility X700?

Do you know how that compares to the X600 and X800?

 

[Pandaren]

Mobility X700 is an 8-pipeline card, so it will easily beat the 4-pipeline X600 (basically this is a Radeon 9600 with PCIe interface instead of AGP interface) and loose to the 12-pipeline X800.

Here's an early performance comparison - a Sonoma notebook with X700:

http://www.extremetech.com/art.../0,1558,1752382,00.asp

 

[Jassi]

Man those are expensive! The Aspire 1690 Series is about $2700 (US?). If that is US$s, that is messed up.

Edit : If that is in Singapore Dollars, that comes to about $1700, which is not hot but good.

 

[IntelUser2000]

Hikari, the Alviso chipset used in the Sonoma platform can use the following memory in single or dual channel configurations.

DDR2-533
DDR2-400
DDR-333

No support for DDR400.

 

[calvink]

which laptops current support dual channel ddr2-533? not just ddr2-533. it seems sorta hard to find the specs interms of memory channels for laptops.

 

[Conroy9]

The Inquirer says

"INTEL LAUNCHED its Sonoma Centrino platform earlier this week, and ATI said that it managed to capture most of the designs based on it... Nvidia, at the same time, announced that Sony plans to use Geforce 6 GO 6200 in a few of its notebooks, but that was about it. Our industry source actually said that ATI won as much as ninety per cent of the market"

pandaren, thanks - the X700 looks like a pretty good compromise

 

[trikster2]

Tom's has a very unflattering look at the new Sonoma

SONOMA

Almost no performance gains from dual channel DDR2

20 to 30 minutes less battery life.

Makes me wonder what I have been waiting for?

Maybe sales on discontinued centrino 1 laptops?

 

[Hikari]

Yeah, thanks. I went and looked at their PDF right after you replied. Definitely go for a DDR2 533 one if you want better memory anyway, going DDR2 400 wont be any better than DDR 333 I guess. But uses lower power, so that is good in a lot of cases.

Tech sheets are fun.

 

[calvink]

in addition to ddr2, there's dual ddr2 it seems like.... does anyone know which laptops have this capability?

 

[eBauer]

It should be little surprise that the move Dual Channel DDR2 yielded small gains - the Pentium-M architecture simply does not demand it. It has been well documented that the (relatively) short pipeline of the P-M / Athlon 64 architecture does not strive for memory bandwidth like the P4's do with their 21/31 stage pipeline.

 

[trikster2]

ebauer

Good point! Had not thought of that.

Also add the massive 2mb l2 cache and you have even less of a requirement on the donthans to go out over your super fast memory buss when you need something.

 

[Jassi]

eBauer - Buts its the only way to get your hands on newer PCI-E based video cards

 

[Pandaren]

The dual channel DDR2 is useful for two types of video processors: 1) The integrated GMA900. 2) Turbo-cache discrete GPUs like the GeForce 6200 Turbo Cache.

Both types of graphics chips use system memory - the GMA900 is completely dependant on system RAM, and the Turbo Cache uses the system RAM in addition to a small amount of dedicated memory included with the GPU. In both cases, the extra bandwidth between the MCH and the graphics system should help performance.

 

[Conroy9]

The power usage is kind of disappointing...

I wonder what happened to the dynamic backlight feature

 

[calvink]

the dyanmic backlight feature is only currently available for the onboard video....

i just want a 13-14 inchish widescreen with dual channel ddr2 and onboard video with high def audo and the new card slot... is that too much to ask for? i haven't seen a single laptop like that.

 

[gethro]

I have researching the market for a laptop that will need to serve numerous functions. A bit of travel, a bit of multimedia and multiple apps at once plus most like live beside the entertainment unit so should have capacity to link to TV etc. Just about decided on a Centrino based machune when I learned of the Dothan chip, then was advised that the Athlon 64 bit chip was the way of the future, then Intel launch the Sonoma...not in Australia as yet. So my question is do I go with the AMD 64, persevere with the Centrino Dothan or wait on the Sonoma chipset? Any feedback appreciated.

 

[Hikari]

Well if you want tolerable battery life and the possibility of a decent mobile GPU, get a Sonoma platform laptop like the Acer TravelMate 8100 (http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/acer-tm-8100/ http://www.acer.co.th/product/...mate/8100/index_p.htm). You are pretty much stuck at a Mobility 9700 as the best possibility if you buy a Centrino.

As for AMD's Turion or whatever, we'll have to wait and see, eh? No one has any ideas on battery life and all with them yet. Luckily for me I don't need a new laptop till early fall this year, so by then I'm sure there will be options.

Originally posted by: gethro
I have researching the market for a laptop that will need to serve numerous functions. A bit of travel, a bit of multimedia and multiple apps at once plus most like live beside the entertainment unit so should have capacity to link to TV etc. Just about decided on a Centrino based machune when I learned of the Dothan chip, then was advised that the Athlon 64 bit chip was the way of the future, then Intel launch the Sonoma...not in Australia as yet. So my question is do I go with the AMD 64, persevere with the Centrino Dothan or wait on the Sonoma chipset? Any feedback appreciated.

 

[gethro]

Thanks for the feedback. Unfortunately neither link you posted works. In summary would you say if I can afford to wait a few months that the dust will settle and the path will be clearer?

 

[handoverfist]

Anyone have any idea when these will hit retail stores such as Best Buy?