Text 51577, 56 rader
Skriven 2008-11-28 16:14:11 av Alan Zisman (1:123/789.0)
  Kommentar till text 51564 av Charles Scaglione (1:123/789.0)
Ärende: Notebook graphics.
==========================
Charles Scaglione -> August Abolins wrote:
 CS> August Abolins -> JAY EMRIE wrote:

 AA>>>> .. By comparison, Dell is featuring the
 AA>>>> 1525 with
 AA>>>> Core Duo, 15.1" screen, DVDRW, Wireless, 250gb hdd, 2gb ram for only
 AA>>>> $549
 AA>>>> delivered.  Hmmm.

 JE>>> No Hmmm to it. The DEll is a far better buy.
 JE>>> I'd go Dell

 AA>> Other-brand laptops have advanced quite a bit in the last 3 to 4 years
 AA>> since the Thinkpad T40 made a splash at over $2000  just 4 years ago.
 AA>> I'd go for the Dell on price alone to get the extra hdd, ram and
 CS> bright
 AA>> display.   To get the equivalent in a Thinkpad the price would be
 CS> closer
 AA>> to double.

 CS> I just wish notebook manufacturers would provide better graphics
 CS> capability for their less expensive machines.  Most use a rather slow
 CS> integrated graphic chipset.  Both Dell and Sony use an Intel GM45
 CS> chipset - better but not by much, and that's in their more expensive
 CS> machines.

 CS> The machine's graphic capability is important especially if you're using
 CS> the notebook as a replacement for a desktop by adding an external
 CS> monitor and keyboard.

The use of low-end (Intel) graphics chipsets is at the heart of many of the
issues with Vista-- including an on-going class action lawsuit against
Microsoft.

In this case, the then widely-used Intel 915 graphics chipset was unable to
handle Vista's Aero graphics-- and would mean that systems using that chipset
could not qualify for the 'Vista Capable' label. Evidence is piling up
(primarily Microsoft internal emails) but it's still unclear whether Intel
leaned on MS or not, but MS created Vista Basic essentially so that there would
be a Vista-version for Intel 915-users-- even though this meant dropping the
most visible differentiator between XP and Vista (Sorry, JP!) Reportedly, HP
was very peeved, since they had been stocking up on Aero-capable chipsets for
their low-end systems.

When I was shopping for a Vista-capable notebook 6 months prior to Vista's
release, I special-ordered my Dell Inspiron 6400, replacing the stock Intel 915
with an ATI chipset with 256 MB of video RAM, giving reasonably good Aero
performance.

-- 
==================================
- email: alan (at) zisman (dot) ca
- website: http://www.zisman.ca

--- Thunderbird 2.0.0.18 (Macintosh/20081105)
 * Origin: Fidonet Via Newsreader - http://www.easternstar.info (1:123/789.0)