News Bits: New Toshiba Notebooks, Intel Anti-Theft Solution, Nvidia 9-Series Mobile Cards

Nvidia 9-series mobile cards uncovered

Nvidia's 9M series mobile video cards have been uncovered by VR-Zone.com. The new high-end GPUs, including the 9800M-GTX and the 9800M-GT/S will be based on the G92 and G94 cores respectively. The mid-range cards, including the 9700M, 9650M, 9600M, and 9500M-G, are based on the G96 core. Rounding up the low-end, the 9400M, 9300M-GS, and 9200M are based on the G98 core. Some cards have been left out of the list including the 9500M-GS and 9300M-G, which are just rebranded versions of the current 8600M-GT and 8400M-GS. Performance of these new cards is currently unknown.

Full Story (VR-Zone.com)
Special thanks to forum member 2.0 for submitting this bit

Windows 7 coming next year?

According to a statement by Bill Gates, Windows 7 is coming next year. It is unknown whether he was talking about beta versions, but when Microsoft decided to extend Windows XP sales to 2010, he added "or one year after the general availability of Windows 7." He also stated "Sometime in the next year or so we will have a new version" when asked about Windows Vista. However the date does not make a whole lot of sense, given that Microsoft said it would release a Vista successor about three years after Vista's debut, which is 2010.

Full Story (News.com)
Via (Engadget.com)

Intel anti-theft technology for notebooks in the works

Intel is in the process of developing a laptop anti-theft protection system. The Intel Anti-Theft Technology (ATT) is not ready to be put into new systems quite yet. The idea behind the technology is to bind system operation into the Windows logon or earlier password - the system will be disabled if booted without authorization. The company many also incorporate tracking technology into ATT.

Full Story (RegHardware.co.uk)

Toshiba Satellite A300/A305 now available, AMD version launched

The Toshiba Satellite A300/A305 is now available for sale. It has a completely new design and is the successor of the A200/A205 series. Starting at $869.99, it features a Core 2 Duo processor, 15.4-inch WXGA widescreen display, 3GB RAM/200GB 5400RPM hard drive, and integrated Intel X3100 graphics.

Full Story (Laptoping.com)
Product Link (ToshibaDirect.com)

An AMD-powered version, the A305D, was also announced today. It has similar features yet a slightly higher $949.99 starting price. Both the $949.99 and $999.99 models feature the AMD Turion X2 TL-64 Gold Edition processor and ATI Radeon X1250 graphics. The models have 250GB and 320GB hard drives respectively, and 3GB of RAM.

Full Story (Laptoping.com)
Product Link (ToshibaDirect.com)

 

First comment! lol

I'm still wondering how much better the high-end 9-series cards will be and if manufacturers will use the 9500M GS, a rebrand of the year-old 8600M GT, or if they'll move up to a better card.

 

I will be quite surprised if Windows 7 shows up next year as RTM. If it does, it may be a slightly retooled Vista knock-off and not the "next XP" that many have been hoping for.

 

maybe they will just take vista and strip it right down and make it you 'select' what you want at install and if you want extras then you need to install them later??? maybe who knows.

 

Well, I want a free upgrade to Win 7 since I got a vista license about a month after launch I never used it though

 

I hope Windows 7 comes next year and they have that upgrade program like they had with Xp to Vista (except with less mess). Would be perfect for my college laptop.

About the Nvidia cards, Is this right: The 92-9400 are 65nm and the 9300G and 9500GS are the old 90nm ? So confusing!

 

wait... so which core does the upcoming desktop 9900gtx have?

 

What the heck? 9650GT? 9600GT? 9600GS? 9500GT? Way to make the lines more confusing. But at least these are the real McCoy's, not like those rebranded 8600GTs

 

I agree; there are even more models this time around and they are confusing. It's good to give the consumer choices, but don't confuse the hell out of them. I suppose we'll have to wait and see what they are actually like.

All I have to say about Windows 7 is that it had better be a competent operating system. I have never used a Mac or Linux before, but I will learn one of them really fast if it isn't.

Has anyone seen the Toshiba A300 series notebooks? I saw them in Best Buy early this week and thought they were very different. Totally different feel compared to the A200. It has an interesting-feeling keyboard, very light action and it's sort of clicky. The entire vieweable surface of the notebook is glossy black, even the keyboard. Not sure how durable that is going to be. The build quality does seem to be better than the A200 though.

 

The linux forum is always open

 

What I find confusing is how can their be so many cards based on the G96? From the information I've found, the G96 is just a die shrink of the G84 used in the current GeForce 8600 can keeps 32 stream processors on a 128-bit memory bus. Based on the VR-Zone chart the GeForce 9700M GT, 9700M GS, 9650M GT, 9600M GT, 9600M GS, and the 9500M G are all based on the the same G96 core with 32 shaders and add to that the 9500M GS, which is 80nm but also has 32 shaders. That's 7 "different" GPUs with the exact same feature set. Either they are going to try to put ridiculous amounts of RAM, like 1GB that the GPU doesn't need, in the upper models to try to differentiate them or the clock speed differences are going to be very small. Either way, there won't likely be much of a performance difference between two neighboring models although I wouldn't be surprised if they are going to be priced and marketed like there were.

EDIT: In regards to Windows 7, it may be possible that he is referring to a Vista Refresh. I believe Microsoft's policy in the server line is to alternate between a major and minor OS release, which was why there was Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 R2. It may be possible that Microsoft is going to do the same for the consumer versions of Vista if there is going to be a Windows Server 2008 R2, since based on SP1, the Vista and 2008 kernels are in sync whereas the XP and 2003 kernels were different, so it wouldn't be much of a hassle to make a Vista R2 alongside Server 2008 R2. A Vista R2 would give them more time to work on Windows 7, so it works out well for them.

 

Agreed, I saw it at local computer store and my impression was very good about it. Keyboard flex was very minimal and build quality seemed quite sturdy.
I had no idea about battery life though

 

Why does Toshiba keeps insisting in installing 4200 RPM drives??? They are putting in a nice T5500, 3GB of RAM, a new design, but why still those slow drives???

Actually, that was the only reason that kept me from buying a Toshiba in late January this year.

Forget about the market they are intended and all that. Consider the competition, and you can find similar computers, at similar prices, from every manufacturer known, and they will install a 5400 RPM drive.

Hey, even $ 500.00 laptops from Acer or Compaq have a nice 5400 RPM.

So, why???

 

uh, excuse me overkillar, but it clearly states that it's a 200GB 5400RPM hard drive. =P

 

Windows 7 next year? Whoa...I would hope it's not Vista ST (second try). Maybe Microsoft will learn from some of its mistakes...oh wait, how silly of me. What was I thinking?

Maybe they are actually further along with MinWin / WinMin than we know of.

 

Thank god i didn't get a 8800m GTX based system ... 9800m GTX will be faster and cooler i hope.... i want my 15inch powerhouse running cool ^_^

i suspect the 9800m GTX at stock speeds wont be much faster than the 8800m GTX but... however be nice to have some over clocking room or some such.


9800m GTX cool enugh for a macbook pro = dream.. (but wont come true )

 

Seems strange that the next version of windows is already coming. Isn't it a little soon given that Vista is still in its infancy?

 

Seeing as how the desktop 9800 GTX was essentially just a higher clocked 8800 GTS 512 with barely faster performance, it would probably be wiser to wait until the release of a 9900m GTX, which actually has refreshed architecture.

 

Check it out, it is a 4200 RPM!!!

http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/cmod.to?coid=-35439

200GB HDD* (4200rpm, Serial-ATA) hard drive

 

Thoughts on each item (rare that I find all of them iteresting...

****

That's a bamboozling amount of graphics card options. I thought they already had enough variations (add one more for integrated), but no, they'll have even more soon. Dizzying, just dizzying.

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Yay! Can't have a new operating system soon enough! Unless it's Mistake Edition Three. The short timespan between Vista and 7 (if the remark proves accurate, which I rather doubt) makes me somewhat nervous, as does the "new version" phrase. Then again, XP was very good only a year after Mistake Edition (ME) One.

That Release 2 theory sounds like it might have something to it to me though. Kind of like 98 Second Edition, except that Vista has a lot more to fix in a second edition than Windows 98 did.

Oh, and the writing "when Microsoft decided to extend Windows XP sales to 2010" is misleading. I got really excited when I read that, but alas it is only for ultralowcost PC's. Though that didn't stop me from scheming on how I might be able to turn an ULCPC into a really powerful rig through upgrades...

What it all comes down to, though, is that either Microsoft must extend XP sales indefinitely, or come out with a worthy successor, or I'll be joining Chaz in learning a new operating system at some point.

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I'm not sure about this. I guess what it comes down to is so long as it's optional. Data security is important, but when I'm confident there's no risk of my laptop being stolen I'd rather have no password at all.

I don't like the tracking idea, though. It would be a great way for Intel to know where millions of (specific) people are, and I'm sure the government wouldn't mind paying for some of that information. I already decided not to use my copy of CompuTrace because of the irreversibility of enabling it in the BIOS (even though it can be disabled from Task Manager by killing it's process - that's too much work). If Intel makes this always-on, that's a great reason to go AMD.

Hmm, with Appletel now established even closer than Wintel ever was, it looks like I may be going Linux-AMD in a few years here...

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What's a "Gold Edition" of an AMD processor? That's all I want to know. Other details can wait.

 

Gold Edition doesn't mean anything. It's just a way to say that the TL-64 is one of the top tier Turion X2's.

 

Hmmm... 9 series mobile looks interesting!

 

i don't think they will make the 9900 mobile the GT200 chip used in it runs very hot and is psychically very large as well.


i think the 9800m GTX will be the top 9 they release.. but hey it could be just a re branded or 8800m ... just hope its cooler.

i like the fact they have GTS and GS 9800 but... looks like they are getting serious about Laptop gaming

 

too much names from nvidia...

 

It's getting silly. 4 cards are all that's needed.

1. A card that's a step up above integrated graphics.
2. A card that's mid range.
3. A card that's a step below the top.
4. A card that's the top.

I mean, what's Nvidia thinking? Oh right. Each card will get 250-400 more 3Dmark06 points than the one before it. (But only 0 or 2 FPS more than the one before it.)

 

I'm hoping that the release of the high end 9 series cards will lower the price of the 8800 GT(S or X) so I can actually afford one.

Is that realistic?

 

I like the Vista SE idea.

For all you Vista naysayers, shut your mouths unless you actually use Vista. I can only hear so much past-valid complaining for one thread.

Are you still whining about the invention of the telephone, too?
Get over yourselves and your outdated, immature, overblown, and worthless opinions.

Pathetic.

 

For a limited time only. Operators are standing by.

 

OK, cool. Advertising technique. Thought it might be like Black Edition, which IIRC is desktop overclocking edition.

Remember that some of us Vista naysayers tried very hard to get it to work. I used it for five months and it gave me dozens of times more problems than XP has in almost five years. Sure, a few of the problems may have been fixed in the past three months, but none of them were fixed in the five months I used Vista. I think I've got more than enough reason to badmouth Vista.

 

I'm hoping Windows 7 will be what Vista was SUPPOSED to be. It has a lot of shortcomings, though some have been fixed.

 

XP was released 6 and a half years ago, so you were lucky enough to miss its relative birthing issues. Compare Vista 1 and a half years after release to XP when you started using it for a more valid comparison.

Go ahead and badmouth it, but if you don't mind maybe you could use the past tense until you pick it up again. If it continues to bring you problems, then go ahead and switch back to real time.

 

It pains me to see how Microsoft touts Vista for gaming, with its integrated support for "Games for Windows" when it is quite poor at that.

I'm betting this isn't the best anecdote but here goes.
----------------------------------------
My brother (poor high-school student BTW) had a Pentium 4 3.0ghz, XP, 1gb ram, 7900GT desktop which played Crysis "decently".

He upgraded it to a 2.2ghz C2D, 2gb of ram and Vista Home Basic and Crysis and the other games he played actually ran slower on it, much to his disbelief. I told him not to have bought it, he wanted to be "future-proof". Against what, higher framerates?

So he had to lower the settings to play at the same FPS as on XP.

I finally convince stubborn him to "upgrade" to XP and everything runs faster with higher settings and he is so happy now.
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Vista isn't a terrible OS, I enjoyed using it for normal uses, I really like the eye-candy but it is absolutely not for gaming I feel. I am a fan of Microsoft, I have used Windows my entire life, have never used OSX nor Linux, nor do I plan to switch. But they didn't do so hot with Vista and it only makes me appreciate XP even more, have used it happily for 6 years no problems, so I call it Windows XD.

 

The whole "Games for Windows" initiative just came out horribly wrong. The only part I like about it is native support for the X360 controller.

 

The "Games for Windows" initiative came out perfectly. Support for the controller, widescreen required, save games being placed in documents or the saved games folder, etc.

The "Games for Windows LIVE" initiative was horrible.