News Bits: ThinkPad X300 Brochure Leaked, Firefox 3 Beta, ATI HD 3870 Graphics in March

ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870 to arrive in March

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An AMD roadmap shows that the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870 graphics card will be launched in March. Given that the desktop ATI Radeon HD 3870 is comparable to the Nvidia 8800, the Mobility Radeon HD 3870 should at least challenge the Nvidia GeForce 8800M-GTS graphics card.

Read More (Crave.Cnet.com)
Forum Discussion
Special thanks to forum member Yokozuna for submitting this bit

Lenovo X300 product brochure leaked

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A product brochure for the ThinkPad X300 has been leaked and is available for viewing.

NotebookReview.com coverage of the X300
Read More (Forums.ThinkPads.com)

Dell XPS M1730 gets Penryn option

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Dell has updated its flagship XPS M1730 gaming notebook with the new Intel Core 2 Duo Penryn 45nm CPU options. The base processor is now the 2.4GHz T8300; upgrade options include the T9300 for $125, the older T7800 for $400, and the X7900 Extreme Edition for $750. Of all the CPU options, the T8300 and T9300 are the most sensible choices. Dell has not yet given the M1730 the new Penryn X9000 option; it should be available soon from Intel.

NotebookReview.com review for the XPS M1730
Product Page (Dell.com)

Intel, Nokia introduce seamless WiFi switching

Intel and Nokia have introduced a concept that is not new but extremely useful. The technology will allow for seamless switching between a variety of wireless networks, most notably between WiFi and WiMAX. When the wireless signal gets weak, the software switches over and connects to the WiMAX network, taking with it the data streams currently going over the WiFi.

Read More (HEXUS.net)

Firefox 3 Beta available

Mozilla has released the Firefox 3 Beta for download. It has architectural changes which should speed up web browsing by making page rendering faster, added personalization features, and better downloading. Increased security is another improvement. Mozilla says the Beta is not for casual users; the full release is expected later this year.

Read More (ChannelRegister.co.uk)

Gaming performance difference between Core 2 Duo T5450/T9300

How much of a performance gain is there by going from a budget Core 2 Duo T5450 (1.66GHz) to a high-end Penryn T9300 (2.5GHz) in gaming? The results are mixed. Crysis does not benefit a whole lot from the increased CPU power as the game is limited by the GPU. However, for World in Conflict, a game that greatly depends on the available CPU power, the difference is quite drastic - average framerates go from 26 frames per second with the T5450 to 40 frames per second with the T9300 and a GPU overclock.

Read on in the forums

 

Holy....

I just read illuminated buttons, rubber palmrest paint, matte keys, etc. IMO, the X300 is the definition of a premium laptop. The brochure is amazing. Just read it and you'll know why this laptop is priced the way it is.

Thanks for the information Chaz!

 

what does luminated buttons mean? does it mean an above light luminates the buttons similar to the thinklight? or does it mean it has a backlit keyboard? I'm hopping it's the latter one.

Either way, on paper it looks like a laptop that is worth the 2600+ dollars.

EDIT: Hmmm, from the online pictures of X300, the only backlit buttons I can see are the volume and ThinkAdvantage button......bummer

 

anything on the mobile 3870's specs?

 

The x300 looks pretty good. If I was in the market for a smaller notebook, it would be the winner, hands down!

 

I love how they have "Advantage: Asus - 2.5" HDDs"

Then why doesn't the X300 have 2.5" HDDs? If they were pushing SSDs hard, they should've said "Advantage Thinkpad - SSD"

Or were they hinting at capacity? =O

 

if you don't wanna install f3 beta but wanna check it out anyway, then download the portable version:

http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable/test

 

I think that because so far SSD's don't really have any advantage over 2.5" hard drives except durability (Mtron excluded, they're damned fast as well). Seeing that 2.5" hard drives are much faster than 1.8", and SSD's come in 2.5" as well, it's a much better option. The thing is, 1.8" drives are much smaller, and in the case of mechanical drives, lighter as well. It's a compromise that has to be made for smaller machines, but as SSD's gain on and surpass HDD's it will stop being an issue. As far as speed, that's probably within the next 12-18 months.

 

what's the point of releasing a 3870M when 99.99% of the notebooks won't use it? and you don't even have the choice to upgrade to it

 

I believe it refers to the thinklight.

 

AMD is trying to crack the high-end market. There will always be notebooks that will use it. Especially if it comes at a competitive cost and low by comparison power consumption.

 

It also bears mentioning that the margins on gamer notebooks are fairly fat, so it's understandable why AMD would want a cut of that.

Frankly, if the Mobility 3870 winds up being as good as I think it'll be, it'll just be a matter of getting it into the hands of the OEMs (unlike the X800 and X1800/X1900 mobility parts, which were pretty rare). But I see this one going well for AMD.

 

I wouldn't be too sure of that:
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4233

 

Yes, but I'm pretty sure that at least 90% of those will be HD3400s and HD3600s, if not more.

 

Any chance of seeing the HD3870 in less-than-17" notebooks?

I'm really searching for an m15x competitor..

 

The X300 looks like a keeper, and I want it! That will be my next Thinkpad.

Most interesting to me is the fact that it comes standard with XP Pro. How big of a disaster has Vista been? A new, cutting-edge, highly-desirable ultra-portable is coming out, and the supposed MS flagship o/s is not being used. My, my....