Sony VGN-FZ190 w/ geforce 8400M GT

[creativename]

Sony is the first I've found w/ a notebook pc w/ a decent dx10 card. I customized one based on FZ model:
2.0 GHz Core2Duo
2 GB 667 MHz DDR2
100 GB HDD
DVD burner
15.4" WXGA
Nvidia Geforce 8400M GT

w/ standard crappy warranty, this is $1438.
Considering the sparse offerings of Santa Rosa notebooks w something other than intel x3100 craptastic graphics, and that the 8400M GT seems to be a pretty good card (128 bit memory interface, plenty of memory), this seems like a great deal compared to HP and others still offering DX9 cards like geforce 7400 for similar price.
Is this as good as it looks? I hesitate to go with sony these days...
Only thing I'd like to hold out for is the LED backlit screen, which is in several sony models already, and wouldn't mind a 7200 rpm HD...

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

The GF8600s are coming in June, as are the HD2600s.

Worth waiting for, that's what I'm doing (preferably GF8600GTS or HD2600/2600XT, plain GF8600GT is half the SPs).

The GF8400M isn't as fast as the GFGO7600, so it's not as attractive, as even in future titles, it'll give you DX10 slideshow, but likely won't be able to enable much.

If you're buying it for any kind of gaming, either get a cheap GFGO7900GS now, or wait for the _600 series cards from AMD and nV.

PS, it's lookig like LEDlit will stay smal panel (13 and under) until the fall, supposedly Apples fall refresh will be all LEDlit for the MacBookPROs.

 

[creativename]

thanks for the tips. i don't really do much in gaming these days, but I don't like to have crap hardware in a new system either. I don't know that I'll feel a strong need for a faster card, but I'll definitely keep that in mind. I assumed (maybe just because the cards are so new) that most of these, even midrange would be pricey by comparson to dx9 cards. This sony shows me that may not be the case, and I can pay a little more.

Don't really need anything till Aug-Sept anyway, so I'll wait, and see if those LED backlit screens don't make it into 15 inchers by then. I am getting a little tired of the old P4 though...

 

[iSamurai]

This is what I'm currently looking at too, but with a bit more HDD space. I'm a gamer, and this laptop is going to be replacing my desktop (it's really out of date), and I'm going to turn it into a NAS. So I've been a bit behind on the state of graphics right now, so the 8400 really jumped at me, I was previously looking at a 7800 notebook. Will the 8400 handle current games pretty well? And how well do you think it'll be doing in a year or two?

 

[creativename]

well, I assumed the graphics would do pretty well for awhile. New dx10 card w/ 128 bit memory bus, decent RAM supply, but grapeape seems to think it would be crap on games, and said the old geforce go 7600 is faster. While I haven't seen any benchmark comparisons between the two, the specs on the nvidia website seem to indicate that in fact, the two cards are very comparable. perhaps he was thinking of the slower 8400m's.
I don't know that I'll have time to play a single game over the next few years, so its probably good enough and futureproof for my needs and then some. If you plan on playing the latest games, you could play it same w/ the 8600.

I have enough time before I buy, so by then I suppose I'll be comparing the 8400s and 8600s w/ the mobile R600 variants as well.

 

[Track]

The GF8600s are coming in June, as are the HD2600s.

Worth waiting for, that's what I'm doing (preferably GF8600GTS or HD2600/2600XT, plain GF8600GT is half the SPs).

Thats got to be the wierdest post uve ever made..

1. The 8600s cards are already out.. and have been out for a month. Its only the X2600s that are coming out in June.

2. The 8600 GT and 8600 GTS have the EXACT same ammount of SPs. The only difference between them is clock speed, wich is something that can easily be modified after purchase. That is why no one should even buy an 8600 GTS under any circumstances.

 

[creativename]

The Acer Aspire 5920 is the best dx10 notebook i've yet seen (and i've been looking). This one has the GeForce 8600M GT, which appears to be the fastest dx10 gpu for nvidia.


Damn Acer, I wish they would put together a respectable website and let people customize their own machine. If you get this, you also pay for an HD-DVD drive. Still, the product is out there, and its a little tempting. Still likely to wait, myself.

 

[cwmizner]

getting the blu ray version seems like a good way to spend $2k, you'll spending 1600 or so without blu ray, 400 is cheap way to get blu ray.

with HDMI out is should play blu ray just as good a component blu ray player????