Mobile graphics cards ...

[1c4i4]

Hi,


I'm thinking of buying myself a laptop as I will be on the move several times next semester. I think I'll go for the Dell Inspirion model.

As I like to program 3d graphics applications in my spare time I was thinking to throw in an ATI mobile radeaon 9000. Do you think this would be a good decision. (nVidia doesn't support any shaders as of now ...)

Anyone knows of any other mobile parts (supporting vs2.0 or ps2.0) on the horizon?

Let me know your suggestions!


Jurgen

[Snyder]

I'm thinking of buying myself a laptop as I will be on the move several times next semester. I think I'll go for the Dell Inspirion model.


I'm quite satisfied with my Dell Inspiron 8200. (Well, technically my employer owns it, but it _belongs_ to me! ;-) )
You get a lot of 'bang for your buck'.
In any case take the 'UltraSharp' display, it's simply great (high contrast ratio!), and if you want to code on it, then 1600x1200 is just fine (At least it is for me, and I'm mainly coding on mine).
Be aware that it isn't very beautiful.
And it doesn't reach the (mechanical) stability of, say, an IBM. But it isn't that bad, overall it's ok for the given price tag.


As I like to program 3d graphics applications in my spare time I was thinking to throw in an ATI mobile radeaon 9000. Do you think this would be a good decision. (nVidia doesn't support any shaders as of now ...)



If you want shaders, that's the only choice at the moment.
I've got a gf4go which is quite fast and the drivers are very good, but - as you said - no DX8. I don't know how soon we will see the NV28M.
One thing I've noticed in the last half year: nView works IMO quite poor compared to hydravision, at least it's annoying to use.


Anyone knows of any other mobile parts (supporting vs2.0 or ps2.0) on the horizon?


Well, thats a good question, and at the moment there are only rumors (M10 from ATI, errm...NV31M from nVidia? Or did I just make this up?)

[Ante P]

As for shaders there's the one already mentioned: Radeon 9000. Also GeForce 4 4200 Go and perhaps even a Trident XP4.
But Personally I'd wait for the Radeon 9500 Mobile, I assume though that it's the 4x1 version (ie not Pro) so performance won't be breathtaking but at least you have PS/VS 2.0 and probably just as good performance as 4200 Go and probably lower power consumption (4200 Go seems like a real monster unless nVidias has some tricks up their sleeve)