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There was once a time when the
average Laptop Computer, even the top of the line models,
were designed and built strictly for business. There
were little if any true multimedia capabilities, without the
need for DVD Drives, elaborate sound systems, CD-RW drives
or 3D Graphics. You got your basic CPU, Drive, RAM and
LCD screen with floppy, keyboard and mouse. The bells
and whistles just weren't available and gaming on these
machines was not even considered. However, as the
average end user became more PC savvy and technology made it
possible to bring the power of desktop systems into the
laptop's tiny flat footprint, a whole new market segment
began to develop. The "Desktop Replacement" Laptop was
born.
The Desktop
Replacement Laptop is a hybrid of sorts. These
machines combine features and performance on par with full
systems, however with a slightly bulkier form factor than
the average Laptop system. The type of user that has
been targeted for this product, is a performance hungry
individual with the need for all of the creature comforts of
today's modern PC, as well as the ability to pack it up and
hit the road. Your basic "have your cake and eat too"
type of individuals are the target market for the Desktop
Replacement Laptop.
Recently, we had the need to purchase a couple of portable
machines here at the HH Lab and set out to determine just
what kind of horsepower money could buy, in a laptop machine
built on leading edge technology. We chose Compaq and
Dell units but decided to give you a quick take on the
Dell,
since it came equipped with the kind of setup that even the
HotHardware.com Elite folks like you, could appreciate.
Under the hood of our Dell Inspiron 8200, were the all new
Pentium 4M Mobile CPU, as well as the latest in NVIDIA
Mobile Graphics, the GeForce4 440 Go with 64MB of memory.
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Specifications and Features of the GeForce4 440
Go and the Pentium 4M |
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The Dynamic Duo |
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Fully
compatible with Intel® SpeedStep?
and AGP_STOP_ /AGP_BUSY_ protocol,
including all Pentium® III and Pentium 4
Integrated transform and lighting (T&L)
256-bit graphics engine
32-bit color
32-bit Z/stencil buffer
High performance 256-bit 2D engine
Optimized for multiple color depths
including 32-, 24-, 16-, 15-, and
8-bits per pixel
Multibuffering (double, triple, quad)
for smooth animation and video playback
Lightspeed Memory Architecture (LMA) II
Supports 128-bit DDR, 64-bit DDR, and
32-bit DDR SDRAM up to 250MHz
Up to 8GB/sec. memory bandwidth
Z-cull support for hidden surface removal
AGP 4X with Fast Writes
AccuView high-resolution AA engine
nView display technology
Dual independent display controllers
PowerMizer hardware and software technology
Extensive clock gating
Dynamic clock control
Dynamic voltage adjustment
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Available Speeds:
1.80GHz, 1.70GHz, 1.60GHz, 1.50GHz, 1.40GHz
Chipset Mobile Intel® 845 Chipset
Up to 1GB DDR SDRAM
Intel® NetBurst? Microarchitecture
400MHz system bus
Hyper-pipelined technology
Rapid execution engine
Execution trace cache
Advanced transfer cache
Advanced dynamic execution
Enhanced floating point/multimedia
.13 micron Die Geometry
512K On Chip Cache
400MHz System Bus
Enhanced SpeedStep Power Savings
Technology
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The Pentium 4M
is pretty straightforward, in terms of the actual technology
that is driving the chip. The Pentium 4M is
a socket 478 CPU that
has Intel's "SpeedStep" power savings technology built in.
Speedstep, in short, is a level of circuitry and software
that Intel built for the P4 (as well as historically, the
Pentium III) that allows the processor to turn its clock
speed down, when demand on the CPU is relatively low.
If an application or multiple applications require more
horse power, the system automatically turns up clock speed
on the CPU to handle the task. Essentially, it is a
dynamic power saving system that senses system demand and
adjusts accordingly.
NVIDIA's GeForce4 440 Go
is derived from the
GeForce4 MX core. That is to say it is a Direct X 7
GPU without pixel or vertex shaders. It does however,
have a couple of additional features over the GeForce4 Ti
desktop product. Firstly, the GF4 440 Go also has
NVIDIA's new "VPE" (Video Processing Engine). This is
essentially an enhancement to the digital video subsystem
currently found on the GeForce4 Ti products. It supports in
hardware and accelerates the complete MPEG-2 stack,
including IDCT (inverse discrete cosine transform) and
motion compensation. This technology is also currently
available on the GeForce4 MX but it is a natural for the
laptop space, where watching DVDs is pure decadence on those
long flights back home. Incidentally, yes we did
actually disassemble our new $3000 laptop, so that we could
show you the hardware in action. The things we do for
you folks! Now that's dedication.
As with the
GeForce4 desktop product line, there are various flavors of
GeForce4 440 Go systems for the Laptop OEMs to choose from
for different end user configurations.
GeForce4 440
Go Configurations - Click for full view
Finally, NVIDIA
has incorporated their new PowerMizer technology into the
GeForce4 440 Go. This technology, much like Intel's "SpeedStep",
clocks down the GPU at various end user settings in the
control panel. This
technology is not just software however. PowerMizer
technology is actually internal circuitry within the GPU,
that allows that core to shut down all logic gates that are
not in use. For example, let's say you are digging
into a few rounds of Jedi Knight II. During this full
screen 3D only session, there is no need for your digital
video engine to be in full gear, so that section of the chip
is shut off, until such time that you call upon it with a
DVD ROM. We should underscore the fact that PowerMizer is a
3D Gaming only technology. It will not save you
battery life when watching DVDs or running spreadsheets on
the desktop.
Well then, let's
take a quick look at our test system and then show you just
what PowerMizer can do. After all, you are on a laptop
and unless there is a wall socket near by, all these toys
can eat up power.
Dell's Inspiron 8200 and Power Miser Testing
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