I wonder how Dirt 2 works out on HP’s current offerings. I know Left4Dead 1/2 does about 40 FPS at 1920×1200 VHigh/High/High/High/8X AA on a nasty Elitebook 8730w, and roughly 25+ FPS on a fully-specced 8530w. 3Ds Max and Adobe CS4 perform excellent on both systems. Envy 15 does L4D1/2 at 60 FPS at 1080p, same quality settings as above. If they would just use the ATI 5650 in at least the 8440/8540 (for 1680×1050 or 1600×900 models), that would translate to some remarkable performance results; perhaps less so with a 1920×1200 display

regarding ATI not releasing their spec sheets to HP – seems to be exactly opposite: ATI released their desktop gpu slides to HP far too early obviously… http://www.driverheaven.net/news.php?newsid=476
these cards are coming at the same time as the mobile ones do, in january.

heres a first test of a mobility 5650 powered notebook (wah its ugly… i love hp so much because of their design): http://www.fudzilla.com/content/view/16916/1/

running dirt 2 28fps on mid settings @1080p is quite impressive for a mainstream notebook gpu IMO. especially when my preferred native resolution is a wsxga+ 1680×1050, which then could be run very well, also with higher details.

In regards to display aspect ratios, I think only the 8440 series will get a 16:9 display, because of the high res screen (1600×900); I don’t think any manufacturer makes a 1680×1050 res screen anything smaller than 15 inches (unless HP can develop their own 13/14 inch high res 16:10 panel, which would be costly and time consuming versus buying existing displays off a supplier). The 8540 and 8740 will almost definitely stick to 16:10 because of the 1920×1200 resolution; and especially the 8740w which can re-use the 8730w’s 16:10 DreamColor display without HP having to create and outfit a new 16:9 DreamColor screen. If anything, the w-variants (workstation) will have 16:10 screens while the p-series could possibly feature 16:9 screens. Again, speculation for the 8540 and 8740. The 8440 definitely has a 16:9 screen based on various sources; but 8540/8740 display aspect ratio is currently unconfirmed.

and the 8510p was the shining star that topped all – i am still using it as my main pc and it still surprises me with its gaming performance (and i dont play anything unless i can play it fluently on maxed settings and the native resolution). regardless to mention the performance of a typical business usage and CAD.. and now would be the time to get a suitable successor, but a 8540p with a dx10 gtx230/250/260 at the time ati has been dominating the market with really amazing dx11 gpus for several months already (i have a 5870 on my desktop so i know what i can miss with an nvidia dx10 card) just isnt a good catch.

i suppose they will all come with 16:9 displays, but a 16:10 would of course be great, far better…

i just hope they change their elitebook business strategy and make an upgrade someday, offering mobility radeon 5600/5800 series on the 8#40p models.

of course, not at the time the radeon 6000 are already being launched, which just would continue the bad business strategy hp does with their really could-be great elitebooks.

I understand your disappointment; I have plans to get either the 8440/8540 next year for CAD work, photo/video processing as well as gaming during the weekends. That is IF the GPU choices are satisfactory enough. By the looks of it now from your news, it doesn’t look as if HP is gonna blow away the competition. Hope the situation changes as we enter the new year (or more graphics card options are added after release?). Heard the announcement will be made after CES 2010.

On a sidenote, I’ve received news that the Elitebook 8440w will have a 1600 x 900 matte display as an option and beta models are currently getting 7-8 hours of light usage using 9-cell batteries using the Core i7 1.73GHz/Nvidia Quadro FX380M config)

its the same problem each year… the 8510p models came with a mobility radeon hd2600 when the hd3650 has just been launched, the 8530p came with the 3650 when the 4650/4670 have just been launched, and now the 8540p comes with nvidia gt200 gpus when ati’s mobility 5650/5670 and 5800s are being launched (january!). if they waited for nvidia to launch their fermi mobile parts, ok… but gt200 is outdated, already now.

and regarding heat and power – there are already plenty of 15” notebooks coming with gtx260m and even gtx280m gpus, so if one prefers graphical power over battery power (not a surprise on top-of-the-line 15” & 17” notebooks), they should be able to get them.

i am a real hp (mainly notebook) fanboy, but this step by hp really makes me think about an alienware, coming with ati mobility radeon 5800 series soon..

As for the GT200-series, I don’t mind if HP uses them; as long as it’s GT240 and above. Higher end graphics models may or may not be used due to power consumption issues (at least on the 14 and 15 inch models, where HP usually manages to squeeze 4-5 hours off a 6/9 cell battery).

they should have put inside an ATI Mobility Radeon 5650/5670 “Park” GPU, as well as an option for a 5850/5870 “Broadway”.

since nvidia gf100/gt300 “fermi” DESKTOP isnt to be out till Q1/2010, so the mobile models even later, the nvidia gpus coming inside the 8#40p models are gonna be outdated gt200 gpus.

again, FAIL, HP!

i really hoped to get a great successor to my 8510p with a core i7 XM CPU and an ATI Mobility Radeon park/broadway GPU…

FAIL, HP!