HP Fansite

Elitebook 8740w’s ATI FirePro M7820′s confirmed relation to Mobility Radeon 5870

This picture is for illustration only =) but you get the point

Totally excited about the upcoming 17 inch HP Elitebook 8740w? Then there’s even more exciting news! It’s obvious now that, not only does the Core i7 Quad, 4 DIMM RAM slot sporting Elitebook 8740w want your attention before you drop several grand on a MacBook Pro 17 “for graphics design”… it also wants to be an Asus G73 (a gaming notebook, the only one in the market at the moment with ATI Mobility Radeon 5870 graphics) fighter as well. A reliable source who only wishes to be known as “HP Fan” has posted findings on their recent hands-on with the ATI FirePro M7820 equipped Elitebook 8740w, that the FirePro M7820 is based off the consumer top-of-the-line (for mobile graphics) ATI Mobility Radeon 5870! Like its consumer counterpart, the workstation-class FirePro M7820 supports DirectX 11, has a huge 1 GB of memory and sips a humble 50W at max (compared to 100W of the top Nvidia Quadro FX3800M card).

Want proof? HP Fan has discovered that CPU-Z lists the Elitebook 8740w’s FirePro M7820 to have GPU and memory clock listings of 700 Mhz and 1000 Mhz respectively (which is in-line with the listings detected by CPU-Z in various reviews of the Asus G73 + ATI Mobility Radeon 5870, and also specifications on AMD’s official website). Even better yet, the ATI FirePro M7820 in the Elitebook 8740w has apparently the more powerful GDDR5 memory (because weaker GDDR3 and DDR3 variations of the Mobility Radeon 5870 exist) and it  scores 12,249 points in 3D Mark 06 (even when unfortunately paired with a comparatively, lowly Core i5 520M dual core processor); ORB even lists the card as “ATI Mobility Radeon 5870″ (!!!).

The sad part to all this good news? If you’re looking to go for the color-precise DreamColor display option HP offers, you can only pick a Nvidia card to go with it. However, if you’re not some photographer, hardcore graphics designer, or work at DreamWorks… just someone who wants a computer for “regular” CAD and design work, which can also double as a very nice gaming notebook, then the HP Elitebook 8740w with ATI graphics is probably for you. Pair it up with a Core i7 (Quad) processor and the Elitebook 8740w + ATI FirePro M7820 can effectively become a nice alternative that’s lighter and more compact than the Asus G73 gaming notebook (and also the Alienware M17x gaming notebook). Nice!

So to get DreamColor (and forced with Nvidia graphics, at the moment) or butt-kicking ATI graphics? That is the question… but just remember that the ATI FirePro M7820 supports DirectX 11 (Quadro FX3800M) doesn’t, performs better (in gaming, at least) while consuming half the power of the FX3800M and is a whopping $895 cheaper than the FX3800M (strange, isn’t it) using HP’s CTO notebook configurator. It’s also noteworthy that “HP Fan” says there will definitely be a new graphics card option towards later this year for the Elitebook 8740w, and it’s probably Nvidia “Fermi Quadro for Mobile” (say that three times as fast).

HP 2010 Envy 15 Review (ATI Mobility Radeon 5830 and Core i7 Quad)

I have a friend who recently bought a new HP Envy 15, which HP updated last month with new Intel Core i5 mobile processor options and ATI Mobility Radeon 5830, and USB 3.0 (with Core i7 models only). First, a little intro on why he decided to buy the Envy 15, and why now – he wanted to replace his aging 15 inch notebook with some thing of similar size and with a lot of power for his PC games, and liked the 2009 Envy 15 (mainly due to build quality), but decided to hold out until ATI released their Mobility Radeon 5000 series graphics card. Coincidentally, the refreshed 2010 Envy 15 was the first (or one of the first) notebook with ATI’s new breed of DX11 mobile graphics available, so he got his cake and got to eat it too. So two weeks ago (or was it three), after his Envy 15 arrived, he offered me to take this new machine on a two week [intensive] test drive, in exchange for helping him set things up – install his games and software, remove the bloatware (ahem, Norton trial, ahem) and stuff… an offer I gladly accepted!

It’s gonna be a fairly in-depth review with many pretty pictures, and I don’t want to jam up the front page, so hit that link to continue reading.

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Earth to HP: ATI Mobility Radeon 5000 series in Elitebooks please

Hey HP (yes, you, Hewlett Packard), guess what? Your new Elitebook 8440 and 8540 notebooks are already awesome. But you know what would put a smile on the faces of consumers, gamers and even some CAD/graphics professionals alike? Well, here’s a hint, AnandTech have got a set of benchmark numbers for the ATI’s new Mobility Radeon 5650 and 5870 graphics cards for notebooks. And well, if you make at least one of ATI’s latest 5000-series mobile graphics an option for the newly launched Elitebook models, I bet they’re gonna fly off the shelves once they’re available for order (and I’ll probably be one of the first in line!)

Those numbers practically blow the socks off Nvidia’s high-end GeForce GTX280M, and I bet things aren’t going to be very different if you compare those ATI cards to Nvidia’s new GeForce 300M series – ATI still wins.

My plea comes on behalf of all the people who enjoy high performance mobility (see the comment by a very power-hungry user). True, most would already settle for a great notebook like the Elitebook 8440 or 8540. But how about something super jaw-dropping awesome for those who crave absolute power. Using ATI’s new graphics cards would make the new Elitebook models so edge bleeding, they’d be at the very top in their class – relatively thin, versatile and extremely powerful. Food for thought.

So far none of HP’s websites (including international ones) list specifications or product pages for the new Elitebook 8440 and 8540… so there’s still time to consider/re-consider ATI if you haven’t already, and quickly slot them in before those product/specifications pages come online! It’s not too late, HP! Now just do it…