I’m a curious person who likes doing a lot of thinking and analysis of things. And after yesterday’s revelation of an unannounced ATI FirePro M5800 card, I’ve been thinking… which consumer ATI card would be the mysterious workstation-class FirePro M5800 be based on? The answer, I suspect, lies with HP and their Elitebook 8540w. See, their current Elitebook 8540w makes available two Nvidia Quadro graphics options: the 512 MB Quadro FX880M and 1 GB Quadro FX1800M. Both are 40 nm chipsets. All of ATI’s new Mobility Radeon 5000 series graphics cards are based on the 40 nm process, plus the fact that ATI (with their recent reputation of coming out with all the good stuff) is very unlikely to use their “old” 4000-series designs for a new product… first part solved – the FirePro M5800 will be based off a card in the 5000-series.
Now, which specific card in the ATI Mobility Radeon 5000 series? The Nvidia Quadro card options for the Elitebook 8540w have bandwidth figures of 25.6 to 31.2 GB/s and TDP values of 35W and 45W respectively. So the ATI FirePro M5800 card HP has chosen should sit with specifications somewhere near those ranges. Also, the Nvidia Quadro FX1800M is a DDR3/GDDR5 card. So at first guess, one would probably suspect the ATI Mobility Radeon 5470 as the “base” of the new FirePro card, but no… it has a lower minimum bandwidth (12.8 GB/s) and significantly lower TDP (13W-15W) than the Nvidia cards.
Under the fairly accurate assumption that HP would like to keep power consumption/heat output/TDP similar to Nvidia’s cards, so to get the most out of the Elitebook 8540w’s design, the ATI FirePro M5800 will likely (with high probability) be based off the ATI Mobility Radeon 5850. The Mobility Radeon 5850 ticks all the boxes for being the perfect candidate for creating a workstation-class graphics card which matches/bests Nvidia’s top offering (FX1800M) for 15 inch notebooks – bandwidth (28.8-64 GB/s), DDR3/GDDR5, manufacturing process, TDP (30-39 W) and all are a closer match than any other graphics card that ATI has. So I’m almost 99% certain this will be it – the FirePro M5800 will be based off the ATI Mobility Radeon 5850, and time will tell if my guess is correct.
Good news folks, they’re finally up for order! Yes, I’m talking about HP’s new Elitebook models. The Elitebook 8440p, 8440w, 8540p and 8540w notebooks have just appeared on HP’s official website, are up for order and have the following base list prices:
- HP Elitebook 8440p starts at $979
- HP Elitebook 8440w starts at $1425
- HP Elitebook 8540p starts at $1299
- HP Elitebook 8540w starts at $1399
I currently have access to three of the Elitebook models above (don’t ask!) and I’ve been very impressed with them, each with a unique strangth: the 8440p for very cool (temperature-wise) and silent operation, 8440w for portable power (the only 14 inch notebook with quad-core Core i7 in the market) and 8540w for sheer power (more versatile than HP’s own Envy 15 and more powerful than some Elitebook 8730w configurations!)
So far only pre-built models are available, with “configure to order” models that you can customize expected to become available soon, later this February.
Impressed by ATI’s new Mobility Radeon 5000 series graphics cards?! Want plenty of power in your new Elitebook 8540w? Well, apparently someone listened to my plea/bright idea… because the new Elitebooks available today were initially planned as “Nvidia Quadro exclusives” but now, there’s word that ATI’s new (and currently, unannounced) FirePro M5800 workstation-class graphics card (a professional variation of one of the consumer Radeon 5000-series) will be making its way to the Elitebook 8540w some time in the future. This is according to a PDF document spotted by one of our readers, Domiel, on HP’s support page for the 8540w, one of the graphics options listed for the HP Elitebook 8540w was a “ATI FirePro M5800″ card.
I have also received confirmation from several trusted sources that ATI’s new line of workstation class graphics will indeed be coming soon for both the Elitebook 8540w and currently unannounced Elitebook 8740w. Yay for the world! Stay tuned
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…
