Quake on the Run: NVidia Brings Gamer-Style GeForce Graphics to Notebooks
Tom Mainelli
Sometimes you just gotta play. But try a round of Quake III on a laptop. It's a lousy, herky-jerky experience because even the best systems lack the graphics oomph to run such a demanding 3D title.
NVidia's new GeForce2 Go mobile graphics controller changes all that. Great notebook graphics? We've heard that before. But our skepticism faded after just a few minutes with a $2749 preproduction Toshiba Satellite 2805-S402, the first to use the GeForce2 Go (units from Dell and others are in the wings). Its fluid visuals backed terrific test scores. And it handles work presentations well, too.
The new mobile chip set is the first to have what NVidia calls a graphics processing unit. The GPU enables some of the more sophisticated graphics functions--such as transform and lighting--that are found in recent desktops, and it renders smoke, fog, and textures more realistically.
The GeForce2 Go's GPU processes 286 million pixels per second. That's not much compared to the 1 billion pixels per second managed by NVidia's GeForce2 Ultra desktop chip set, but the company claims it's enough to render 3D graphics up to ten times faster than average mobile graphics chip sets can.
To match the fancy graphics, Toshiba's 2805 has a fast Pentium III-850 CPU, 128MB of SDRAM, 16MB of SGRAM for graphics, a 20GB hard drive, a 15-inch active-matrix LCD, a combo 6X DVD/4X CD-RW/24X CD-ROM drive, sound with subwoofer, a built-in 56-kbps modem, and ethernet. Add a SmartMedia slot and an IEEE 1394 port, and you have a serious 8.7-pound (loaded for travel) notebook.
Looking Good
In informal tests using the graphics-rich Unreal Tournament, the 2805 rendered great detail and texturing, as well as fluid video--easily the best we've seen on a laptop. DVD movies were equally stunning.
The 2805 also garnered a top-notch PC WorldBench 2000 score of 146. As we expected, the unit shone in our graphics tests, with averages well above 60 frames per second on a series of 3D applications and demanding games like MDK2, at a low 640 by 480 resolution with 16-bit color (65,536 colors). At its native 1024 by 768 resolution, it managed a satisfactory average of more than 30 fps.
The 2805 performed well above most laptops, but it did not match desktops with top graphics. And at 32-bit color (16.7 million colors), the 2805's frame rates slowed noticeably. Most users should be well satisfied with its capabilities, however.
Gamers Delight
NVidia's competition isn't standing still. ATI, the current mobile graphics market leader, has launched its Mobility Radeon, which it claims combines advanced power management with many of the 3D texture and rendering features of its Radeon desktop counterpart. Expect systems equipped with it by autumn of 2001.
Serious gamers who've been waiting for a worthy notebook, as well as home and small-business users interested in a solid desktop replacement with the mojo to run an occasional game or DVD, should be well served by the new chip sets. The 2805 offers a visually stunning example of the platform's power and potential.
| Buying Information |
Toshiba Satellite 2805-S402 Street price: $2749 Toshiba 800/457-7777 http://www.csd.toshiba.com |