Got my ivy ultra book and not impressed at all with igp

[Magic Carpet]

Here you go OP, a possible solution, if your laptop works with it

http://forum.notebookreview.com/e-gpu-external-graphics-discussion/418851-diy-egpu-experiences.html

This is cool but... highly impractical. There might be some weird incompatibility issues, I almost certainly guarantee you.

 

[BallaTheFeared]

This is cool but... highly impractical. There might be some weird incompatibility issues, I almost certainly guarantee you.

It is cool, a couple years I was looking for something like this and now it's possible.

<3 tech

 

[BD231]

You don't buy an intel iGPU for gaming, period. People who were hyped about the massive performance over the intel 3000 series just didn't realize how terrible the 3000 really is.

To bad Intel didn't buy ATI.

 

[Magic Carpet]

It is cool, a couple years I was looking for something like this and now it's possible.

<3 tech

Can't wait for "mini-nuclear reactors" in laptops. I hate buying "old tech" every year. We need a revolution in this field.

 

[pelov]

Good point and thank you for bringing this up.

Here is some really good commentary I found on the topic:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5872/i...abook-review/2

Quote:
It appears from the review slides that there are some versions of the above Ultrabook with 8GB RAM, but our sample included 4GB DDR3-1600 from Samsung in a dual-channel configuration. As we’ll see in a moment, the RAM is soldered straight onto the motherboard, so there’s no upgrading it. This isn’t a huge issue for our benchmarks and testing, but if I were an end user I would definitely go straight to 8GB these days (assuming you can find such an Ultrabook). For one, opening up an Ultrabook is typically more complex and/or frustrating than getting at the RAM/HDD in other laptops[/b], but more importantly it looks like most Ultrabooks are soldering RAM onto the motherboard—the extra thickness of an SO-DIMM might not seem like much, but when you’re trying to get under 18mm every bit of savings counts!
8 GB "soldered in" vs. 4 GB "soldered in" + the ability to upgrade to another 4GB? (Impact on Form factor size?)

I wouldn't mind if the CPUs ran at the same speeds on single channel as they did on dual, but they don't. Dual channel configurations are a rather significant upgrade to a laptop. We here have been building PCs and repairing them for years and know how common RAM errors are and soldering DDR in is an absolutely horrible move, particularly when you consider that the standard 1-year warranties aren't budging. There' just no way in hell I nor anybody else should buy any laptop with soldered RAM.

 

[Magic Carpet]

I wouldn't mind if the CPUs ran at the same speeds on single channel as they did on dual, but they don't. Dual channel configurations are a rather significant upgrade to a laptop. We here have been building PCs and repairing them for years and know how common RAM errors are and soldering DDR in is an absolutely horrible move, particularly when you consider that the standard 1-year warranties aren't budging. There' just no way in hell I nor anybody else should buy any laptop with soldered RAM.

Oh, they will. Just because they are light, thin and look so smart. Women particularly light that. Who cares, what's inside... certainly not the technically savvy people. You want more ram... buy a new laptop. Just like the smartphone market 😛

Every 1-2 years. Life is good 😀

 

[IntelUser2000]

I think it'll be fine because they use standard JEDEC spec memory on Laptops, unlike Desktops which can go over spec with higher voltages.* But upgradability may be something some manufacturers should consider, at least for differentiation.

Some tainted brands back when I built the Sandy Bridge system were G.Skill and OCZ, and maybe Patriot. They save minimally on costs but sacrifice on quality. Kingston, Corsair were some of the best. I don't know if that's true now.

*Basically, cheaper DIMMs use higher voltages to get same rating as the more expensive ones.

 

[pelov]

I think it'll be fine because they use standard JEDEC spec memory on Laptops, unlike Desktops which can go over spec with higher voltages.* But upgradability may be something some manufacturers should consider, at least for differentiation.

Some tainted brands back when I built the Sandy Bridge system were G.Skill and OCZ, and maybe Patriot. They save minimally on costs but sacrifice on quality. Kingston, Corsair were some of the best. I don't know if that's true now.

*Basically, cheaper DIMMs use higher voltages to get same rating as the more expensive ones.

And when memtest86+ comes up with errors after your 1-year warranty expires? What then? You've got a nice decrease in performance at best running single channel and at worst you've got a dual channel config that won't boot your OS. Congratulations on your new brick.

Of all the sites on the intranets, you'd figure people here would understand this. We're not Sheeple and we don't pray to our alter of Steve Jobs with his mighty glue stick. We're well aware of hardware failures, how likely they are and just what they entail. Soldering in ram is a big no-no.

 

[grkM3]

There are a few ultra books that use the thunderbolt port and with that you can use a better video card.I'll have to look but I don't think mine has it and for the ram I have a 2 year warranty and I personally have never had ram go bad on me and not worried one bit.I wished HP would of said intergrated ddr 3 instead of saying one dimm because I would of gotten the 8gb setup thinking I could just add another dimm from ready the specs they listed.

On the subject Intel is trying to inter grate everything on the CPU anyways and I think after haswell they are intergrating the whole chip set on the CPU like a soc system we have now.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Some tainted brands back when I built the Sandy Bridge system were G.Skill and OCZ, and maybe Patriot. They save minimally on costs but sacrifice on quality. Kingston, Corsair were some of the best. I don't know if that's true now.

Well, besides the recent expose on GSkill's 2133 memory being made from overclocked 1333 chips, I also recently found out that they allow up to two errors per module during their burn-in testing. How do you like them apples?

 

[Yuriman]

Well, besides the recent expose on GSkill's 2133 memory being made from overclocked 1333 chips, I also recently found out that they allow up to two errors per module during their burn-in testing. How do you like them apples?

Depends on the type of errors, all memory without ECC makes errors if you run it long enough.

I'm fine with having some lines of laptops built extra-thin and others having conventional slot-memory, but I *don't* want to see this become an industry standard. I don't want a disposable laptop, so I will not buy an Ultrabook with soldered-in memory and I hope I continue to have that option.

 

[zCypher]

One of my first jobs was working in a computer store, which was fun for a while. It made me realize just how much RAM does turn out to be bad, holy crap. Many people would bring their computers back, and when running the mem test it would find errors. I'd take new RAM, mem test it, and it would be giving errors as well. Sometimes I'd have to go through several sticks of RAM before getting one that would pass memtest. Granted, I think this was real cheap stuff but still.

I love that my x120e was super easy to upgrade the RAM, but it is chunky as hell compared to these ultrabooks.

It's a trade off I guess, you need to save space one way or another if you're making a laptop that thin.

 

[Arkaign]

IGPs suck for gaming, period 🙁

The ultrabook is a particularly bad example as well, because the form factor is really designed for thin/light/weak, and pretty $$$. The same money will buy a much better unit that actually can do some decent gaming, but won't be as thin/light. Or better yet, a desktop. Laptop gaming even at it's best is garbage compared to even a midrange desktop at half the budget.

 

[cbn]

Can't wait for "mini-nuclear reactors" in laptops. I hate buying "old tech" every year. We need a revolution in this field.

http://ultrabooknews.com/2012/05/25/ultrabook-battery-technology-is-not-likely-to-change/

It frustrates me that battery technology has been so slow. A 7% year-on-year improvement in energy density is poor, if not suspicious because it’s clear that a company producing batteries that are longer lasting, with more capacity is going to suffer! They’ll tell you that chemistry doesn’t permit big advances and to some extent it’s true because you can just build a new manufacturing plant and close the old one but we’ve seen so many news items about major breakthroughs in improvements to the current technology that you wonder why they’re not reaching the market. Here’s an article from today about a breakthrough at Washington State University.

We can’t expect major changes in battery technology due to the billions invested in chemical plants around the world but it’s reasonable to expect 15 or 20% per year, surely.

I wrote the same story in 2006 and again in 2007. Nothing much seems to be happening in the battery industry except tiny step improvements. In reality, that’s what’s likely to continue to happen unless someone steps in. Intel, their customers and their 300 million Ultrabook capital fund are the people to do this. Let’s get some action in the battery industry. Let’s get some transparency too.

 

[Idontcare]

http://ultrabooknews.com/2012/05/25/ultrabook-battery-technology-is-not-likely-to-change/

I love the conspiracy-driven mentality.

edit: LOL, the link to WSU 😀 That is my alma mater, and Grant Norton was one of my professors, small world.

 

[pelov]

It's a good first step towards decreasing costs. Batteries tend to be a large factor in the overall price of a laptop. I wouldn't expect anything drastic with regards to price decrease and improved battery life, though. Batteries are holding back mobile tech advancements across the entire spectrum and not just in notebooks. Look at the car industry 😛

I'm hoping Haswell really brings forward a great ultrabook capable platform. Now Intel just needs to push easily replaceable parts (no glue/soldering. For the love of god, who the hell got that bright idea?) and better displays. It pains me to browse laptops with 15.6" diagonal resolution and only 1366x768p, knowing full well the company could have spent a mere +$15 more and put in a 1080p display.

 

[cbn]

I love the conspiracy-driven mentality.

edit: LOL, the link to WSU 😀 That is my alma mater, and Grant Norton was one of my professors, small world.

I don't understand the economics behind battery factories myself, but it seems to me in the world of electronic devices Intel probably has the largest vested interest in seeing battery development increase at a faster rate. (Compared to ARM, Intel Core series CPUs need more power.)

With that said, I just have to wonder what other Industries (besides EVs) have the need for higher density battery development? How does these needs compare to Intel's need?

Maybe someone has done some studies? (I will try and look these up if at all possible)

P.S. With a higher battery density these complaints I am reading about the soldered-in RAM wouldn't be an issue. A smaller/higher density battery pack would allow the necessary room in the chassis to continue SO-DIMM.

 

[Magic Carpet]

@ Computer Bottleneck

Good points. Thanks for the link.

Personally, I just think they want to milk their cash-cow for as long as possible. Chemistry industry can advance more but why bother, if the already existing tech is selling so well? Somebody needs to step in and "fix" this. If there is a will, there is a weapon 😛

 

[IntelUser2000]

Of all the sites on the intranets, you'd figure people here would understand this.

Ehh, I'm not questioning you. Based on my experience all the laptops I've known had failed HDDs before RAM issues were brought up. If not, then it was completely user fault, like dropping a laptop from few feet off the ground.

 

[grkM3]

I took a few pics of the keyboard setup as some people think the keys are hard to type on,this ultrabook is perfect for me while typing.The keys are right where my hands lay comfortably and the actual keypad is nice and big.

I also want to note that hp made this laptop to take apart with ease,there are a few philips screws on the back and bam its opened up in less than a min.there is no tricks or special tools needed and once you open it up it has the part number for a new battery and the battery is held in with 2 screws and it took me a min to take the battery out and it even has a tab showing you where to pull and what screws to take out.I can swap a battery in this baby in less than 5 min and that with it booting back up and reseting the clock in bios lol

yes the ram is intergrated but you get 2 year warranty and can buy another 2 years if you want.

here are some pics and the sony laptop that it replaced had the worst keypad ever,the keys were so close to eachother and was a pain to type on.

 

[Idontcare]

I don't understand the economics behind battery factories myself (snip)

Neither did the conspiracy theorist that authored the article linked above 😉

Battery economics for non-legacy products is just like that for big-Pharma, it is all about massive upfront investment costs with the reward of huge potential for liabilities (as in the court kind) should their product burst into flames or some such.

Look at how bad the PR got for the Volt after the fire created at the NHTSA.

Chevy Volt Battery Fires Threaten All Electric Vehicle Makers, Not Just GM

Battery chemistry itself is a rather stagnant field because there is only so much you can do with the electron-volts you get to play with from the basic elements on the periodic table.

Where the gain have been made this past decade all come down to the density of the active lithium components and the lifetime cycling ability of the anode/cathode. This opportunity to improve the components exists because of the very real dangers that exist, so a decade ago the engineers who first started building these things had to way build in lots of safety margin (limit the current draw, limit the heat, thicker sidewalls on the battery package, etc) so that people's cellphone weren't catching fire and burning holes into their pockets and so on.

The technology cited from WSU, for example, is exactly that kind of an improvement, has almost nothing to do with battery chemistry per se, has everything to do with making the battery safe enough such that more of the battery volume can be used to house the active elements so that the total charge of the battery is higher. (less goes into the protective casing, the anode/cathode itself, etc)

Liability, and the need to mitigate the risk of liability, is what stymies the rate of advancements in battery tech. And rightly so. None of us want to increase the risk our iPad4 to burst into flames when being using by our kids in exchange for having an extra hour of capacity. I'd much rather recharge it more frequently, and the battery maker lawyers are inclined to let me 😉

 

[BD231]

IGPs suck for gaming, period 🙁

The ultrabook is a particularly bad example as well, because the form factor is really designed for thin/light/weak, and pretty $$$. The same money will buy a much better unit that actually can do some decent gaming, but won't be as thin/light. Or better yet, a desktop. Laptop gaming even at it's best is garbage compared to even a midrange desktop at half the budget.

Llano is great though, definitely far from a garbage expeirence.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Llano is great though, definitely far from a garbage expeirence.

"Great" at what exactly? Llano strikes me as kind of decent at everything but not really "great" at anything. Worse CPU performance than Intel, better igp, but still marginal for gaming.

 

[Haserath]

Imagine a battery that could be recharged infinitely many times and had 100 times the density of today's batteries. Imagine this battery in a laptop with components that could last 10 years or more.

Also think about other uses for batteries, especially in hybrids or pure EVs or perhaps solar.

When do you think that battery is getting replaced?

Now why would battery manufacturers want to improve their batteries?

 

[sm625]

I dont see what the big deal is with 4GB of ram. Until game consoles and iCrap go beyond 2GB, 4GB will be enough. If it has to page something out, even that is no big deal with the SSD. The only time 4GB can possibly be a problem is when you are rapidly switching between two or more resource hungry apps. Who does this on a notebook?