How long till the MR9700 is TRULY outdated?

I'd say the 9700 is outdated as of now that there are fully 3 generations of better cards in notebooks now. But you're right it will be a long time before you can't at least play most games at their lowest settings on a 9700.

The MR9700 will never be outdated! Here's what will happen:

1) Game engines will become more efficient, so the MR9700 will seemingly get better.

2) Users will start complaining about too much realism in games, so games will become more cartoonish and play faster. Believe it or not, this is already becoming a trend in computer animated features.

3) People will flock back to the 9200 + MR9700 after experiencing the heat and poor battery life of the XPS2.

The 9200 will become the first computer to become more valuable after it is EOL'd!

and the 9200 is ligher then the xps2.

plus, the bonus to me is, the 9200 looks WAY better then the black, silver, white xp2

Kakarot: It's essentially the same weight with the same battery, the difference being that the xps2 comes standard with the 80whr battery whereas the 9200 comes with the 53whr one.

hmm, very good point. I am debating the 9300/xps2 and was wandering how the ultra vid. card and some LED lights could make it a pound heavier. I didn't even think of the standard battery being different.

The X300 is nothing compared to the 9700, and the X600 basically ties with the 9700, in no way is the 9700 outdated. I play games using a nVidia 5200. Yeah I know, but I can play Doom III, HL-2, etc. The 9700 beats the living daylights out of the 5200. The 9700 isnot going to be outdated for awhile

"Outdated" is such a relative term in laptop components.
The question really is, "What's it realive to, to you specifically?"
For me, it's my damn wallet!
I think the MR9700 will be "adequate" ( ) for me for quite a while.
Presently I run only 256MB RAM. I expect the R9700 to spring to life when I add a Gig of RAM to the system.

yeah I agree. I just ordered an Acer with a X600 64mb vidcard in it. Is this the "best"? No way! But I'm pretty sure it'll run games quite well. Of course, I'll need to drop resolution a little and disable AA/AF and maybe put some quality settings to medium, but this in turn makes me appreciate my desktop pc a whole lot more which is a real powerhorse (XP3500+/6800GT/1gig ram).

I love having both a laptop and a desktop, mainly because the laptop allows me to surf the net and play some games sitting on the coach or in the living room so I accompany my wife and daughter. Main things I look for in a laptop is portability, battery power and then features. I think my Acer 4601WLMi will fit right in there
(that is until I can afford the 8104WLMi, my dream machine...)

Usable life cycles: As I see it
MR9000/9200 thru 05
MR9600 into 06
MR9700 thru 06
MR9800 into 07
MRX800 thru 07

Daley

I expect the X800 will last ATLEAST into 2008, the X800 owns the 9800.

as i see it

MR9000/9200 outdated all ready
MR9600/MR9700 to the end of 05
MR9800 middle/end 06
MRX800 middle/end 07
6800GO ULTRA middle/end 08

I'd say the 9700 will run you fine till the end of 06. And at that point I'm replacing my 9200 with something to go to uni with.

But anyway - next year there will be a whole new bevy of cards out that will most likely trump the 6800 go etc.

N.B. - I was happily gaming (Halo, BF1942) on a 32 MB Geforce 2 card until August last year.

It will take a few years for the 9700 to be truly outdated. The machine currently plays the most current games such as Doom 3 and World of Warcraft very well. There is one generation of video card better than the 9700 that is shipping today and it is not a true laptop part - it is a kludge that sucks battery life - only a few brick type machines have it.

I think one of the problems is that not many video cards can adequatly power the screens at high 3d resolutions. better and better screens are available, and you have to tone down the res, or play at native res but at crappy quality settings. Try a dell 8600 with a 9600 radeon and fill a uxga display with a 3d game. The only way to do it is with a top of the line system, and even then only on less demanding games.

It seems as though the video card makers come out with new cards every 6 months. The XPS2 is already outdated the day you open the box. But it will last you a good 2-3 years, and by then most people can buy a new system. I have a Dell dimension 4550 and its begining to show its age a bit as far as the video is concerned. But I can still play Doom 3 with it as long as I play it in the low settings. So I think most of these cards that are mentioned here will be fine for at least a couple more years at best. I ordered the XPS2 and can hardly wait to use it. I will wait to replace my desktop when the dual core processors come out and I will not buy the first generation of those. I will wait until the next dual core comes out and then I will buy. So I figure the XPS2 will get me through until then. Let the GAMES BEGIN!!!!

The gaming version of the 9300 is coming out with the 256meg Gforce Go 6800. The office version of the 9300 comes with the 128meg X300.

How practical is a 13 lb laptop if you fly around to 3 different cities every week? What if you want to use your laptop on an airplane?

For me, I need a laptop because, well, I need something portable. If you want something that is just a bit bigger, but you can put anything into it, and upgrade it easily, consider a SFF PC. There are many to choose from and you can customize your peripherals just like a desktop....and slowly upgrade them when you want. They are about the size of 2 shoeboxes stacked on top of each other - some maybe 3 shoeboxes or 2.5 shoeboxes plus monitor.

Granted, there are extra cables. In my experience - as I did live like this in 2004, it takes about 4 minutes to set one up including locking it down with a cable in a hotel room.

they make carrying cases for them too. And I will personally attest that your 17" LCD will make it in a suitcase with a carrying case surrounded by clothes just fine.

I consider a "laptop" like the XPS2 to be a kludge for a small, tiny, niche market, who maybe doesn't want to take 4 minutes to set up a SFF and pack an LCD into a suitcase.

A "laptop" using the definition that the rest of the world needs - an actual easily portable device - is not going to be able to play Doom 3 at WUXGA LCD with detail maxed out. It's not supposed to. It's not going to. There is no hope that it will. Because of heat, current, power, there is no comparison.

With that in mind, the fact that the 9700 can run TODAY's games including HL2, as well as it can, and will continue to run TOMORROW's games well, make it a very valid GPU and it is NOT outdated.

Victims of marketing, I am afraid to say.

Every year LOTS (read again, LOTS) of games come out and most of the people only know a few of them (the most famous), so they feel like in the need to upgrade instead of looking what's out now. If there are so many titles available already, why is there a need to play newer (and heavier and slower) games? Games are improving in realism and seriously decreasing everything else.

I am an inventor and I know first hand that a Latitude C610 with a Mobility Radeon 16 MB can stand any 3D modeling software with ease.

Lucky for me I suck at games, so it'll take me several years to master today's games anyway.
But what will a better GPU do for video editing? Isn't there a threshold (that's already been exceeded) where a better GPU isn't going to make a difference for video editing? Maybe when a 20 MP digycam for $300 is the norm, but I don't see that happening for a bit.
In other words, other than keeping up with the latest game programs, what will the bestest, newest GPU do for you? That's the GPU I'm coming from using, as well.