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The A Series and their specs...

post #1 of 6
4/19/05 at 2:19am
Thread Starter 
Hey guys,

Was just looking over the specs for the VGNA170P16C (Canadian version of a 17" A series laptop...please refer to www.sonystyle.ca for more details) and noticed something odd. It was a blurb briefly outlining the video card specs:

"Equipped with the ATI Radeon 9700 and a separate 64 MB Video RAM, the A Series...etc."

What is that about? This laptop comes with a 128 MB Radeon 9700 plus a "separate 64MB Video RAM"?? Would a A Series laptop owner please explain this to me? How does this work exactly? Where is the extra 64MB? Are they using part of the system memory?

Oh and the real shocker...this laptop runs $3800.00 Canadian!! SheeeeeeeeeeeeessHHH!!! And I thought the Apple Powerbooks were hyper expensive.

Thanks!
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post #2 of 6
5/4/05 at 3:34pm
I could be wrong but I think the model you are referring to has a video memory that is "shared" with the main system ram....

I dont think this is good....Slows things down a lot... A Video card should have "dedicated DDR SDRAM", not shared ram. I notice most of the Dell Laptops are now being offered with this "shared video ram" - to cut the laptop's cost.......
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post #3 of 6
5/4/05 at 6:25pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by thehappyman
I could be wrong but I think the model you are referring to has a video memory that is "shared" with the main system ram....

I dont think this is good....Slows things down a lot... A Video card should have "dedicated DDR SDRAM", not shared ram. I notice most of the Dell Laptops are now being offered with this "shared video ram" - to cut the laptop's cost.......
As for the model of Sony VAIO A-series laptop I was referring to...actually all 3 of them (1 15" and 2 17" models)...all three use a dedicated 64MB of video RAM. Just found that out and several others from this forum confirm it.

It's sad. No actually it's REDICULOUS that Sony would expect us to pay the money they are asking for the A-series and only offer us 64MB worth of video RAM. That's a JOKE! Never mind their asking price is higher than every one else. Making their computers more expensive than the Apple Powerbooks. So much for the Sony VAIO notebooks. They are no longer on my short-list.

You are right about the Dell Inspirons though. I never really noticed it since I have been only looking at either the 9300 or XPS. Still am.

I'm very surprised to see that Dell would take such a route. Only the 9300 or XPS offers dedicated video card/RAM. What a crock. Does this mean my buddy's 600m doesn't have a dedicated video card/RAM? I could have sworn seeing Dell list the 600m with a 64MB Radeon 9700 (or a lower model ATI M card) on a flyer a while back...."shrug"...

What do you run?
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post #4 of 6
5/5/05 at 5:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkDTSHD
As for the model of Sony VAIO A-series laptop I was referring to...actually all 3 of them (1 15" and 2 17" models)...all three use a dedicated 64MB of video RAM. Just found that out and several others from this forum confirm it.

It's sad. No actually it's REDICULOUS that Sony would expect us to pay the money they are asking for the A-series and only offer us 64MB worth of video RAM. That's a JOKE! Never mind their asking price is higher than every one else. Making their computers more expensive than the Apple Powerbooks. So much for the Sony VAIO notebooks. They are no longer on my short-list.

You are right about the Dell Inspirons though. I never really noticed it since I have been only looking at either the 9300 or XPS. Still am.

I'm very surprised to see that Dell would take such a route. Only the 9300 or XPS offers dedicated video card/RAM. What a crock. Does this mean my buddy's 600m doesn't have a dedicated video card/RAM? I could have sworn seeing Dell list the 600m with a 64MB Radeon 9700 (or a lower model ATI M card) on a flyer a while back...."shrug"...

What do you run?
Just purchased a full blown Sony A600 after returning two Dell XPS Gen 2's.... The "grainy" "sparkly" screens were too much for me to handle......

But first I looked at three or four Xbrite screens... WOW - What a difference..... No "Grain" No "Sparkles" and Brighter.

I use my Lappy for Digital Photograpy and Graphic Design more than I do for gamming so the X600 128 Meg graphics card in the A600 will be O.K. for me.
For me, the screen is more important than the graphics card.....
So while I am waiting for my new A600 I am still using the Inspiron 8600 WUXGA (beautiful screen)........ with Nvida Gforce Go FX 5650 128 meg vid card.
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post #5 of 6
5/5/05 at 7:31pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by thehappyman
Just purchased a full blown Sony A600 after returning two Dell XPS Gen 2's.... The "grainy" "sparkly" screens were too much for me to handle......

But first I looked at three or four Xbrite screens... WOW - What a difference..... No "Grain" No "Sparkles" and Brighter.

I use my Lappy for Digital Photograpy and Graphic Design more than I do for gamming so the X600 128 Meg graphics card in the A600 will be O.K. for me.
For me, the screen is more important than the graphics card.....
So while I am waiting for my new A600 I am still using the Inspiron 8600 WUXGA (beautiful screen)........ with Nvida Gforce Go FX 5650 128 meg vid card.
Hey dood,

Thank you for commenting. :0

You returned 2 Dell XPS laptops?? What happened?

While I can respect your personal opinion I have to wonder about this buisness about the "sparkle" in the Dell screens. Some have complained a lot, on this forum, about it. Others say they don't notice it and that people are blowing this out of proportion.

Have you seen a Dell (LG Phillips) LCD monitor? Do you consider them to have to much "sparkle" too? Curious.

I do agree with you that a good screen IS important. But, I would also place equal importance on the graphics card. If not more. 64MB was just too unreasonable to expect from Sony. A600 huh...with 128MB of dedicated vidio RAM? Got a URL? Is it on the US Sonystyle.com site? What are the specs?

Well, got to go...
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post #6 of 6
5/5/05 at 11:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkDTSHD
Hey dood,

Thank you for commenting. :0

You returned 2 Dell XPS laptops?? What happened?

While I can respect your personal opinion I have to wonder about this buisness about the "sparkle" in the Dell screens. Some have complained a lot, on this forum, about it. Others say they don't notice it and that people are blowing this out of proportion.

Have you seen a Dell (LG Phillips) LCD monitor? Do you consider them to have to much "sparkle" too? Curious.

I do agree with you that a good screen IS important. But, I would also place equal importance on the graphics card. If not more. 64MB was just too unreasonable to expect from Sony. A600 huh...with 128MB of dedicated vidio RAM? Got a URL? Is it on the US Sonystyle.com site? What are the specs?

Well, got to go...
Back to you dood........ what happened ??? well......
Got my first XPS2 with LG screen - wasnt happy with it....
Called Dell to return, they offered to send a "replacement" with a Samsung Screen... It arrived ..... wasnt happy with it either..... returned both......

Oh, the "sparkle" is really there...... It's not in the "Twilight Zone"...... check out an XPS 2 and look at an Xbrite.... BIG BIG DIFFERENCE. Any "sparkle" or "graininess" is unacceptable for me (for my applications). This is not blowing an issue "out of proportion", it's simply a fact for me - the Screen is the most important factor in my System. I checked out three or four 17" Sony xbrite screens before making my final decision. No regrets at all. You have to keep in mind that I dont use my machine to play games, not that I am putting "gamers" down..

URL of Sony A600 specs is http://www.dealtime.com/xPF-VAIO_VGN_A690

Specs are of an older configuration - I ordered 2.13 Ghz P770 533 mhz fsb, 1920 x 1200 WUXGA Xbrite with 2 Gig DDR2 SDRAM, 100 Gig SATA 5400 rpm Drive, Dual Layer DVD, with Wireless 802.11 a/b/g and no Bluetooth. Interesting the spec dosent mention the built in wireless - but it's there. Didnt order the elaboate docking station either......

I am glad you respect my personal opinion.... I respect yours... For my applications the 128 Meg ATI x600 will do just fine...... I would not have ordered any WUXGA machine with a 64 meg video ram.

By the way... Havent heard of a single soul returning an Xbrite screen......, for any reason.

Have a great day
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