ATI introduces Mobility Radeon 9800

[MacBytes]

Category: 3rd Party Hardware
Link: ATI introduces Mobility Radeon 9800 (http://www.macbytes.com/link.php?sid=20040727115231)
Posted on MacBytes.com (http://www.macbytes.com)

Approved by Mudbug

[t^3]

I wish I could optimistically predict that this chip will make it to the next PowerBook, seeing how the 9700 got into the PowerBooks pretty quickly, but:

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=17463

Unless Apple can pull off a miracle, we probably won't be seeing this in the next PowerBook. This is unfortunate, as preliminary benchmarks (http://www.hothardware.com/viewarticle.cfm?articleid=560) show a 60-80% increase in performance (256MB MR 9800 vs 128MB MR 9700).

[Nermal]

Apple's pulled off miracles before :)

[Abstract]

But not many. :p

[iMeowbot]

That prefab board isn't the way it would go into a PowerBook, so don't read too much into that heat pipe and fins hanging off the side. By not using a generic layout, they have a lot more cooling options at their disposal.

[brap]

Apple's pulled off miracles before :)
Personally, I think this would be less a miracle, than a DELL-esque "Let's jump on the tech bandwagon" thing. Ooh, it's fast! Weighs a ton, gets about 30 minutes battery life, looks like a metal paving slab, but I can play Halo at 40fps!!!!!! OMG!!! My laptop pWns j00!

Tom has a lot to say about the cons of this chip just here (http://www.tomshardware.com/mobile/20040727/radeon_9800-19.html), and I'm inclined to agree with pretty much everything said there. The power requirements alone should make Apple steer well clear. Imagine the kind of battery you'd require to have this in a G5 PowerBook? It scares me, man...

[NNO-Stephen]

this will NOT go into a PowerBook unless they can get better power requirements, make it smaller. plus, Apple would have to make new drivers for it, so I do not see any advantage for it. it would KILL battery life. and on a G5 PowerBook? the G5 chipset is going to need as much help as it can get in terms of battery life, so it's a no-brainer. use either the Mobility 9700, or an nVidia product (but I'd suggest the 9700) because this is just not worth it.

the way i see it, it's like the war on Iraq, the bad, by far, outweighs the good.

[yamabushi]

This would make a great addition to the next iMac. The power draw would be actually very light for a desktop component.