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Nvidia Quadro FX 3700

Y

Yixian

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 2, 2007
1,483
135
Europe
The three big new notebook announcements from HP, Dell and Lenovo, set to compete directly with the 17" MBP, all have the cutting edge Quadro FX 3700, with 1 gb of vram.

Wow... if the MBP 17" is predicted to have a 9600M GT, I don't see how Apple can even begin to compete with those machines. They aren't even particularly thick or heavy, one being just 0.3 inches thicker than the current MBP, the same thickness as a MacBook.

I can't find any TDP info on the FX 3700 as it's so new and I think these are the first ever laptops to ship with the card. It's as cutting edge as it gets, and must be pretty damn cool to boot.

Any chance we could get this in the new 17" MBPs? It makes such light work of the 9600M GT it's insane.
 
Yixian said:
Wow... if the MBP 17" is predicted to have a 9600M GT
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I don't think it is predicted. We actually have NO details about the upcomming MBP hardware so it is kind of impossible to tell how the MBP will compete with other notebooks.
 
Yixian said:
The three big new notebook announcements from HP, Dell and Lenovo, set to compete directly with the 17" MBP, all have the cutting edge Quadro FX 3700, with 1 gb of vram.

Wow... if the MBP 17" is predicted to have a 9600M GT, I don't see how Apple can even begin to compete with those machines. They aren't even particularly thick or heavy, one being just 0.3 inches thicker than the current MBP, the same thickness as a MacBook.
Click to expand...

I'd like you to keep in mind that .3" is quite a lot... that's 30% thicker. There's also a good change it's deeper, giving it even more cubic space.

I can't find any TDP info on the FX 3700 as it's so new and I think these are the first ever laptops to ship with the card. It's as cutting edge as it gets, and must be pretty damn cool to boot.
Click to expand...

It's on the nVidia website.

Any chance we could get this in the new 17" MBPs? It makes such light work of the 9600M GT it's insane.
Click to expand...

Yes. It's very likely we'll get an ultra-high end Quadro 3700M. After all, consider the following promising factors:

-It's only 75W power; that's a mere 275% higher than the 8600 M currently used.

-Apple has never used anything but a midrange card in their entire history of laptops. As a matter of fact, they haven't had any high-end cards standard in desktops, either. Obviously, this particular moment is perfect for them to randomly start doing so.

-There are reports they're going to drop the price. This fits well with adding a more expensive card; they'll likely just make the CPU optional to cut costs.

-With all the nVidia failures going on, and given this chip is likely affected as well, there are many, many people who are going to suffer from GPU heat death. Apple is known to be a compassionate company, and they will likely jump on nVidia death the bandwagon in a show of solidarity.

I think they're also going to introduce the world's first 8-core laptop; two quad-core CPUs in the 15" and 17" enclosures (the 13" MacBooks will only have one quad core CPU).
 
Firefly2002 said:
Yes. It's very likely we'll get an ultra-high end Quadro 3700M. After all, consider the following promising factors:

-It's only 75W power; that's a mere 275% higher than the 8600 M currently used.

-Apple has never used anything but a midrange card in their entire history of laptops. As a matter of fact, they haven't had any high-end cards standard in desktops, either. Obviously, this particular moment is perfect for them to randomly start doing so.

-There are reports they're going to drop the price. This fits well with adding a more expensive card; they'll likely just make the CPU optional to cut costs.

-With all the nVidia failures going on, and given this chip is likely affected as well, there are many, many people who are going to suffer from GPU heat death. Apple is known to be a compassionate company, and they will likely jump on nVidia death the bandwagon in a show of solidarity.

I think they're also going to introduce the world's first 8-core laptop; two quad-core CPUs in the 15" and 17" enclosures (the 13" MacBooks will only have one quad core CPU).
Click to expand...

I like this. :D
 
Firefly2002 said:
I'd like you to keep in mind that .3" is quite a lot... that's 30% thicker. There's also a good change it's deeper, giving it even more cubic space.
Click to expand...
Considering the display takes up a fixed portion of the thickness, the extra internal space is more than 30%.

Firefly2002 said:
Good. I liked it too ;)
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Same here. :D

Anyway, I'd like to see a Quadro FX in the next MacBook Pro… but this Quadro FX is not the one.

Tex-Twil said:
I don't think it is predicted. We actually have NO details about the upcomming MBP hardware so it is kind of impossible to tell how the MBP will compete with other notebooks.
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Apple isn't going to make the MacBook Pro thicker than before. If anything it'll just be thinner.

"MacBook 'Pro.'" Either the "pro" stands for prosumer or Apple should rename it to "MacBook Semi-pro."
 
Are you going to post a thread about this every time a new card or computer comes out? It was annoying enough the first time.
 
As long as the next MBP can play Blu Ray movies, I really don't care what GPU is in it. I have lots of Blu Ray movies and I would love to take it on the go. Heck, even burn them straight to the HD... :eek:
 
Akira1980 said:
As long as the next MBP can play Blu Ray movies, I really don't care what GPU is in it. I have lots of Blu Ray movies and I would love to take it on the go. Heck, even burn them straight to the HD... :eek:
Click to expand...

not going to happen, Here ya go
 
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squeeks said:
not going to happen, Here ya go
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lol yeah what was he thinking, expecting a blu ray drive in a three thousand dollar laptop when there are PC laptops less than half the price that come with it as standard!
 
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iMacmatician said:
"MacBook 'Pro.'" Either the "pro" stands for prosumer or Apple should rename it to "MacBook Semi-pro."
Click to expand...

Come on Apple. Offer at least one MacBook Pro that lives up to it's name. Full sized chassis and everything in it that all the other mobile workstations offer. You can continue to offer the light and stylish MPBs for all the starlets and 7 year olds who can't lift more than 5 pounds. :D
 
Waste of money

Quadra and FireGL's are a waste of money on macs. First, they are IDENTICAL to the non-pro parts they are based on. The only difference is that they have certified drivers for the major cad and 3d apps on the market. Very few of those even run on a Mac.

Second, 8800 class CPUs eat batteries and really need lots of always-on cooling in a laptop.

Third, OpenGL 3.0 is a complete bust. Most of the profession cad/3d vendors are going to move to DirectX 10, further killing the mac in these markets.

I really don't think we'll see 8800 or 48xx class parts from Nvidia and ATI in Apple laptops.
 
Agree 100% with above post.

I hope we get a Radeon 3670. Or that they come out with a 4650 that somehow is usable in the MBP :D That'd be sweet.
 
katorga said:
Quadra and FireGL's are a waste of money on macs. First, they are IDENTICAL to the non-pro parts they are based on. The only difference is that they have certified drivers for the major cad and 3d apps on the market. Very few of those even run on a Mac.
Click to expand...
  1. The Mac Pro has a Quadro FX option
  2. Even the cheapest Quadro beats a high-end desktop GPU in apps the Quadro is designed for
  3. Not all Quadros are $2000+. They start at $500 or less.
 
Which is unfortunate, since as I understand it, the new FireGLs smoke the current Quadros. And, I believe, cost a lot less.
 
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