What kind of Discrete Graphics can we expect... or can we?

[xxPaulCPxx]

I'm hoping there will still be the option of discrete graphics in the T450 series. At present, the only new Bradwell system that offers it is the E450/E550, and those come with the Radeon R7 M265 2GB. While this series should have come out a year ago - then the M265 might have made sense as a low end card.

This is 2015, and we have a better batch of mobile graphics to choose from. I think the goal should be 30FPS for most games on the 1920x1080 screen that is the normal upgrade. The M265 usually seems to come in at 15FPS, which is unplayable. Why offer discrete graphics if you can't play at your monitors resolution?

Any thoughts about T450 graphics? Is it coming?

[Ibthink]

T450(s) will be available with nVidia GeForce 940m. However, these models won´t have a docking port.

[laowai]

940m is rather blah... i'd hold out to see what the 450p specs are, or just wait until skylake.

[jdrou]

940M should certainly outperform the 730M from the T440p by a wide margin. For anything better you'll need to go to the W-series. Skylake laptops will probably use the same graphics cards as Broadwell since they'll only be a few months apart.

Benchmark results from engineering sample: http://laptopmedia.com/review/nvidia-ge ... k-results/

[brchan]

T450(s) will be available with nVidia GeForce 940m. However, these models won´t have a docking port.

A 'business' machine with no docking port? Does the one with integrated graphics have one?

[Ibthink]

Yes, all T450(s) models with Intel GPUs have a dockingport.

The absence of a dockingport was the reason why the T440s with nVidia GPU wasn´t released on the NA market. It seems like Lenovo changed their minds on this for the T450s.

[jdrou]

Strange that T440/s with discrete graphics are excluded from docking when T440/s with integrated as well as T440p with discrete work.

Hopefully a T450p is planned with dock and discrete graphics.

[xxPaulCPxx]

Strange that T440/s with discrete graphics are excluded from docking when T440/s with integrated as well as T440p with discrete work.

Hopefully a T450p is planned with dock and discrete graphics.

While I appreciate your sentiments, have you seen the exceedingly poor reviews of the docking station? It actually makes the 440 series look good by comparison!

[xxPaulCPxx]

940M should certainly outperform the 730M from the T440p by a wide margin. For anything better you'll need to go to the W-series. Skylake laptops will probably use the same graphics cards as Broadwell since they'll only be a few months apart.

Benchmark results from engineering sample: http://laptopmedia.com/review/nvidia-ge ... k-results/

Looking at your link, I see that they rate the 940M much lower 43rd spot (9217 1727 470) vs the R9 M265x 28th spot (12390 2003 658)

Anyone know when Skylake is coming out?

[xxPaulCPxx]

Ahhh, what a difference an "X" can make:
Ranked 50th: AMD Radeon R7 M265 (2GB DDR3) 8481 1338 413
Ranked 43rd: NVIDIA GeForce 940M (2GB DDR3) 9217 1727 470

It looks like the 940M is just a minor improvement over the M265 that I was bitching about earlier. Is it really too much to expect the video subsystem be equipped to drive the amount of pixels they KNOW they will be driving?

[jdrou]

Everything I've seen says full-power Broadwell in 2nd quarter and Skylake 3rd quarter or maybe a bit earlier. None of that affects discrete graphics options though.
T440 series had GeForce GT 730M and the 940M is two years newer and a step or two up the performance tiers so it's a reasonable upgrade. Remember Thinkpads aren't designed as gaming machines; these low-end GeForce GPUs are equivalent to (or better than) what nVidia formerly sold as Quadro NVS for business graphics. For more powerful graphics in a business laptop you need to look at Thinkpad W, Dell Precision, or the HP equivalent. And if gaming is your primary concern you can get far more powerful graphics for less money in a dedicated gaming machine (I've been looking at MSI/Asus/Alienware laptops with GeForce 970M/980M recently).