Thinkpads Forum

I've had an Express T60 on order for 6 weeks, but finally cancelled it when the rep said it would be another 6 weeks.

I'm now glad that I didn't receive the D6U because according to Microsoft, Vista's Aero Glass requires 128mb of VRAM for a SXGA+ panel:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/window ... tarpc.mspx

Now I just need to decide between Atheros & Intel for the WiFi card.

hoya wrote:...according to Microsoft, Vista's Aero Glass requires 128mb of VRAM for a SXGA+ panel:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/window ... tarpc.mspx

Gsus! An operating system needs freakin 128 MB of video memory only for running it's GUI!? I bet Aero sucks the battery out very rapidly and fan is screaming for help if GPU has to run 3D acceleration all the time in normal 2D desktop working also? I hope it's still possible in Vista to switch to windows classic desktop

pekka wrote:

hoya wrote:...according to Microsoft, Vista's Aero Glass requires 128mb of VRAM for a SXGA+ panel:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/window ... tarpc.mspx

Gsus! An operating system needs freakin 128 MB of video memory only for running it's GUI!? I bet Aero sucks the battery out very rapidly and fan is screaming for help if GPU has to run 3D acceleration all the time in normal 2D desktop working also? I hope it's still possible in Vista to switch to windows classic desktop

it is possible but Aero looks so nice I would want to run it

Vista Aero is already overtaken by XGL when it will be released.

Just go to http://kororaa.org/ download the live-CD and try out XGL for yourself! Aero just SUCKS compared to this! XGL also just runs smooth on lower spec hardware like the Intel Centrino integrated graphics solution with shared memory.

the link is not working. Is there another site?

There is an accidental comma in the link above, simply remove it.

I corrected the link.

I think it will run fine on 64MB. I had a T42 with a 64MB ATI 9600 and glass ran just fine.

But that was not the REAL Aero glass that will be in the final release. The REAL Aero glass is in the most recent preview build 5342. Anything below did not contain all effects.

vpn-user wrote:But that was not the REAL Aero glass that will be in the final release. The REAL Aero glass is in the most recent preview build 5342. Anything below did not contain all effects.

I think build 5342 has the same Aero as build 5308. The changes has been minor and it didn't include any updates to Aero Glass.

No.

You may read http://www.winfuture.de/magazin,24669,2.html (translate it from german, if needed).

I'm running 5362 on my T60 (2623 D6U) with the 64MB ATI X1300... Aero glass is working great.

jwpcweb wrote:I'm running 5362 on my T60 (2623 D6U) with the 64MB ATI X1300... Aero glass is working great.

What resolution are you running? Have you tried 1400?

Cheers,
Rick

Yeah, native 1400x1050 is fine. I haven't tried running an external display along with it yet though.

I've read different things about the demands of Aero Glass. (There are a lot of articles out there if you google for Vista graphics requirements.)

Wikipedia gives a rundown of the requirements for Vista and does claim 64mb video ram will be enough.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Vista#Graphics

This next article, however, claims that to get the full functionality of Aero Glass, you'll need 256mb or more (!) of video ram:

http://techrepublic.com.com/5100-10877-6031406.html#

Vista can scale it's user interface to operate on different graphics cards. So the fact that it's currently running on a 64mb system sounds like it doesn't mean that one is necessarily getting all of the functionality that will be in the final Vista release.

donking! wrote:I've read different things about the demands of Aero Glass. (There are a lot of articles out there if you google for Vista graphics requirements.)

Wikipedia gives a rundown of the requirements for Vista and does claim 64mb video ram will be enough.

Shouldn't we just trust Microsoft rather than an article in Wikipedia?

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/window ... tarpc.mspx

True, at this point anything is possible--but things are becoming very complete.

Go with the Microsoft article as some things on Wikipedia are slightly...vague at times. It is easy enough to go to Microsoft and look up the specs that way.

If you are going to get a new T60, might as well go for the 128MB if you plan to jump headlong into Vista once the final build is released to the public at large. (And, hopefully, it will show no signs of the "Forever Beta" syndrome ).

Trust Microsoft? Okay, Wikipedia is certainly not always the most reliable source (although I did cite a second article as well). But, come on, Microsoft is 1) notorious for being unreliable and not owning up to problems with it's operating system 2) can have all sorts of reasons for not being straightforward about Vista, having to do with the marketing of the product. Anything Microsoft publishes about Vista, even a technical article, I think has to be taken with a grain of salt and considered a piece of marketing as much as anything else.

But just do some research. There are tons of articles out there, written by people who are currently using trial builds of Vista. And they all claim, to varying degrees, that the graphics demands of Vista are going to be pretty high (if you want the full aero glass functionality). No one seems to want to speak with much confidence about how much graphics RAM you'll need, other than that it will be a lot. I think Microsoft is banking on graphics cards performance increasing enough to handle Vista well, by the time most people adopt it.

And I still wonder. If Vista uses so much of the graphics resources, will anything else that needs them work very well?

What is with shared Memory? Will Vista accept this?

My X1400 in my T60 for example has 512MB of Memory(including shared memory) when I can trust various tools.

From the Microsoft link mentioned above:
To enable Windows Aero, PC systems must meet the following criteria for graphics hardware, with either discrete or UMA solutions:

Hamid wrote:From the Microsoft link mentioned above:
To enable Windows Aero, PC systems must meet the following criteria for graphics hardware, with either discrete or UMA solutions:

Ok, so it must be able to run glass with the X1400 in the final version.

How do I tell how much video RAM I have on my system? None of the methods for "system discovery" listed in other threads seem to point that out. I know, naive question... not a techie here. Thanks for your comment.