Thinkpads Forum

JHEM wrote:Proteus may be aware of information pertaining to upcoming Thinkpad models that cannot be shared with the general public at this time due to a non-disclosure agreement. Rather than break the agreement, a bone has been thrown to us.

Sure, I get that. I wasn't asking Proteus to break an NDA, but instead I was asking him to clarify whether he was repeating a rumor, or (as you phrased it) throwing us a bone based on real knowledge. If it's a bone, it certainly has me salivating...

Proteus wrote:All I can tell you is that there will be discrete graphics models [which] will be DirectX10 capable and ... not traditional for a Thinkpad.

Let's see. ATI chips have been traditional in Thinkpads and they are behind in bringing out their DX10 part. Probably a new mobile chip from nVidia then.

Dead1nside wrote:There's been some talk, I've noticed, of the Fire GL Mobility V5200 and V5250 being unsuitable for gaming.

However I see no reason for this. If they're basically X1600/X1700 class cards (albeit clocked lower probably for heat reasons) then they'd be pretty good for games. To my knowledge they are not crippled in any physical way to prevent them in playing games. Although drivers might not be optimised for them.

My Fire GL T2 128Mb in my T41p plays games pretty well, strategy games like Rise of Nations run at 60fps constantly at max performance. Since the X1xxx series is a lot better, I would expect first person shooters to be easily playable on these cards.

The v5200 has worked perfectly for CS: Source, Unreal, HL2, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and WoW.

I'm hoping to see a G80 based part in a Santa Rosa platform before the warranty on my T42P expires in July. Perfect timing.

I have a feeling we are going to see nvidia chips (256 and 512 MB) on the T6xp. And yeah, Lenovo is gonna rock even more.

JHEM is right on the money.

Also, Thinkpads are starting to change for the better. Most customers *want* widescreen..for a good number of reasons:

1) Airplanes. A 15" 4:3 is difficult to open on a plane, especially if the person in front reclines.
2) Vista. Vista uses the Sidebar..which is designed for widescreen systems.
3) Entertainment. Yes..even the most hardcore business travelers like to watch movies and play games on their thinkpads
4) Work. A high-res widescreen lets one put two pages side by side, or display a large spreadsheet easier
5) Cost. Supply and demand

As always, high-res is critical. The "P" models will once more have the top of the line, in terms of resolution. For those who complain about text sizes (including most magazine reviews), I would suggest you look at Vista scaleable font support. Works great!
Graphics are also critical. The FireGl (aka Radeon x1600/1700) was a fine solution last year...but is a bit long in the tooth for modern apps and games. A new DX10 solution will be a welcome change

araemo wrote:

FragrantHead wrote:You can edit the inf file on the 'consumer' drivers to install for the workstation cards and get consumer performance in games, if you have no need for the workstation certification and don't use professional 3d rendering apps.

Anyone have more information on this? My T60p has problems with Call of Duty, and I'd like to fix that if I can

dlp wrote:

araemo wrote: Anyone have more information on this? My T60p has problems with Call of Duty, and I'd like to fix that if I can :)

This is what you want: Mobility Mod

It hasn't been updated for the V5250 yet, but the author might be able to help you out if you post on those forums or send him an email. You can also edit the INF by hand, you just have to find the right driver lines and change them to match your hardware's PCI Manufacturer and Device IDs. All the 'this driver file is for this chip' magic is in the INF, so it's just a matter of knowing what to edit. The beauty is that if you get it wrong, you can generally just uninstall the drivers and try it again. That isn't to say that it isn't without its risks (It could leave you with an unreadable display until you DO manage to uninstall the drivers, so if you're not comfortable with troubleshooting bad video drivers, don't mod it by hand.)

I can confirm, the new T61 will have nvidia (quadro) grafic cards on all descrete gfx models.

sidomania wrote:I can confirm, the new T61 will have nvidia (quadro) grafic cards on all descrete gfx models.

Well, no current Quadro mobile cards are DX10, so either a new line is coming out (which is completely possible since nVidia has had DX10 desktop cards out for many months).

Puppy wrote:

Proteus wrote:Unfortunately I cannot disclose directly.
All I can tell you is that there will be discrete graphics models...

Hm ... and the display issue ? No more 4:3, no more IPS (FlexView) ? I'm just wondering whether to rush to buy T60 - last ThinkPad ever.

Why last Thinkpad ever?!

sidomania wrote:I can confirm, the new T61 will have nvidia (quadro) grafic cards on all descrete gfx models.

sidomania,
how are you able to confirm this? any reps with whom i've spoken have been pretty tight-lipped about upcoming features.

thanks,
bA