GeForce GT 730M and Radeon HD 8550M Surface in the Wild

[btarunr]

This winter shopping season, notebook vendors will go to any extant to sell their goods, even if it means rebranding components to spruce up specifications sheets. EU-based SkinFlint.com aggregated the price of 15.6-inch Acer NX.M6AEG.003 notebook, which features "NVIDIA GeForce GT 730M" graphics, while another notebook, the ASUS VivoBook U38DT-R3001H features "Radeon HD 8550M" graphics. The two are being sold by reputed retailers such as ComTech and Amazon.de. Neither lists the specifications of the two GPUs, but we suspect the two are re-brands of the GeForce GT 630M and Radeon HD 7550M, respectively.



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[de.das.dude]

rebranding should be illegal. its just used to push up prices by fooling consumers.

 

[Frick]

rebranding should be illegal. its just used to push up prices by fooling consumers.

Not always. The HD 67xx were not more expensive than HD 57xx cards. Also not releasing "higher" cards is confusing.

 

[de.das.dude]

true but thats rarely.

 

[blibba]

rebranding should be illegal. its just used to push up prices by fooling consumers.

I just wish one of them would take the moral highground so that I could boycott the other.

 

[dj-electric]

Reading the title

thinking...

*Le wild rebrands appear*

 

[Frick]

I just wish one of them would take the moral highground so that I could boycott the other.

What moral highground would that be?

 

[blibba]

What moral highground would that be?

Um. Not deliberately misleading customers?

 

[Frick]

Um. Not deliberately misleading customers?

But often they're not. Sometimes yeah, but imo it's better than broken numbers ("wait how can the 9600GT be slower than the 8800GT????????"). It's not as confusing for customers.

 

[blibba]

But often they're not. Sometimes yeah, but imo it's better than broken numbers ("wait how can the 9600GT be slower than the 8800GT????????"). It's not as confusing for customers.

At least there there's a system that's possible to understand - the first number represents a generation, the rest represent performance relative to the rest of that generation.

Also, renaming doesn't even fix that problem. The 7970 is faster than the 8550, despite being a higher number.

So I don't really get your point, basically.

 

[Tigerfox]

Here in Germany there even is a version of the Acer Aspire V3-571G with a GT 710M. Since the V3-571G is available either with a GT 630M or a GT 640M I would deduce the GT 730 is a rebranded GT 640 while the GT 710M is a rebranded GT 630M.

Oh well not that I care but the sooner the last old Fermi GPUs get phased out of the lineup the better. Clears up room for more GK106-based models, too, instead of having GK107 in 5 flavors, 4 of them havin DDR3 and rare GDDR5-Versions.

@Frick: Whoever doesn't get that the first digit in a graphic card's Name denotes the generation rather than the speed doesn't deserve better, we have that at least since the times of DX8 (Geforce4, Radeon 8500/9000). It only becomes problematic when cards of a new generation are only rebrands but the lower number suggests a lower speed (such as in this case, woho will know if a GT 730M is faster or slower than a GT 640M).

 

[RCoon]

Claiming the machine has a gpu unit that has not yet been released when it has a current gen gpu in it is blatantly misleading customers, and is false advertising. It is quite simply down to saying you're selling a brown cat when you're selling a black cat. End of, there is no excuse for renaming without telling the consumers that such a rename is happening.

If either manufacturers were to create an 8550m chip or 730 next year, then what will become of this machines supposed listed specs?

 

[Tigerfox]

Well, wait and see when Nvidia anounces Geforce 700M Series. I'll bet it will be within a couple of days. It is not up to individuall retailers to rename graphiccards, so Acer can only have ignored a release date.
It was common throughout the last generations to even use the new name for existing laptops (like with all Fermi based Geforce 600M GPUs) albeit this rename was marked through a slight change in the laptops name aswell (for example, Asus named Laoptops with Geforce GT 520M xyzSD most of the time and renamed them to xyzSG with Geforce 610M or named GeForce GT 540M xyzSV and renamed it to xyzSM with Geforce GT 630M).

 

[Fourstaff]

Plan: Introduce a new sequence of numbers every year, so that the product is easily understood. For example, 5xxx for 2010, 6xxx for 2011, 7xxx for 2012. So within each generation, split into low(x4xx-x6xx), medium(x7xx,x8xx) and high end(x9xx). Easy to understand, yes?

Research: People selling old stock at rock bottom prices, performance overlaps with newer stuff (especially the old mid end - new low end region).

Solution: rebrand so old stuff fits current lineup, problem solved!

What actually happens: old stuff is still in market, rock bottom prices, rebrands which appear to be new sold for non rock bottom price, actual new stuff which sells for rrp.

Welcome to the world where (by lack of choice) marketing department is stuffed full of retarded rejects from engineering and accounting.

 

[GSquadron]

If rebranding was illegal, than all battery makers should be in jail.

 

[WhiteLotus]

*Le wild rebrands appear*

Ash uses Pokeball
...

...

...
The rebrand broke free
...

...
The rebrand ran away.

 

[Supercrit]

Reading the title

thinking...

*Le wild rebrands appear*

The wild rebrand used Confuse Ray!
Consumer is confused!

 

[Yellow&Nerdy?]

More rebranding... sigh. Someone is going to be so disappointed when their "new" GPU turns out to be not so new.

 

[The Von Matrices]

I have no problem with rebranding. Yes, it stops the artificial price depression that having an "old" number implies, but it also clears up a lot of confusion for those who are less informed. It's just like buying a car; you have a model year and a model, and the model year increases every year even if the features or design of the car doesn't change. For example, should the current Toyota Prius sold in 2012 still be called a 2010 Toyota Prius since it hasn't significantly changed since 2010? No, it should be branded with the numbering scheme in the year in which it is sold.

 

[xorbe]

Are these legit model numbers from amd/nvidia, or did the manuf customize the firmwares and twiddle with the graphics drivers? Because I don't see the nv models detailed on the geforce.com website.

 

[Tigerfox]

I've seen manufacturers fiddle with the specs of an existing Model, I've seen them totaly changing the specs like using a downclocked GF108 for a GT 520M supposed to use a GF119 and I've even seen them making up ne card for an existing series ranging from just changing some letters (GeForce FX 5900ZT instead of Xt, 6800 GTO or 7900 GTO) to making up complete names (Geforce 6700 XL).

But I've never seen them dare to invent a whole new generation before Nvidia and AMD. Just because the specs aren't on geforce.com yet doesn't mean they're unofficial, Acer probably just is a bit early.

 

[jsb010393]

graphic card

my laptop is an acer v3-771g it has an i7 2.20ghz with turbo boost and a nividia geforce gt 640m 2 gb. i just this laptop. now 3 weeks later theres is this other laptop on their looks the like the same exact one but it has an i5 2.6 ghz witth turbo boost and a nividia geforce gt 730m 4gb same hdd and everything just diff proccesor and video card. is the i5 with the 730m 4gb better then the one i got now?

 

[blibba]

my laptop is an acer v3-771g it has an i7 2.20ghz with turbo boost and a nividia geforce gt 640m 2 gb. i just this laptop. now 3 weeks later theres is this other laptop on their looks the like the same exact one but it has an i5 2.6 ghz witth turbo boost and a nividia geforce gt 730m 4gb same hdd and everything just diff proccesor and video card. is the i5 with the 730m 4gb better then the one i got now?

No.