ASUS N81Vg: first laptop with NVIDIA's GeForce GT 120M

Not quite an ultraportable, but not quite a behemoth -- the 14-inch ASUS N81Vg fits nicely between the two laptop extremes, and given that it's the first to house NVIDIA's GeForce GT 120M graphics card, even gamers can feel free to sneak a deathmatch or two in between conference calls. The rig itself can be ordered with one of many Core 2 Duo processors, up to 4GB of DDR2 RAM, upwards of 500GB of hard drive space, an optional Blu-ray burner, 1.3 megapixel webcam and a battery good for three to four hours. The newfangled 120M GPU features NVIDIA CUDA technology, 32 processing cores, DirecX 10 support, 1080p video playback and 110 gigaflops of computing power. Per usual, ASUS is keeping quiet when it comes to pricing and release details, but it ought not be long now, tiger.

[substance90 @ Feb 10th 2009 4:28PM]

GeForce GT 120M? I haven`t heard of such graphics card... there is Quadro NVS 120M though. ;)

[Leo @ Feb 10th 2009 4:29PM]

Those are the new mobile GPUs. Lenovo will also release 2 Y-series notebooks in March with those GPUs.

[a ham sandwich @ Feb 10th 2009 5:12PM]

::sigh::

im thinking they should just start the naming scheme over at one again. because now apparently 120M > 9600M?

[Rob @ Feb 10th 2009 5:14PM]

Actually the Y450 and Y550 will use the GT 130M and the 16-inch Y650 will use the GT 110M, which is less powerful than the GT 130M. The GT 130M will have roughly the same performance as the current 9650M. The equivalent card would be a slightly overclocked 9500 GT. The ASUS N81 is also alleged to have some of the first ATI Mobility 4650 cards which should be, on average, 15-20% faster than even the GT 130M and still run in the same thermal envelope.

[Rob @ Feb 10th 2009 5:15PM]

Clarification: The Y450, Y550, and Y750 are the new Lenovo's coming out in March that were mentioned above.

[Bobby @ Feb 10th 2009 7:38PM]

4gb is so 2008 lame

[Shattered Ice @ Feb 10th 2009 4:30PM]

I think its a rebadged 9650M

[Chris @ Feb 10th 2009 4:45PM]

I was under the impression the 1xx series are actually derivatives of the new 2xx desktop line, 55nm at that. Perhaps I'm wrong and they are just 55nm variants of the 9xxx, but I think they'd retain the 9xxx numbering.

Also, Nvidia's site doesn't list a 120m, just 130m along with 110 and 105.

[YpoCaramel @ Feb 10th 2009 4:54PM]

http://vr-zone.com/articles/nvidia-40nm-mobile-gpus-line-up-for-2009/6378.html?doc=6378

"Nvidia is going to class their mobile GPUs as N10x this year and the confusing part is that it could be G9x based or GT21x based. However, the process technology will show which GPU architecture they belong to."

There's a good chance its a re-branded 9x00-series.

I'm disappointed that it looks like the same, mediocre Asus screens. Hopefully they'll move to 300nit+ bright LED screens.

[Shattered Ice @ Feb 10th 2009 4:54PM]

Not really. The 9600 GT was a rebadged 8800. The 9650M was a rebadged 8700M but already a 55 NM process. AMD are getting ready to bring 40NM shrink for the 5 series of graphics cores and Nvidia are bringing only just bringing their 55 NM cores.

[Chris @ Feb 10th 2009 4:58PM]

Shattered, thank you, I forgot the current cores are 55nm already. In that case, they have to be gt21x based because people are claiming 16% or greater improvements with the same number of processor cores. Assuming they couldn't just increase the clock (blow the TDP), it's got to be the new architecture.

[Shattered Ice @ Feb 10th 2009 5:07PM]

Had a look and the 130M is a definitely a rebadged 9650M with lower voltage. Which leads me to believe the 120M is definetley a slower 130M.

[Chris @ Feb 10th 2009 5:15PM]

I had another look at (with the help of notebook review) and it looks like 9600m = 130m. The only difference is that it will be paired with the 105m for a hybrid setup. They did this with re-branding 8800m and 9800m, but this is getting out of hand.

ATI is actually releasing a NEW mobile architecture with the 4xxx parts.

[syko21 @ Feb 10th 2009 10:27PM]

Shattered, 9600gt != 8800gt there is a massive performance difference along with the fact that the 9600gt is a single slot card while the 8800gt is a dual slot card.

[lordofthedirectrix @ Feb 10th 2009 4:31PM]

Sounds exciting. I'm glad I didn't buy a new laptop yet!

[BlurMagic @ Feb 10th 2009 4:35PM]

Me too. I think im just gonna wait for 7 to drop though.

[funyun2 @ Feb 10th 2009 4:41PM]

And yet Asus always gives their laptops such ugly colors.
Whatever, I'd put up with that for a 1080p screen on a 14 inch laptop, along with some of the other stuff they threw in.

[TareX @ Feb 10th 2009 4:44PM]

I demand Crysis/COD4/Far Cry 2 benchmarks, and more importantly.... PRICING.

Plz be a sub-$1000 laptop.

[dhytspam @ Feb 10th 2009 4:56PM]

No chance mate. Top range options, proper Cpu and debuting 100's card which seem decent.

This is bordering MBA (size/price) but in a more feature hardware package for Windows.

[Bryan @ Feb 10th 2009 5:01PM]

You really expect what sounds like a fairly cutting edge laptop to cost under $1000?

And you're demanding gaming benchmarks on the thing and it ain't out yet....

I expect big dissapointment in your future.

[TareX @ Feb 10th 2009 5:30PM]

Yeah.. i know..
But considering you can get a new Alienware for 1,399.... I don't think $999 for this one is THAT far-fetched....

[Patriks7 @ Feb 10th 2009 5:34PM]

"This is bordering MBA (size/price) but in a more feature hardware package for Windows."
That makes no sense. Can you elaborate more on that?

[sawtx @ Feb 10th 2009 5:38PM]

I can already tell you that this thing would play Crysis/CoD4/Far Cry 2 slowly. It does not have a beefy video card, probably around the speed of a desktop 9500. The GT120 really looks like a rebadged 9600M GS, same number of cores and about the same GFLOPs.

[Zadillo @ Feb 10th 2009 5:42PM]

dhtyspam, the dimensions of this laptop are 342mm x 256mm x 36mm, 2.5kg (with 6-cell battery) according to Asus' website. So that's 1.4 inches thick and 5.5 pounds. And it's footprint is pretty standard for a 14" machine. What's the basis for saying it is "bordering MBA"? Size-wise it isn't really an ultraportable by any means, and its pricing should in fact be pretty reasonable given similar Asus laptops. I just don't get the MBA comparison (or comparison to other similar systems).

[Jon @ Feb 10th 2009 6:20PM]

@sawtx

That's BS. I can play CoD: World at War on high settings on my MBP and it has a 8600GT M (512MB).

[sawtx @ Feb 10th 2009 6:43PM]

@Jon

You might be able to play it at lower framerates like 30fps but games like Crysis would be ~20fps at medium quality, both of which I would consider slow. The GT120 would be about the same as your 8600M GT, it has more GFLOPs but probably lower texture and pixel fillrate.

[philosopher @ Feb 10th 2009 5:10PM]

wow, industry first.......

[Bailers @ Feb 10th 2009 5:22PM]

Can this laptop be one of your recession antidotes?

[Fudgems @ Feb 10th 2009 5:32PM]

funny...the first thing i thought when he said tiger at the end was that maybe this computer would come out with osx hahaha yeaaa...right

[Brown Bear! @ Feb 10th 2009 5:46PM]

I'm rocking the N80Vn right now, which has a 9650m GT card in it with similar specs (4gb DDR2, 320gb HDD, LED backlit screen, etc) and the GT 120m is looking like it's comparable to a 9600m. I bought mine for under 1000, with a $200 live.com rebate. I'd posture that this'll retail for 1200, considering mine was brand spanking new in October '08.

[neofolklore @ Feb 10th 2009 6:19PM]

But none of the current Asus laptops have a 14" screen WITH 1080p resolution. bye.

[sawtx @ Feb 10th 2009 6:33PM]

Yeah, the N80Vn-X5 on Newegg is $1012 and has a better GPU than this and other similar notebooks are about $1000 so this should be in that price range.

neofolklore: It does not say what the screens resolution is, it just says 1080p video playback. Most modern computers can do that without any trouble.

[Jason @ Feb 10th 2009 6:29PM]

Actually the screen probably isn't 1080p. It can just output that through the HDMI. Sorry. This is probably just the same laptops with different stickers on them. And Nvidia trying to get rid of overproduced inventory since they dropped the ball and ATI is beating them to the punch.

[neologan @ Feb 10th 2009 6:41PM]

wish engadget would stop talking 'cuda technology' as if it could be lacking on a card just released. Its just software that utilizes the SP's, and SP's aren't going anywhere soon so ALL cards from NV will support CUDA.

[BloodyHell @ Feb 10th 2009 6:46PM]

"cores, DirecX 10 support,"

no thx, i prefer DirectX =D

[Basic @ Feb 10th 2009 7:12PM]

Hey NVidia... when's that 120M going to ship in a MXM Type-IV formfactor? I want it for my Clevo!

[xB Owner @ Feb 10th 2009 7:27PM]

Meh... not enough to make me waiver in my choice to order a Zepto NOX A14. The screen will continue to be lower resolution in a thicker notebook than my choice. And from everything I have read this (120m) is simply a "relabeled" 9650m GT. And knowing how Asus has crippled the gpu in the past, this one will be equipped with GDDR2 just like the last models.

For what will probably equate to about a $400 premium, I'll stick with the better looking, thinner, better performing Zepto Notebook with the "older" 9650m GT (GDDR3). Though if money is tight, the Asus is a decent option for a semi-compact gaming capable notebook.

[rta @ Feb 24th 2009 5:01PM]

"The 9600 GT was a rebadged 8800."

Shattered, that's a good one. You almost had me there! ;)