That being said, does anyone know of any 14" laptops with GK208?
Answering my own question for now (albeit for 15"):
[url]TechnologyGuide - TechTarget
Seems like HP ENVY 15t-j000 has a GK208 according to the post above. Link for sale:
[url]http://slickdeals.net/f/6087052-HP-ENVY-15t-j000-Quad-Laptop-i7-4700MQ-Haswell-8GB-Ram-1TB-HD-2GB-Nvidia-GT740M-15-6-1080P-etc-769-ship-tax[/url]
The one above is either 1366x768 or 1980x1080 (in my opinion too high of a resolution for a 15.6").
I can’t advocate HP laptops because they tend to whitelist their WiFI cards and I already have an Intel 7260 Dual Band AC card that I intend to use.
From browsing a bit from news on Computex, Acer is releasing the S3-392, perhaps sometime in July? that sports a 1080p touchscreen in a 13.3" form factor, with a GT735m (GK208) chip:
[url]http://blog.laptopmag.com/acer-aspire-s7-s3-ultrabooks-haswell[/url]
There is also the VAIO Fit 14 (1600x900, Ivy Bridge) which can be configured with a GT735m chipset:
[url]http://www.cnet.com/laptops/sony-vaio-fit-14/4505-3121_7-35757138-2.html[/url]
For what it’s worth, I dropped by a Sony Store the other day and inquired about what SSD choices would be included for the models that are configurable with a SSD – apparently they are a proprietary interface and according to the tech the motherboard does not have a regular 2.5" slot. I stand to believe it given the model name of the hard drive as reported by device manager was a Samsung based SSD that did not show up on Google. The model with the “(5400rpm) + 8GB SSD hybrid hard drive” is a Toshiba MQ01ABD075H – [url]EMEA Region – Toshiba Storage Solutions (9.5mm height), so that gives plenty of options for upgrades (7.5mm w/ spacer and 9.5mm SSDs).
Also from Sony, the VAIO Fit 14E (1600x900, Ivy Bridge) can be configured with a GT740m (1 or 2GB VRAM), however it’s unclear if that model is using the GK208 chipset – presumably it is, given I cannot find information about the model number anywhere, and Sony chat support mentions it is a model that has ‘not released’ yet, implying it is new and most likely will be using GK208 instead of GK107, but buyer beware!
To me it doesn’t make sense to me to upgrade just the video card, ideally I’d like a GK208 in a 14" form factor, either 1366x768 or 1600x900 with a Haswell (4th Gen) Core i5 or i7 processor, but nothing like that exists so far.
Edit 1: I’ve confirmed another laptop model with GK208. This one is an Asus VivoBook S551LB – [url]http://www.ultrabookreview.com/3084-asus-vivobook-s551-review/[/url] The author of the extensive review mentions it is sold in the US as the Asus Vivobook V551LB. It is available on Amazon and a few other retailers – BestBuy.com or Rakuten.com are the ideal choice, as they offer 15-day and 45-day return policy by default with no restocking fees. After trying it out from Best Buy, besides losing VT-d, the trackpad is an Elantech one and it jumps pretty bad, regardless of what drivers I used. Too bad, because otherwise the laptop was pretty decent, but it’s going back because of that issue alone. The screen is actually decent enough, despite the poor viewing angles, but I didn’t see a problem with glare given how the reviewer mentioned it was quite reflective.
Edit 2: Another laptop that has GK208 is the TOSHIBA Satellite S55-A5279 – [url]http://www.rakuten.com/pr/product.aspx?sku=250975766[/url] and probably also the S55-A5276 – [url]Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, LED LCD TV, Digital Cameras and more - Newegg.com. I ordered the S55-A5279 from Rakuten, because of the generous 45-day return policy and so far the only gripe I have is the short battery life given the battery specs are 14.4V, 2838 mAh. It’s Identified as a PEGA G71C000FP110 by BatteryInfoView software. Other than that, it seems to meet my expectations. The fan does get a bit loud when you push the CPU, but that’s normal for pretty much any laptop.
Compared to the VivoBook, this Toshiba S55 is thicker, and all plastic construction vs an aluminum top on the Vivobook. That being said, under normal browsing it keeps very cool – CPUID HWMonitor sees about 4-5W of power use on the processor as I type this on the S55. The Toshiba’s 4-core (8-thread) i7-4700MQ processor is not VT-d capable, however it might be upgradeable down the line, as Intel does ship i7-4800MQ and i7-4900MQ processors as boxed units.
The Toshiba also has a VGA (RGB) port in addition to HDMI, which means it should be able to drive 2 monitors natively, but I will have to check this soon. On that note, I also want to see if I’m able to drive a 2560x1440 or 2560x1600 resolution via the HDMI port.
A plus I saw on the Asus vs the Toshiba were a much better battery life – The Asus has 3 cell, 11.1V, 4500 mAh, 50 Wh battery, vs the S55’s 4 cell, 14.4V, 2838 mAh, 43Wh battery. For that matter, the max TDP on the Toshiba’s 4700MQ is 47W vs 15W for the Asus’ 4500U. The Asus has a 65W power brick – 19 VDC @ 3.42 A, vs 120W on the Toshiba – 19 VDC @ 6.32A, so the Toshiba definitely can draw a lot more power due to the beefy processor. Needless to say, the Asus beats Toshiba in battery life.