5. Hydravision Takes Multi-Display Configuration To The Extreme!

ATI's Hydravision technology has been available for some time now. The Hydravision software provides a user with the ability to control multiple display configurations. Here is a look at three of the major features of Hydravision.

The Maximize Applications feature allows you to expand an application across two monitors with the click of a mouse. This is an ideal application when working on spreadsheets.

The Multidesk Hot Keys function allows you to use hot keys to switch between different multi-monitor configurations. You can store and use up to nine multi-monitor configuration setups.

The Independent Resolutions function allows you to have each monitor in your multi-monitor configuration set at different resolutions. This allows you to edit a high resolution image on one monitor while surfing the internet on the other.

We found that Hydravision does, indeed, add value to the Mobility Radeon 7500. We liked the user interface and found the control to be easy to understand and use, even for a novice. Hydravision's features and functions were well documented on the driver-included, online help feature.

A Special First For Mobile GPU Testing - Modular GPU Testing!

At THG, we have always found it difficult to evaluate the difference between mobile GPUs. Much of this is due to the specific nature of the build of notebooks and laptops in general. Normally, it is difficult to find two notebooks whose only difference is the mobile GPU. However, we were provided with a Dell notebook that can be used to fairly examine the true performance difference between the NVIDIA GeForce2 Go and the Mobility Radeon 7500. This is possibly due to Dell's use of a daughter graphics board that is in their new Inspiron 8100. Due to the modular design of this daughter board, Dell was able to select either the NVIDIA GeForce2 Go or ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 to reside on the daughter card that plugs into the motherboard of the Inspiron 8100.

In this photo you see the inside of the Dell Inspiron 8100. After removing the keyboard, you can see the Mobility Radeon 7500 in the center of the 8100. Off to the side, you can see the NVIDIA GeForce2 Go 32 MB that we removed from the system.

Just to address in advance all of the anticipated emails that we will get about this, we are already warning you: (1) opening a laptop to change the daughter boards voids the warranty on the laptop; (2) No, neither ATI nor NVIDIA can supply you with a compatible replacement board; (3) No, we don't happen to have any extra boards around that we could send you. We don't know for sure, you might be able to order them from Dell's spare parts. You could explore that with Dell, but, of course, opening the notebook by anyone other than a certified Dell Technician will void what is left of your warranty; (4) Yes, we have heard rumors of people that own C810s that have done it. Of course, you have to make the C810 look like the 8100 by using the 8100 BIOS, which is dangerous and could lead to stability issues.