The main strength of Matrox Graphics, Inc. in the consumer video card market has always been their 2D quality and speed. Their G400 capitalized on this strength with its dual-head feature, giving the user two monitor outputs in a one processor, one card solution. While gamers and game developers gave this feature a lukewarm reception, preferring faster 3D cards from NVIDIA and 3dfx, the G400 was accepted and welcomed by those actually working (gasp!) with their machine. Matrox has decided to capitalize on their strengths for business use with their new G450, set for release in the second half of 2000, which is best described as a massaged and tweaked G400 that capitalizes on dual head output.
Quite possibly the most significant physical change from the G400 to the G450 is a die-shrink. The G400 is a .25micron chip. Now, with the G450, Matrox has moved to .18micron. There are several advantages to such a die-shrink. A die-shrink gives you a smaller chip. Smaller chips consume less power, produce less heat, can run at a faster clock speed and are cheaper to produce on a per-chip basis.
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