Computer News & Reviews

Lenovo IdeaPad U330 Review

2008-11-15T11:01:00.000-08:00

The IdeaPad U330 is the stylish 13.3” consumer oriented notebook from Lenovo. With a slick chassis and thin frameless LCD, the U-series notebook is a huge step away from the popular ThinkPad series. Offering power-saving switchable graphics, HDMI out, touch sensitive media controls, and the Intel Centrino 2 platform the Lenovo IdeaPad U330 packs a big punch.

* 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P7350 (1066Mhz FSB, 3MB Cache)
* Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium w/ SP1
* Graphics: ATI Radeon 3450 with 256MB DDR3/Intel X4500 Integrated
* Screen: 13.3-inch LED-backlit WXGA (1280 x 800, 300 nit) glossy display
* Memory: 2GB DDR3 (4GB Max)
* Storage: 250GB SATA HDD (5400rpm)
* Optical Drive: DVD-Recordable
* Wireless and Communications: Intel 5100AGN (802.11 a/b/g/n wi-fi), BlueTooth 2.0 EDR
* Battery: 6-Cell 57Wh Battery
* Dimensions: 12.5" x 9.3" x 0.9" – 1.1"
* Weight: from 4.28lbs with 6-cell battery
* Warranty: 1-year
* Price: $1,249.00

Build and Design

The design of the Lenovo U330 is very visually pleasing, with a low profile chassis, super thin LCD, and high gloss display cover. On the inside it has a pinstripe paint scheme with glossy touch-sensitive media controls. The frameless display looks really nice, with a smooth seamless finish side to side. These screens all tend to look great when the system is off, but they do introduce a ton of glare in a bright environment.

Build quality was average, with a good design, but having some components that could be improved. The thin screen while visually pleasing was very flexible, but did seem to protect against ripples in the screen when tapping the back of the cover. The paint scheme looked nice, but the finish could be improved. We saw many areas which looked like dusts had been trapped in the paint surface during the painting process, leaving defects and imperfections on the palmrest. The overall feel of the notebook is nice, but the little things really add up.

Display

The “frameless” display, while highly reflective in nature, looked very nice on our review machine. Colors and contrast were exceptional, and black levels were very good with the LED backlit. Viewing angles were above average, with a broad sweet spot for easy viewing. Vertical viewing angles spanned from roughly 30 degrees down or 20 degrees up before colors started to become washed out or inverted. Horizontal viewing angles were much better, easily spanning to the steepest angles before colors started to wash out. In bright viewing conditions, at steeper angles you start to have nearby surfaces reflecting off the screen and dimming your view of what is on display. This is one limitation of the all-glass panels across the board though.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard was very easy to type on, and had relatively good support under strong typing pressure. The style looks similar to what is found on the business grade ThinkPad notebooks, but with more of a consumer vibe. Individual key action is smooth with a soft click on each press. For long typing sessions the keyboard was wonderful and very easy on the fingertips.

The Synaptics based touchpad had great sensitivity and had little to no lag during use. The surface texture had a soft matte finish which was easy to slide your finger across, even if slightly sweaty. One problem we noticed which was slightly odd was a bubble underneath the surface, which may have just been a manufacturing defect. The touchpad buttons were large and had great feedback. Each button had a long throw, with a soft quiet click when pressed.

Performance

System performance with the ATI Radeon 3450 dedicated graphics and the Intel P7350 Core 2 Duo processor was excellent. The system handled mild gaming without a problem and normal acitivity was without any lag (once you removed most of the bloatware). One advantage of having a switchable graphics system is one minute you can be playing around in a game, and another you are sipping slowly off battery power using integrated graphics. Lenovo handles this transition without needing to reboot the system with a simple right click on the desktop and selecting "Configure Switchable Graphics." The switch takes only a few seconds and power usage drops significantly. Besides gaming, I found leaving it in the Intel graphics mode worked out best. The system consumes less power, puts off less heat, and still ran all of the 3D features of Vista without a problem. The PCMark Vantage synthetic benchmark returned a reasonably impressive score of 3,232.

WPrime 32M comparison results:

WPrime is a benchmark similar to Super Pi in that it forces the processor to do intense mathematical calculations, but the difference is this application is multi-threaded and represents dual core processors better. Lower numbers indicate better performance.
Notebook / CPU wPrime 32M time
Lenovo IdeaPad U330 (Core 2 Duo P7350 @ 2.0GHz) 38.222s
Dell Inspiron 13 (Pentium Dual Core T2390 @ 1.86GHz) 44.664s
Dell Studio 15 (Core 2 Duo T5750 @ 2.0GHz)
41.246s
HP Pavilion dv5z (Turion X2 Ultra ZM-80 @ 2.1GHz)
39.745s
Toshiba Satellite U405 (Core 2 Duo T8100 @ 2.1GHz) 37.500s
Dell Vostro 1510 (Core 2 Duo T5670 @ 1.8GHz)
51.875s
Dell Inspiron 1525 (Core 2 Duo T7250 @ 2.0GHz)
43.569s
Dell XPS M1530 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)
37.485s
HP Pavilion dv6500z (Turion 64 X2 TL-60 @ 2.0GHz)
40.759s
Sony VAIO NR (Core 2 Duo T5250 @ 1.5GHz) 58.233s
Toshiba Tecra A9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz) 38.343s
Toshiba Tecra M9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz) 37.299s
HP Compaq 6910p (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz) 40.965s
Lenovo T61 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz) 37.705s
HP Pavilion dv6000z (Turion X2 TL-60 @ 2.0GHz) 38.720s

PCMark05 measures overall notebook performance based on processor, hard drive, operating system, RAM, and graphics (higher scores are better):
Notebook PCMark05 Score
Lenovo IdeaPad U330 (2.0GHz Intel P7350, ATI Radeon 3450 with 256MB DDR3) 4,801 PCMarks
Lenovo IdeaPad U330 (2.0GHz Intel P7350, Intel X4500) 4,224 PCMarks
Dell Inspiron 13 (1.86GHz Intel T2390, Intel X3100) 3,727 PCMarks
Dell Studio 15 (2.0GHz Intel T5750, Intel X3100)
3,998 PCMarks
HP Pavilion dv5z (2.1GHz Turion X2 Ultra ZM-80, ATI Radeon HD 3200)
3,994 PCMarks
Toshiba Satellite U405 (2.1GHz Intel T8100, Intel X3100) 4,145 PCMarks
Dell Vostro 1510 (1.8GHz Intel T5670, Intel X3100)
3,568 PCMarks
Dell Inspiron 1525 (2.0GHz Intel T7250, Intel X3100) 4,149 PCMarks
Dell XPS M1530 (2.20GHz Intel T7500, Nvidia 8600M GT 256MB) 5,412 PCMarks
Dell Inspiron 1520 (2.0GHz Intel T7300, NVIDIA 8600M GT) 4,616 PCMarks
Sony VAIO NR (1.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5250, Intel X3100) 3,283 PCMarks
Lenovo T60 Widescreen (2.0GHz Intel T7200, ATI X1400 128MB) 4,189 PCMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400) 4,234 PCMarks

3DMark06 comparison results for graphics performance (higher scores are better):
Notebook 3DMark06 Score
Lenovo IdeaPad U330 (2.0GHz Intel P7350, ATI Radeon 3450 with 256MB DDR3) 2,056 3DMarks
Lenovo IdeaPad U330 (2.0GHz Intel P7350, Intel X4500) 851 3DMarks
Dell Inspiron 13 (1.86GHz Intel T2390, Intel X3100)
470 3DMarks
Dell Studio 15 (2.0GHz Intel T5750, Intel X3100)
493 3DMarks
HP Pavilion dv5z (2.1GHz Turion X2 Ultra ZM-80, ATI Radeon HD 3200) 1,599 3DMarks
Toshiba Satellite U405 (2.1GHz Intel T8100, Intel X3100) 539 3DMarks
Dell Vostro 1510 (1.8GHz Intel T5670, Intel X3100) 519 3DMarks
Dell Inspiron 1525 (2.0GHz Intel T7250, Intel X3100)
545 3DMarks
HP Pavilion dv6500z (2.0GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-60, NVIDIA 8400m GS) 1,551 3DMarks
Sony VAIO NR (1.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5250, Intel X3100)
504 3DMarks
Dell XPS M1530 (2.20GHz Intel T7500, Nvidia 8600M GT 256MB) 4,332 3DMarks
Dell Inspiron 1520 (2.0GHz Intel T7300, NVIDIA 8600M GT) 2,905 3DMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16 GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400) 827 3DMarks

HDTune results:

Speakers

Audio performance of the U330 was average compared to other notebooks of its size, with limited bass and midrange being the main weak points. Volume levels were adequate, but not as loud as larger notebooks. For watching movies or listening to music they would be fine, but for near perfect audio a good pair of headphones would be best. The headphone jack produced clean audio, with very high volume levels. The one complaint I have with the speaker and heaphone system on this notebook is the very loud beep the notebook makes when you switch power profiles between battery and AC power. It is loud and distracting through the speakers and “gives me a heart attack” while wearing headphones.

Ports and Features

The port selection was a little light on the Lenovo U330, with only two USB ports and no eSATA. I think Lenovo could have easily taken away the HDMI port to make space for something else. That being said the port selection was not that bad with VGA, HDMI, Firewire, LAN, two USB, and headphone/microphone jacks. The U330 also included a 6-in-1 multicard reader located on the front.

Front: 6-in-1 card reader and headphone/mic

Rear: Screen hinge

Left: VGA, LAN, and HDMI

Right: Firewire 400, ExpressCard/34, two USB, optical drive, AC-power, and Kensington lock slot

Battery Life

With the switchable graphics set to power-saving integrated mode, the power profile in Vista set to “balanced”, wireless active, and screen brightness set to 60 percent, the U330 managed to stay powered on for 3 hours and 58 minutes. If you enable the dedicated graphics, battery life dips to 2 hours and 40 minutes. I would love to see an extended battery for the U330, but with the screen hinge design it would need to extended below the bottom of the notebook to add additional cells.

Heat and Noise

Thermal performance of the Lenovo U330 was very nice, keeping its cool in both integrated and dedicated graphics modes. System fan noise is minimal under light use, staying at a constant low speed. Under higher levels of stress the fan kicks up in speed, but doesn't get that loud.

Conclusion

The Lenovo IdeaPad U330 is a nice consumer notebook with a solid look and feel, but had a few areas that could be improved. The paint quality on the model we received had dust stuck in the paint and an odd small bubble underneath the touchpad surface. Chances are it is an early production quirk, but it is still worth mentioning in this review. The frameless screen panel looks great and adds to the overall look of the notebook, but in use it does add a high level of reflection. The switchable graphics that didn't require a reboot to switch modes is great, as most notebooks that incorporate it need to fully reboot.

Pros:

* LCD has good contrast and great colors
* Solid performance in dedicated and integrated graphics mode
* Switchable graphics doesn’t require a reboot
* Good cooling system

Cons:

* Some paint defects (could be a limited problem with our particular review unit)
* Frameless screen is very reflective

ASUS N10JC-A1 Review

2008-11-07T11:22:00.000-08:00

The high-class ASUS N10 is a netbook above all the rest, starting a new market segment called the "Corporate Netbook." The N10 offers similar features to standard netbooks, including an Intel Atom platform and WSVGA screen, but with the addition of optional switchable dedicated graphics and a fancy design. With a starting price of $649 for models with dedicated graphics; is a higher configuration worth the price jump? In this review we explain the differences between the N10JC and the cheaper Eee PC 1000HA and tell you if you should consider the costly upgrade.

There are several different configurations of the N10 series available at various online stores. Some configurations offer Windows Vista, others include a different hard drive or use integrated graphics rather than dedicated. The only reason we mention this is so that consumers are aware that there are different configurations on the market to meet the needs of different people.

ASUS N10JC-A1 Specifications:

* Intel Atom 1.6GHz processor
* 160GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive (Seagate 5400.4)
* NVIDIA 9300M GS with 256MB DDR2 memory and Intel GMA950
* 1GB of DDR2 RAM (667MHz)
* Windows XP Home operating system
* 10.2” WSVGA Glossy LED-Backlit 1024 x 600 LCD
* Ports: 3 USB 2.0, HDMI,VGA monitor out, headphone jack, microphone input, 8 in 1 SD card reader (SDHC compatible), Kensington lock slot, Ethernet 10/100, ExpressCard/34
* Webcam (1.3 MP)
* Battery: 11.1v 4800mAh 53Wh 6-cell battery
* Wireless: 802.11b/g
* Two-year Limited Global Warranty
* Size: 10.8 (W) x 8.25 (D) x 1.46 (H)
* Weight: 3lbs 8.5oz, 4lbs 2.1oz with AC adapter
* MSRP: $649

Build and Design

The N10 is designed a step above other netbooks, with a better paint scheme and chrome accents. The shape is slimmer than the 1000HA we just reviewed, but the thinner shape comes from the battery sticking out instead of down. While some people get hung up on a battery that hangs off the back of a notebook, it doesn’t really bother me since I am used to seeing it on many business notebooks which share that design element. The gold and chrome paint scheme looks very nice, giving this netbook a “normal” color that you don’t generally see on many netbooks.

Build quality is very similar to other netbooks with a feel of slight ruggedness, but generous use of cheap plastic. The two toggle switches for dedicated graphics and wireless on/off feel undersized and are difficult to switch without using your fingernail. The screen hinges feel weaker on the N10 compared to the 901 or 1000 series Eee PC, flopping the screen back when you are carrying around the netbook.

Display

The glossy LED-backlit WSVGA display is an odd screen choice for a business oriented notebook, where most manufacturers use matte displays to reduce screen glare. Another limiting factor is the lower resolution screen; which for the price premium you might expect a higher resolution option. That said the screen is bright and vibrant and very pleasing to look at for hours at a time. Viewing angles are also better than average when compared to standard notebooks, with a broad vertical viewing angle sweet sport before colors start to distort. Horizontal viewing angles extend almost to 90 degrees, if you can actually view the screen over the reflective surface that is showing the surrounding area.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard is comfortable to type on, but somewhat confusing to pickup if you are used to other keyboard layouts. One layout decision that irks me is the second function key located next to the direction pad. On most keyboards the outermost keys on the second row are both shift keys, making it easy to blindly aim your fingers all by feel. The N10 moves the left shift key inwards, and with it already being condensed in size, makes it difficult to find while typing. The sharp edge key design is another element which I would have preferred ASUS not use, since I found the rounded edge design on the Eee PC 1000 to be more comfortable. I personally think ASUS should have used the same keyboard on the N10 as they used on the 1000HA.

The Synaptics-based touchpad on the N10 is not only larger than most netbooks, but is easier to use than cheaper touchpads now found on many "consumer" netbooks. The pad surface is glossy, sharing the same color as the shell of the netbook. The large size makes it easy to move about the screen without having to pick up your finger to backtrack. Sensitivity is great with a wide range of adjustment and there was no noticeable lag found during use.

The touchpad buttons are adequately sized and easy to depress with little pressure. Feedback is shallow with a small audible click when pressed.

The ASUS N10JC-1A is also equipped with a fingerprint scanner which is located between the touchpad buttons. Scanning your fingertip can be tricky with how deeply recessed it is, but with a bit of practice you can get repeatable accurate readings.

Performance

From the moment I received this notebook I was very interested in seeing the performance of the Intel Atom platform with a dedicated graphics card attached. Almost all configurations use the dated Intel GMA950 graphics, which slow everything down, including movie decoding. With the NVIDIA 9300M graphics, this netbook might have a shot at decoding 720p video in a very compact package that has HDMI out.

For our test we tried a wide range of high definition content including an assortment of HD movies and HD movie trailers. Sadly, even though we tried a wide range of video codecs, including CoreAVC, the Intel Atom processor didn’t have enough grunt to keep a steady decoding framerate. Depending on the bitrate the N10 working with the NVIDIA 9300M graphics only managed 10-15fps, well below 24-25fps goal.

Since HD content was out of the question we moved onto video games as another area to see where the dedicated graphics might help out. Using Steam we pulled in Half-Life 2 and tweaked the visual settings to be easier on the system. With the resolution set to 1024x600 and most settings on medium the system average 20-25fps, which was playable, but still under what you would want for smooth gaming. Heavy action scenes dropped the framerate into the mid-teens, and if you weren’t lucky, got yourself killed in no time.

In day to day use the NVIDIA 9300M didn’t do much to improve the overall speed of the N10 compared to standard netbooks which only have Intel integrated graphics. It also didn’t help out much with gaming or video playback since the Intel Atom processor can’t keep up. While it did improve limited gaming abilities, it wasn’t a big enough jump to really make anything old games work under tweaked settings. For these reasons I don’t really see any benefit to including the dedicated graphics when all it does is increase power consumption.

UPDATE: Many forum members wanted clarification on the ASUS N10's ability to handle HD decoding when using hardware decoding software. We tested MPC-HC and it helps to offload both 720P and 1080P well enough to limit the frame dropping we noticed before. It does have some hiccups running off of battery, but when plugged in to a power outlet it seems pretty solid.

PCMark05 measures overall system performance (higher scores mean better performance):
Notebook PCMark05 Score
ASUS N10 (1.60GHz Intel Atom, Intel GMA 950) 1,531 PCMarks
ASUS N10 (1.60GHz Intel Atom, NVIDIA 9300M 256MB) 1,851 PCMarks
ASUS Eee PC 1000HA (1.60GHz Intel Atom, Intel GMA 950) 1,527 PCMarks
Lenovo IdeaPad S10 (1.60GHz Intel Atom, Intel GMA 950) 1,446 PCMarks
Acer Aspire One (1.60GHz Intel Atom, Intel GMA 950) 1,555 PCMarks
ASUS Eee PC 901 (1.60GHz Intel Atom) 746 PCMarks
MSI Wind (1.60GHz Intel Atom) N/A
ASUS Eee PC 900 (900MHz Intel Celeron M ULV)
1,172 PCMarks
HP 2133 Mini-Note (1.6GHz VIA C7-M ULV) 801 PCMarks
HTC Shift (800MHz Intel A110) 891 PCMarks
ASUS Eee PC 4G (630MHz Intel Celeron M ULV) 908 PCMarks
ASUS Eee PC 4G (900MHz Intel Celeron M ULV) 1,132 PCMarks
Everex CloudBook (1.2GHz VIA C7-M ULV)
612 PCMarks
Sony VAIO TZ (1.20GHz Intel Core 2 Duo U7600) 2,446 PCMarks
Fujitsu LifeBook P7230 (1.2GHz Intel Core Solo U1400) 1,152 PCMarks
Sony VAIO VGN-G11XN/B (1.33GHz Core Solo U1500) 1,554 PCMarks
Toshiba Portege R500 (1.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo U7600) 1,839 PCMarks

wPrime processor comparison results (lower scores mean better performance):
Notebook / CPU wPrime 32M time
ASUS N10 (Intel Atom @ 1.60GHz) 126.047 seconds
ASUS Eee PC 1000HA (Intel Atom @ 1.60GHz) 117.577 seconds
Lenovo IdeaPad S10 (Intel Atom @ 1.60GHz) 127.172 seconds
Acer Aspire One (Intel Atom @ 1.60GHz) 125.812 seconds
ASUS Eee PC 901 (Intel Atom @ 1.60GHz)
123.437 seconds
MSI Wind (Intel Atom @ 1.60GHz)
124.656 seconds
ASUS Eee PC 900 (Intel Celeron M ULV @ 900MHz)
203.734 seconds
HP 2133 Mini-Note (Via CV7-M ULV @ 1.6GHz) 168.697 seconds
ASUS Eee PC 4G (Intel Celeron M ULV @ 630MHz) 289.156 seconds
ASUS Eee PC 4G (Intel Celeron M ULV @ 900MHz) 200.968 seconds
Everex CloudBook (VIA C7-M ULV @ 1.2GHz) 248.705 seconds
Fujitsu U810 Tablet PC (Intel A110 @ 800MHz)
209.980 seconds
Sony VAIO VGN-G11XN/B (Core Solo U1500 @ 1.33GHz) 124.581 seconds
Sony VAIO TZ (Core 2 Duo U7600 @ 1.2GHz) 76.240 seconds
Dell Inspiron 2650 (Pentium 4 Mobile @ 1.6GHz) 231.714 seconds

3DMark06 comparison results:
Notebook 3DMark06 Score
ASUS N10 (1.60GHz Intel Atom, Intel GMA 950) 73 3DMarks
ASUS N10 (1.60GHz Intel Atom, NVIDIA 9300M 256MB) 1,417 3DMarks
ASUS Eee PC 1000HA (1.60GHz Intel Atom, Intel GMA 950) 95 3DMarks
Lenovo IdeaPad S10 (1.60GHz Intel Atom, Intel GMA 950) N/A
Acer Aspire One (1.60GHz Intel Atom, Intel GMA 950)
122 3DMarks
Sony VAIO TZ (1.20GHz Core 2 Duo U7600, Intel GMA 950) 122 3DMarks
HP dv2500t (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS 128MB) 1,055 3DMarks
Sony VAIO FZ (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100) 532 3DMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16 GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400) 827 3DMarks

HDTune hard drive performance results:

Windows Vista also performed remarkably well on the N10, which seems to be the case with many Intel Atom based netbooks. The flow of system applications and short boot and shutdown times made it much more pleasing to use on a day to day basis compared to XP, and some benchmark scores improved as well. PCMark05 with the NVIDIA graphics enabled managed a score of 1,869 and 3DMark06 pulled in 1,404. 3DMark06 with the Intel graphics in the Vista environment almost doubled, with a score of 128. All the required drivers were easy to find on the ASUS site, which was expected since ASUS sells an N10 configuration with Vista out of the box.

Speakers and Audio

The Altec Lansing speakers on the N10 did sound slightly better than other netbook speakers, but were still leaving much to be desired. Bass and midrange were lacking, but volume levels were fine for average use. The headphone output was great for private listening, and with my Sennheiser HD-80s hooked up, I had no more complaints about bass or midrange. Peak volume levels through the headphone jack were well above my tolerance of loud music.

Ports and Features

Port selection was above average compared to many netbooks, with the addition of the HDMI output, ExpressCard/34 slot for external devices, and security enhancing fingerprint scanner. Beyond those devices the port selection included three USB, VGA, LAN, headphone/mic, multi-card reader, and a Kensington lock slot.

Front: 8-in-1 Card Reader

Rear: Battery

Left: Kensington Lock Slot, Switchable Graphics, HDMI, two USB, Wireless On/Off

Right: ExpressCard/34, Headphone(SPDIF)/Mic, one USB, VGA, LAN, AC Power

Heat and Noise

Thermal performance of the ASUS N10 was great, even under the stress of gaming with the dedicated graphics under load. At no time did the system fan go above a whisper level of noise. Right after gaming the palmrest and touchpad area would peak around 95 degrees Fahrenheit. Compared to the original Eee PC 701 which would heat soak and reach temperatures of 112 degrees Fahrenheit, ASUS has come a long way in terms of cooling performance.

Battery Life

Battery life with the screen brightness set to 100%, the N10 set to the “Quiet Office” power profile , and wireless active was 5 hours and 9 minutes before it went into standby at 3% remaining. With the NVIDIA graphics enabled under the same settings, estimated battery life was about 1 hour less.

Buy a Asus N10
Available from:
CompUSA for only $739.99
TigerDirect.com for only $739.99

Conclusion

The ASUS N10, while performing quite well in our testing in overall performance, didn’t see much gain in day-to-day use from the dedicated graphics. While the addition nets you an HDMI port, it doesn’t help with decoding HD movies or help with many games since the Intel Atom processor doesn’t have enough power to handle those activities. While you do get a classier looking design with a much nicer paint scheme and slightly slimmer look, you pay a price premium over the Eee PC 1000.

With a price tag nearly 50 percent greater than other netbook models, even more when compared to new HP and Dell offerings, it seems ASUS might have priced themselves out of the consumer market with the N10. Of course, the price tag is still perfectly reasonable as a "corporate netbook" ... and some less demanding road warriors may desire the affordable N10 over outrageously priced ultraportables like the Sony VAIO TZ.

Pros:

* Improved cooling over previous Eee PC models
* Good battery life
* Slimmer design over 10” Eee PC 1000
* ExpressCard slot for expansion
* HDMI output from a netbook

Cons:

* High price tag (compared to consumer netbooks)
* Dedicated graphics don’t really improve HD video decoding or mild gaming
* Keyboard doesn’t feel as comfortable as other 10” netbooks

Most Popular Laptops for October 2008

2008-11-01T23:45:00.000-07:00

HP Compaq 2230s Review

2008-10-25T04:07:00.000-07:00

The HP Compaq 2230s is an ultra-portable consumer notebook that is targeted towards small businesses similar to the Dell Vostro or Lenovo SL series line of machines. This notebook gives consumers a less expensive option than the HP EliteBook series, with a starting price of $999 instead of $1,679. How well does the 2230s hold up against business-grade notebooks? Should you purchase one of these or consider a similarly-priced consumer notebook? Let's take a closer look and find out.

Our review unit of the HP Compaq 2230s came with the following options:

* Windows XP Professional
* Intel Core 2 Duo Processor P8400 (2.26GHz)
* 2GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM (maximum capacity 8GB)
* 160GB Toshiba HDD (5400rpm)
* 12.1" diagonal widescreen glossy TFT LCD display at 1280x 800 (WXGA, glossy)
* Intel 4500MHD Integrated Graphics
* 8x DVD (+/-R double layer) drive
* Intel Wireless WiFi Link 5100AGN (802.11a/g/n)
* Bluetooth 2.0
* Dimensions: 13.3 x 9.7 x 1.21”
* Weight: 3lbs 14.6oz, 4lbs 11.4oz with AC adapter
* 65W 100-240V AC adapter
* 4-cell (37Wh) Lithium Ion battery
* Price as tested: $1,249 (starting price: $999)

Build and Design

The design of the HP Compaq 2230s is somewhat like a black Apple MacBook, with a clean all-black plastic exterior. As far as business notebooks go, it is HP’s attempt to compete with the Dell Vostro line, offering a more consumer look and feel to a business notebook. The all-black color scheme continues into the interior of the notebook, with the palmrest, touchpad, keyboard, and trim all covered in matching black. An interesting design change over a consumer notebook is the touch sensitive controls above the keyboard which normally activate media functions. On the HP 2230s, these control system functions such as external displays, wireless on/off, and volume.

The build quality turned out to be very unappealing and unlike what we've come to expect from a business or even small business grade notebook. The moment you pick up the 2230s you'll notice a great deal of flex in the screen cover from very thin unsupported plastic. Opening up the notebook you find the same thing around the main chassis, with weak plastic surrounding the keyboard. The palmrest has plenty of flex on either side, with the side above the optical drive being the worse of the two. On the optical drive side you have flex on the palmrest as well as the bottom shell when gripping the notebook from the side. The notebook feels more like a budget consumer notebook than a small business notebook with a starting price of $999. The only real advantage of the thin plastic material used is the total notebook weight is kept at a minimum. Unfortunately, the thin plastics don't give this notebook a feeling of durability.

Display

The glossy WXGA display on the HP Compaq 2230s is pretty nice, with vibrant colors and high contrast. Black levels are average with some grey apparent in dark settings depending on the angle you are viewing the panel. Vertical viewing angles are adequate for regular day-to-day use, but colors invert when outside of the 10-15 degree up or down sweet spot. Horizontal viewing angles are better, keeping colors true even to the very edge of being able to still see the screen from the side of the notebook. Brightness levels are above average, enough to comfortably view the screen in a bright office setting. Using the notebook outside would be limited with the glossy display because of reflections, but should be fine as long as you are under shade.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard could be considered one of the redeeming factors of this notebook, offering a very comfortable typing surface with very solid support. Unlike the screen cover, palmrest, or case, the keyboard exhibits no flex at all ... even under strong pressure. Individual key action is smooth with a muted click when fully pressed. Key spacing and size is excellent even with the small 12” form factor. The only part I feel could be improved is the size of the function keys, which are almost 1/3 the overall size of a standard key.

The touchpad is a Synaptics model, with a smooth matte texture surface that is seamless with the palmrest. The size is great without feeling cramped, offering plenty of space even with the scroll bar section. The touchpad buttons have a long throw offering soft feedback with no audible clicks.

Performance and Benchmarks

System performance with the Intel P8400 processor and 2GB of memory with Windows XP was great. The notebook had excellent boot and shutdown times, and showed no signs of lag throughout day-to-day applications. Graphics performance was limited with the Intel 4500MHD integrated chipset, but the advantage of the integrated chipset is greater battery life. If you were looking to spice up your day at work with a game or two, older games such as Half-Life would run very well on the slower graphics found inside this notebook.

Another potentially performance-related feature worth mentioning is that HP provides a Windows Vista license and offers business customers the option of keeping Vista installed on the notebook or having a "custom install" of Windows XP direct from the factory. For those businesses that still prefer to run their office network with Windows XP machines, this is an important feature you won't find on consumer notebooks.

wPrime is a program that forces the processor to do recursive mathematical calculations, the advantage of this program is that it is multi-threaded and can use both processor cores at once, thereby giving more accurate benchmarking measurements than Super Pi.
Notebook / CPU wPrime 32M time
HP Compaq 2230s (Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 @ 2.26GHz) 35.484
Lenovo T400 (Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 @ 2.8GHz)
27.410s
Lenovo T500 (Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 @ 2.8GHz)
27.471s
Lenovo T61 (Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2.0GHz) 42.025s
Dell Vostro 1500 (Intel Core 2 Duo T5470 @ 1.6GHz) 53.827s
HP Pavilion dv6500z (AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-60 @ 2.0GHz) 40.759s
Systemax Assault Ruggedized (Core 2 Duo T7200 @2.0GHz) 41.982s
Toshiba Tecra M9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @2.2GHz) 37.299s
HP Compaq 6910p (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz) 40.965s
Sony VAIO TZ (Core 2 Duo U7600 @ 1.20GHz) 76.240s
Zepto 6024W (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz) 42.385s
Lenovo T61 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz) 37.705s
Alienware M5750 (Core 2 Duo T7600 @ 2.33GHz) 38.327s
Hewlett Packard DV6000z (Turion X2 TL-60 @ 2.0GHz) 38.720s

PCMark05 comparison results:
Notebook PCMark05 Score
HP Compaq 2230s (2.26GHz Intel P8400, Intel 4500MHD) 3,945 PCMarks
Lenovo T400 (2.80GHz Intel T9600, ATI Radeon 3470 256MB GDDR3) 6,589 PCMarks
Lenovo T400 (2.80GHz Intel T9600, Intel X4500) N/A
Lenovo T500 (2.80GHz Intel T9600, ATI Radeon 3650 256MB GDDR3) 7,050 PCMarks
Lenovo T500 (2.80GHz Intel T9600, Intel X4500) 5,689 PCMarks
Lenovo T61 Standard Screen (2.0GHz Intel T7300, NVIDIA NVS 140M 256MB) 4,839 PCMarks
Dell Vostro 1500 (1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5470, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS) 3,585 PCMarks
Dell Inspiron 1420 (2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7500, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS) 4,925 PCMarks
Sony VAIO FZ (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100) 3,377 PCMarks
Dell XPS M1330 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS) 4,591 PCMarks
Lenovo ThinkPad X61 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100) 4,153 PCMarks
Lenovo 3000 V200 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100) 3,987 PCMarks
Lenovo T60 Widescreen (2.0GHz Intel T7200, ATI X1400 128MB) 4,189 PCMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400) 4,234 PCMarks
Sony VAIO SZ-110B in Speed Mode (Using Nvidia GeForce Go 7400) 3,637 PCMarks

3DMark06 comparison results:
Notebook 3DMark06 Score
HP Compaq 2230s (2.26GHz Intel P8400, Intel 4500MHD) 712 3DMarks
Lenovo T400 (2.80GHz Intel T9600, ATI Radeon 3470 256MB GDDR3) 2,575 3DMarks
Lenovo T400 (2.80GHz Intel T9600, Intel X4500) 809 3DMarks
Lenovo T500 (2.80GHz Intel T9600, ATI Radeon 3650 256MB GDDR3) 4,371 3DMarks
Lenovo T500 (2.80GHz Intel T9600, Intel X4500)
809 3DMarks
Lenovo T61 Standard Screen (2.0GHz Intel T7300, NVIDIA NVS 140M 256MB) 1,441 3DMarks
Dell Vostro 1500 (1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5470, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS) 1,269 3DMarks
Dell Inspiron 1420 (2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7500, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS 128MB) 1,329 3DMarks
Sony VAIO FZ (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100) 532 3DMarks
Dell XPS M1330 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS 128MB) 1,408 3DMarks
Samsung Q70 (2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T7300 and nVidia 8400M G GPU) 1,069 3DMarks
Asus F3sv-A1 (Core 2 Duo T7300 2.0GHz, Nvidia 8600M GS 256MB) 2,344 3DMarks
Alienware Area 51 m5550 (2.33GHz Core 2 Duo, nVidia GeForce Go 7600 256MB 2,183 3DMarks
Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Xi 1526 (1.66 Core Duo, nVidia 7600Go 256 MB) 2,144 3DMarks
Samsung X60plus (2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T7200, ATI X1700 256MB) 1,831 3DMarks
Asus A6J (1.83GHz Core Duo, ATI X1600 128MB) 1,819 3DMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16 GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400) 827 3DMarks
Sony VAIO SZ-110B in Speed Mode (Using Nvidia GeForce Go 7400) 794 3DMarks

HDTune storage drive performance test:

Speakers and Audio

Speaker performance was limited, with poor bass and midrange, and low peak volume levels. For watching the occasional streaming news clip or YouTube video they would work just fine, but for movies and music your best bet is a nice pair of headphones.

Audio output quality was great with my Sennheiser HD80 headphones connected. Peak volume levels were well above anything I would want to listen to.

Ports and Features

The HP Compaq 2230s offers an impressive amount of features for a notebook with integrated Intel graphics. It offers three USB ports, HDMI and VGA out, ExpressCard/34 and multi-card reader, an optical drive, and modem and network connections. Being the small business notebook that it is, the 2230s also has a touch-sensitive panel to quickly access monitor out features, the HP Info Center, wireless on/off, and volume controls.

Front:Mic/Headphone

Rear: Screen hinge

Left: AC Power, LAN, Modem, one USB, Optical drive

Right: ExpressCard/34, Mutli-Card Reader, HDMI, two USB, VGA, Kensington Lock Slot

Heat and Noise

The cooling system on this notebook worked very well, keeping the system cool to the touch even while it was under a stressful load. Under battery power the system fan remained off the majority of the time, only spinning up if you were doing something processor intensive. The moment you plug the machine into AC power the fan turns on at low speed, which could best be described as a quiet drone. While benchmarking the system the fan noise increased quite a bit, but it kept system temperatures in check.

Battery

Battery performance was good considering the stock battery in the HP Compaq 2230s is only a 4-cell 37Wh model. This is probably the smallest battery found in a business notebook, and has no upgrade path to a larger battery. In our testing the average power draw from the notebook settled around 9 watts under a standard load. With the screen brightness set to 60 percent, wireless enabled and active, and the power profile set to "Portable/Laptop" the HP Compaq 2230s managed 3 hours and 30 minutes before it shutdown at 5 percent remaining. For a business notebook of this size we would normally expect a larger battery and battery life exceeding five hours.

Buying Choices for the HP Compaq Business 2230s (Core 2 Duo P8400 2.26GHz, 2GB RAM, 160GB HDD, VIsta Business)
Amazon.com | $1,249.00
HP | $1,249.00
PC Connection | $1,249.00
Next Warehouse | $1,178.84
Techonweb.com | $1,209.78
view detailed pricing from 11 stores starting at $1,178.00

Conclusion

The HP Compaq 2230s is a conservative-looking notebook with some features targeted towards small business users. Unlike most business or small business notebooks, this notebook doesn’t offer the rugged feel, only a rugged look. The plastic used throughout the design is weak even when compared to the HP Pavilion lineup. While the keyboard is impressive, it doesn’t outweigh the lackluster build quality. For small businesses my best recommendation would be to look at notebooks such as the HP Pavilion tx2500z or stepping up to the HP EliteBook series.

Pros:

* Solid keyboard
* Nice touchpad and soft touch buttons
* VGA and HDMI output with Intel 4500MHD integrated graphics
* Excellent cooling system
* Availabile with Windows XP for customers who still want it

Cons:

* Flexible chassis
* High price considering configuration and durability
* 4-cell battery option only

New Apple Notebooks to be Revealed October 14th

2008-10-11T03:06:00.000-07:00

The recent rumors of Apple announcing a new batch of notebooks on October 14th has come to fruition. Apple today sent invites for a San Francisco event next Tuesday, the messaging on the invite bares the words "The spotlight turns to notebooks."

Now that we know there is definitely something coming from Apple next week the speculation turns to what notebook products will be there. And of course the various Apple fan sites have a few leads as to what we might see. Some expectations are:

* One of the notebooks to be released could start at $799, this is likely some sort of MacBook replacement
* Some of the notebooks to be released will have similar features to the MacBook Air casing with an aluminum type of finish instead of the plastic look you see on current MacBooks.
* The new design lends itself to a cheaper manufacturing process. The word "brick" is being thrown around to describe this process, although others have speculated the "brick" is a product in itself and not related to a manufacturing process. Generally brick does not carry a positive connotation when used in conjunction with a notebook, so it'll be interesting to see exactly who's right here.
* Indications are that we'll see up to 20 different SKUs of products announced. Indicating that MacBook and MacBook Pro replacements will be revealed, and potentially something else.
* It is likely that Nvidia graphics cards will be on board the MacBook Pro replacement

There's no telling exactly what will be revealed at the event on Tuesday, but suffice to say if you were thinking about buying a MacBook soon you should wait until next week to see what's in store. Generally Apple starts selling products very soon after they are announced, so the lag between the announcement and being able to walk into a store to buy one of these new notebooks should not be long. Meaning we'll have a hands on before the month is out!

Most Popular Laptops for September 2008

2008-10-03T02:22:00.000-07:00

Each month we compile data for the number of times a particular notebook is viewed on this site's product pages to get an idea for what mainstream consumers are looking at and thinking about buying. While these laptops aren't necessarily the most popular in terms of sales, they are the most popular based on the number of times our visitors clicked on them.

In that sense, think of this list as the "most clickable laptops of the month" ... the notebooks that most of the people on this site are interested in learning about. Keep in mind that clicks directly on the "Most Popular Laptops" list do not count toward the total in order to keep the list as fair as possible each month. The only clicks that count toward the monthly totals come from web searches like Google or from visitors who have clicked on a laptop after visiting our "Notebook Database" or inside our forums.

This month most of the laptops on the list are the same as last month. However, we were surprised to see three "netbooks" make strong showings on the list. This is the first time we've seen more than one netbook on our Top 10 list in a single month. The Acer Aspire One makes an impressive showing at number two on the list. The ASUS Eee PC made an impressive comeback, and the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 actually turned out to be more popular than its big brother, the Dell XPS M1330.

1. HP Pavilion dv5t (Previously #1) - The dv5t features an Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, up to 4096MB DDR2 System Memory, NVIDIA GeForce Go graphics available and 15.4" diagonal WXGA BrightView Widescreen.

View NotebookReview.com Review for Pavilion dv5t

2. Acer Aspire One (New to the Top 10) - The Aspire One is the latest "netbook" from Acer, offering a convenient, compact design at a budget price. The Aspire One features an Intel Atom Processor, 8.9" WSVGA TFT LCD, and a choice of either Genuine Windows XP Home Edition or Linpus Linux Lite version.
View NotebookReview.com Review for Aspire One

3. Dell Latitude E6400 (Previously #2) - The 14.1-inch E6400 replaces Dell's D630. These are Dell's first Montevina/Centrino 2 class machines. The E6400 has a starting weigh of 4.4lbs and is available with built-in Bluetooth 2.1, mobile broadband, Integrated GPS, extended life batteries for "all day" computing, discrete nVIDIA graphics, and plenty of security options including contact-less smart cards and encrypted hard disks.

Buy the Latitude E6400 from Dell

4. Lenovo ThinkPad T400 (Previously #4) - The ThinkPad T400 features an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 14.1" LED-backlight widescreen, up to 8GB of PC2-8500 and integrated Intel X4500 or ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3470.

View NotebookReview.com Review for ThinkPad T400
5. Dell Inspiron 1525 (Previously #6) - The Inspiron 1525 is a Core 2 Duo powered 15.4" screen notebook from Dell. The Inspiron 1525 has Intel X3100 integrated graphics, an Intel Core 2 Duo processor and a thinner and lighter form factor than the previous Inspiron 1520.

View NotebookReview.com Review for Inspiron 1525

6. Toshiba Satellite A305 (Previously #9) - The Satellite A305 laptops use the TruBrite 15.4-inch high definition diagonal widescreen display to get more from movies, games, spreadsheets and multitasking. The "Fusion finish" adds an extra level of durability and sexiness to this laptop. Available dedicated graphics and dual hard drives help this notebook really perform.

View NotebookReview.com Review for Satellite A305 / A300

7. Asus Eee PC (back in the top 10) - The Asus Eee PC 701 notebook uses a Linux based OS that Asus has customized themselves. It has a 7" screen and only weighs 2 lbs. The Eee PC is now also available with Windows XP.
Buy the Eee PC direct from Asus
Dell Dell XPS M1530 (Intel Core 2 Duo T5250 1.5GHz, 120GB HDD, 2GB RAM)

8. Dell XPS M1530 (Previously #7) - The Dell XPS M1530 is the larger brother to the XPS M1330. It's a 15.4-inch screen sleek looking performance notebook that offers the powerful nVidia 8600m graphics card. The XPS M1530 is available in black, red, midnight blue and white colors.

Buy the XPS M1530 from Dell

9. Dell Inspiron Mini 9 (New to the Top 10) - The Inspiron Mini 9 has an 8.9-inch widescreen display, weighs just 2.28lbs, and can be configured with either Windows XP or Ubuntu Linux. The Mini 9 is powered by an Intel Atom processor for power saving performance. An 8GB flash drive makes it so the Mini is quiet and has very fast storage and configure up to 1GB of RAM for a performance boost too. A 4-cell battery offers up to 4 hours of battery life.

View NotebookReview.com Review for Inspiron Mini 9
m1330

10. Dell XPS M1330 (Previously #10) - The XPS M1330 stays solid on the charts at #5 for the month. The M1330 is a 13.3" portable notebook with the Intel Santa Rosa processor, Nvidia 8400M graphics and slick looks. The M1330 is available in red, black and white color lid options.

Buy the XPS M1330 direct from Dell

And here's the rest of 'em rounding out the top 20 most viewed and popular on NotebookReview.com for the month of September:

11. Lenovo ThinkPad T61
12. Sony VAIO FW
13. Dell Studio 15
14. Apple MacBook
15. HP Pavilion dv6700t
16. Toshiba Satellite A200 / A205
17. HP Pavilion tx2500z
18. Sony VAIO Z series
19. Sony VAIO SR
20. Sony VAIO NR

Remember, to get advice on which notebook to buy don't just go with what's popular, visit our What Notebook Should I Buy forum to ask what everyone else thinks you should buy based on your needs. Check out how the current standings for this weeks most popular notebooks looks.

ASUS G50V-A1 Review

2008-09-24T04:15:00.000-07:00

The G50V is ASUS' latest notebook addition to their Republic of Gamers series brand. It is a high-performance 15.4-inch notebook based on the Intel Centrino 2 platform. Highlights of this portable powerhouse include a top-shelf Nvidia GeForce 9700M-GT 512MB, dual hard drives, and a striking, flashy design that says "gamer."

Before we start the review, I would like to give a special thanks to Justin Nolte of XOTIC PC for sending us this evaluation unit.

System Specifications and Pricing

ASUS offers the G50V in several different configurations. The A1 version we are reviewing has the following specifications:

* Intel Core 2 Duo T9400 (2.53GHz/6MB L2/1066MHz FSB/ 35W TDP)
* Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit w/ SP1
* Intel PM45 + ICH9 chipset
* 4GB DDR2-800 RAM
* 15.4-inch WSXGA+ (1680x1050) glossy display
* Nvidia GeForce 9700M-GT w/ 512MB GDDR3
* 2x 250GB 5400RPM SATA hard drives
* 8X DVDRW Super Multi drive
* 8-in-1 card reader
* Built-in 1.3-megapixel camera
* Intel Wireless WiFi Link 5100AGN + built-in Bluetooth wireless

As of the publishing date, the ASUS G50V-A1 is listed for $1,639 on XOTICPC.com.

Design

The G50V is aimed squarely at the gaming crowd. Its design says "gamer" no matter what way you look at it. There is nothing understated about the design of this notebook. Let's start with the back of the lid.

The most eye-catching part about the back of the lid is the four blue lights. They are not overly bright, but are easily seen. Two light bars are located at either end of the lid on the very edge, which blink in patterns. At the top of the lid is a clear shield with the Republic of Gamers logo inside. Finally, towards the bottom there is a horizontal light bar that spans about half of the lid. The majority of the lid is glossy metallic black plastic. At the very bottom of the lid below the horizontal light bar is a rubberized and textured section that acts as a grip for carrying the notebook.

The inside of the notebook has a design that is just as flashy as the lid. The trim surrounding the keyboard and bordering the right and left edges of the chassis are glossy orange plastic. The palmrest area is made of the same rubberized textured material found on the back of the lid. The touchpad is bordered by brushed aluminum trim. Above the keyboard is a strip of glossy black plastic where all the touch controls are located, and on either side of that are the two Altec Lansing speakers. Above the screen is a webcam embedded in a mirrored surface. Even the bottom of the notebook has an interesting design - the single large intake vent for the fan has a shiny silver border and an orange vent.

You can see from the pictures that the G50V is larger than a typical 15.4-inch notebook, evidenced by the relatively large screen benzel. The main benefit of the larger chassis is the inclusion of a separate number pad, but the downside is slightly reduced portability. The G50V-A1 weighs in at 6.5 lbs and is 14.2 in (36 cm) wide, 10.2 in (25.9 cm) deep, and 1.1 - 1.6 in (2.8 - 4.1 cm) thick. The notebook feels somewhat heavy, but is not hard to transport in a backpack. As I noted, the G50V is larger than a typical 15.4-inch notebook.

Overall, this notebook's design is striking and well-finished. It is for those that want to be noticed.

Build Quality

The G50V is made of strong plastic and has a solid feel. The chassis resists twisting, and all surfaces are difficult to find flex in. The hinges securely anchor the display to the base of the notebook, and the lid itself is rigid and is hard to twist. Pressing on the back of the lid yields no ripples in the screen. There is basically no display wobble. I am more than impressed with the build quality of this notebook.

Screen

The 15.4-inch WSXGA+ display is positively gorgeous. It is very bright and has high contrast. The glossy finish helps this display bring colors to life. The high contrast and exceptional clarity of this display makes gaming and even simple web browsing an enjoyable experience.

Viewing angles are nothing out of the ordinary - they are fine side-to-side, but from above the picture washes out and from below it darkens as usual. There is noticeable light leakage coming from the bottom of the display, but it is only noticeable when viewing a black screen.

On the whole, this is a wonderful display and a true delight to use.

Speakers

Though the G50V's two speakers carry the Altec Lansing badge, their sound quality leaves much to be desired. They are tinny, and there is no hint of bass. They also are relatively quiet. If these had no name brand, I would have dismissed them as typical notebook speakers, but given the brand-name badge, they should have produced better sound. Overall, the speakers are a disappointment.

Heat & Noise

This section is a high point for the G50V-A1. One large fan takes care of the heat from both the processor and graphics card, and expels it out the left side through a large vent. While idling, the notebook is essentially inaudible. Under full load, the only sound to be heard is a rush of air - motor noise is thankfully absent. You can take this notebook to a library or lecture hall without fear of disturbing anyone.

The heat is kept well under control at all times - the surface of the notebook is barely warm, as is the bottom. The cooling system of this notebook is quite good.

The actual temperatures of the internal components range from good to adequate. I monitored the temperatures during a gaming session using HWMonitor, and got the following results:

The processor is well under its rated specification, as are the hard drives. The Nvidia graphics card topped out at 81 degrees Celsius, which may seem fine but is actually acceptable for a graphics card.

Keyboard

The G50V's keyboard delivers a pleasant typing experience. There is ample tactile feedback, with minimal flex. The only real flex is found in the number pad, but it is slight. The keyboard is soft and quiet. My gripe with this keyboard is that there are no true dedicated Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down keys. This is one of the sacrifices ASUS made by including the numeric keypad in a 15.4-inch chassis. The keys are only dedicated if the number lock is turned off. As someone who uses those keys frequently, I found this to be an inconvenient setup. I have to give up number pad functionality in order to use those keys.

Above the keyboard is a series of touch-activated buttons that access various menus. On the left side is a unique OLED display, which can display a message, battery charge remaining, CPU usage, memory usage, and other useful information. This is a nice touch. I would like to see other functionality added to this, such as frames per second (FPS) readings during games.

Touchpad

The touchpad has a plain black matte surface, which is easy to track on. The right side acts as a vertical scrolling pad. The two buttons are aluminum and easy to locate and press. The buttons are not particularly quiet, though they would probably not annoy anyone around you.

Input & Output Ports

The variety of input and output ports on the G50V is extensive. Let's take a picture tour.

Left Side:

VGA port, vent, USB, IEEE-1394 mini-Firewire, eSATA, HDMI, 8-in-1 card reader, ExpressCard/54 slot

Right Side:

Microphone, headphone, S/PDIF, 2x USB, optical drive

Back:

Kensington lock slot, USB, Ethernet, power jack

Front:

Wireless on/off switch, infrared port

Wireless

The G50V-A1 features the latest-generation Intel Wireless WiFi Link 5100AGN, supporting 802.11a/b/g/n wireless signals. I had no trouble connecting to a variety of secured networks.

Battery

The G50V-A1 lasted about two hours in my battery test in power saving mode while surfing the Internet. Though two hours is not a lot, it is reasonable for a gaming notebook with a 6-cell battery.

The G50V-A1's 6-cell battery is rated for 4800mAh, with 11.1V.

Extras

The G50V comes with several accessories, including a backpack and a gaming mouse. The backpack is of reasonable quality and has good padding. There are two compartments; a sleeve inside the main compartment holds the notebook securely in place during travel. There is enough room in the backpack for the notebook, power adapter, mouse, and perhaps a textbook.

The mouse is a well-respected Logitech MX518 gaming mouse. It has rubber grips and a carbon-fiber imprint design. It is corded and has a high resolution optical sensor.

Performance Benchmarks

Windows Experience Index

Vista’s WEI benchmark scores the system based on its lowest-performing component, which in G50V-A1’s case is the 250GB 5400RPM hard drive. 5.1 is an impressive score nonetheless – notice the maximum score of 5.9 achieved in the Graphics and Memory (RAM) category.

Overall System Performance with PCMark Vantage

PCMark Vantage is a Vista-only benchmark. These results indicate the G50V-A1 is a high-performance machine, though with faster hard drives it could have an even better score.\

wPrime

wPrime is a multi-threaded CPU test – it is similar to SuperPi but has a few more features. It is a much more accurate benchmark for dual-core CPUs. Please see our big comparison thread here.

Hard Drive Performance: HDTune 2.55

The Western Digital 250GB 5400RPM is relatively slow, especially compared to 7200RPM hard drives that have transfer rates above 55MB/s. The access time is typical of 5400RPM drives; a 7200RPM drive has faster access times. On the positive side, the drive runs cool (38 degrees Celsius after a benchmark test; it is rated for 55 degrees) and is quiet.

Synthetic Performance using 3DMark06

The Nvidia GeForce 9700M-GT graphics card with 512MB of GDDR3 memory achieves an excellent result in this benchmark relative to other 15.4-inch notebooks. The 9700M-GT’s score is one-third higher than that of a 9600M-GT, a common gaming graphics card in a 15.4-inch notebook like the HP Pavilion dv5t.

Synthetic Performance using 3DMark Vantage

3DMark Vantage is a Vista-exclusive benchmark, since it uses Microsoft DirectX 10 technology. The 9700M-GT also makes a nice showing here, scoring over one-third more points than a 9600M-GT in the GPU test.

Real-life Games

I ran three of the latest game titles on the ASUS G50V-A1 to test its performance. All FPS benchmarking with the exception of Crysis was done with FRAPS. Crysis was run at a 1280x720 resolution using two different settings levels, Medium and High. I benchmarked Unreal Tournament 3 with FRAPS on three different levels. I also benchmarked Call of Duty 4 with FRAPS on two different levels at maximum settings.

Conclusion

Gamers in the market for a well-priced 15.4-inch gaming notebook should seriously consider the ASUS G50V-A1. Its flashy design, solid build quality, high performance components, and beautiful screen make it the ideal mobile gaming companion. Excellent warranty coverage and good-quality included accessories seal the deal. If you liked what you read in this review, it is difficult to go wrong with this machine.

Pros

* Flashy, attractive design
* Gorgeous WSXGA+ display
* Strong overall performance, especially for gaming
* Solid build quality
* Very good keyboard
* Vast input/output port array
* Runs cool and is relatively quiet
* Nice extras - backpack and gaming mouse

Cons

* Larger than a normal 15.4-inch notebook
* Missing dedicated Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down keys
* Disappointing speakers

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HP Pavilion HDX18 First Look

2008-09-20T00:18:00.001-07:00

HP recently unveiled their latest additions to the "HDX" family of notebooks with the all new Pavilion HDX16 and HDX18 multimedia notebooks. These notebooks feature large displays with a 16:9 screen ratio, impressive speakers with an integrated subwoofer, and an innovative touch-sensitive media control panel. Our first look gives you a sample of what you can expect from the large and impressive HDX18.

Our pre-production review unit of the Pavilion HDX18 features the following specs:

* Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 (2.8GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 6MB Level 2 cache)
* Operating system: Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit
* Memory: 4GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (800MHz)
* Hard drive: 2 x 160GB (7200rpm)
* Screen:18" HD HP Ultra Brightview Infinity glossy display (1920 x 1080)
* Graphics: Nvidia GeForce 9600M GT with 512MB GDDR3
* Optical drive: Blu-Ray multi-drive
* Ethernet, VGA, HDMI, docking station port, microphone in, two audio out jacks, three USB ports, eSATA/USB, 5-in-1 card reader, ExpressCard slot, built-in TV tuner
* Wireless: 802.11a/g/n, Bluetooth 2.0
* Battery: 8-cell Lithium-ion battery (73W)
* Dimensions 17.17" x 11.26" 1.33-1.72" (WxDxH)
* Weight: 8.94 lbs.

Our pre-production unit comes equipped with two 160GB hard drives, but this configuration will not be offered at the time of launch. The next closest available configuration will be a similar system with two 250GB 5400rpm hard drives ($2,049.99) or two 250GB 7200rpm hard drives ($2,149.99). This desktop replacement is clearly targeted at multimedia and gaming enthusiasts who want cutting-edge features and can afford the slightly higher price tag.

Build and Design

The HDX18 shares several design elements with the rest of the updated HP Pavilion line, but more than size and weight separate the HDX18 from its smaller siblings. First, HP the new 16:9 ratio display means you have more real-estate for text on websites, for multiple documents on the screen at the same time, or for a more "full-screen" view of HD movies that have been filmed in 16:9 format. The glossy metallic gray and silver "Imprint" finish looks fantastic. While we didn't test the high-impact finish on our pre-production unit by dropping it repeatedly in our office, I can say the finish looks quite durable ... though fingerprints show up quickly on the glossy finish.

While the HDX18 is better suited as a desktop replacement than as a laptop, the notebook is quite well balanced when using it on your lap. Just be aware that after using the HDX18 on your lap for about an hour and a half you might start to lose some feeling in your legs. This machine is really more like an 18-inch HDTV with a built-in computer.

Input and Output Ports

As expected with a notebook of this size, the number of ports on the HDX18 is fairly impressive. Here's a run down of the ports:

* Three USB 2.0 ports
* One eSATA/USB port
* Firewire
* Expansion Port 3 (docking station connector)
* ExpressCard slot
* Gigabit Ethernet
* 5-in-1 multi-card reader
* 2 audio out
* microphone in
* VGA monitor out
* HDMI out
* Built-in TV tuner
* Kensington lock slot

We're always glad to see the dedicated docking station connection on HP's consumer notebooks. HP is the only notebook manufacturer that still offers a dedicated docking station connector on their consumer notebooks. The USB docking stations offered by other consumer notebook manufacturers are really nothing more than fancy USB hubs ... and don't work nearly as well as "real" docking stations.

We're also fans of the eSATA/USB combo port currently being used on the new HP notebooks. Although many consumers might not realize it yet, eSATA offers MUCH faster data transfer speeds than USB 2.0 does. The great thing about the eSATA/USB port is that you can use it as a regular USB port or for an eSATA device if and when you buy a new eSATA-compatible device.

Performance and Benchmarks

The Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 processor in our review unit provided ample processing power and never presented any problems when running applications or encoding video and audio files.

Performance with the Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 processor and NVIDIA 9600M-GT graphics card was excellent. Bottom line, this machine is extremely fast. You would typically need to purchase a high-performance gaming notebook to reach these levels of performance. This new HP was perfectly able to handle any software we tested, and even put up "reasonable" numbers with 3D games that usually don't perform well on notebooks, such as Crysis.

Of course, with a notebook that tips the scales at almost 9 pounds ... this beast better provide close to the same performance you expect from a desktop.

Let's take a look at a few basic benchmarks so you can get an idea of how the Pavilion HDX18 stacks up.

wPrime is a program that forces the processor to do recursive mathematical calculations, this processor benchmark program is multi-threaded and can use both processor cores at once, it measures the amount of time to run a set amount of calculations.

wPrime comparison results (lower scores means better performance):
Notebook / CPU wPrime 32M time
HP Pavilion HDX18 (Core 2 Duo T9600 @ 2.8GHz) 27.416s
Acer Aspire 6920 (Core 2 Duo T5750 @ 2.0GHz)
44.457s
Lenovo ThinkPad SL400 (Core 2 Duo P8400 @ 2.26GHz)
34.628s
HP Pavilion dv5z (Turion X2 Ultra ZM-80 @ 2.1GHz)
39.745s
Dell Inspiron 1525 (Core 2 Duo T7250 @ 2.0GHz)
43.569s
Dell XPS M1530 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)
37.485s
HP Pavilion dv6500z (Turion 64 X2 TL-60 @ 2.0GHz)
40.759s
Sony VAIO NR (Core 2 Duo T5250 @ 1.5GHz) 58.233s
Toshiba Tecra A9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz) 38.343s
Toshiba Tecra M9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz) 37.299s
HP Compaq 6910p (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz) 40.965s
Sony VAIO TZ (Core 2 Duo U7600 @ 1.20GHz) 76.240s
Lenovo T61 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz) 37.705s
HP Pavilion dv6000z (Turion X2 TL-60 @ 2.0GHz) 38.720s

PCMark05 is a benchmark that measures the overall system performance, so it considers the processor, hard drive, memory and OS as part of the mix. The HDX18 produced more than reasonable performance numbers.

PCMark05 measures overall notebook performance (higher scores are better):
Notebook PCMark05 Score
HP Pavilion HDX18 (2.8GHz Intel T9600, Nvidia 9600M GT 512MB) 6,587 PCMarks
Acer Aspire 6920 (2.0GHz Intel T5750, Intel X3100)
4,179 PCMarks
Lenovo ThinkPad SL400 (2.26GHz Intel P8400, NVIDIA 9300M GS 256MB)
5,173 PCMarks
HP Pavilion dv5z (2.1GHz Turion X2 Ultra ZM-80, ATI Radeon HD 3200)
3,994 PCMarks
Dell Inspiron 1525 (2.0GHz Intel T7250, Intel X3100) 4,149 PCMarks
Dell XPS M1530 (2.20GHz Intel T7500, Nvidia 8600M GT 256MB) 5,412 PCMarks
Dell Inspiron 1520 (2.0GHz Intel T7300, NVIDIA 8600M GT) 4,616 PCMarks
Lenovo ThinkPad X61 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100) 4,153 PCMarks
Lenovo T60 Widescreen (2.0GHz Intel T7200, ATI X1400 128MB) 4,189 PCMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400) 4,234 PCMarks

Screen

The 18" glossy "HP Ultra Brightview Infinity" LCD is nice and bright with rich colors and deep contrast. The new 16:9 screen dimension gives you a full high-definition resolution (1920 x 1080) compared to the standard 1280 x 800 resolution on most 15" notebooks. You get more horizontal and vertical resolution with this massive display. This is also nice for widescreen movies since it allows more of the film to fit on the screen with less of the black bars on the top and bottom.

Most of our editorial staff doesn't care for the glossy "Infinity" display style compared to traditional glossy displays because it creates a separate layer of glossy reflection above (and in front of) the actual display. This isn't a problem in low light environments ... it actually helps create richer colors and gives the display an almost "wet" look. However, if you try to use a notebook with this type of screen under bright lights or outdoors under bright sunlight the reflections will make it very difficult (and possibly even painful for your eyes).

Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard on the HDX18 was quite impressive in that it has absolutely no flex over the main keyboard. The dedicated number pad does suffer from some flex directly above the optical drive, but that shouldn't be a problem for most people unless you're constantly using the number pad for data entry. There's little to complain about here from a functional standpoint. That said, the bright silver finish does cause some pretty strong reflections outside in the sunlight. Just don't look down while typing outdoors.

The palm rest and touchpad areas feature the same excellent "Imprint" finish found on the lid of the notebook that gives this notebook a smooth, futuristic feel. The touchpad surface is extremely responsive and the indicated scroll region works as it should. The touchpad buttons are nice and wide with nice deep feedback and quiet clicks. The only thing that makes the touchpad a little frustrating is the smooth surface that sometimes causes your finger to "stick" unless you have very dry hands.

HP also includes a new multimedia remote that fits inside the ExpressCard slot on the notebook. This makes it easy to use the HDX18 as a television thanks to the built-in TV tuner and also works nicely when using the HDX18 for presentations.

More to Come

As of this writing we've only had the Pavilion HDX18 in our office for a short while now. We wanted to make sure our readers had a chance to take a look at this notebook as an alternative to other 17-inch and 18-inch notebooks currently on the market.

Our full review of this notebook is coming soon. Stay tuned.

Asus N10 Notebook First Thoughts

2008-09-17T22:52:00.000-07:00

Asus today took the cover off the new N10 10.2" screen Intel Atom powered notebook. Despite its small size and Atom processor, Asus really wants you to know this is not a netbook, but indeed a notebook. Which explains the lack of Eee PC in the naming. The N10 has a full sized keyboard and even switchable Nvidia dedicated graphics to separate it from the netbooks flooding the market of late.

We got some hands on time with the N10J today, which is the Nvidia equipped member of the N10 family. The N10E version has just integrated graphics and starts at $599, while the N10J has an Nvidia 9300 GS 256MB graphics card on board. You can toggle to using integrated graphics on the N10J to save battery life by flipping a switch on the left side (you have to reboot to make this switch between dedicated and integrated).

The N10J has the same Intel Atom 270 1.60GHz processor that many netbooks have, but the available 320GB hard drive, Nvidia graphics and 2GB of RAM help to separate it storage and power wise from the smaller Eee PC. Asus had enough confidence in this notebooks performance abilities that it went ahead and put Vista Premium or Vista Business on there as the OS. There will be a downgrade option to XP for those business users whose organizations haven't made the leap to Vista yet.

The quoted battery life for the N10 in integrated graphics mode is said to be up to 10 hours. That seems rather optimistic, and your mileage may vary depending on how you use the N10 of course.

The LED backlit screen appeared blazingly bright in the rather dimly lit room we used the N10 in. The 10.2" screen has a 1024 x 600 resolution, so real estate viewing is somewhat limited, but at least the colors are brilliant and picture is crisp.

The keyboard is full sized and oh so much more easy and comfortable to type on than any netbook out there. For those who insist on having a notebook that provides a halfway decent typing experience and have shunned netbooks simply because they don't, you might have a friend in the N10 here. It's certainly not as light as the Eee PC, but it does become more usable with the extra size.

The port selection on the N10J is also very good. It has the following ports:

* 3 USB 2.0 ports
* HDMI out port
* Media card reader
* Microphone-in
* Headphone-out
* Ethernet LAN
* Monitor out

Left side view

Right side view

You of course get 802.11 a/b/g/n wireless, no WWAN built-in though (remember, it's $599).

The overall design is attractive, head-on it looks a lot like a shrunken down HP Pavilion dv2700t notebook, sans the imprint design, it even has the Altec Lansing speaker branding along the top like Pavilion notebooks do. The lid is a pearl white color, with no multi-color options such as you get with the Eee PC, at least for the moment.

If you've read enough and are ready to order, J&R has you covered with their pre-order page for the N10, links to those are below:

* N10E on JR.com $599

* N10J on JR.com $699

Or if you prefer to wait for an official review, we'll have one in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.

Logitech Cordless Desktop Wave Pro Review

2008-09-14T22:24:00.000-07:00

Last year Logitech released their innovative "Wave" keyboard design and although our editorial staff was skeptical at first, the Wave keyboard quickly became the favorite keyboard for two of our editors. How does Logitech plan to follow the success of the Cordless Desktop Wave this year? By releasing the same keyboard (with a few minor changes) and a much better wireless mouse ... and calling it the Cordless Desktop Wave Pro. Is this minor update worth your hard-earned cash? Let's take a look.

Build and Design

As mentioned in the introduction, the Logitech Cordless Desktop Wave Pro is an update to last year's release of the Cordelss Desktop Wave. The truth is that the new keyboard and mouse set looks as much like the old one as it sounds. While there are some sublte differences to the paint scheme used on this year's keyboard, the only major difference is the mouse.

Old Cordless Desktop Wave
New Cordless Desktop Wave Pro

As with the previous keyboard, the biggest challenge new users face with any ergonomic keyboard is the learning curve. The split key design that was popular years ago required users to re-learn how to type. The "Wave" does take a couple days to get used to, but after that, you'll wonder why all keyboards don't feel this good. Once your brain and fingers get used to the different depth of keys and smile-like curve of the keyboard you'll be typing at full speed.

The Wave's design is largely dictated by finger length. To account for certain fingers being longer, or shorter, than others, Logitech designed the contour of the keyboard to fit each finger appropriately. The keys are the highest at the A and Enter keys, which are hit by the shortest fingers. Moving inward, the D and K keys represent a valley as they are typed with the longest middle fingers. The keyboard rises again in the middle to accommodate the pointer fingers. The theory is, since this keyboard is optimized for the fingers, you'll use less awkward positions to reach them.

Aside from key height, the keyboard also features what Logitech calls a U-shape, or what we call the smile design. Either way, it's a five degree curve that nets a more comfortable wrist position. The wrists also receive a padded palm rest, which gives a little more comfort and encourages better hand positioning. I will note that the palm rest will wear quickly, and you may beable to notice the wrist sweat marks in our photos.

Standard on keyboards in this class, the Wave also features several media and programmable hot keys. The keyboard is powered by 2 AA batteries and battery life is expected to be an impressive 3 years! (We obviously couldn't put that claim to the test in time to publish this review.) There is a low-battery warning light underneath the down arrow key that glows when it's time to replace the batteries.

Better Mouse, Worse Mouse Traps

While the keyboard is the main attraction here, the new Wave desktop set also includes the all-new MX 1100 cordless laser mouse. Although this contoured mouse isn't designed to be ambidextrous, right-handed users should find this mouse to be extremely comfortable. Sure, the MX 1100 seems to have a weird shape the first time you look at it, but it's also exceptionally well designed, matching the keyboard and including rubber grips on the sides, along with a "Microgear" precision scroll wheel, scroll toggle, on-the-fly adjustable dpi, as well as front and back buttons.

I particularly enjoyed the adjustable dpi capability for working with multiple monitors set to different resolutions, as well as playing games set to different screen resolutions. The only thing that I didn't like about this mouse is one of the "features" I neglected to mention: the "stealth thumb button." The stealth button is a hidden button located beneath the thumb rest area on the mouse that allows for application switching using the "Window Switcher" in Windows Vista. At least, that's what it does if you install Logitech's bloated SetPoint software included with the keyboard and mouse. If you don't install SetPoint then the stealth button doesn't work. Honestly, there's no practical reason why you should "need" SetPoint for this particular button to work, so I can only assume a product engineer at Logitech was feeling lazy or Logitech wanted to give you a reason to install their software.

The mouse is powered by a single rechargeable AA battery and Logitech was kind enough to include a pre-charged Sanyo Eneloop brand battery in the box. Battery life is expected to be 6 weeks, and after 3 weeks of daily use (usually at least 6-9 hours daily) the battery in our review unit is still going strong. There is also a light on the mouse to indicate low battery levels. Logitech includes both a USB charging cable as well as a USB-to-power outlet adapter so that you can charge the mouse battery without connecting it to your computer

Conclusion

Once again, all of Logitech's promises have lived up to the marketing hype with their latest Wave keyboard and mouse. As I said previously, two of our editorial staff members (including yours truly) have been using Logitech Wave keyboards since last year and I'm a big believer in this ergonomic design. While the keyboard itself hasn't really changed in the last year, everything works as it should. The new MX 1100 cordless laser mouse is the main reason the new Cordless Desktop Wave Pro is so appealing over last year's model. Again, the new mouse is exceptional and nearly perfect ... as long as you're willing to install SetPoint and you aren't a southpaw.

Overall, I doubt there's a more comfortable cordless keyboard and mouse set on the market. However, for the full MSRP of $129, this wireless bundle might give you sticker shock since it costs $50 more than last year's Wave keyboard and mouse set.

Pros:

* Ergonomic keyboard design is extremely comfortable and easy to use
* Great mouse (for right-handed users)
* Fantastic advertised battery life

Cons:

* "Stealth" thumb button completely useless without installing bloated SetPoint software
* USB receiver is a little large, but not too bad
* Palm rest shows wear almost instantly
* More expensive than last year's model

Pricing and availability

The Logitech Cordless Desktop Wave Pro keyboard and mouse set will be available soon in retail stores everywhere and has an MSRP of $129. Visit the Logitech website for more information about features and availability.

Clevo TN121R Review

2008-09-07T23:25:00.000-07:00

The Clevo TN121R is an interesting convertible tablet notebook. It came customized from AVA Direct, with its 2.5GHz Core 2 Duo processor and 200GB hard drive. This 12.1" tablet is a tiny powerhouse, great for college students or business professionals who need a travel companion.

AVA Direct Customized Clevo TN121R Tablet PC specs:

* Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 2.5GHz processor
* Intel GMA X3100 Graphics
* 12.1" 1280x800 WXGA Glossy LCD with touchscreen
* Corsair, 2GB PC2-5300 DDR2 667MHz SDRAM SODIMM
* Seagate, 200GB Momentus 7200 RPM, hard drive
* Optical drive, Super-Multi DVD±RW (Built-in)
*
* 56K V90/92 Fax/Modem (Integrated)
* Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit
* Built-in 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet, LAN Card
* 802.11a/b/g Wireless card
* Bluetooth V2.0 + EDR
* 7-in-1 Card Reader
* 3x USB port
* Headphone and microphone ports
* VGA-15 pin
* Weight: 4.7lbs. with battery
* Price as configured: $1,458 (Starting price: $976.80)

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Design and Build

The Clevo TN121R is a solid tablet. The chassis feels sturdy and there is no flex in the body. The casing underneath feels a little cheap, but this isn't a huge problem. It weighs in around 4.7lbs. and is the perfect size for traveling. It does look a little odd though since it doesn't have any branding. It is a Clevo, but it came customized from AVA Direct so the badges are gone.

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It has a black glossy finish, which is a fingerprint magnet. I mean the entire tablet is glossy even the palm rest area, so it doesn't hide dirt and smudges at all. It looks fancy and appealing, but you need to have a cloth handy to keep it clean. I wasn't impressed with the hinge for the screen because it wasn't very sturdy at all. When I shook the tablet lightly the screen would fall backwards. The screen rotates fine, but the hinge needs to provide more resistance.

No branding on this tablet. (view large image)

Display

The 12.1" (1280x800) WXGA glossy LCD touchscreen and passive digitizer is nice. The touchscreen is really accurate and I didn't have any problems navigating with my fingertip. The pen was not so great in than it reminded me of a stylus from a PDA. Taking notes is fine, but the passive screen is a little delayed.

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The screen gets plenty bright and does have a little glare, but this didn't bother me much. The viewing angles weren't that great though. As you can see from the pictures above at certain angles the colors get that weird inverted look. Looking straight at the screen is great and there is no color bleed. So no worries because most users don't push their screens that far back. In tablet mode the screen doesn't automatically change orientation, which is a pain because then you have to keep pushing the button to get the screen the way you need it.

Performance and Benchmarks

The TN121R was surprisingly fast. It booted-up in seconds and I had no problems surfing the Web or running benchmarks. It sports a 2.5GHz Intel T9300 processor and a 200GB, 7200 rpm hard drive. The graphics aren't the best, but gaming is possible. Just don't expect to play Crysis or any other cutting-edge 3D game on this machine. For college students or professionals on-the-go, you will have no problem doing work, taking notes, checking email or even editing your high-resolution digital photos.

Comparison Results for PCMark05

PCMark05 measures the systems performance as a whole.
Notebook PCMark05 Score
Clevo TN121R (Intel Core 2 Duo 2.5GHz, GMA X3100 graphics) 4,697 PCMarks
Fujitsu LifeBook T5010 (Intel Core 2 Duo 2.26GHz, Mobile Intel 4500 MHD graphics) 4,864 PCMarks
HP tx2500 (AMD Turion X2 Ultra 2.4GHz, ATI HD 3200 graphics) 3, 873 PCMarks
HP tx2000 (AMD Turion 64 X2 2.3GHz, Nvidia Go 6150 graphics) 3,738 PCMarks
Asus R1E (Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz, GMA 965 chipset) 4,679 PCMarks
Fujitsu LifeBook T2010 (Intel Core 2 Duo ULV 1.2GHz, GMA X3100 graphics) 2,334 PCMarks
Gateway C-140x (Intel Core 2 Duo 2GHz, ATI X2300 HD graphics) 4,342 PCMarks
HP Compaq 2710p (Intel Core 2 Duo ULV 1.2GHz, GMA X3100 graphics) 2,453 PCMarks
Lenovo ThinkPad X61 (Intel Core 2 Duo 1.6GHz, GMA X3100 graphics) 3,473 PCMarks
Fujitsu LifeBook T4220 (Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2GHz, GMA X3100 graphics) 4,171 PCMarks
Gateway E-155C (Intel Core 2 Duo ULV 1.06GHz, Intel GMA 950 graphics) 2,205 PCMarks
Toshiba R400 (Intel Core Duo ULV 1.2GHz, Intel GMA 950 graphics) 2,187 PCMarks
HP tx1000 (AMD Turion X2 2.0GHz, Nvidia Go 6150) 3,052 PCMarks
Toshiba Tecra M6 (1.66GHz Intel T2300E, Intel GMA 950) 2,732 PCMarks

Comparison Results for 3Dmark05

3DMark05 tests the overall graphic capabilities of a notebook.
Notebook 3DMark 05 Results
Clevo TN121R (2.5GHz Core 2 Duo, GMA X3100 graphics) 778 3DMarks
Fujitsu LifeBook T5010 (2.26GHz Core 2 Duo, Mobile Intel 4500 MHD graphics) 1,520 3DMarks
HP tx2500 (2.4GHz AMD Turion X2 Ultra, ATI HD 3200 graphics) 1,622 3DMarks
HP tx2000 (2.3GHz AMD Turion 64 X2, Nvidia Go 6150 graphics) 636 3DMarks
Asus R1E (2.4GHz Core 2 Duo, GMA 965 chipset) 923 3DMarks
Fujitsu LifeBook T2010 (1.2GHz ULV Core 2 Duo, GMA X3100 graphics) 566 3DMarks
Gateway C-140x (2GHz Core 2 Duo, ATI X2300 HD graphics) 1,956 3DMarks
HP Compaq 2710p (1.2GHz ULV Core 2 Duo, GMA X3100 graphics) 634 3DMarks
Lenovo ThinkPad X61 (1.6GHz Core 2 Duo, Intel GMA X3100 graphics) 812 3DMarks
Fujitsu LifeBook T4220 (2.2GHz Core 2 Duo, Intel GMA X3100 graphics) 925 3DMarks
Gateway E-155C (1.06GHz ULV Core 2 Duo, Intel GMA 950) 500 3DMarks
LG C1 (1.2GHz Intel Core Duo, Nvidia Go 7300) 1,392 3DMarks
Fujitsu LifeBook S2210 (1.6GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-52, ATI x1150) 810 3DMarks
PortableOne UX (2.0GHz Core 2 Duo, Intel GMA 950) 590 3DMarks
Toshiba Satellite A135 (1.73GHz Core Duo, Intel GMA 950) 519 3DMarks
Lenovo ThinkPad T60 (2.0GHz Core Duo, ATI X1400 128MB) 2,092 3DMarks

wPrime results:

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HDTune results:

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Keyboard/Touchpad/Pen

The TN121R has a great keyboard and I was impressed. It is better than some HP and Fujitsu tablet notebook models I have reviewed. The keyboard is solid and has no flex. The keys are easy to push and give the perfect amount of feedback. The only problem with the keyboard is it is small and the keys are the size of my fingertips, so if you have bigger hands you might have some typos. For as much space as there is inside, I would think the keyboard wouldn't be as cramped.

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The touchpad is your basic touchpad. Nothing fancy, it is indented into the palm rest so your finger doesn't lose its place and it is accurate like a mouse. The right and left click buttons have a chrome finish, which is another fingerprint magnet, but they work as expected. Just like the keyboard though the touchpad buttons are a little small.

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The included pen used for the tablet touchscreen interface is a solid piece of plastic that I could only use for a few hours of work. If you plan on taking notes or writing a lot, I recommend getting another pen. The Clevo pen is small and just like the stylus from a Palm Treo. There is no eraser, no buttons or anything. It's a very basic pen, but it does work for navigating and is responsive with the screen.

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Heat and Noise

The TN121R didn't get hot. In fact it barely got warm. This tablet ran at a normal temperature even when running the benchmarks and multiple applications. The left side by the fan got a little warm, but that is expected. I was never uncomfortable typing on it or holding it in tablet mode.

It wasn't loud either. The TN121R ran quietly. The fan kicked on during benchmarks, but it wasn't that noticeable and it definitely wasn't annoying. This tablet is safe to bring to presentations or class.

Ports

The Clevo I reviewed came with a good array of ports and features. Remember if you go through AVA Direct you can always customize your tablet to your liking and get the features you need most. That is a bonus.

Front view of the TN121R:

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Left view of the ports:

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Right view of the ports:

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Rear view of the TN121R:

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Bottom view of the TN121R:

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Speakers

The speakers are located on the bottom of the screen. They are your standard tablet speakers. The location is prime because the speakers never get covered even when in tablet mode. They're not great for listening to music, but they do put out decent sound and work perfectly with a set of headphones.

Battery

The TN121R battery life is average. It is a small tablet, but it also has a small battery. It has a 4-cell battery that gets an estimated three hours on "Balanced" mode. That is give or take a few minutes depending on how much work you are doing. I didn't do much beyond benchmarking in "High Performance" mode, but as you can imagine the battery life drops dramatically and you will definitely need your AC adapter. Still, when I first received the tablet I was shocked when I saw the battery on the back because it is small ... but actually it provides "acceptable" power despite its small size.

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Wireless

The wireless works as expected. It also has a built-in 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet LAN Card. I didn't get the best signal strength at home, but I think it's the coverage at my house. In my office it worked fine. Download speeds were fast, uploading larger files like pictures though did take a little time, but nothing to blink an eye at.

Conclusion

The Clevo TN121R is a solid tablet with a nice touchscreen display and a fast processor. AVA Direct lets you customize this tablet to your liking and needs, which is a bonus. It is easy to take notes on and quick at surfing the Web. No complaints with the processor or hard drive. Battery life could be better and you definitely need a spare pen because the included stylus is basically just a small stick of plastic. The design is sleek, but the glossy plastic exterior gets covered in fingerprints, so have your cleaning cloth handy. Starting price is good for what you get and remember you can add whatever features you need to this Barebone tablet.

Pros

* Peppy processor
* Nice touchscreen display
* Customizable features
* Solid design and keyboard

Cons

* Hinge not sturdy enough
* Cheap pen
* Fingerprint magnet
* When in tablet mode screen doesn't automatically change

Pricing and Availability

For more information on this customized Clevo TN121R tablet check out AVA Direct's website. The TN121R that I reviewed is priced at $1,458.

Most Popular Laptops for August 2008

2008-09-03T05:28:00.001-07:00

Each month we compile data for the number of times a particular notebook is viewed on this site's product pages to get an idea for what mainstream consumers are looking at and thinking about buying. While these laptops aren't necessarily the most popular in terms of sales, they are the most popular based on the number of times our visitors clicked on them.

In that sense, think of this list as the "most clickable laptops of the month" ... the notebooks that most of the people on this site are interested in learning about. Keep in mind that clicks directly on the "Most Popular Laptops" list do not count toward the total in order to keep the list as fair as possible each month. The only clicks that count toward the monthly totals come from web searches like Google or from visitors who have clicked on a laptop after visiting our "Notebook Database" or inside our forums.

This month saw quite a few newcomers to the top 10 list. Last month the popular Dell XPS M1530 dropped from the top spot down to number six on the list, and this month the XPS M1530 is barely holding on to the top 10. The new HP Pavilion dv5t took the number one spot followed by some impressive competition from business notebooks like the new Dell Latitude E6400 and Lenovo ThinkPad T400.

1. HP Pavilion dv5t (New to the Top 10) - The dv5t features an Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, up to 4096MB DDR2 System Memory, NVIDIA GeForce Go graphics available and 15.4" diagonal WXGA BrightView Widescreen.

View NotebookReview.com Review for Pavilion dv5t

2. Dell Latitude E6400 (New to the Top 10) - The 14.1-inch E6400 replaces Dell's D630. These are Dell's first Montevina/Centrino 2 class machines. The E6400 has a starting weigh of 4.4lbs and is available with built-in Bluetooth 2.1, mobile broadband, Integrated GPS, extended life batteries for "all day" computing, discrete nVIDIA graphics, and plenty of security options including contact-less smart cards and encrypted hard disks.

Buy the Latitude E6400 from Dell

3. Dell Studio 15 (Previously #1) - The Dell Studio 15 is a 15.4" screen multimedia laptop offered in multiple colors and configurations. The Studio 15 can be equipped with an Intel Core 2 Duo and dedicated ATI graphics. It comes with a slot-loading DVD drive, backlit keyboard, sleek drop-hinge design, widescreen glossy display and touch sensitive buttons.

View NotebookReview.com Review for Studio 15

4. Lenovo ThinkPad T400 (New to the Top 10) - The ThinkPad T400 features an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 14.1" LED-backlight widescreen, up to 8GB of PC2-8500 and integrated Intel X4500 or ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3470.

View NotebookReview.com Review for ThinkPad T400
Lenovo ThinkPad T60 5. Lenovo ThinkPad T61 (Previously #5) - The ThinkPad T61 was released in May of 2007 and is still holding strong on the most popular charts. The T61 sports the Intel Santa Rosa (Centrino Duo) platform and improves upon the popular T60 by offering an even sturdier build and extra port options.

Buy the ThinkPad T61 direct from Lenovo

6. Dell Inspiron 1525 (Previously #9) - The Inspiron 1525 is a Core 2 Duo powered 15.4" screen notebook from Dell. The Inspiron 1525 has Intel X3100 integrated graphics, an Intel Core 2 Duo processor and a thinner and lighter form factor than the previous Inspiron 1520.

View NotebookReview.com Review for Inspiron 1525
Dell Dell XPS M1530 (Intel Core 2 Duo T5250 1.5GHz, 120GB HDD, 2GB RAM)

7. Dell XPS M1530 (Previously #2) - The Dell XPS M1530 is the larger brother to the XPS M1330. It's a 15.4-inch screen sleek looking performance notebook that offers the powerful nVidia 8600m graphics card. The XPS M1530 is available in black, red, midnight blue and white colors.

Buy the XPS M1530 from Dell

8. Sony VAIO FW (New to the Top 10) - The VAIO FW is a 16.4" notebook featuring an Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 processor with great options including: Blu-Ray, a 1600 x 900 viewing format, a HD video card, ATI 3650 or ATI 3470, and an HDMI port to output.

View NotebookReview.com Review for VAIO FW

9. Toshiba Satellite A305 (Previously #8) - The Satellite A305 laptops use the TruBrite 15.4-inch high definition diagonal widescreen display to get more from movies, games, spreadsheets and multitasking. The "Fusion finish" adds an extra level of durability and sexiness to this laptop. Available dedicated graphics and dual hard drives help this notebook really perform.

View NotebookReview.com Review for Satellite A305 / A300
m1330

10. Dell XPS M1330 (Previously #6) - The XPS M1330 stays solid on the charts at #5 for the month. The M1330 is a 13.3" portable notebook with the Intel Santa Rosa processor, Nvidia 8400M graphics and slick looks. The M1330 is available in red, black and white color lid options.

Buy the XPS M1330 direct from Dell

And here's the rest of 'em rounding out the top 20 most viewed and popular on NotebookReview.com for the month of August:

11. Acer Aspire One
12. HP Pavilion dv6700t
13. Asus Eee PC
14. Apple MacBook
15. Sony VAIO SZ
16. HP Pavilion tx2500z
17. Sony VAIO NR
18. Sony VAIO CR
19. Toshiba Satellite A200 / A205
20. Lenovo ThinkPad T500
Remember, to get advice on which notebook to buy don't just go with what's popular, visit our What Notebook Should I Buy forum to ask what everyone else thinks you should buy based on your needs. Check out how the current standings for this weeks most popular notebooks looks.

Top 20 Threads for August

While we're on the subject of top 20, to give an idea of what the hot topics were in the forums last month, here's a list of the most viewed forum threads posted in August:

1. The Mobile Graphics Card Info Page - Most GPU Qs answered (poster Chaz, posted 8/31/2008, 1994635 views, 2888 replies)
2. The Mobile Graphics Card Info Page - Most GPU Qs answered (poster Chaz, posted 8/26/2008, 1987450 views, 2864 replies)
3. The Mobile Graphics Card Info Page - Most GPU Qs answered (poster Chaz, posted 8/25/2008, 930440 views, 2164 replies)
4. P-7811FX and 1,920x1,200 resolution...good thing or bad? (poster focusfre4k, posted 8/30/2008, 40282 views, 880 replies)
5. P-7811FX Users - Is your DVD drive flimsy? (poster focusfre4k, posted 8/30/2008, 40278 views, 876 replies)
6. **OFFICIAL M860TU Owners Lounge** (poster steveninspokane, posted 8/14/2008, 35137 views, 743 replies)
7. Where are the reviews for the T400/T500/W500 - DEAD - DEAD (poster JTM0320, posted 8/13/2008, 34056 views, 363 replies)
8. Asus G50V 9700M GT Review, Benchmark and games (poster GenTechPC, posted 8/5/2008, 33267 views, 229 replies)
9. Dell Studio XPS 13 and 16 - Coming Soon (poster Jayson, posted 8/26/2008, 28718 views, 196 replies)
10. T400/T500 owners!! (poster chun9430, posted 8/5/2008, 26978 views, 229 replies)
11. Vicious's G50V-A1 Review (poster ViciousXUSMC, posted 8/7/2008, 23958 views, 291 replies)
12. T400 arrived (poster s2000hku, posted 8/22/2008, 22799 views, 175 replies)
13. HP Pavilion dv5t Review (poster Chaz, posted 8/13/2008, 20011 views, 177 replies)
14. Team Dell (poster scottbenntt, posted 8/10/2008, 19778 views, 656 replies)
15. Lenovo ThinkPad T400 Review (poster Kevin, posted 8/25/2008, 18949 views, 140 replies)
16. The Random Thread 08 SE (poster Metamorphical, posted 8/7/2008, 17953 views, 2718 replies)
17. New Dell Latitude E-Series Now Available (poster JerryJ, posted 8/12/2008, 17779 views, 114 replies)
18. Lenovo ThinkPad T400 First Look (poster Kevin, posted 8/18/2008, 16614 views, 89 replies)
19. How much space is too much space? (poster hankaaron57, posted 8/11/2008, 15942 views, 17 replies)
20. Dell finally speaks out on the NVIDIA FAULTY GPU bug... (poster BatBoy, posted 8/21/2008, 15143 views, 252 replies)

ASUS M50VM-B2 Review

2008-08-31T04:06:00.000-07:00

The ASUS M50VM is a well-built 15.4-inch desktop replacement notebook based on the latest Intel Centrino 2 platform. The M50VM is designed for multimedia enthusiasts and gamers. It features a powerful Core 2 Duo processor, 500GB hard drive, and an Nvidia GeForce video card with a whopping 1GB of memory. Read on to see how the M50VM did in our tests.

Before we start the review, I would like to give a special thanks to Justin Nolte at XoticPC.com for sending us this unit for evaluation.

System Specifications & Pricing

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Our ASUS M50VM is the B2 variant, and has the following specifications:

Intel Core 2 Duo T9400 processor (2.53GHz, 6MB L2, 1066MHz FSB, 35W TDP)
Windows Vista Home Premium w/ SP1
Intel PM45 + ICH-9 chipset
4GB DDR2-800 RAM
Nvidia GeForce 9600M-GS with 1024MB of DDR2 video memory
500GB 5400RPM Hitachi hard drive
8X DVD-RW Super Multi drive
8-in-1 card reader
Built-in 1.3 MP megapixel camera
Intel Wireless WiFi Link 5100AGN, built-in Bluetooth

As of the publishing date, the M50VM-B2 is currently listed at $1,549 on XoticPC.com.

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Reasons to Buy

The ASUS M50VM is aimed at customers looking for a powerful desktop replacement notebook with reasonable portability and battery life at a value price. The large screen, powerful Nvidia graphics card, and large hard drive make it appealing to multimedia enthusiasts and gamers.

Design

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The M50VM has an understated look - it will not turn many heads when viewed from a distance. ASUS follows the glossy trend like the rest of the mainstream market. The palmrest area and the back of the lid have a striped imprint design, which looks detailed. The back of the display has the same striped design.

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The keyboard is surrounded first by glossy black trim, then by a silver stripe. Above the keyboard, the circular Altec Lansing speakers have a chrome ring around them, which looks high-end. The area immediately below the display is a strip of black brushed aluminum surrounded by glossy black plastic. This area is where keyboard status lights and multifunction buttons are located; it is also surrounded by a chrome border.

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Above the display is a built-in 1.3 megapixel webcam. It can rotate 180 degrees and has a mirrored border. The array microphones ensure accurate sound quality. I found the webcam's quality to be average - the person on the other end will be able to see you without issues.

One characteristic of the M50VM is that it is noticeably larger than a standard 15.4" notebook - see the picture below, where the M50VM is compared to a standard-size HP Pavilion dv5t notebook:

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Also note the relatively large screen bezel in the other pictures.

The reason it is large is because ASUS integrates a full keyboard in this machine; it features a standard keyboard in addition to a separate numeric keypad. The larger footprint is one of the prices paid for the numeric keypad addition (more on the keyboard later).

Overall, the ASUS M50VM looks stylish without being flashy - this is a notebook that would be at home at a LAN party and a business meeting. It is not as sleek as mainstream notebooks from HP and Toshiba, but still looks modern.

Build

The M50VM is made of high-strength plastic and is mostly flex-free. The palmrests barely flex, even under modest pressure. The chassis is resistant to flexing, which shows it has a strong internal frame. The display is very strong, and does not flex easily. The display also does not wobble, even when the notebook is shaken (or stirred) - this is impressive. No ripples appear on the display when the back of the lid is pushed on. The bottom of the notebook has strong plastic. The M50VM is well made inside and out. Its weight with battery is 6 lbs, 12.6 oz.

Processor & Performance

The M50VM-B2 is a strong performer thanks to its powerful components.

All benchmarks were done with the Nvidia 177.72 video card drivers from www.laptopvideo2go.com.

System Performance Benchmarks

Windows Experience Index (WEI)

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WEI is not the most accurate benchmark, but is a reasonable way to see how it stacks up against other Vista systems. The RAM performance is especially strong, thanks to the fast DDR2-800 RAM.

Overall System Performance using PCMark Vantage

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Futuremark's PCMark Vantage is a new benchmark exclusively for Windows Vista. It stresses every component of a computer to its limits, especially the hard drive and CPU.

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*Insert wPrime

wPrime is a multi-threaded CPU test - it is similar to SuperPi but has a few more features. It is a much more accurate benchmark for dual-core CPUs. Please see our big comparison thread here.

Hard Drive Performance using HDTune 2.55

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I expected higher results from the 500GB hard drive, though as it stands, the drive is reasonably fast and responsive. This is the highest-capacity 2.5-inch hard drive available on the market as of writing.

Gaming Performance

The following benchmarks will focus on the M50VM's Nvidia GeForce 9600M-GS 1GB graphics card. This graphics card is roughly on par with the older GeForce 8600M-GT.

3DMark06

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This score is on par with a DDR2 memory-equipped 8600M-GT, which is a balanced card for modern gaming. Note that this benchmark was run at the default 1280x1024 resolution, and not 1280x800.

A score of 3675 means the M50VM can play all of today's games with medium settings and resolution (1280x800).

3DMarkVantage

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Real-World Gaming Performance

Crysis

Crysis has become the most famous (or infamous) game benchmark today, as it is more demanding than any other game. I benchmarked Crysis using the Crysis Benchmark Tool 1.05 Final from Guru3D.com. The game version used is 1.21. I used all high and all medium settings during two runs. The benchmarked results are as follows:

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The game is more than playable at a 1280x720 resolution with medium settings, and it looks great.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Call of Duty 4 is a popular first-person shooter. It has a large online gaming community and is quite demanding on a computer's hardware

Prior to benchmarking, I patched the game to version 1.7. The following settings were used for benchmarking. They are a mix of medium and high; these settings push the M50VM to its limit while keeping the game visually appealing and playable. I benchmarked the first two levels of the game using FRAPS.

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The benchmark results are as follows:

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The game is more than playable, and it also looks great.

Overall, the ASUS M50VM makes a strong showing and is a good choice for gamers and multimedia enthusiasts. This notebook comes fully loaded out of the box - no need to do any aftermarket upgrades.

Screen

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The M50VM is available with several different resolutions. Our M50VM-B2 review unit has a 15.4" WSXGA+ display with a glossy finish. The display has pristine picture quality - it is incredibly clear and bright. Contrast is excellent with pure whites and deep blacks. Viewing angles above average, though nothing to write home about. There is some color shift horizontally. The picture darkens when viewed from below and washes out viewed from above. There is some backlight leakage from the bottom of the display, but it is not noticeable when looking at anything but a solid black background.

A convenient feature of this display is the ambient light sensor, which automatically adjusts the screen brightness according to the surrounding light. It is nice not to be greeted by a blindingly bright display in the dark. The ambient light sensor is located above the keyboard area.

Speakers

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Despite the Altec Lansing badge, the M50VM's two stereo speakers are like typical notebook speakers - tinny and no bass. Given the brand name badge and multimedia focus of this notebook, I expected better sound quality.

Heat & Noise

This is an area where the M50VM really shines. One clear advantage the M50VM has over competing notebooks is that there is no air intake for the single fan on the bottom. You can easily use this notebook on your lap without issues.

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Heat is pulled out of the notebook though a large vent on the left side of the notebook. Under full load, the fan is difficult to hear, and at idle, it is silent for all practical purposes (even in a library, this machine would be nearly impossible to hear).

The notebook remains cool top and bottom - even while running benchmarks, the machine never rose more than a few degrees above room temperature.

I am most impressed with the thermal design of this notebook. This is by far one of the best cooling solutions I have seen on any notebook. Well done, ASUS.

Keyboard

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The M50VM's keyboard is easy and enjoyable to type on. It is quiet and offers solid tactile feedback. It is easy to feel your way around this keyboard. There is a hint of flex around the upper left side, but it is not noticeable.

My gripe with this keyboard is that there are no true dedicated Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down keys. This is one of the sacrifices ASUS made by including the numeric keypad in a 15.4-inch chassis. The keys are only dedicated if the number lock is turned off. As someone who uses those keys frequently, I found this to be an inconvenient setup. I have to give up number pad functionality in order to use those keys.

Overall, the keyboard is quite good with the exception of its lack of certain dedicated keys.

Touchpad

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Finally, a touchpad surface that is not glossy! The touchpad is simple to use on the M50VM - its matte black surface is easy to track on, whether your fingers are moist or dry. The touchpad buttons offer quiet clicks that will not annoy your neighbors. In-between the touchpad buttons is the fingerprint reader, which offers an extra layer of security. The ASUS security manager software allows you to use the fingerprint reader to log into websites and other applications - it is a great tool.

Input & Output Ports

Another area where the M50VM stands out is its comprehensive array of input and output ports. Follow me on a picture tour (all descriptions are from left to right):

Left Side:

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VGA, heat exhaust vent, USB, IEEE 1394 (mini-Firewire), eSATA, HDMI, 8-in-1 card reader, ExpressCard/54 slot

Right Side:

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Microphone, headphone, S/PDIF, 2x USB, optical drive, USB

Back:

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Kensington lock slot, 56k modem, Gigabit Ethernet, power jack

Front:

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Infrared port, wireless on/off switch

Port variety and quantity is outstanding on the M50VM. Two notable ports are the HDMI and eSATA ports. The HDMI port transmits audio and video through one cable and can be used to connect to HDTVs, projectors, and monitors. The eSATA port provides the full bandwidth of SATA to external hard drives.

Wireless

The M50VM features the latest-generation Intel Wireless WiFi Link 5100AGN, supporting 802.11a/b/g/n wireless signals. I had no trouble connecting to a variety of secured networks.

Battery

A six-cell battery is standard; it is 11.1V, and 4800mAh. With the screen dimmed and while surfing the Internet, I measured 2:30 in power saving mode. This machine is not designed for extended trips away from the plug, but 2:30 out of a desktop replacement is respectable.

Operating System & Software

ASUS includes a variety of utilities with the M50VM. The only real "bloatware" is Norton Antivirus, though 30 days of protection is included at no charge. The ASUS utilities are, for the most part, useful, especially the Power4 Gear Express power management software. There are perhaps too many pre-installed utilities; users can pick and choose which ones to keep.

Customer Support

ASUS has a leg-up on competing notebook makers when it comes to warranty coverage. Not only is the M50VM covered by a two-year international warranty, but also one year of accidental coverage. The accidental damage warranty covers drops, fire, spill, and surge damage. Icing on the cake is a 30-day Zero Bright Dot LCD warranty, which gives you insurance against dead pixels. Overnight shipping is paid both ways for warranty replacements. This is the grand slam of warranty coverage in the mainstream notebook business.

Through XoticPC, customers are provided with lifetime 24/7 domestic tech support. XoticPC allows customers to return their notebook within 15 days of the ship date for a full refund (minus shipping). Full details of XoticPC's warranty services and coverage can be found here.

Extras

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ASUS sends the M50VM with a bag and mouse. The mouse is small but usable; it is great for travel. It features an optical sensor and is corded. The bag is just large enough to fit the M50VM, and of decent quality. There is enough room for the notebook, power adapter, mouse, and a few magazines both inside and in the external compartment.

Buying Choices for the ASUS M50Vm B4 - Core 2 Duo T9400 2.53 GHz - 15.4" TFT

Newegg.com | $1,569.99
J&R Music and Computer World | $1,549.00

view detailed pricing from 2 stores starting at $1,549.00

Conclusion

The ASUS M50VM is an impressive notebook in more ways than one. Strong overall performance and a fantastic display make this a winner among gamers and multimedia enthusiasts. Other high points include excellent warranty coverage, a vast array of input/output ports, great input devices, and an outstanding thermal design. The ASUS M50VM is a smart value no matter the configuration; if you liked what you read in this review, then it is difficult to go wrong with this machine.

Pros

Gorgeous WSXGA+ display
Strong performance
Solid build quality
Great input devices
Vast input/output port array
Outstanding thermal design (cooling system)
Reasonable battery life

Cons

Larger than a normal 15.4-inch notebook
Missing dedicated Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down keys
Middling 500GB hard drive performance
Disappointing speakers

Lenovo T500 ThinkPad Review

2008-08-24T00:15:00.000-07:00

The T500 Thinkpad is the latest 15.4" refresh of the longstanding T-series out of Lenovo. Combining the latest generation of Intel goodies, ATI Hybrid graphics, and DisplayPort connection this notebook has many new things to offer over the previous ThinkPads. With all these changes taking place, is Lenovo keeping the ThinkPad as well built as we have come to expect, or has some quality slipped through the cracks? In this review we cover all aspects of the new ThinkPad T500 and tell you if we think it deserves a spot on your desk.

Our ThinkPad T500 specifications:

Screen: 15.4" 1680 x 1050 WSXGA+ LCD (Matte finish)
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 (2.80GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 6MB Cache)
Memory: 2GB DDR3 RAM
Storage: 160GB HDD (7200rpm)
Optical Drive: DVD+/-RW
Wireless: 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.0
Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon 3650 w/ 256MB or Intel X4500 integrated (hybrid switching)
Built-in web camera
Battery: 9-cell (84Wh rated, 81Wh actual)
Dimensions: 14.1" x 10/10.9" x 1.8"
Weight: 6lbs 7.2oz (w/ 9 cell battery)
Retail Price: $2,223

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Build and Design

The design of the T500 has changed a bit. The changes are subtle to the untrained eye, but they are there. The right side is now gently sloped similar to what can be found on the older T4x series, where the sides angle inward instead of dropping off flat. First clue about this is the optical drive bezel which sports a nice beveled edge. The rubber feet have also been slightly tweaked, now feeling softer than before, meaning less sliding on your desk surface. Moving past the minor case design changes, the ThinkPad is every bit as conservative (boring) as all of those preceding it. We have the same paint, same durable rubbery texture, and we still have our ThinkPad logo.

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Upgrade and expansion is a step harder than most notebooks, but still very simple. To gain access to all user-replaceable parts, you simply remove five screws and carefully remove the palmrest and keybard. Here you gain access to an open WWAN slot, another for Turbo Memory or UWB, two DDR3 memory slots, and your wireless card. At this stage you can also see the processor and heatsink, but a few additional items must be removed before you can lift those items out. Although this setup does seem like Lenovo is trying lock the user away from upgrading parts, they fully allow anyone to handle upgrading or adding components to their notebook without voiding the warranty. Processor swaps or messing with other advanced components might not be as kosher though. The hard drive is the only item accessible from the outside of the case (besides the battery) and is easily removed with a single screw.

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Build quality is very similar to the previous generation T61, with all of its strengths and weaknesses. Fit and finish are great with most parts, but you still have a good amount of battery wiggle in the back, as well as the cheaper feeling plastic LCD lid. The molded plastic panels throughout the notebook feel sturdy, overall feeling much like the previous generation of notebooks. Compared to the pre-Lenovo Thinkpads, the T500 feels leaps and bounds better. Now the T500 is not without its flaws, and the new keyboard definitely falls into the flaws category.

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Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard layout has stayed the same, with only very minor changes in the feel of the key presses. Some of this may be attributed to the differences in keyboard suppliers (NMB, ALPS, and Chicony) though, as my T60 came with the "clickier" Chicony keyboard, whereas the T500 is much quieter. The keyboard strength seems to have changed, with more flex present on the right side of the keyboard. To find the culprit of this flex, I took apart the notebook and inspected the keyboard area.

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To my great surprise, I found Lenovo had completely redesigned the keyboard, with weight savings as the primary goal. The old design has a much stronger back-plate, which is removed on the new revision. This cuts weight by 25 percent (6oz to 4.5oz) from the old model, but at the huge disadvantage of tarnishing the long-standing ThinkPad keyboard reputation. For now I am leaning towards weight savings, instead of cost savings as the main redesign reason, but I still don't like it. Anyone who knows the ThinkPad name knows at least two things; boring business notebook and great keyboard. If you take away the keyboard and make other weight reducing or durability reducing changes to the notebook design, you will no doubt alienate many of your followers. I really hope Lenovo takes notice at this, cause I would take a brick glued to the bottom of the case before over a keyboard change such as this.

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As with older models, the liquid drains are still in place, ready to get your notebook out of harm's way if a stray coffee or soda spills all over it.

The touchpad has grown compared to the T61, expanding to the width of the lower touchpad buttons. With the ThinkPad touchpads always being the runts compared to other notebook designs, this change was very welcomed (even if they did paint scroll arrows on it). The texture is identical to the older touchpad, and sensitivity is just as good. Compared to my T60, the touchpad buttons feel much firmer, and have more support from edge to edge. On the T60's touchpad, the far left and right side tend to sag slightly, whereas the T500's touchpad buttons have equal support from side to side.

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My only disappointment with the touchpad was the lack of red strips. After seeing the X300 and X200 that offered "legacy" red strips on the touchpoint buttons, I was upset to see that Lenovo didn't include that finishing touch on the T-series keyboard.

What still works and what doesn't

Those who have older ThinkPad accessories from the T6x/R6x generation will be happy to know all of the older docking stations are still fully compatible with the new notebooks. I can't say for certain that the older equipment won't be replaced with newer revisions that offer different connections, but at least you won't need to upgrade.

The optical bay connections have changed from the previous generation, moving more towards a SATA style connector, rendering older drive incompatible. One change that might anger individuals in an IT position is the removal of the native Serial/Parallel hookup inside the ultrabay for use with the adapter. With many older devices needing native serial connections, these individuals might be wary of upgrading their current notebook.
The power connection appears to have stayed the same for use with the UltraBay battery remained the same.

Display

The CCFL-backlit display on our T500 looked nearly identical to the display currently shipping with the older 15.4" T61 models. Brightness is much less than the LED-backlit panel found in the new T400, but still good when compared to other notebooks on the market. Don't expect to use this notebook outside on a sunny day, since the bright light will wash out anything on the screen. Backlit evenness is very consistent throughout the display, with no excessive bright or dark areas. Contrast appears to be very nice, and the colors are bright and vivid without looking washed out. Viewing angles rate better than average, but not excellent. Vertical viewing has a nice sweet spot before colors start to wash our or invert, and the horizontal range is better still. Compared to the LED backlit T400 display, the vertical viewing range extended further, but still not coming close to the IPS FlexView panel on my T60.

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One defect or feature which was thankfully not present in our review model screen panel was a shimmering or dirty white texture. Some of the older matte ThinkPad screens had this problem that annoyed many users, and from what I can tell this screen had none of this in the slightest.

Performance and Benchmarks

Our Lenovo ThinkPad T500 came with the Intel T9600 processor, clocking in at 2.8GHz, and jammed packed with 6MB of cache. For graphics, Lenovo included an ATI Radeon 3650 video card with 256MB of GDDR3 memory. While not the latest SSD, Lenovo did include a 7200rpm hard drive which helped keep access times to a minimum and transfer data at a swift pace. This combination proved to be exceptionally fast in the Windows Vista environment, getting very high synthetic benchmark scores. The T500 also performed remarkably well in games which you generally don't find running on most business notebooks (well non-workstations that is).

Gaming was not a problem with the T500, handling games such as BioShock at native 1680x1050 resolution at 15-20FPS. If you scaled the resolution back to 1280x800, 20-30FPS. Slightly less intensive games like Portal or Half-Life 2 ran even better, consistently averaging framerates above 40 even in high action scenes.

One unique aspect of the T500 is its ability to be able to switch between dedicated and integrated graphics with a simple click of an icon on the task bar. You can switch between the Intel X4500 graphics and the ATI 3650 chipset without rebooting, and doing so lets you conserve quite a bit of power if you don't need to game.

wPrime is a program that forces the processor to do recursive mathematical calculations, the advantage of this program is that it is multi-threaded and can use both processor cores at once, thereby giving more accurate benchmarking measurements than Super Pi.

Notebook / CPU	wPrime 32M time
Lenovo T500 (Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 @ 2.80GHz)	27.471s
Lenovo T61 (Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2.0GHz)	42.025s
Dell Vostro 1500 (Intel Core 2 Duo T5470 @ 1.6GHz)	53.827s
HP Pavilion dv6500z (AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-60 @ 2.0GHz)	40.759s
Systemax Assault Ruggedized (Core 2 Duo T7200 @2.0GHz)	41.982s
Toshiba Tecra M9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @2.2GHz)	37.299s
HP Compaq 6910p (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz)	40.965s
Sony VAIO TZ (Core 2 Duo U7600 @ 1.20GHz)	76.240s
Zepto 6024W (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz)	42.385s
Lenovo T61 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.705s
Alienware M5750 (Core 2 Duo T7600 @ 2.33GHz)	38.327s
Hewlett Packard DV6000z (Turion X2 TL-60 @ 2.0GHz)	38.720s

PCMark05 comparison results:

Notebook	PCMark05 Score
Lenovo T500 (2.80GHz Intel T9600, ATI Radeon 3650 256MB GDDR3)	7,050 PCMarks
Lenovo T500 (2.80GHz Intel T9600, Intel X4500)	5,689 PCMarks
Lenovo T61 Standard Screen (2.0GHz Intel T7300, NVIDIA NVS 140M 256MB)	4,839 PCMarks
Dell Vostro 1500 (1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5470, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS)	3,585 PCMarks
Dell Inspiron 1420 (2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7500, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS)	4,925 PCMarks
Sony VAIO FZ (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100)	3,377 PCMarks
Dell XPS M1330 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS)	4,591 PCMarks
Lenovo ThinkPad X61 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100)	4,153 PCMarks
Lenovo 3000 V200 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100)	3,987 PCMarks
Lenovo T60 Widescreen (2.0GHz Intel T7200, ATI X1400 128MB)	4,189 PCMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	4,234 PCMarks
Sony VAIO SZ-110B in Speed Mode (Using Nvidia GeForce Go 7400)	3,637 PCMarks

3DMark06 comparison results:

Notebook	3DMark06 Score
Lenovo T500 (2.80GHz Intel T9600, ATI Radeon 3650 256MB GDDR3)	4,371 3DMarks
Lenovo T500 (2.80GHz Intel T9600, Intel X4500)	809 3DMarks
Lenovo T61 Standard Screen (2.0GHz Intel T7300, NVIDIA NVS 140M 256MB)	1,441 3DMarks
Dell Vostro 1500 (1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5470, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS)	1,269 3DMarks
Dell Inspiron 1420 (2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7500, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS 128MB)	1,329 3DMarks
Sony VAIO FZ (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100)	532 3DMarks
Dell XPS M1330 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS 128MB)	1,408 3DMarks
Samsung Q70 (2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T7300 and nVidia 8400M G GPU)	1,069 3DMarks
Asus F3sv-A1 (Core 2 Duo T7300 2.0GHz, Nvidia 8600M GS 256MB)	2,344 3DMarks
Alienware Area 51 m5550 (2.33GHz Core 2 Duo, nVidia GeForce Go 7600 256MB	2,183 3DMarks
Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Xi 1526 (1.66 Core Duo, nVidia 7600Go 256 MB)	2,144 3DMarks
Samsung X60plus (2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T7200, ATI X1700 256MB)	1,831 3DMarks
Asus A6J (1.83GHz Core Duo, ATI X1600 128MB)	1,819 3DMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16 GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	827 3DMarks
Sony VAIO SZ-110B in Speed Mode (Using Nvidia GeForce Go 7400)	794 3DMarks

As an added bonus, we also tested the T500 with the new PCMark Vantage benchmark, and the T500 with ATI Radeon 3650 enabled returned a score of 4,176.

HDTune storage drive performance test:

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Heat and Noise

The cooling system worked very well, keeping overall system temperatures down, and doing so without making a ton of noise. At idle and under low activity the T500's fan stayed at a slow speed (nearly inaudible), keeping processor temperatures in the low 40C range, and GPU around 50C. While gaming, greater temperatures made the system fan speed up, but even at its highest speed it still seemed quieter than my T60. The outside temperatures are great in all situations besides gaming. Sitting around surfing the web or typing a document, the notebook is very cool and doesnt build up that much heat. Gaming is different, and the T500 gets much hotter all around the case, and gets some hot points on the bottom of the case.

Heat Under Stress/Gaming (listed in degrees Fahrenheit):

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Battery Life

Unlike the T400 which saw a massive jump in battery life over the previous generation 14" notebook as a result of the LED-backlit screen, the T500's battery life was in line with the 15.4" T61. While the 9-cell battery in the T400 gave 7-8 hours of battery life, the same capacity in the T500 barely manages six hours. The key differences between each notebook are the screen size, backlit technology, and graphics card model, as all of the other options are identical.

In dedicated graphics mode, the screen brightness set to 60%, and wireless active the T500 managed 5 hours and 6 minutes before it shut itself down at 5% remaining. Even though it is still way under the T400 by a couple of hours, it is still very impressive for a 15" notebook. In integrated grahics mode with the same settings, the system squeezes out an hour and a half more, bringing the average consumption from about 13 watts down to 11 watts. The 9-cell battery gives you more than enough time to watch a movie or two on a flight, or even get some work done.

Speakers and Audio

The sound system on the T500 is fairly week compared to other mainstream notebooks, but that is fairly common for a business notebook. The speakers lack most all bass and midrange, but are find for watching the occasional movie or YouTube clip. Headphones are a much better option to enjoy music and video. The headphone jack on the T500 put out clean static free audio.

Ports and Features

The port selection on the T500 rates slightly above average, but still shows room for improvement. The DisplayPort is nice, but with current TV's and monitors finally starting to show HDMI, it would have been a better choice as the T500 cant output any resolution higher than the DVI spec. Three USB ports is cutting it close for a highend 15.4" notebook, and with them grouped together, if you have any large devices you will overlap. Moving past those complaints the rest of the port selection is fine. Some may argue that the headphone and microphone located on the front will cause problems, but there was no space what-so-ever left on the sides even if Lenovo wanted to mount them there.

Front: Firewire, Wireless On/Off, Headphone/Mic, SD-Card Reader

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Rear: Kensington Lock Slot, AC Input, Battery

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Left: VGA, DisplayPort, three USB, PC-Card Slot, ExpressCard/54

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Right: Optical Drive, Modem

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Buying Choices for the Lenovo ThinkPad T500

Lenovo | $869.25

rate product

Conclusion

The Lenovo T500 as a whole is a great step up from the T61, with a faster processor lineup, much better graphics card, better cooling, larger touchpad, and even a digital video output from the notebook itself. System performance was phenomenal, coming close to workstation or gaming notebook levels. What is not so great is the famed ThinkPad keyboard going floppy on us where they used to be rock solid. No matter if this change was to cut weight or cut costs, Lenovo should have known better not to mess with the most important part of ANY ThinkPad notebook. Don't get me wrong, the keyboard is still much nicer than a budget notebook keyboard, it just isn't as good as what it used to be.

Overall the Lenovo ThinkPad T500 is a fine notebook worthy of a spot on many office or dormroom tables, but it could have come closer to perfection if Lenovo didn't mess with the keyboard.

Pros

Very powerful
Cool and quiet under normal conditions
Great battery life for a 15.4" notebook (5.25 hrs with dedicated graphics, almost 7 hours with integrated)
Impressive switchable graphics, would you like gaming or battery life?

Cons

ThinkPad with keyboard flex
Screen could be brighter

Sony VAIO FW139E/H User Review

2008-08-20T23:56:00.000-07:00

The Sony VAIO FW139E/H is a 16.4" semi-desktop replacement notebook configured with an Intel Core 2 Duo P8400, which runs at 2.26GHz with a Front Side Bus speed of 1066MHz, 3GB of DDR2-800 RAM, an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3470 dedicated graphics card, and a 250GB HDD. This model is one of the first VAIO FW models to come out and is meant to be sold at retail stores.

This notebook was primarily purchased as a PC to take to college. Now when you think college, you probably are thinking of portability. Being an Engineer major, portability comes second to power. This notebook was meant to provide up to four years of casual and heavy computing. The GPU was the important decision maker; I needed something dedicated, and the market was flooded with possibly defective nVidia GPUs. I narrowed my choices down to the VAIO FW and HP dv5t. I ended up going with the VAIO FW because of the larger screen and faster processor at my price range.

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Where and How Purchased

The VAIO FW139E/H was purchased at NewEgg.com for about $995. This was the best deal I could find, because the retail model shipped with 3GB of RAM and the Radeon GPU already included in the price and it was available sooner. I believe it was a fair deal because a similar Centrino 2 model would have been almost $200 more at the time.

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Build and Design

I'm impressed with the overall build of the VAIO FW. It's cased in Magnesium alloy, which makes it look semi-metal and semi-plastic at the same time. It is a very sturdy looking laptop; the screen hinge is perfect and stands strong, rubber feet under the laptop keep it from moving, and I have not yet been able to make a scratch on it. Design wise, it is fashionably sound. It carries the traditional VAIO look; the model I reviewed is the Titanium Grey model with black colored keys. It has a very professional look.

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The power button is located on the right side of the hinge, and it glows green when turned on and orange when in hibernation. The media buttons are located on the right side, right above the keyboard. The speakers are on top of the keyboard, as well. The keys make the laptop stand out, as well. The black spaced-out keys make the laptop look very sharp to the eye. The "Motion Eye" camera is located right above the screen.

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Screen

The screen on this model of the VAIO FW is an XBRITE-ECO LCD with a native resolution of 1600 x 900. Not only is this a unique sized screen at 16.4 inches, but it has a unique aspect ratio of 16:9. This aspect ratio is the true widescreen aspect ratio that HDTVs feature. This true widescreen size is perfect for managing windows while multitasking. You can have about four or five average sized applications on screen comfortably in the native resolution. The screen is a bit on the glossy side, but there are no reflections when there the laptop is turned on. When off, it doubles as a tinted mirror.

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Speakers

The built in speakers above the keyboard are of average quality. You can definitely tell the difference between the VAIO FW's speakers and the average external speakers.

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Headphones are a must if you want to enjoy a movie or play music. I wouldn't recommend portable speakers as a replacement; the sound quality would be equal to that of the VAIO FW. I wasn't expecting much from speakers, though. Speakers aren't the highlights of laptops, anyway.

Processor and Performance

Now for the fun part! The P8400 Core 2 Duo is remarkable fast in Vista; I have yet to experience a slowdown caused by the CPU. The bottlenecking component of this laptop is the hard drive, running at the average laptop HDD speed of 5400 RPM. The transfer of a large file via a 100Mbps network was fairly slow; this wasn't all the laptop HDD's fault, though. The laptop is capable of 1000Mbps transfers, and the file contained a large amount of subdirectories and files and slow transfer down in Windows. Bootup is fast, even when multiple startup applications are present.

Gaming wise, this laptop will be fine for last generation games. It plays Halo: Combat Evolved at native resolution and everything turned on perfectly. It also plays
Half-Life 2 with almost all settings on High (AA disabled) on the native resolution.

Benchmarks

Super Pi @ 2M: 1m 11s (20 iterations, no AC adapter plugged in)
Super Pi @ 2M: 0m 53s (20 iterations, AC adapter charging battery)

3DMark06: 2,569 3DMarks (869 SM 2.0 / 1023 SM 3.0 / 2021 CPU Score), AC adapter charging battery. No 3DMark06 benchmarks performed on battery power.

Heat and Noise

This laptop is built well to handle heat. After gaming for about 30 minutes, the laptop was still cool. It doesn't get very hot at all, and is probably one of the very good things about Sony's engineering. When not reading a disc, this laptop is silent as if not even on. When it reads a disc, however, it gets very loud for a brief 3 to 5 seconds. The fans are fairly silent when gaming, too. Heat and noise wise, it is a very well engineered machine.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The spaced keys on the Sony VAIO FW are fairly comfortable to type with. The keys are built well and they do not stick or have any flaws to them. For the serious gamer, I would not recommend using the keyboard, however. After playing first-person shooters on a real desktop keyboard, playing on the VAIO FW's keyboards (or possibly any laptop keyboards in general) are hard to get used to. But any serious gamer wouldn't be playing on a laptop, anyway.

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The touchpad is average; it feels a lot smoother than other touchpads, but that's about it. I can't say much about it as almost all laptops now feature similar touchpad technology. The user is able to change basic properties of the touchpad, from button selection to double click speed.

Input and Output Ports

I/O wise, this laptop has one ExpressCard slot, three USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire (dubbed i-Link by Sony), one VGA output, one HDMI output, one headphone jack, and one microphone jack. It also features a Pro MagicGate memory card reader. The I/O ports are pretty standard among all the new laptops; one thing to note is that an HDMI output is also technically a DVI output, as well. A mere HDMI to DVI cable can allow output to a DVI monitor if you don't like using VGA.

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Wireless

The VAIO FW comes with an Atheros wireless card that can access b, g, and n type wireless networks. It also comes with Bluetooth wireless for connectivity to peripherals. Wireless can be turned on and off by the simple use of a switch located on the bottom left of the laptop.

Battery

The battery life is fair; I keep the laptop on full brightness while not charging, and it usually lasts about 2 hours. The laptop downclocks the processor when there is no external power source to conserve power. The P8400 processor should be saving about 10 Watts thanks to Intel's Core 2 Duo P**** models, which run using 25W instead of 35W.

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Operating System and Software

The VAIO FW came with Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit (Sony OEM). It did come with quite an amount of bloatware, but I managed to uninstall what I did not need. Among some of the bloatware, there were applications I found useful: Sony's backup recovery software, Windows Live OneCare, a 60-day trial of Office, and VAIO Content Exporter. The backup software allowed me to make recovery disks easily, and the VAIO Content Exporter converts video file formats.

When I had initially gotten the VAIO, I planned to do a fresh install of Vista. However, I was unable to do so with what was supplied, and so I had to find a different route than recovery disks. Using an Anytime Upgrade Vista disk that is sold separately, I tried a fresh install. Everything worked until it came time for the drivers; one of the drivers gave told me it can only install on Windows Vista. I was confused as I was running Vista, and decided to call Sony ...

Customer Support

Unable to install the drivers properly, I contacted Sony support. They informed me that the user is not able to properly use the VAIO without OEM Vista, because the driver only recognizes the OEM Vista version. Slightly disappointed, I had to reinstall again using the recovery disks and once again manually uninstall the bloatware.

Aside from the OS disappointment, Sony's Customer Support was the most knowledgeable I have talked to; they knew exactly what I was talking about, it wasn't outsourced, and were quick to pinpoint the driver prerequisites.

Buying Choices for the Sony VAIO VGN-FW139E/H

J&R Music and Computer World | $1,099.00
Circuit City | $1,099.99
Best Buy | $1,149.99

view detailed pricing from 4 stores starting at $1,099.00

100.0% of people recommend this product - view 2 opinions | rate product

Conclusion

The Sony VAIO FW139E/H was a good purchase for me. The features, build, and price were right, and I am content with the purchase. It is more than enough for any engineering CAD applications I will be using for undergraduate studies, and is great for multitasking and mild gaming.

The VAIO FW's CPU and FSB speed, 3GB of RAM, and Radeon GPU are a wonderful combo for mobile power. The aspect ratio of the screen is perfect for entertainment. The build quality is fantastic; Sony does not deliver anything but their best in hardware.

The downside is insignificant. For someone looking for the best battery life, being able to play the latest game on High settings, or good sound reproduction, this is not the laptop they should look into.

This laptop is fine for the mild power user who still wants portability. Of course, my vision of portability probably differs from someone who finds 6.4lbs heavy. It is nothing like the large VAIO AR, however. The VAIO FW is an FZ in size, and half-way between an FZ and AR in power.

Dell Inspiron 13 First Look

2008-08-17T04:05:00.000-07:00

The all new Dell Inspiron 13 follows the design direction of the new Studio series, as well as the XPS M1330 and XPS M1530. This sleek looking notebook offers a slot-loading optical drive, and unlike most Dell notebooks, is sold exclusively by Wal-Mart and Walmart.com. With a starting price of less than $700, this notebook is destined to be quite popular during the back to school buying rush.
The Dell Inspiron 13 (1318) specifications:
Screen: 13.3" WXGA TrueLife Glossy
Processor: Intel Pentium Dual Core T2390 (1.86Ghz, 533FSB, 1MB Cache)
Memory: 2GB RAM
Storage: 160GB HDD (5400rpm)
Optical Drive: DVD+/-RW
Wireless: 802.11b/g
Graphics: Intel X3100 Integrated Graphics
Built-in web camera
Battery: 11.1V 56Wh
Dimensions: 12.52" x 9.37" x 1"/1.51"
Weight: 4lbs 13.5oz
Retail Price: $698
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Build and Design
The design of the Inspiron 13 is very similar to the XPS M1330, but with glossy or matte black plastic replacing the brushed aluminum or silver painted surfaces. Following the trend of many other notebooks on the market, it offers a glossy painted screen cover and many glossy surfaces. The palm-rest was left with a textured plastic surface that helps reduce fingerprints, but the negative side effect is that the palrests collect oils from your hand instead.
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Fit and finish is very good, leaving you with a notebook that feels pretty solid in your hands. The screen cover has a bit of flex with its thin plastic composition, but it still appears to protect the screen from rear impacts. The screen hinges are rigid, requiring two hands to open up the lid, and once open only has mild screen wiggle.
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The chassis feels very durable with most of its strength coming from the strong metal chassis. The plastic palmrest, while not looking the best, does support your palms very well with minimal flex. Some parts around the multimedia controls showed more flex than other areas of the notebook, but nothing out of the ordinary.
Keyboard and Touchpad
The keyboard look and feel is very businesslike, sporting black matte keys instead of glossy painted keys found on many new notebooks. The typing feel is excellent, with a soft, barely audible click on each keypress and very little keyboard flex. The area above the optical drive has slightly more flex than the rest of the keyboard, but it is still very minor compared to other notebooks. Spacing and key size is on par with my Dell Latitude D630 and ThinkPad T60.
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The touchpad is relatively small, even when compared to other 13" notebooks. Sensitivity is hit or miss, with the touchpad not always recognizing when you lift your finger off the surface after dragging something around. It tends to stick and continue to move items around needlessly. Part of this is from the unique touchpad system Dell uses instead of the more common Synaptics interface many other notebooks incorporate. The touchpad buttons were much better than average, giving soft feedback and a deep throw.
Screen
The screen on the Inspiron 13 rates about average, with the only drawback of the panel being poor viewing angles. Screen brightness is great for around the office or classroom, but may not be the best idea outside on a sunny day. Not only would the screen brightness be fighting against the sun, but the glossy panel would be blinding you if you were not able to get into some shade. Colors and contrast rate above average, as with most glossy display panels, which made for impressive picture viewing or movie watching. Viewing angles were not the best, with colors not only inverted when out of the sweet spot, but the entire panel going nearly black. This was the case for both vertical and horizontal viewing angles, with the vertical range being more limited than side to side.
Ports and Features
The port selection on the Inspiron 13 is rather weak, with few USB ports scattered around the perimeter and quite a bit of open space. This notebook only has two USB ports, where even virtually all netbooks come with three. For a notebook of this size it is, the only other computer that comes to mind with fewer ports is the Macbook Air. Dell could have easily fit another USB port, but instead you are left with one on each side of the notebook.
10/100LAN
VGA
FireWire
Expresscard/54
SD-Card Reader
Headphone/Mic
Two USB Ports
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Performance
This system is by no means a multimedia powerhouse, sporting the base model Intel Pentium Dual Core processor over the more widely used Core 2 Duo. This processor offers a slower 533MHz FSB, and much less system cache. That being the case, it still performed admirably, reaching PCMark05 scores in the 3,600 range, and a wPrime score around 45 seconds. For a computer that will be targeted towards students this provides more than enough power to handle anything form iTunes to Microsoft Word. While gaming is out of the question, that is not what this notebook was intended for.
Battery Life
The Inspiron 13 offers a 56Wh 6-cell battery which gives excellent battery life for a budget oriented notebook. Most of the time with low cost preconfigured systems the manufacturer skimps on the battery size, and you using see 2-3 hours of battery life on a good day. This system was easily peaking over 4 hours of runtime with the balanced setting and screen backlight at 60%. This is well within the range of handling a few classes throughout the school day, or a decent length flight.
More To Come
As always, our First Look Review is merely intended to provide you with a first glimpse of a new notebook. Our full review is coming soon ... stay tuned.

Toshiba Portege R500 User Review

2008-08-10T19:58:00.000-07:00

The Toshiba Portégé R500 is one of the few notebooks with a weight of around 1kg (2.25lbs), an integrated optical drive and a transflective display that can be used in the sunshine. It has now been on sale for about a year. The NBR review of August 2007 was not very flattering. Has the R500 improved since launch?

Reasons for Buying

As discussed in my G11 review, the Sony G11 excels on battery life. However, the single core CPU does not provide the responsiveness needed for multi-tasking so the G11 is not an adequate backup for my main notebook. Also, while the 1024 x 768 resolution display is easy to read, the relatively low resolution becomes a limitation. I had recently seen the R500 on display and it looked and felt better than suggested by the initial reviews. Another advantage of the R500 is that it uses a 2.5" hard disk which offers better performance and capacity than the 1.8" drives. I was also interested in having a notebook without Vista's software incompatibilities.

The R500 outside with the backlight off
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Morgan Computers have specialized for many years in end-of-line and refurbished computers and related equipment. I was tempted by a factory refurbished R500 selling for about 30% off the price of the current version. The first R500 I received had a loose keyboard, a deformed touchpad and also ran somewhat hot (which suggests that "factory refurbished" could be better). I returned this to Morgan and was quickly sent another, slightly different model which worked better although it had a blemish on the display. I decided this was acceptable, given the discounted price.

What's in the Box?

The R500 computer
The PSU and power cable
Two product recovery discs
A quickstart guide
A hard copy user's guide
Instruction manual for safety and comfort
Leaflets about LCD displays, reconditioned notebooks and Windows XP

Hardware Specifications for the Toshiba R500-11C:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo ULV U7600 (1.20Ghz) with Intel 945GMS chipset
Display: 12.1" WXGA (1280 x 800) transflective matte LCD with LED backlight. The panel code is TOS508A
Memory: 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC5300 RAM running at 533MHz
Hard Disk Drive: 160GB 5400rpm 2.5" HDD (Toshiba MK1637GSX) with shock sensor
Graphics: Intel GMA950 integrated GPU
Optical Drive: Internal Matshita UJ-844S USB ultra-slim tray loading
Network: Intel Pro/1000 Gigabit Ethernet
Bluetooth: Toshiba USB Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant 1394 Host Controller
Modem: No modem
Wireless: Intel 4965agn mini-PCI-e Wireless
Ports: 3 x USB 2.0 (one with Sleep and Charge), 1000Mb/s network (RJ45), Firewire (IEEE1394), VGA, microphone, headphone, 1 x PC Card slot, docking port
Media card reader supporting SD / SDHC / MMC
Hardware volume control wheel
Audio: Realtek ALC262 high definition audio + single internal loudspeaker
86-key keyboard, which claims to be spill-resistant
Touchpad: Alps touchpad 71mm x 42mm
Security: AuthenTec AES1610 Personal Information Device with TPM and finger
6-cell battery (10.8V, 5800mAh = 62.64Whr)
Toshiba 60W (15V, 4A) power supply with 3-pin connector (some regions may receive a lighter 45W PSU)
Dimensions: 283mm x 216mm x 19.5mm ~ 25.5mm (published), 283mm x 216mm x 20mm~30mm (actual dimensions including feet) (11.1" x 8.7" x 0.8"~1.2")
Weight : published = 0.987kg (2.18lbs), actual = 1.08kg (2.38lb)
Travel weight including PSU and cables 1.53kg (3.37lbs) which reduces to 1.41kg (3.1lbs) with the 45W PSU

The weigh in: Without and with PSU and
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Software

Windows Vista Business 32 bit pre-installed plus recover disc
Windows XP Pro SP2 supplied on recovery disc
Microsoft Office 2007 trial
Toshiba Utilities: Toshiba Assist; ConfigFree; Toshiba Controls; Direct Disc Writer; Disc Creator; Display Devices Change Utility; HDD Protection; Hotkey Utility for Display Devices; Mic Effect; Mobile Extension 3; Password Utility; Diagnostic Tool; Power Saver; SD Memory Boot Utility; SD Memory Utilities; Security Assist; Touchpad on/off Utility; Wireless Key Logon; Zooming Utility
WinDVD for Toshiba
Norton Internet Security

Build and Design

The dominant feature of the R500 is its slim profile and low weight. Without the battery in place the R500 feels almost weightless. The display back is magnesium alloy but the remainder of the construction is plastic (polycarbonate). It is possible to slightly squeeze the palm rests or push in on the base of the notebook but the overall chassis is rigid and does not bend. The display is also slightly flexible and, while pushing on the back slightly bends the LCD panel, it does not cause any ripples. The R500's colour scheme is silver, except for the black bezel around the display.

During travel the display is held closed by spring-loaded hinges. The hinges have no looseness and are adjusted to hold the display firmly in position. Two hands are needed to open the display. The hinges are located half way down the back of the notebook. This makes the screen reasonably thin but the design of the hinges also limits how far the screen can be tilted back.

The maximum tilt on the screen
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The slim design and low weight of the R500 make it appear to be fragile. However, I have not read reports of a high failure rate. In fact, Toshiba UK currently offers a three-year warranty and a money-back promise if the computer has to be repaired under warranty. This must reflect either confidence in the product's durability ... or confidence in the exclusion clauses. My refurbished notebook has only a one-year warranty without the money back offer.

I also wonder whether certain parts have been strengthened since launch since my R500 weighs 9% (0.09kg / 0.2lbs) more than the advertised weight. The advertised weight says "starting at," but there are no options which would reduce the weight. The models with SSDs and no optical drive have lower advertised weights. Nor can I think of any component option which would account for the increased weight difference.

The bottom of the computer is shaped to suit the components inside with visible protrusions for the hard disk and the PC card slot. There is also a bulge over the hard disk which I presume is intended to provide some impact protection. There is a single removable cover for the RAM slot. The standard 6-cell battery fits inside the chassis between the keyboard and the hinge and occupies the full thickness of the computer. The battery is slotted in from the back and is held snugly in place by two latches, one of which is spring-loaded to facilitate removal. There is also a docking station slot in the base.

Underside of the R500: The only
removable cover is for the RAM slot
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After seeing a video on YouTube showing the R500 being disassembled in very few minutes, I could not resist the temptation to take a peek inside. Nineteen screws and one ribbon cable is all that lies between the internals and daylight. Once inside, the dominant component is the optical drive, next is the 2.5" SATA hard disk (which is slotted into some rubber mountings) and finally, on one corner there is a small mainboard containing the memory slot, the mini-PCIe wireless card, the heat sink and fan. It would have been beneficial if Toshiba had extended the hump which holds the PC card slot to provide room for a bigger fan. Excluding the memory slot cover, the whole base is a thin plastic moulding. The overall rigidity is provided by the 19 screws.

Internals including the small fan
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Keyboard and Touchpad

The front edge of the palm rest is rounded and the palm rest is a comfortable 14mm from the table surface. The keyboard uses the full width of the chassis and has reasonable travel. It is slightly bouncy in places, most noticeably around the F4 key. The main black lettering on silver paint is easy to read. However, the secondary key functions use smaller grey lettering and are less legible. The main keys have a standard 19mm pitch and Toshiba have done well to include dedicated PgUp, PgDn, Home and End keys. This enhances the usability compared to the Fn+ operation needed on many smaller notebooks. The Ctrl key is in the bottom left corner. My main dislike with the keyboard is the small left shift key (on the UK keyboard). One distinctive feature is the inclusion of the Caps Lock, Num Lock and Scroll Lock lights into the corresponding keys. Toshiba say that the keyboard is spillproof.

The R500's keyboard. Note the indicator
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The touchpad is a very generous 71mm x 42mm (2.8" x 1.7") and is slightly recessed into the palm rest. The touchpad has a range of additional functions including both vertical and horizontal scroll zones as well as tap zones in the corners. The touchpad buttons are separated by a fingerprint reader (which I have yet to test). The buttons have a positive action with an audible click but the need to be pushed down quite far to register (the left button is worse than the right). There are six indicator lights in front of the touchpad buttons located so they are visible from above, from the front and when the display is closed. This location is much more sensible than the more popular position under one of the user's palms. From left to right the lights are: Mains power; Computer on / sleeping; Battery status; Hard disk activity; SD card activity; Wireless / Bluetooth on. The lights have symbols to make them easy to interpret, but the symbols are very small and the reflective background also reduces legibility.

Front indicator lights. The battery icon is
orange when charging (view large image)

The power button is located behind the F1 key next to the single loudspeaker. There are two further buttons above the right side of the keyboard. By default, one button actives the Toshiba Assist program and the other turns the backlight off to enable the transflective mode. A utility is provided for changing the default settings for these buttons.

A Tour of the Sides

Overall, the ports are well laid out. The fan exhaust is on the left side so there is no blast of hot air towards the hand which may operate the mouse. There are no sockets near the front of the right side to get in the way of a mouse although the optical drive tray is there (but one doesn't normally need to have the tray open and use the mouse at the same time) . Three USB ports (one of which supports Toshiba's Sleep and Charge) is good for this size of notebook but there is no modem port. The SD card slot is conveniently located on the right side of the palm rest such that a card in the slot does not protrude beyond the edge of the chassis. There is a docking station port on the base of the computer. Let's have a tour of the ports, clockwise starting at the front.

Front: activity lights beneath the touchpad.

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Left side from back to front: Power socket, monitor port, USB2.0 port with Sleep and Charge, Firewire port, fan exhaust, USB port, audio ports, rotary volume control. (Note CD cases for scale - front = 2 cases thick, back = 3 cases thick)

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The back: Just the battery and hinges

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Right side from front to back: optical drive with SD card slot above its left side and PC card slot below the right side, wireless switch, USB 2.0 port, network port and security slot. It may not be possible to use the optical drive when the PC card slot is in use.

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The Sleep and Charge function is controlled in the BIOS or via the Toshiba Assist utility. There are three options, off, mode 1 and mode 2. I expected the difference between the two modes to be that one would provide power whether on mains or battery and the other would power the port only when mains power is connected. However, both modes appear to provide power on both mains and battery.

The Display

The display is 1280 x 800 (WXGA) transflective matte LCD with LED backlight. The "transflective" means the display contains a layer that can reflect external light as an alternative to using the backlight under bright lighting. At full backlight brightness the display is very bright and there is some backlight bleeding at the edges: I found a document on the internet which shows the maximum brightness as 215 cd/m². There are 8 brightness settings. The brightness setting of 3/8 gives adequate lighting to extend battery time and the full brightness is almost too bright. Both the horizontal and vertical viewing angles are adequate with deterioration in colour and contrast as the viewing angles increase. The display is more suited to privacy than sharing.

The R500 display's viewing angles (view large image)

The benefit of the matte screen is a much reduced problem of annoying reflections. This display is usable outside. In sunshine it is possible to turn off the backlight and use the transflective mode which works quite well and significantly reduces power consumption. However, there is no indicator light to indicate whether the backlight is on or off. I have used this notebook outside in the sunshine and found that, when facing into the sun, the glare off the silver keyboard is an annoyance.

The R500 in the sunshine between the Sony G11 and the Zepto 6024W:

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The same computers inside. You can also see the differences in display real estate:

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Audio Quality

The R500 contains one very small loudspeaker located next to the power button. Not surprisingly for such a small notebook, the audio quantity and quality from this loudspeaker is not impressive although I found that the Bass equalization setting in the Realtek Sound Manager made a noticeable improvement. There is a hardware volume control next to the audio sockets. This is much more convenient than fiddling with buttons on the keyboard but the actual change in volume is slow. A microphone is located near the front of the left palmrest but, although there is an echo cancellation utility, the microphone picks up a lot of noise.

Processor and Chipset

The R500 is powered by the Intel U7600 Core 2 Duo CPU. This CPU is one of the ultra low voltage family with a maximum Thermal Design Power (TDP) rating of 10W compared with over 30W for a standard Core 2 Duo CPU. The CPU in the first R500 had a voltage range of 0.0625V to 0.875V, the voltages on the second unit were one step lower. These are not really what I could call "ultra-low" since the T7300 on my Zepto will run at 0.9V at 1.2GHz.

CPU-Z reports for the R500. CPU-Z does not see the second RAM module:

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(Note: This report used CPU-z 1.42: CPU-z 1.46 showed the CPU voltage as 0.963V)

Alongside the low power CPU is the Intel 945GMS chipset which is a lower power version of the normal Intel 945GM chipset. Features include the use of only a single memory channel with a maximum speed of 533MHz and maximum address capability of 2GB. The computer as supplied has 1GB RAM on board plus 1GB RAM in the single slot. Some of the R500 models have 512MB on board. This limits the maximum RAM to 1.5GB since, unlike the Sony G11, the R500 won't boot with a 2GB module in the single RAM slot. CPU-z includes the on-board RAM in the total, but can't detect the details.

Hard Disk

The supplied hard disk is a 160GB 2.5" 4200rpm Toshiba MK1637GSX using the SATA interface. It is interesting that Toshiba opted to use a standard notebook HDD in such a small notebook and not one of the 1.8" HDDs. The benefits are better performance and higher capacity but have higher weight and power consumption. Toshiba also offer the option of SSDs up to 128GB. There is a motion sensor on the motherboard which will park the HDD heads if the computer is subjected to significant movement. The sensitivity level for parking the heads can be adjusted via the Toshiba Assist utility. The hard disk's performance is quite acceptable. HD Tune's results for this disk are below.

Hard disk test results for HD tune and HD Tach:

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Optical Drive

The optical drive is the Matshita UJ-844S. This is an ultra-ultra-slim (7mm) thick unit. This burner supports single layer DVD / CD and DVD RAM burning functions. However, it will not read dual layer DVD+R discs or write to dual layer media. I have not extensively tested the optical drive, but it has played DVDs, CDs and burnt a test CD without problems. The burner is connected as a USB device so that the power can be cut off to extend battery time.

Nero's report on the UJ-844S:

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Toshiba Utilities

Toshiba provide a comprehensive set of utilities for the R500. There appears to be some differences between what is provided for Vista and XP. The Vista on-screen display for the function keys is completely different. The XP version of Toshiba Power Saver has seven different pre-defined power profiles while Vista uses only the standard three. The Vista version drop-down on-screen display for Fn key operations is very slow when running on battery and is often hidden behind other windows. HW Setup enables some BIOS settings to be changed without entering the BIOS.

Perhaps one of the more interesting utilities is the SD memory boot utility. The R500's BIOS supports booting from an SD card which opens up the possibility of being able to boot an operating system from an SD card.

Toshiba provide some models of the R500 with Vista pre-installed but with both Vista and XP recovery discs to give users the option of installing XP. I took the advantage of carrying out tests on Vista before installing XP.

Benchmarks for Toshiba R500 (Core 2 Duo U7600)

Windows Vista Experience Index

The Windows Experience Index (WEI) is Microsoft's measure of suitability for running Vista. This version of the R500 scored 2.1 which is the same as the Sony G11 and well ahead of the Zepto Notus (which scored 1.0).

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The weak link was the desktop graphics with 2.1, followed by gaming graphics at 2.8 and the memory at 4.2 while the CPU at 2.9 while the HDD scored 5.0. For comparison, the Samsung Q35 which also has the GMA 950 graphics scored 2.3 but benefited from a faster CPU and dual channel memory.

SuperPi

SuperPi is often used as a test for raw CPU performance and is a fair indicator of single-threaded CPU performance. The U7600 in the R500 needed 1 minute 45 seconds to complete the calculation to 2 million digits. This is almost the same time as the 1.33GHz U1500 Core Solo CPU in the Sony G11. It is significantly faster than a 1.6GHz Pentium M, the 800MHz Intel A110 or the 1.6GHz mobile Pentium 4.

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The table below compares the R500's SuperPi score with some other notebooks

Notebook	Time
Toshiba R500 - (1.20GHz Core Duo U7600) + XP	1m 45s
Toshiba R500 - (1.20GHz Core Duo U7600) + Vista	1m 46s
Dell D430 (1.2GHz U1400 and Intel GMA 950)	1m 57s
Dell D430 (1.33GHz U7700 and Intel GMA 950)	1m 41s
Dell Inspiron 2650 (Pentium 4 Mobile 1.6GHz)	4m 05s
Zepto Notus A12 (800MHz Intel A110)	3m 51s
Fujitsu S6120 (Pentium M 1.6GHz)	2m 29s
HP Compaq 6515b (1.6GHz Turion 64x2 TL-52)	2m 05s
Sony Vaio TZ90HS (1.2GHz Core 2 Duo ULV U7600)	1m 50s
Sony Vaio VGN-G11XN/B (1.33GHz Core Solo U1500)	1m 46s
Samsung X60 (1.66GHz Core Duo T2300 with 533MHz memory speed)	1m 29s
Samsung Q35 (1.83MHz Core 2 Duo T5600 with 667MHz FSB and 533MHz RAM)	1m 16s
Zepto 6024W (2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T7300 with 800MHz FSB and 667MHz RAM)	0m 59s

wPrime is a multi-threaded benchmark test for CPU performance. The U7600 CPU completed the 32M calculation in 68.7s. This is much slower than we are used to seeing for the recent dual core CPUs but is much faster than most single-cored CPUs.

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Notebook / CPU	wPrime 32M time
Toshiba R500 - (1.20GHz Core Duo U7600) + Vista	68.717s
Toshiba R500 - (1.20GHz Core Duo U7600) + XP	70.500s
Dell Inspiron 2650 (Pentium 4 Mobile 1.6GHz)	231.714s
Zepto Notus A12 (800MHz Intel A110)	212.232s
Sony Vaio VGN-G11XN/B (1.33GHz Core Solo U1500)	124.581s
Dell D430 (1.2GHz U1400 and Intel GMA 950)	148.344s
Dell D430 (1.33GHz U7700 and Intel GMA 950)	64.406s
MSI Wind (Intel Atom @ 1.6GHz)	124.656s
Fujitsu S6120 (Pentium M 1.6GHz)	113.705s
Panasonic Toughbook CF-30 (1.66GHz Core Duo L2400)	54.359s
Samsung Q35 (Core 2 Duo T5600 @ 1.83GHz)	46.274s
Zepto 6024W (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz)	42.385s
Hewlett Packard DV6000z (Turion X2 TL-60 @ 2.0GHz)	38.720s
Lenovo ThinkPad X200 (Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 @ 2.40GHz)	32.119s

The R500's memory performance is of interest because it uses the Intel 945GMS chipset with only one memory channel running at 533MHz (with an option in the BIOS to run at 400MHz for slight additional power saving). 1GB of RAM is fixed on the main board with 1GB of standard PC5300 RAM in the single memory slot. SiSoftware Sandra reports a memory bandwidth of over 2,700MB/s. Surprisingly, this is about 10% faster than the Sony G11 with the same chipset and memory timings.

Sandra's memory bandwidth test result:

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The maximum addressing limit of the 945GMS chipset is 2GB. However the R500 will not boot with a 2GB module so, unlike the Sony G series, the option to upgrade the models with 512MB on-board RAM is limited to adding 1GB. I specifically wanted to buy an R500 with 1GB on-board so that I could have 2GB RAM.

PCMark05

The PCMark05 score for the R500 was 1,953 PCMarks under XP and 1863 PC Marks under Vista. The table below compares the PCMark05 test result with some other notebooks. The result is in the same range as other notebooks with similar hardware. The result for XP is ahead of Vista by a small margin.

Notebook	PCMark05 Score
Toshiba R500 - (1.20GHz Core Duo U7600) + XP	1,953 PCMarks
Toshiba R500 - (1.20GHz Core Duo U7600) + Vista	1,863 PCMarks
Toshiba R500 - (1.20GHz Core Duo U7600) + XP + 400MHz RAM	1,831 PCMarks
Zepto Notus A12 (800MHz Intel A110 and Intel GMA950 GPU)	964 PCMarks
Sony Vaio VGN-G11XN/B (1.33GHz Core Solo U1500)	1,554 PCMarks
Dell D430 (1.33GHz U7700 and Intel GMA 950)	2,184 PCMarks
ThinkPad X200 (Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 @ 2.40GHz, Intel X4500)	4,298 PCMarks
Zepto 6024W (2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T7300 and Intel X3100 GPU)	4,063 PCMarks
Samsung R20 (1.73GHz T2250 and ATI 1250M chipset / GPU)	3,498 PCMarks
Samsung Q35 (1.83GHz Core 2 Duo T5600, Intel 945GM)	3,059 PCMarks
Sony Vaio TZ90HS (1.2GHz Core 2 Duo ULV U7600)	2,517 PCMarks
Sony Vaio TX850p (1.2GHz Core Solo)	1,428 PCMarks

3DMark05

The R500 managed a score of 404 3DMarks for 3DMark05. The test was run at 1024x768 resolution with no anti-aliasing. The result for XP is ahead of Vista by a small margin. This result is better than the single-cored Sony G11 (approximately in proportion to the memory bandwidth noted above) but worse than for the Samsung Q35 which has the T5600 GPU and the Intel 945GM chipset. The R500 is compared below with other results for notebooks with integrated graphics. Setting the R500's memory bandwidth to 400MHz to reduce power consumption reduced the 3DMark05 score to 329.

Notebook	3DMark05 Score
Toshiba R500 - (1.20GHz Core Duo U7600) + XP Pro SP3	404 3DMarks
Toshiba R500 - (1.20GHz Core Duo U7600) + Vista Business SP1	388 3DMarks
Toshiba R500 - (1.20GHz Core Duo U7600) + XP + 400MHz RAM	329 2DMarks
Zepto Notus A12 (800MHz Intel A110 and Intel GMA950 GPU)	188 3DMarks
Dell D430 (1.2GHz U1400 and Intel GMA 950)	348 3DMarks
Sony Vaio VGN-G11XN/B (1.33GHz Core Solo U1500)	357 3DMarks
Dell D430 (1.33GHz U7700 and Intel GMA 950)	392 3DMarks
Fujitsu C1320 (2GHz Pentium M, Intel 915GM)	410 3DMarks
Samsung Q35 (1.83GHz Core 2 Duo T5600, Intel 945GM)	447 3DMarks
IBM Thinkpad T43 (1.86GHz Pentium M, Mobility Radeon X300)	727 3DMarks
Zepto 6024W (2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T7300 and Intel X3100 GPU)	910 PCMarks
Samsung R20 (1.73GHz T2250 and ATI 1250M chipset / GPU)	1,151 3DMarks
Samsung Q70 (2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T7300 and nVidia 8400M G GPU)	1,939 3DMarks

3DMark06

The 3DMark06 was where I would expect. This is no gaming notebook but it is fine for Solitaire. It is interesting that while the R500 was ahead of the Sony G11 in 3DMark05, the G11 has a small lead in 3DMark06.

Notebook	3DMark06 Score
Toshiba R500 - (1.20GHz Core Duo U7600) + XP Pro SP3	141 3DMarks
Sony Vaio VGN-G11XN/B (1.33GHz Core Solo U1500)	148 3DMarks
Samsung Q35 (1.83GHz Core 2 Duo T5600, Intel 945GM)	106 3DMarks
MSI Wind (Intel Atom @ 1.6GHz)	112 3DMarks
Zepto 6024W (2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T7300 and Intel X3100 GPU)	561 PCMarks
Samsung R20 (1.73GHz T2250 and ATI 1250M chipset / GPU)	475 3DMarks
Samsung Q70 (2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T7300 and nVidia 8400M G GPU)	962 3DMarks
Lenovo ThinkPad X200 (Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 @ 2.40GHz, X4500)	927 3DMarks

Cinebench

Cinebench is a good rendering benchmark tool based on the powerful 3D software, CINEMA 4D. Its rendering tasks can stress up to sixteen multiprocessors on the same computer. It is a free benchmarking tool, and can be found at http://www.cinebench.com. It has been recently updated from version 9.5 to 10 and I have included some results below for both versions. Cinebench also includes an OpenGL benchmark which will be of interest to those people who use software which uses OpenGL. There is a big difference in the OpenGL hardware benchmark between Vista and XP which may be a driver issue and the R500 is in the same range as the Zepto 6024W.

Cinebench 9.5 Benchmark	Toshiba R500 (1.2GHz Core 2 Duo) + Vista	Toshiba R500 (1.2GHz Core 2 Duo) + XP	Sony VGN-G11 (1.33GHz Core Solo) + Vista	Zepto 6024W (2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo) + Vista	Samsung R20 (1.73GHz Core Duo) + Vista
Rendering (Single CPU)	200 CB-CPU	200 CB-CPU	193 CB-CPU	349 CB-CPU	256 CB-CPU
Rendering (Multiple CPU)	368 CB-CPU	366 CB-CPU	Not applicable	623 CB-CPU	474 CB-CPU
C4D Shading	232 CB-GFX	237 CB-GFX	225 CB-GFX	409 CB-GFX	299 CB-GFX
OpenGL SW-L	409 CB-GFX	703 CB-GFX	405 CB-GFX	690 CB-GFX	753 CB-GFX
OpenGL HW-L	537 CB-GFX	939 CB-GFX	499 CB-GFX	928 CB-GFX	881 CB-GFX
Cinebench 10 Benchmark
Rendering (Single CPU)	1208 CB-CPU	1211 CB-CPU	1156 CB-CPU	2116 CB-CPU	1520 CB-CPU
Rendering (Multiple CPU)	2277 CB-CPU	2305 CB-CPU	Not applicable	3903 CB-CPU	2851 CB-CPU
OpenGL Benchmark	406 CB-GFX	437 CB-GFX	357 CB-GFX	711 CB-GFX	543 CB-GFX

Cinebench 9.5 results for Vista (left) and XP (right):

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Power Management and Battery Performance

Now to what I think is one of the critical aspects of the ultra-portables: How big and heavy is the power supply and how long does it run on battery? Toshiba, at least in UK, have supplied a relatively big 60W PSU with a 3-pin connector for the mains cable. The user manual mentions both 45W and 60W PSU and the maximum power drain I have observed at the main socket is 51W (computer under load plus battery charging), which would just be within the 45W PSU output rating. The 3 pin power connector results in a heavier mains cable and adds to the travel weight. It is unfortunate that Toshiba's efforts, to minimise the weight of the computer didn't carry through to the PSU selection. While the basic computer weighs 41 grams (1.3oz) less than the Sony G11, the travel weight is 133 grams (4.3oz) more. The PSU has no power indicator light. I was sufficiently annoyed by this aspect that I ordered a 45W PSU from the USA. This arrived within two weeks of ordering (2/3^rd of the $45 cost was for shipping!) and reduced the travel weight of the R500 by 0.12kg (but it is still slightly heavier than the G11's travel weight). The 45W PSU is substantially smaller than the 60W unit but not as petite as the Sony 45W PSU.

Left to right: Toshiba 60W PSU; Toshiba 45W PSU, Sony 45W PSU, Samsung 90W PSU

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The 6-cell battery is rated at 10.8V, 5.8AH (= 61.64WHr) which is at the upper end of the capacity range for 6-cell batteries. The charging rate is only about 18W to 20W when the computer is on or off. This may have been designed to ensure the overall power demand was within the capacity of a 45W PSU but probably also helps the battery's working life. The battery in my R500 already showed some wear on arrival (57.1WHr maximum capacity in the first R500; 57.5WHr in the replacement). I have noticed something weird about the charging rate. When the computer is on, but idle, the charge rate can drop to around 10W. Put the CPU under load and the charge rate will increase to about 20W. Go back to idle and the charge drops to about 14W then, after some time, to 10W. Very peculiar!

Toshiba have provided extensive power configuration options for Windows XP (I don't recall seeing anything similar for Vista). There are seven pre-configured power profiles with a number of variable parameters. One, the Cooling Method, changes the fan settings so that there can be reduced fan activity to save power (but the battery optimised fan setting also throttles the CPU to reduce heat generation). One power profile can be pre-set as the default for mains operation and another for battery operation. Fn+F2 steps through the power profiles. One annoyance (for me) relating for the power management is that unless I set "Do Nothing" under the lid closure action, the computer automatically resumes from sleep / hibernation when I open the lid. This creates the risk of the computer starting up if the display is accidentally opened during travel.

The R500's Windows XP Power Options:

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So how does the battery perform, both under Vista and XP? First, I would note that for both Vista and XP I have my visual settings set to best performance + smooth screen fonts. Sidebar is disabled in Vista. One of my standard tests is to play the 3 hour DVD "Dances With Wolves" with the display at half brightness and wireless, Bluetooth, etc., turned off. This appeared to be a victory for Vista + the bundled WinDVD, which had 27% of battery capacity remaining after the 3 hours. Power consumption ranged between about 13W and 17W and I noticed that the disc was only read at intervals with, presumably, data cached in RAM. Playback under XP with the bundled WinDVD 5 and the DVD Power Profile was worse, with only 14% battery capacity remaining after 3 hours. The disc was being played continuously. I then tried PowerDVD 7 with XP (mobile settings on balanced) and this had 28% battery capacity remaining after the 3 hours. So, there's very little to choose between XP and Vista for DVD playback. It is more to do with the player software.

My main method for estimating the battery operation time under different conditions is to look at the power drain under different usage conditions. Toshiba advertise a battery time of "up to 7:30 (Mobile Mark^TM 2007)" which represents an average power drain of 8W. Is this realistic? I have carried out an extensive search for that elusive 8W average. So far, the lowest power consumption I have seen is about 7.9W with the computer on idle and the CPU spending 90 to 95% of its time in the C3 (or lower) low power state, no wireless or Bluetooth, optical drive turned off and the display (not just the backlight) off. However, a computer operating under those conditions is not much use! With the display on but the backlight off the power consumption is about 8.25W, rising to 8.5W with the display on quarter brightness.

The BIOS does include some options for reducing power consumption. There is a Performance/Battery Life option and a Display Multi-Field Driving option. The former downclocks the RAM to 400MHz and slows down the GPU while the latter reduces the display panel power consumption. However, the effect of these on idle power consumption is small (0.1W?) and, in my view, not worth the additional loss in performance.

R500 Battery Monitor plots: Left = display at full brightness, right = display at quarter brightness

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In real life usage a battery time of up to around 6 hours continual light usage is realistic, depending on display brightness and whether the wireless is used. Typically, quarter brightness (just about OK indoors) uses about 9W, which will give 6.5 hours on a full battery. Sitting outside with the wireless on (yes, the wirless performance is good) and the display on full brightness gives a predicted battery time of over 4 hours. Turn my back to the sun and switching off the backlight increased the predicted battery time to over 6 hours.

Something, somewhere, is using significantly more power than I saw with the Sony G11 which could get down to 6W on idle with a readable display. I wonder if the dual core CPU is using more than double the power of the single core CPU. Fortunately, I can live with 6 hours battery time, knowing that it is achievable. I could see no significant difference between Vista and XP on the power consumption, but the latter has much better power management configuration.

I also looked at maximum power consumption test using the Prime95 torture test. This indicated a maximum power consumption of about 27W with the display on full brightness. Allowing 4W for the display, 5W for the chipset, 2W for the HDD and 3W for the fan leaves 14W for the CPU and other components. I think the CPU at full load is actually drawing more power than the 10W design power suggests. For comparison I did the same test on my Zepto 6024W with T7300 and Intel 965GM chipset and using RMClock to set the CPU to 1.2GHz @ 0.90V. With display on minimum brightness (but brighter than the R500's minimum brightness), no wireless / Bluetooth etc, the power drain was 24.5W. Given that the Intel 965GM chipset is more power-hungry than the 945GMS chipset, this suggests that this U7600 at 1.2GHz, 0.9V consumes more power than my T7300 at the same 1.2GHz 0.90V. So much for low power the benefits of these expensive ULV CPUs!

Heat and Noise

The R500 is blessed with a very small fan which has to spin fast to get rid of the heat when the CPU is under load. As I noted earlier in this review, Toshiba could have installed a larger fan if they had changed the design of the base. It is possible that the original R500 design was made for the cooler single core CPU and they didn't change it. Stress testing of my first R500 got the CPU temperature up to 95°C. That high temperature was one reason for returning the computer since I would expect it to increase further with time as the cooling system blocks up with dust. The replacement R500 ran cooler and the temperature would stabilise at 90°C after half an hour of stress testing. Dropping the maximum CPU voltage from 0.8875V to 0.85V dropped the temperature to a slightly more reasonable 87°C.

A steady 95°C at 0.90V (view large image)

The fan has at least speed 4 settings: These trigger temperatures depend on the fan optimisation in the power profiles, but are typically 55°C, 65°C, 70°C and 85°C. The lowest speed setting is unobtrusive but anything faster is noisy because it is a high-pitched whine. The R500's external temperatures are highest when running on battery because the fan is less active. The left palm rest (over the hard disk) can get quite warm and the underside of the computer also warms up but, it is not uncomfortably hot, even for bare skin, so the R500 can be used as a laptop.

Warranty and Customer Support

Toshiba provide a three year return-to-base warranty as standard. On-site repair is available at extra cost. Toshiba, in UK, is also currently offering a money-back guarantee (plus replacement or repaired notebook) if the notebook has breaks down. However, my refurbished model has only a one year warranty without the money back offer. I contacted Toshiba support regarding the problems I encountered with the first R500. I quickly got through to a support person who listened to my lift of problems but then advised me to contact the retailer. I then phoned Morgan who answered very quickly and made arrangements for the computer to be collected. Once they had received it and verified the problems they quickly made arrangements for a similar model as a replacement.

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Conclusion

The R500 provides an alternative to the Sony G11 with almost identical weight, better performance, a slightly higher resolution display but without the G11's impressive battery life. It is actually lighter than the Zepto Notus which has no built-in optical drive. However, 5 to 6 hours working time is fine for my needs. Overall, the R500 is a good example of how light a notebook can be made without losing serious functionality or battery life. The excessive fan noise when the CPU is under load is probably the biggest drawback. The lightweight construction may give cause for concern about durability and I would not intentionally mistreat this notebook. The display is slightly flexible while the magnesium alloy back gives protection against impact. The chassis is surprisingly rigid given the thin materials.

I think of the R500 as being a lighter version of the Samsung Q35. It offers about 70% of the Q35's performance with 60% of the weight. However, while the Q35 could manage up to 5 hours run time with a standard CPU and CCFL display backlight, the low power design of the R500 does not deliver the expected incremental power savings. Somehow, Toshiba is not close to matching Sony's low power efficiency. However, with the Sony G series being hard to find and the TZ's display being too small for some people, the R500 has a niche in the market. There is already an option for a 128GB SSD while anyone willing to undo the 19 screws can upgrade the hard disk to at least 320GB, which is unique in this weight range.

And what about the Vista vs XP comparison? Both battery time and performance were very similar. The Toshiba software set for XP is much more mature. One particular annoyance with Vista is that the on-screen display for the function keys could be very slow to respond. I will be keeping Windows XP. I made that decisioin partly because it has fewer software incompatibilities and partly because, when only a few applications are loaded, the hibernation time is very fast. The downside of Vista using spare RAM for SuperFetch is that is always the full amount of RAM needing to be written to the hard disk.

Pros

Compact size and light weight
Bright display which is usable outside
Well thought-out keyboard and generous touchpad
Good battery life
Very good hard disk capacity and speed for this form factor
Three USB ports on the sides
Built-in optical drive
XP downgrade option

Cons

Large PSU (with UK models)
Noisy fan when CPU is under load
Light bleed on display and limited viewing angles
Mediocre audio
Device in PC Card slot may obstruct optical drive
No built-in modem (fortunately I have an old PC card modem)
High price

Acer Aspire 6920 Review

2008-08-05T02:44:00.000-07:00

The all new Gemstone Blue series notebooks from Acer offer a cinematic experience with a 16-inch 16:9 ratio display, built-in subwoofer, and touch-sensitive multimedia control panel. Going beyond the multimedia experience, Acer also give this Gemstone notebook one of the most innovative designs we have seen in years. From a semi-transparent LCD cover with an LED outlined company logo to blue LED illuminated chrome screen hinges Acer really went all out to make this notebook stand out from the competition. Now does Acer really deliver a "true cinematic experience?" Read on to find out.

Specifications:

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T5750 (2.0GHz, 667MHz FSB, 2MB Level 2 cache)
Operating system: Windows Vista Home Premium
Memory: 4GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-5300)
Hard drive: 250GB (5400rpm)
Screen: 16" HD Acer CineCrystal (glossy) display (1366 x 768)
Graphics: Intel X3100 integrated graphics
Optical drive: DVD SuperMulti DL
Ports: Ethernet, modem, VGA, microphone in, two audio out jacks, four USB ports, 5-in-1 card reader, ExpressCard slot
Wireless: 802.11a/g/n, Bluetooth 2.0
Dimensions: 10.8" x 15.1" 1.7" (HxWxD)
Weight: 7.3 lbs.
MSRP as configured: $899

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Build and Design

Build quality of the Acer Aspire 6920 is very solid and held up quite well during our testing. Whether it was being tossed inside of a backpack haphazardly or carried around by the edge of the palmrest, it didn't make one creak of noise. The plastics used throughout the notebook are high quality, and give it a tough feel (might even be subliminal with the brick textured palmrest) which doesn't bend under a strong grip. The glossy plastic bits located throughout, including the media control panel, held up well without showing much wear or scuffing. Those thinking about stuffing the notebook into a backpack full of heavy textbook needn't worry, as the screen cover resists a strong push without distorting the LCD, although I wouldn't go as far as standing on it.

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The design of the Gemstone Blue series is a bit unlike anything I have played with or experienced before. Acer paid attention to all of the minor details when designing this notebook, leaving no surface untouched of some sort of special feature. The screen cover which can generally be a pretty basic element of a notebook has a very advanced look to it. It consisted of multiple layers and soft gradient changes from dark blue around the edges to a semi-transparent blue in the center. It is a subtle touch that you don't notice at first, but once you do it is pretty awesome. LED lighting is another design element used throughout the design of this notebook, and they can be found in many areas:

Hinge endcaps
Power button outline illumination
Media control area
Acer logo on the cover

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The only areas Acer didn't really add to the design of this notebook are found on the lower end configuration models. Acer shares the same plastic trim and palmrest between models, and if your notebook didn't come equipted with HDMI, TV-Tuner, or Fingerprint scanner you are left with tacky looking blanks. The worst one is the fingerprint scanner blank, which makes it look like you have one, but it is actually black plastic bar. This even confused a few retail sites which list lower configurations as having a fingerprint scanner, even though they don't.

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Screen

The 16:9 Acer CineCrystal LCD rates average compared to other notebooks, having good color and contrast, but lacking a wide viewing range. The display has a very narrow viewing sweet spot and even a small 5-10 degree change up or down will start to invert colors on the top or bottom half of the screen. Side to side viewing angles were better, but still lacking compared to other displays.

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The aspect ratio of the screen does help reduce the some of the aspect ratio correcting bars found while watching some movies, but doesn't entirely get rid of them which some might think. Depending on the movie you watch you will still have some bars, either super small, or upwards of an inch tall.

Keyboard and Touchpad

From the first day seeing this Acer notebook opened, I wasn't sure how much I would like the keyboard with the angled spacebar and right ALT key. Well I am happy to say that although the design is a bit odd, it didn't impede my typing abilities, which I was nervous about at first. The keys are great, with a shallow cupped surface, and good quiet feedback when typing. Support underneath the keyboard could be better, with some mild sag under moderate finger pressure. The layout and spacing were great and I didn't miss a full number pad, although it could have fit one if it didn't have the media controls.

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The touchpad surface was great to use, with a unique brick-like surface texture that let you finger effortlessly slip across it even if your hand was a bit sweaty. Sensitivity was excellent out of the box, and if you wanted to, you could adjust it further through the control panel. The scrolling region of the touchpad was defined with a small ridge that separated it from the main area, which had a tendency to confuse you during use. Your finger would slide over and try to scroll inside the main area, since you would think you were hitting the far edge of the touchpad.

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Input and Output Ports

Port selection on the Acer Gemston Blue was decent, but was missing a few common ports that we would have liked to see. Firewire was nowhere to be found, and for those who selected lower configurations, all you get is a blank HDMI and TV tuner port. Acer included 4 USB ports, instead of just 3 which you sometimes find on 15" or even 17" notebooks. Below is the full port selection list:

4 USB 2.0 ports
ExpressCard slot
Gigabit Ethernet and modem
5-in-1 multi-card reader
Headphone
Microphone, Line-In
VGA monitor out
Kensington lock slot

eSata and a true docking connection were also missing. I would have personally enjoyed not seeing a modem jack and the extra space used for eSata or a proprietary docking connection.

Front: 5-in-1 multi-card reader

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Rear: Subwoofer

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Left: AC Power, Modem, VGA, LAN, 1 USB, Headphone/Mic/Line-in

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Right: Optical Drive, 3 USB, Kensington Lock Slot

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Performance and Benchmarks

The Intel Core 2 Duo T5750 processor found in our review configuration isn't exactly the fastest processor on the market, but it was more than fast enough for your average workload. Office productivity applications and internet browsers were no problems for this computer. Even more difficult tasks such as compressing audio or video files in iTunes completed without much delay. Overall most users will have a hard time telling the difference between a top of the line processor and base budget model during day to day work. Gaming and more stressful applications where something with that amount of grunt is needed.

The lack gaming abilities of the X3100 integrated graphics chipset on the other hand really put a damper on any fun with this notebook. Without a more powerful dedicated graphics chipset, you won't be able to play current or even last generation games without horrible frame rates, or even getting the game to load at all. Another downside to the X3100 graphics on this notebook is the removal of the HDMI port (come standard in higher configurations), leaving you with only VGA out for connection to a larger display.

WPrime 32M comparison results

WPrime is a benchmark similar to Super Pi in that it forces the processor to do intense mathematical calculations, but the difference is this application is multi-threaded and represents dual core processors better. Lower numbers indicate better performance.

Notebook / CPU	wPrime 32M time
Acer Aspire 6920 (Core 2 Duo T5750 @ 2.0GHz)	44.457s
Sony VAIO FW (Core 2 Duo T9400 @ 2.53GHz)	30.373s
Dell Studio 15 (Core 2 Duo T5750 @ 2.0GHz)	41.246s
HP Pavilion dv5z (Turion X2 Ultra ZM-80 @ 2.1GHz)	39.745s
Dell Vostro 1510 (Core 2 Duo T5670 @ 1.8GHz)	51.875s
Dell Inspiron 1525 (Core 2 Duo T7250 @ 2.0GHz)	43.569s
Dell XPS M1530 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.485s
HP Pavilion dv6500z (Turion 64 X2 TL-60 @ 2.0GHz)	40.759s
Sony VAIO NR (Core 2 Duo T5250 @ 1.5GHz)	58.233s
Toshiba Tecra A9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	38.343s
Toshiba Tecra M9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.299s
HP Compaq 6910p (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz)	40.965s
Lenovo T61 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.705s
HP Pavilion dv6000z (Turion X2 TL-60 @ 2.0GHz)	38.720s

PCMark05 measures overall notebook performance based on processor, hard drive, operating system, RAM, and graphics (higher scores are better):

Notebook	PCMark05 Score
Acer Aspire 6920 (2.0GHz Intel T5750, Intel X3100)	4,179 PCMarks
Sony VAIO FW (2.53GHz Intel T9400, ATI Radeon HD 3470)	6,002 PCMarks
Dell Studio 15 (2.0GHz Intel T5750, Intel X3100)	3,998 PCMarks
HP Pavilion dv5z (2.1GHz Turion X2 Ultra ZM-80, ATI Radeon HD 3200)	3,994 PCMarks
Dell Vostro 1510 (1.8GHz Intel T5670, Intel X3100)	3,568 PCMarks
Dell Inspiron 1525 (2.0GHz Intel T7250, Intel X3100)	4,149 PCMarks
Dell XPS M1530 (2.20GHz Intel T7500, Nvidia 8600M GT 256MB)	5,412 PCMarks
Dell Inspiron 1520 (2.0GHz Intel T7300, NVIDIA 8600M GT)	4,616 PCMarks
Sony VAIO NR (1.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5250, Intel X3100)	3,283 PCMarks
Lenovo T60 Widescreen (2.0GHz Intel T7200, ATI X1400 128MB)	4,189 PCMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	4,234 PCMarks

3DMark06 comparison results for graphics performance (higher scores are better):

Notebook	3DMark06 Score
Acer Aspire 6920 (2.0GHz Intel T5750, Intel X3100)	605 3DMarks
Sony VAIO FW (2.53GHz Intel T9400, ATI Radeon HD 3470)	2,598 3DMarks
Dell Studio 15 (2.0GHz Intel T5750, Intel X3100)	493 3DMarks
HP Pavilion dv5z (2.1GHz Turion X2 Ultra ZM-80, ATI Radeon HD 3200)	1,599 3DMarks
Dell Vostro 1510 (1.8GHz Intel T5670, Intel X3100)	519 3DMarks
Dell Inspiron 1525 (2.0GHz Intel T7250, Intel X3100)	545 3DMarks
HP Pavilion dv6500z (2.0GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-60, NVIDIA 8400m GS)	1,551 3DMarks
Sony VAIO NR (1.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5250, Intel X3100)	504 3DMarks
Dell XPS M1530 (2.20GHz Intel T7500, Nvidia 8600M GT 256MB)	4,332 3DMarks
Dell Inspiron 1520 (2.0GHz Intel T7300, NVIDIA 8600M GT)	2,905 3DMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16 GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	827 3DMarks

HDTune results:

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Speakers and Audio

Audio performance of the speakers found on this Acer notebook fall between above average and "sounds like earbuds cranked up." Acer included a subwoofer tube built into the hinge section of the display, which helps to add life into the music or movies that you might be watching. However, if you disable the subwoofer, the regular speakers sound horrific. They lack all midrange and bass, and sound just like small earbud headphones cranked up to a higher volume. The overall speaker performance could have been greatly improved with slightly better main speakers, but as it stands, they still rate fairly good if you keep the subwoofer turned on.

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The headphone jack worked very well without any static or hiss if you were watching a movie or listening to music in a more private setting. For a notebook, I still think a users best friend is a good set of "cans."

Battery Life

On the balanced profile with screen brightness set to 60% and wireless enabled, the Acer Gemstone pulled off 4 hours and 6 minutes of battery life with the 4400mAh battery. This is well above average, even compared against notebooks equipped with much higher capacity batteries.

Heat and Noise

Thermal performance is better than average, where even under heavy stress, like in the middle of benchmarking, the notebook is barely above room temperature in all of the important areas. The palmrests were slightly above room temperature and the bottom of the was fairly cool as well. The only warm spot that you notice with it sitting on your lap is right at the back corner of the notebook near the CPU exhaust vent.

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Even while maintaining a very cool outside temperature, the system doesn't really emit much fan noise. During normal operation the system has the fan completely off or at a very slow speed, which you can only hear if your head is right above the exhaust vent. During stressful activities such as benchmarking or encoding video, the fan increases speed, but still within the whisper range.

Buying Choices for the Acer Aspire 6920

Amazon.com | $849.99
Circuit City | $729.96

view detailed pricing from 2 stores starting at $729.00

Conclusion

The Acer Gemstone Blue series has one of the coolest designs we have seen in our office in quite a long time. The attention to detail is astounding, especially with the screen cover where you realize the color isn't a solid blue, but instead a smooth transition to a lighter color towards centered Acer logo. Even the screen hinges weren't overlooked, with the chrome accents and inner blue LED lighting when plugged in. While our review model lacked HDMI out and a Blu-ray drive, it still handled downloaded HD content (720P) and DVD movies just fine. The built-in subwoofer performed well, but covered up the anemic audio that the main drivers put out.

For the going price of $899 this notebook configuration is a lukewarm deal, but if you find it on sale for $699 (which we have seen) it turns into a great deal for all that you get.

Pros

Solid build quality
Cool screen cover paint finish
Chrome and LED trimmed pieces everywhere
Operates with lap friendly temperatures
Great battery life

Cons

Anemic main speaker drivers
Mild keyboard flex under typing pressure
Poor screen viewing angles

Sony VAIO FW First Look

2008-07-27T04:29:00.001-07:00

The VAIO FW is a brand new Centrino 2 platform notebook from Sony, offering a much needed facelift, as well as a 16.4" widescreen. What sets this apart from other widescreen notebooks is the aspect ratio of the screen lets movie aficionados enjoy a video without ugly bars above and below the screen. This first look will give you a glimpse of what this notebook has to offer, in general use as well as what to expect when watching various Blu-ray titles.

Our Sony VAIO FW review model specifications:

Screen: glossy 16.4" 1600 x 900 display
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T9400 (2.53GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 6MB Cache)
Memory: 4GB RAM
Storage: 320GB HDD (5400rpm)
Optical Drive: DVD+/-RW / BD-Rom
Wireless: 802.11a/b/g/n
Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon 3470 w/ 256MB
Built-in web camera
Battery: 4400mAh Li-Ion Battery
Dimensions: 15.12" x 1.14"-1.45" x 10.27" (38.4cm x 2.9-3.7cm x 26.1cm)
Weight: 6.83 lbs (3.1kg)
Retail Price: $1,769

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Build and Design

The fit and finish of the Sony VAIO FW is wonderful, and the overall design is beautiful. The notebook has a streamlined sculpted look, and when opened has a palmrest and keyboard surround that looks like the graceful sloping surface of a car hood. The surface starts out flat, has a small dip, and then gracefully slopes down to the screen hinges. From working day in and day out at a ThinkPad, it is much easier on the eyes to say the least.

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Build quality is excellent, with the overall chassis feeling rigid and sturdy. Although thin at the very edges of the palmrest, you can pick the notebook up from the corner with minimal flex from the chassis. Even the super thin screen shows that quite a bit of effort went into making a durable design, as you are able to man-handle and even punch the back of the LCD panel and no ripples or distortion shows on the display.

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Screen

I have to say that my first impression of the true HD screen format was one of hatred. Another odd format I would have to get used to, and more odd screen designations to remember. I figured it would be just another gimmick ... but then I started to enjoy it. Outside of watching movies, the extra-wide wide screen is great for organizing many tasks on the screen, where a normal widescreen display just starts to feel crowded. Two documents side by side, a webpage next to a document, or even a webpage with my IM buddy list far off to the side. Of course it is nice for movies as well.

Movie Experience

True HD displays are basically what you have in your living room or TV room if you own an HDTV. 720P or 1080P screens are slightly shorter than what you usually find on a computer. For example on a WUXGA notebook has a resolution of 1920x1200, where as a Full HD 1080P screen is 1920x1080. This has to do with the way most movies are recorded, and in the end thinner or no bars at all showing up during a movie. Below I picked 3 Blu-ray titles from my collection, to give you a good idea of what you might expect to see on this screen format.

Chain Reaction (2.35:1): Almost fullscreen with 2 thin bars top and bottom that are about 1/2cm tall.

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Swordfish (2.40:1): Far from full widescreen, with almost 1 inch bars top and bottom.

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Open Season (1.85:1): Looks identical to the 2.35:1 ratio

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Ports and Features

Port selection on the Sony VAIO FW rates average, and one USB port less of perfection. Users have two video outputs (HDMI and VGA) for easy hookup to external monitors or your home theater HDTV. In some ways the design of the notebook hinders the port layout, as some curved locations which would be prime for an extra USB port end up being too small to work out. The ports and feature selection include the following:

10/100/1000 LAN
Modem
VGA
HDMI
FireWire
Expresscard/34
MagicGate
SD-Card Reader
Headphone/Mic
3 USB Ports

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Performance

System performance is one category that this notebook really shines. Even with a 5400rpm hard drive, the notebook performed quite well throughout various activities including watching Blu-ray movies, playing a few games, and installing applications. The Intel Centrino 2 platform no doubt had a hand in this, and gave us some impressive performance benchmarks. PCMark05 was into the 6,000 range and 3DMark06 was around 2,600.

Battery Life

Working away from a power outlet was not a fun activity with this configuration that included a 4400mAh battery. In the balanced profile with the screen brightness set to 50-60%, I was lucky if the battery gauge indicated more than 2 hours and 40 minutes. Watching a Blu-ray movie decreased the battery life further, putting me into the range of a movie, with enough time to safely shutdown once the film ended. One thing I can say though, if you have the option to select the extended battery, get it.

More To Come

As always, our First Look Review is merely intended to provide you with a first glimpse of a new notebook. Our full review is coming soon ... stay tuned.

Buy a Sony VAIO FW
Available from:
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Lenovo ThinkPad SL400 Review

2008-07-23T23:23:00.000-07:00

The Lenovo ThinkPad SL400 is the latest addition to the ThinkPad family and promises to offer features and performance at a fraction of the cost of other ThinkPads. Lenovo's new IdeaPad line of notebooks might give consumers plenty of attractive options, but The new SL series is the first line of small business notebooks designed with ThinkPad styling at an affordable price. Is there more here than just traditional ThinkPad shape and a low price? Our full review of the SL400 shows why this laptop might (or might not) be perfect for you.

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Our ThinkPad SL400 has the following specifications:

Processor: 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 (1066MHz FSB, 3MB Cache)
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 9300M GS 256MB
Screen: 14.1" WXGA, Anti-glare (1280x800, 200nit)
Memory: 2GB(up to 4GB configurable)
Storage: 160GB SATA HDD (5400rpm)
Optical Drive: Dual layer CD/DVD recordable drive
Wireless and Communications: Intel 4965AGN (802.11 a/b/g/n wi-fi), BlueTooth 2.0 EDR
Battery: 6-cell Li-Ion
Dimensions: 13.2" x 9.7" x 1.3"-1.5")
Weight: 5.5lbs with battery
Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium
Warranty: 1-year

The pricing on the SL400 starts at around $799. As configured, the price of our review unit of the ThinkPad SL400 is $1,119. While that puts it above the range of most "budget" laptops, this configuration does offer a new Intel "Montevina" processor, and dedicated graphics card at a reasonable price. Needless to say, this is one of the more budget-friendly ThinkPads on the market. More to the point, Lenovo has gone out of its way to give you multiple reasons to consider the SL series over the competition.

Build and Design

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The ThinkPad SL400 is quite solid in terms of build quality, though the plastics used in the chassis construction do give in to some case flex when squeezed. The entire chassis exterior is plastic and while the appearance is nice, the "feel" of the notebook is a little less rugged than we've come to expect from ThinkPads. Unlike with the other ThinkPads, you don't get a double latch mechanism with button release to make sure the screen is held down when it is closed and being carried. Instead, the SL400 uses hinge tension to hold the screen in place.

Speaking of the tension hinge, the hinge on our review unit didn't provide nearly as much tension/resistance as we would have liked. Specifically, if you pick up the base of the SL400 and lightly shake the base of the notebook forward and back the screen will "flap" forward and back as you shake the notebook.

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The glossy black plastic display cover is probably the most interesting design element on the SL400. Lenovo also decided to modify the traditional ThinkPad logo by adding a small red LED to the dot above the "i" in ThinkPad. I suppose someone still thinks "bling is the thing" in the world of small business. In any case, this certainly isn't a boring ThinkPad.

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Expandability and expansion are pretty simple with this chassis design. The two access panels on the bottom of the notebook provide access to the wireless cards, RAM, processor and graphics. The side panel on the opposite side of the optical drives allows you to swap out the hard drive for a replacement drive.

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Input and Output Ports

The number of ports the SL400 has is fairly good and certainly much better than the average budget notebook designed for small business. Here's a run down of the ports:

4 USB 2.0 ports
Firewire
ExpressCard slot
Gigabit Ethernet and modem
5-in-1 multi-card reader
Audio out, microphone in
VGA monitor out
HDMI (video and audio)
Kensington lock slot

About the only thing you might consider "missing" on this notebook is an eSATA port. Since eSATA is rapidly becoming a new standard for external data storage, it would have been nice to see an eSATA port on the side of the SL400. On the other hand, it may only be a matter of time before we see USB 3.0 ports that surpass the performance of eSATA.

There's also no option for a docking station, you have to go with a USB-based port replicator (or ExpressCard/34) to get the additional ports you would want at a desk. Obviously engineers had to make design trade offs and you can't have it all on a notebook in this price range. Personally, I feel like the SL400 provides an excellent balance of ports for its size and cost.

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Performance and Benchmarks

Although it's nice that Lenovo is bringing a small business solution to the market for less than $800, the price wouldn't matter if the SL400 can't provide great performance for your dollar.

The Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 processor in our review unit provided ample processing power and never presented any problems when running applications or encoding video and audio files. The synthetic benchmarks below suggest the P8400 processor is one of the more capable processors from Intel and should satisfy the needs of any business professional.

Likewise, the NVIDIA 9300M GS dedicated graphics card with 256MB of RAM allows you to play most average games at a reasonable frame rate. This certainly isn't the laptop designed to play Crysis, but you'll have enough power to handle 1080p Blu-ray movies and some games (during non-work hours, of course).

Let's take a look at a few basic benchmarks so you can get an idea of how the SL400 stacks up.

wPrime is a program that forces the processor to do recursive mathematical calculations, this processor benchmark program is multi-threaded and can use both processor cores at once, it measures the amount of time to run a set amount of calculations.

wPrime comparison results (lower scores means better performance):

Notebook / CPU	wPrime 32M time
Lenovo ThinkPad SL400 (Core 2 Duo P8400 @ 2.26GHz)	34.628s
HP Pavilion dv5z (Turion X2 Ultra ZM-80 @ 2.1GHz)	39.745s
Dell Inspiron 1525 (Core 2 Duo T7250 @ 2.0GHz)	43.569s
Dell XPS M1530 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.485s
HP Pavilion dv6500z (Turion 64 X2 TL-60 @ 2.0GHz)	40.759s
Sony VAIO NR (Core 2 Duo T5250 @ 1.5GHz)	58.233s
Toshiba Tecra A9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	38.343s
Toshiba Tecra M9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.299s
HP Compaq 6910p (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz)	40.965s
Sony VAIO TZ (Core 2 Duo U7600 @ 1.20GHz)	76.240s
Zepto 6024W (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz)	42.385s
Lenovo T61 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.705s
Alienware M5750 (Core 2 Duo T7600 @ 2.33GHz)	38.327s
HP Pavilion dv6000z (Turion X2 TL-60 @ 2.0GHz)	38.720s

PCMark05 is a benchmark that measures the overall system performance, so it considers the processor, hard drive, memory and OS as part of the mix. The ThinkPad SL400 once again fairs pretty well with this benchmark:

PCMark05 measures overall notebook performance (higher scores are better):

Notebook	PCMark05 Score
Lenovo ThinkPad SL400 (2.26GHz Intel P8400, NVIDIA 9300M GS 256MB)	5,173 PCMarks
HP Pavilion dv5z (2.1GHz Turion X2 Ultra ZM-80, ATI Radeon HD 3200)	3,994 PCMarks
Dell Inspiron 1525 (2.0GHz Intel T7250, Intel X3100)	4,149 PCMarks
Dell XPS M1530 (2.20GHz Intel T7500, Nvidia 8600M GT 256MB)	5,412 PCMarks
Dell Inspiron 1520 (2.0GHz Intel T7300, NVIDIA 8600M GT)	4,616 PCMarks
Dell XPS M1330 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS)	4,591 PCMarks
Lenovo ThinkPad X61 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100)	4,153 PCMarks
Lenovo 3000 V200 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100)	3,987 PCMarks
Lenovo T60 Widescreen (2.0GHz Intel T7200, ATI X1400 128MB)	4,189 PCMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	4,234 PCMarks
Fujitsu N6410 (1.66GHz Core Duo, ATI X1400)	3,487 PCMarks
Alienware M7700 (AMD Athlon FX-60, Nvidia Go 7800GTX)	5,597 PCMarks
Sony VAIO SZ-110B in Speed Mode (Using Nvidia GeForce Go 7400)	3,637 PCMarks
Asus V6J (1.86GHz Core Duo T2400, Nvidia Go 7400)	3,646 PCMarks

3DMark06 comparison results for graphics performance (higher scores are better):

Notebook	3DMark06 Score
Lenovo ThinkPad SL400 (2.26GHz Intel P8400, NVIDIA 9300M GS 256MB)	2,211 3DMarks
HP Pavilion dv5z (2.1GHz Turion X2 Ultra ZM-80, ATI Radeon HD 3200)	1,599 3DMarks
Dell Inspiron 1525 (2.0GHz Intel T7250, Intel X3100)	545 3DMarks
HP Pavilion dv6500z (2.0GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-60, NVIDIA 8400m GS)	1,551 3DMarks
Sony VAIO NR (1.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5250, Intel X3100)	504 3DMarks
Dell XPS M1530 (2.20GHz Intel T7500, Nvidia 8600M GT 256MB)	4,332 3DMarks
Dell Inspiron 1520 (2.0GHz Intel T7300, NVIDIA 8600M GT)	2,905 3DMarks
Dell XPS M1330 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS 128MB)	1,408 3DMarks
Alienware Area 51 m5550 (2.33GHz Core 2 Duo, nVidia GeForce Go 7600 256MB	2,183 3DMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16 GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	827 3DMarks

HDTune storage drive performance results:

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Screen

The 14.1" WXGA, Anti-glare (1280 x 800) is nice and reasonably bright at 200nit brightness, color, contrast, and viewing angles are all good. More importantly, the display on our review unit uses a anti-glare matte finish ... something important to many business professionals and something we're glad to see.

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Like most budget laptop displays, the screen on the SL400 does suffer from some minor color inversion at the lower vertical viewing angles ... but this is rarely a problem unless your laptop is resting on a desk and you're looking at the screen from down on the floor.

Keyboard and Touchpad

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The keyboard on the ThinkPad SL400 has zero flex and excellent key travel with quiet presses. The keyboard is remarkably similar to the keyboards on the older ThinkPad R-series notebooks. There's little to complain about here from a functional standpoint. Sure, it's not the most attractive keyboard on the market ... but it works great. Of course, the SL400 wouldn't dream of calling itself a ThinkPad if it didn't include the iconic red Trackpoint pointing stick in addition to the standard touchpad.

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The palm rest area is pretty plain: it has a matte black finish so it both feels and looks nice. It's very smooth and the touchpad is nicely textured with a responsive surface. Lenovo also decided to include the standard fingerprint reader for those businesses concerned with security.

Speakers and Audio

The built-in speakers are ... well ... average built-in speakers. In short, the speakers are small, underpowered, and produce tiny sound with plenty of highs and acceptable mid range but almost no bass. This is similar to what we've seen from other laptops in this class such as the Dell Vostro 1510 and Toshiba Satellite Pro L300. In other words, this ThinkPad is designed for small business and consumers who want a laptop that isn't flashy. Don't expect amazing speakers in this type of notebook.

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On the bright side, the headphone jack produced distortion-free audio and works perfectly for earphones or external speakers.

Heat and Noise

The ThinkPad SL400 does a good job keeping heat under control. Even when the system was under stress during the performance benchmarking tests the SL400 remained relatively cool. Most users certainly won't have any trouble using this as a "laptop" since the these low heat levels won't cause any discomfort to your lap. Below are the external temperature readings listed in degrees Fahrenheit:

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Noise was never an issue with the SL400, and this is one of the quietest notebooks we've seen (or rather heard) in this class. The system fan is extremely quiet, the hard drive rarely makes a peep even when it's actively writing data, and the DVD drive is fairly quiet (though not as quiet as some tray-loading DVD drives we've seen. In other words, the ThinkPad SL400 won't disturb your coworkers or the person seated next to you on a long flight.

Battery Life

With the notebook power settings in "balanced" mode, wireless on and the screen brightness set to 50 percent, the SL400 drained it's full battery after 3 hours and 13 minutes. Interestingly, Lenovo's proprietary Power Manager software accurately monitored the power consumption during the course of the battery test as the estimated battery time remaining changed depending on the level of activity. The battery life estimate jumped between a little more than four hours (when the notebook was left idle) to a little less than two hours when I was typing Word document and opening several applications at the same time.

While road warriors will cerrtainly want more battery life than what the SL400 has to offer, the notebook does a reasonable job in terms of travel power and provides battery life similar to the competition in this class.

Buying Choices for the Lenovo ThinkPad SL400

Lenovo | $969.00

Conclusion

Overall, there is a lot we can say in favor of the ThinkPad SL400. Lenovo is offering a solid budget ThinkPad for only $799 and also offering pre-configured models with better performance and features for $1,249 or less. That said, like most notebooks in the small business class, the SL400 suffers from cheap plastics used in the chassis construction, weak built-in speakers, and an overall build that is slightly thicker and heaver than needed.

As it stands now, there are a number of reasons you might want to pick up an SL400 rather than a similar notebook from the Dell Vostro lineup or Toshiba Satellite Pro line. That said, diehard ThinkPad owners might criticize the glossy lid, lack of lid latch, and the type of plastics used in some places. The performance of our test configuration suggests the SL400 packs enough raw power to satisfy most small business owners, but it's clear that the new SL series isn't the same ThinkPad we've seen before.

Pros:

Affordable price
ThinkPad quality keyboard and trackpoint
Good screen (matte option is great)
Solid performance
Nice pre-configured options
Stays cool and quiet

Cons:

Thick and boxy overall
Weak speakers
Glossy lid is a magnet for fingerprints and dirt
Plastics are thin and weak in some places
Weak hinge tension on display lid

Dell Studio 15 First Thoughts Review

2008-07-21T23:33:00.000-07:00

The Dell Studio 15 is a fittingly named 15.4" screen multimedia notebook targeted at those who want a nicely designed system that can dual as a very capable computer for work needs and as an entertainment system during those times you want to unwind and enjoy something like a movie. The Studio 15 has a large enough screen to make watching movies on it comfortable, yet it's not so big that you couldn't take this around campus. Since the Studio 15 can be had for around $1,000 nicely configured or under $1,000 for a more budget model it can fit either a tight budget or one with a bit of room to spend.

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The Studio 15 has multiple lid color selections available. If you choose a painted lid such as red, blue, orange, black, green or purple the paint job is very durable and will not scratch. An optional glossy finish lid with varying designs is also available if you prefer the shiny look (although beware of the fingerprints the lid will attract with such a design).

The Studio 15 we obtained has a Ruby Red colored lid. It was purchased from Staples where they offer set configurations of the Studio 15, our budget configuration cost $799. If you want to completely customize a Studio 15 then the best route to go is via Dell.com. In our full review we'll also be featuring a Dell.com custom ordered Studio 15 machine with an orange colored lid - we'll give feedback on the order and shipping that occurs with that process. The specs of this particular Studio 15, the S1535-113P from Staples, are as follows:

Screen: glossy 15.4" WXGA 1280 x 800 display
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T5750 (2.00GHz, 667MHz FSB, 2MB Cache)
Memory: 3.00 GB RAM
Storage: 250GB HD
Optical Drive: Slot loading DVD+/-RW
Wireless: 802.11b/g
Graphics: Integrated Intel X3100
Built-in 2.0MP web camera
Ruby Red color lid
Ports: 4 USB 2.0, HDMI connector, 15-pin VGA video connector, Ethernet 10/100/1000 LAN (RJ45), AC adapter connector, Audio jacks (1 line-in, 1-line out, 1 Mic-in), 4-pin IEEE 1394 port, 54 mm ExpressCard slot, Consumer IR
Dimensions: Width: 14.0" (355.6mm), Height: 1.0" (25.3mm) front / 1.3" (33mm) back, Depth: 10.3" (261.5mm)
Weight: Starting weight of 6.11 lbs

Staples only had a couple of different color options for the lid, either Ruby Red or Midnight Blue, and only two different set spec configurations were available in the store. However, if you prefer to purchase in a retail store for the ability to more easily return a product and not deal with any shipping waits, then Staples is available for that. So far our custom ordered Studio 15 from Dell.com has taken 20-days to move into "production" and shows no signs of shipping soon. We think that's a little bit long. It's definitely worth comparing the price of retail models to those on Dell.com as there can be quite a variation and you might find that going to a bricks and mortar store can be a better deal, even if you have to sacrifice on a couple of upgrades you might have liked.

The box you get when buying the Studio 15 in a retail store is different from the usual all brown iconic Dell box we're used to seeing. From box to out of the package, here's what it looks like:

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Design and Looks

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As we mentioned before, the Studio 15 comes with varying color options so you can make the notebook "Yours". But the design features don't end there. Dell has followed in the footsteps of HP by having an inlaid design pattern on the casing. Around the keyboard and palm rest area you'll find a sort of topographical map design, Dell calls this "Graphite Gray". This design feature is ok, it's not as subtle or well integrated as the type of designs HP is using, but given the choice between just a plain old grey color case like we've seen on recent Inspirons versus this design we do prefer what's in place. The brushed aluminum look you get with the XPS series is still better, but that's why you pay more for an XPS laptop.

The drop hinge design on the Studio 15 is borrowed from the XPS line (view large image)

Speaking of XPS design, the Studio 15 actually borrows quite a few design elements from the equivalent sized XPS M1530. The drop hinge design is almost exactly like that of the XPS M1530. The lid paint job finish is also the same as that you'll get on the XPS series. The touch sensitive media buttons are very similar to the XPS, though their backlit with white instead of the blue on the XPS. The slot loading optical drive is yet another feature that has been borrowed.

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Overall the Studio design is very nice, you can even get a backlit keyboard that makes it look better than the XPS, so in some ways the slightly cheaper Studio 15 looks nicer than the XPS M1530. Unfortunately, with the Staples configuration the keyboard backlight option is not there.

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Build Quality

The build quality of the Studio 15 is good. It does have more plastic to it than the XPS design does, but it is in no way flimsy. There aren't any glaring weak spots; the feel is quite firm all over. With that said, this doesn't feel quite as rock solid as the old Inspiron 1520 - but that notebook was way too chunky and we prefer the lighter weight of the Studio 15 even if it means it's not quite as durable.

Processor and Performance

The Dell Studio 15 line right now only offers the "old" Intel Core 2 Duo inside, not the new Montevina everybody is talking about. Dell launched this laptop a month before Intel updated their processor family, so for the moment the Studios are shipping with the Santa Rosa processor platform. This is of little concern though, the T5750 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo that this budget priced Studio 15 came with is more than adequate enough for any normal work related tasks and can handle most any multimedia work thrown at it as well. The newer Intel processors might get 5 - 10% better processor performance, but you won't notice this change for anything but the most demanding of applications, such as gaming. And since the Studio 15 was not intended as a gaming machine (that's where the XPS comes in), there's not much benefit the new Montevina platform can really provide, though it's always nice to have the latest technology of course.

To give an idea of processor performance we ran wPrime, a program that forces the processor to do recursive mathematical calculations, the advantage of this program is that it is multi-threaded and can use both processor cores at once. Below is an example of how this budget T5750 processor holds up relative to other processors (lower scores mean better performance.)

Notebook / CPU	wPrime 32M time
Dell Studio 15 (Core 2 Duo T5750 @ 2.00GHz)	46.238s
HP Pavilion dv2700t (Core 2 Duo T5450 @ 1.66GHz)	49.793s
HP Pavilion dv6700t (Core 2 Duo T5450 @ 1.66GHz)	50.480s
Dell Inspiron 1525 (Core 2 Duo T7250 @ 2.0GHz)	43.569s
Dell XPS M1530 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.485s
Sony VAIO NR (Core 2 Duo T5250 @ 1.5GHz)	58.233s
Toshiba Tecra A9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	38.343s
Zepto 6024W (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz)	42.385s
Lenovo T61 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.705s
Acer Travelmate 8204WLMi (Core Duo T2500 @ 2.0GHz)	42.947s

The Screen

The Studio 15 widescreen display is not the LED variety available as an option on the XPS line, it's just your regular CCFL style of display that uses a couple of traditional backlights to illuminate the screen. The screen is nice though, it's very bright at around 200-nits. The glossy finish helps to make colors really pop and is especially nice for watching movies. The Studio 15 we have is just a regular 1280 x 800 XGA resolution, you can get higher resolution displays that will allow you to fit more content on the screen and enjoy movies in a higher-defintion format.

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If you wanted it to the Studio 15 could double as a PC/Entertainment center for a small area such as a dorm room. The screen is big enough that if you're within 10 - 15 feet viewing is comfortable.

Heat and Noise

The Studio 15 doesn't get too hot, nor is it overly noisy, so you're not going to really distract others in a quiet library like setting when using it. The fans only get audible if they rev up to full speed when you're doing things like light gaming or running benchmarks. By far the loudest characteristic of the Studio 15 is the slot loading drive, which generates a lot of mechanical noise whenever you load in a disc.

Buying Choices for the Dell Studio 15 Laptop Computer (Intel Core 2 Duo T8100/)

Dell, Inc. | $1,124.00

100.0% of people recommend this product - view 2 opinions | rate product

More to come...

Obviously this does not constitute a full review. We just wanted to get a few first thoughts out there about the Studio 15 and the in store purchase experience. We'll have a more full review next week as we compare the order process of buying online versus in store and a couple of different configurations of this laptop.

We already did a thorough review of the Dell Studio 17 which is in many ways similar to the Studio 15, just bigger and with a few more features, see our review of the Dell Studio 17 here.

HP Pavilion dv5z Review

2008-07-13T22:26:00.000-07:00

The newest 15-inch notebook from HP arrives just in time to make a big impact for back-to-school shoppers in 2008. The HP Pavilion dv5z features the latest AMD dual-core processors, cutting edge graphics that slaughter the competition, and a price that's so competitive you'll have a hard time coming up with reasons not to buy this notebook. Take a look at our full review and find out what makes this notebook so impressive.

Our HP Pavilion dv5z has the following specifications:

Processor: 2.1GHz AMD Turion X2 Ultra dual-core processor ZM-80
Graphics: ATI Radeon HD 3200
Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium with SP 1 (64-bit)
Screen: 15.4" WSXGA+ High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen Display (1680 x 1050)
Memory: 2GB (up to 4GB configurable)
Storage: 160GB SATA HDD (5400rpm)
Optical Drive: SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
Wireless and Communications: 802.11b/g WLAN
Battery: 6-cell Li-Ion (10.8V, 47Wh)
Dimensions: 14.05" (W) x 10.2" (D) x 1.37" (min H)/1.65" (max H)
Weight: 5.84lbs
Warranty: 1-year

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The pricing on the dv5z starts at around $699.99 ($599.99 with $100 instant rebate), and our configuration has a few upgrades that brought the final price to $849.99 at the time of this writing. Needless to say, this is a fabulous price point for back-to-school shoppers.

Build and Design

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The dv5z has a new and improved design, replacing the long-lasting and much-loved dv6000 series chassis design. The display cover has the durable plastic Imprint finish, which holds up quite well to minor abrasion without scratching. The body of the notebook is smooth with rounded edges, making it extremely comfortable in your hand while carrying it around. The screen also sports a latchless design, making it easy to open the notebook with one hand. Although the lid lacks any latch to keep it held shut, the hinges feel fairly strong, keeping the lid secure. Pressing firmly onto the back of the screen cover will produce some ripples on the screen ... but you must apply significant pressure to cause this.

The plastic chassis is quite rigid and suffers from no flex or creaks even when twisted between my hands. Although I don't recommend tossing your notebook down a staircase, the dv5z should survive years of daily travel in a backpack or the occasional drop off a desk.

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Our dv5z features the "Mesh" Imprint Finish which looks the name implies: a fine gray mesh pattern over a black surface. The Imprint Finish on the dv5z is much more subtle than the previous designs we've seen on HP notebooks. I suspect most average consumers will find the mesh pattern more acceptable in workplace environments than the older generation patterns. While the dv5z still looks like an attractive consumer notebook, the Imprint Finish isn't quite as "splashy" or "busy" as it used to be.

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The bottom of the dv5z is quite simple with some nice heat vents located in strategic positions to help keep the laptop cool. The access panels on the bottom of the notebook make it easy to upgrade RAM, replace the hard disk drive, or replace the motherboard battery if needed. This arrangement makes it simple for the novice user to make upgrades, but more serious users will have to remove the entire base of the chassis in order to access the rest of the motherboard.

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Screen

The 15.4-inch diagonal WSXGA+ High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen Display (1680 x 1050) is quite simply one of the best 15-inch screens I've seen on any notebook. Detail is amazing, colors are rich with deep contrast, backlighting is even across the entire surface, and viewing angles are good. There is some color inversion when you view the screen from below ... but how often do you tilt your screen back and view it that way?

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Input and Output Ports

The dv5z has an impressive number of ports with some nice additions you won't find on most consumer notebooks. Here's a run down of the ports:

3 USB 2.0 ports
1 eSATA port/USB port
ExpressCard/54 slot
HDMI 1.3 connector
5-in-1 multi-card reader
Microphone in, two headphone/audio out ports
1 Expansion Port 3 Docking Station Connector
1 RJ -45 (LAN)
1 VGA out
Kensington lock slot

While three USB ports might not sound like enough for a 15-inch notebook, there are a couple of things to keep in mind. First, this budget notebook comes with an eSATA/USB port which allows you to connect either a USB device or an eSATA device. Although USB is still a great connection method for accessories USB cannot provide fast data transfer rates for huge amounts of data. We need a faster way to transfer files as more and more consumers start storing their family videos, digital photos, and personal media collections on 2TB and larger external hard drives. This is where eSATA comes in. Without getting too technical, an eSATA port can transfer data to and from an eSATA-equipped external storage drive six times faster than USB.

The second important feature to consider on the dv5z is that HP still includes a dedicated docking station connector on their laptops for those of us who use our laptops as desktop replacements. This is far more important than most people realize. Most other notebook manufacturers have removed dedicated docking ports and now only offer USB docking stations. USB is great for connecting one or two devices at the same time, but if you are trying to transfer data, video, audio, and perhaps even your Ethernet connection over a single USB port you will suffer a major reduction in speed. The dedicated Expansion Port 3 on the dv5z can handle all of your docking station needs all at the same time with virtually no reduced performance.

HP deserves serious praise for adding the eSATA port and keeping the dedicated docking port when most of the competition doesn't offer these features on consumer notebooks.

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While we're on the subject of ports, it's worth mentioning that the HDMI port also supports audio as well as video via a standard HDMI cable. Many laptops with HDMI ports only support video, but the dv5z supports both video and audio. To test this I connected the dv5z to my 1080p HDTV. As soon as I connected the HDMI cable the computer recognized the connection and asked if I wanted to extend my desktop or duplicate my desktop (I chose duplicate) and then I inserted a DVD into the notebook's drive.

The dv5z upscaled the DVD movie to a full 1080p resolution and upscaled the movie to 1680 x 1050 resolution for the built-in display. The video playback was flawless with no skipped frames and the audio synched perfectly with the action on the screen (or screens). This is quite impressive and is something you just don't expect to see on a budget notebook.

Performance and Benchmarks

HP offers the new Pavilion dv5z with a range of AMD processors, including the older generation 1.9GHz Athlon X2 QL-60 dual-core processor. However, the big news this year is the availability of AMD's new "Puma" platform with improved processors and graphics. The new AMD Turion X2 Ultra ZM-80 2.1GHz dual-core processor is an obvious evolution of AMD processor technology, but the real news is the integrated graphics.

It isn't very often that we get excited about an integrated graphics processor (IGP). Every IGP on the market is painfully inferior to a dedicated graphics card and every IGP on the market struggles to handle high definition video and 3D video games. Not so with the ATI Radeon HD 3200. For the first time ever consumers have a low-cost IGP that offers flawless 1080p video playback and can even play many 3D video games at reasonable frame rates!

Let's take a look at a few basic benchmarks so you can get an idea of how the dv5z stacks up.

wPrime comparison results (lower scores means better performance):

Notebook / CPU	wPrime 32M time
HP Pavilion dv5z (Turion X2 Ultra ZM-80 @ 2.1GHz)	39.745s
Dell Inspiron 1525 (Core 2 Duo T7250 @ 2.0GHz)	43.569s
Dell XPS M1530 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.485s
HP Pavilion dv6500z (Turion 64 X2 TL-60 @ 2.0GHz)	40.759s
Sony VAIO NR (Core 2 Duo T5250 @ 1.5GHz)	58.233s
Toshiba Tecra A9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	38.343s
Toshiba Tecra M9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.299s
HP Compaq 6910p (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz)	40.965s
Sony VAIO TZ (Core 2 Duo U7600 @ 1.20GHz)	76.240s
Zepto 6024W (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz)	42.385s
Lenovo T61 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.705s
Alienware M5750 (Core 2 Duo T7600 @ 2.33GHz)	38.327s
HP Pavilion dv6000z (Turion X2 TL-60 @ 2.0GHz)	38.720s

You can see from the results in WPrime the new Turion X2 Ultra processor from AMD's new "Puma" platform provides a respectable amount of raw processing power but isn't significantly faster than the previous generation processors when it comes to basic calculations.

PCMark05 measures overall notebook performance (higher scores are better):

Notebook	PCMark05 Score
HP Pavilion dv5z (2.1GHz Turion X2 Ultra ZM-80, ATI Radeon HD 3200)	3,994 PCMarks
Dell Inspiron 1525 (2.0GHz Intel T7250, Intel X3100)	4,149 PCMarks
Dell XPS M1530 (2.20GHz Intel T7500, Nvidia 8600M GT 256MB)	5,412 PCMarks
Dell Inspiron 1520 (2.0GHz Intel T7300, NVIDIA 8600M GT)	4,616 PCMarks
Dell XPS M1330 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS)	4,591 PCMarks
Lenovo ThinkPad X61 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100)	4,153 PCMarks
Lenovo 3000 V200 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100)	3,987 PCMarks
Lenovo T60 Widescreen (2.0GHz Intel T7200, ATI X1400 128MB)	4,189 PCMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	4,234 PCMarks
Fujitsu N6410 (1.66GHz Core Duo, ATI X1400)	3,487 PCMarks
Alienware M7700 (AMD Athlon FX-60, Nvidia Go 7800GTX)	5,597 PCMarks
Sony VAIO SZ-110B in Speed Mode (Using Nvidia GeForce Go 7400)	3,637 PCMarks
Asus V6J (1.86GHz Core Duo T2400, Nvidia Go 7400)	3,646 PCMarks

The PCMark05 score suggests the dv5z provides solid overall performance.

3DMark06 comparison results for graphics performance (higher scores are better):

Notebook	3DMark06 Score
HP Pavilion dv5z (2.1GHz Turion X2 Ultra ZM-80, ATI Radeon HD 3200)	1,599 3DMarks
Dell Inspiron 1525 (2.0GHz Intel T7250, Intel X3100)	545 3DMarks
HP Pavilion dv6500z (2.0GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-60, NVIDIA 8400m GS)	1,551 3DMarks
Sony VAIO NR (1.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5250, Intel X3100)	504 3DMarks
Dell XPS M1530 (2.20GHz Intel T7500, Nvidia 8600M GT 256MB)	4,332 3DMarks
Dell Inspiron 1520 (2.0GHz Intel T7300, NVIDIA 8600M GT)	2,905 3DMarks
Dell XPS M1330 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS 128MB)	1,408 3DMarks
Alienware Area 51 m5550 (2.33GHz Core 2 Duo, nVidia GeForce Go 7600 256MB	2,183 3DMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16 GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	827 3DMarks

All of the 3DMark06 scores for all of the systems listed above were run at 1280 x 768 resolution. Bottom line: AMD is speaking truthfully when they claim that the new ATI Radeon HD 3200 IGP provides roughly three times the performance of the Intel X3100 IGP and rivals the performance of low-cost dedicated graphics cards.

Just for laughs, we also ran the 3DMark06 benchmark at the full screen resolution on our dv5z (1680 x 1050) and the system returned a score of 1,131 3DMarks. Even when running a higher resolution display the integrated graphics on the dv5z provides more than double the performance of Intel's current integrated graphics!

In short, AMD and ATI just murdered the low-end dedicated graphics card market. There's absolutely no reason to buy a laptop with a low-end dedicated graphics card like the NVIDIA 8400m GS because the new ATI integrated graphics solution performs just as well (if not better) at a fraction of the cost.

For those of you who might be interested in the older 3DMark05 graphics benchmark, I've included those numbers below (all tested at 1024 x 768 resolution):

3DMark05 comparison results (higher scores are better):

Notebook	3DMark05 Results
HP Pavilion dv5z (2.1GHz Turion X2 Ultra ZM-80, ATI Radeon HD 3200)	2,969 3DMarks
Dell XPS M1330 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS 128MB)	3,116 3DMarks
HP Compaq 6510b (2.20GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7500, Intel X3100)	916 3DMarks
HP Compaq 6515b (1.6GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-52, ATI x1270)	871 3DMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16 GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	2,013 3D Marks
Dell Inspiron e1705 (2.0GHz Core Duo, ATI X1400)	1,791 3D Marks
Acer TravelMate 8204WLMi (2.0GHz Core Duo, ATI X1600 256MB)	4,236 3DMarks
Alienware Aurora M-7700(AMD Dual Core FX-60, ATI X1600 256MB)	7,078 3D Marks
Lenovo ThinkPad T60 (2.0GHz Core Duo, ATI X1400 128MB)	2,092 3D Marks
Asus V6Va (2.13 GHz Pentium M, ATI x700 128 MB)	2,530 3D Marks
Fujitsu n6410 (1.66 GHz Core Duo, ATI X1400 128MB)	2,273 3DMarks
Dell XPS M1210 (2.16 GHz Core Duo, nVidia Go 7400 256MB)	2,090 3D Marks

As if this weren't enough to get you excited about the new ATI graphics, AMD has also been promoting the new Hybrid Crossfire capabilities. In short, Hybrid Crossfire allows you to combine the performance of an integrated graphics processor with a dedicated graphics card (such as the ATI Raedon HD 3450) in order to provide improved graphics performance. Basically, the integrated graphics and dedicated graphics work together to produce a better visual experience. It's unclear whether the HP Pavilion dv5z with the dedicated ATI Radeon HD 3450 option will make use of Hybrid Crossfire, but it's an innovative idea.

HDTune storage drive performance results:

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Keyboard, Touchpad and Media Controls

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The keyboard on the Pavilion dv5z has zero flex and excellent key travel with quiet presses. I can't say with absolute certainty, but I suspect the keyboard is the same part used on the dv6700t (or at least the dv6780se we previously reviewed).

The keys have a durable coating which makes the keyboard look and feel better when typing. The slight glossy texture of the keys won't develop the typical "shine" that begins to show up on keys after extended use.

The dv5z also features attractive touch-sensitive media buttons that seemingly vanish behind the "liquid metal" surface when the computer is turned off, but light up when the notebook is turned on.

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The palm rest area features the same "Mesh" Imprint Finish used on the lid. The touchpad is nice and large and features a durable and responsive surface that is also covered in the HP Imprint Finish. The marked vertical scroll section is likewise accurate and responsive. The touchpad buttons have deep feedback and produce quiet, cushioned clicks.

One of the nice features found on HP touchpads is the touchpad on/off button. If you press the small button above the touchpad you can disable it ... perfect for people using an external mouse. Although the touchpad is quite nice I would have liked to see the same style of touchpad that HP started using on the tx1000z, tx2000z, tx2500z and HDX notebooks ... perhaps on next year's notebooks?

The reason I mention the touchpads on the other HP notebooks is because I have mixed opinions about the glossy touchpad on the dv5z. The touchpad surface feels nice and smooth, but if you have even slightly moist fingertips your finger with stick to the touchpad and you won't be able to drag the cursor in smooth, straight movements. As long as you have extremely dry skin (or use an external mouse) this won't be a problem.

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Another added bonus is the inclusion of a media remote. This little remote tucks away in the ExpressCard slot and is great for moving through slide presentations or for controlling the notebook when it's connected to your HDTV.

Speakers

The speaker quality was "above average" for a notebook without a built-in subwoofer. The speakers for the dv5z are located at the top of the keyboard area beneath the media buttons.

There's not much to write home about the Altec Lansing speakers. They get loud enough with minimal distortion and the sound isn't as "tinny" as is the case with nearly all laptop speakers. However, the speakers don't produce the kind of output that "fills a room" the way you might want if you're listening to your music collection on the built-in speakers. On the brighter side, both audio out ports delivered crystal clear audio to my earphones during the test period.

Heat and Noise

The Pavilion dv5z does a reasonable job keeping heat under control. The system fan and heatsinks in the notebook do a great job managing heat when the system is under load ... as we discovered when we ran multiple benchmarks back to back. Below are images with temperature readings listed in degrees Fahrenheit:

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Noise was likewise a non-issue with the fan on the dv5z. The fan moved a significant amount of hot air but the noise was reasonably quieter than what we hear on most budget notebooks. When the fan is on low it is perfectly silent. When the fan is on high (such as when the system is stressed while playing 3D video games) you can hear it running in a quiet room but it's still not as loud as many budget notebooks we've reviewed. Of course, the manufacturer of the cooling fan in your notebook might be different and the dv5z will produce more heat if you configure it with a dedicated graphics card, so your mileage (or decibels) may vary.

Battery Life

We knew it was too much to expect a budget notebook to be perfect, but we were a little disappointed by the battery life from the dv5z. The 6-cell 47WHr Li-Ion battery provides sub-par battery life for the dv5z. With Vista's power management running in "balanced" mode, screen brightness set to 50 percent and wireless on, the 6-cell battery delivered 2 hours and 22 minutes of battery life. By comparison, most budget notebooks can deliver more than two and a half hours of battery life on "high performance" mode with the screen set to maximum brightness.

There is also an available high-capacity 6-cell Li-Ion battery for those users needing extended battery life. It's odd that there is no 9-cell or 12-cell battery option at the time of this writing, but that may change in the future.

Buying Choices for the HP Pavilion dv5z Customizable Notebook PC

HP Home & Home Office Store | $599.99

Conclusion

As I mentioned in our First Look, there are a lot of reasons to be excited about this notebook. First, we're just glad to see HP release a new notebook chassis design since they were using the same old dv6000 series design for several years. More importantly, we're in complete awe over the performance of the integrated graphics on this machine.

Sure, you can get better gaming performance if you spend more money for a notebook with a good dedicated graphics card, but you would have to purchase a mid-range or high performance dedicated card to surpass the performance of the integrated graphics in the dv5z. For the first time consumers shopping for a budget notebook don't have to sacrifice performance in order to have a low-cost laptop.

In the end, the HP Pavilion dv5z left me more than a little frustrated. The simple reality is that this budget notebook packs the best integrated graphics solution we've ever seen inside its sleek chassis. However, battery life was far too limiting. In fact, this notebook would have received an Editor's Choice Award if it could have managed at least 3 hours of battery life ... but 2 hours and 22 minutes is just unacceptable.

Also, it's hard to understand why HP doesn't allow consumer to purchase this notebook with a Blu-ray drive unless the system is configured with a dedicated graphics card. The new ATI Radeon HD 3200 IGP is perfectly capable of running a Blu-ray drive, so it makes no sense for HP to require consumers to purchase a dedicated graphics card.

If you can live with the poor battery life and lack of Firewire it's hard not to recommend this notebook to anyone and everyone needing a laptop for less than $900.

Pros:

Amazing integrated graphics performance!
Great design and build quality
Amazing integrated graphics performance!
Fabulous screen
Amazing integrated graphics performance!
Great keyboard and media buttons
Amazing integrated graphics performance!
Includes HDMI and eSATA ports
Did I mention the AMAZING integrated graphics performance?

Cons:

Poor battery life
No Firewire port
No built-in TV tuner option at time of this writing
No Blu-ray option with integrated graphics even though the HD 3200 IGP can handle it
Touchpad surface is either great or "sticky" depending on how dry your fingers are

HP Pavilion dv5z First Look

2008-07-05T15:53:00.000-07:00

The newest 15-inch notebook from HP arrives just in time to make a big impact for back-to-school shoppers in 2008. The HP Pavilion dv5z features the latest AMD dual-core processors, cutting edge graphics that slaughter the competition, and a price that's so competitive you'll have a hard time coming up with reasons not to buy this notebook. Let's take a quick look at what makes this laptop so impressive before our full review.

Our HP Pavilion dv5z has the following specifications:

Processor: 2.1GHz AMD Turion X2 Ultra dual-core processor ZM-80
Graphics: ATI Radeon HD 3200
Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium with SP 1 (64-bit)
Screen: 15.4" WSXGA+ High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen Display (1680 x 1050)
Memory: 2GB (up to 4GB configurable)
Storage: 160GB SATA HDD (5400rpm)
Optical Drive: SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
Wireless and Communications: 802.11b/g WLAN
Battery: 6-cell Li-Ion
Dimensions: 14.05" (W) x 10.2" (D) x 1.37" (min H)/1.65" (max H)
Weight: 5.84lbs
Warranty: 1-year

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The pricing on the dv5z starts at around $699.99, and our configuration has a few upgrades that brought the final price to $849.99 at the time of this writing. Needless to say, this is a fabulous price point for back-to-school shoppers.

Build and Design

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Screen

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Input and Output Ports

The dv5z has an impressive number of ports with some nice additions you won't find on most consumer notebooks. Here's a run down of the ports:

3 USB 2.0 ports
1 eSATA port/USB port
ExpressCard/54 slot
HDMI 1.3 connector
5-in-1 multi-card reader
Microphone in, two headphone/audio out ports
1 Expansion Port 3 Docking Station Connector
1 RJ -45 (LAN)
1 VGA out
Kensington lock slot

HP deserves serious praise for adding the eSATA port and keeping the dedicated docking port when most of the competition doesn't offer these features on consumer notebooks.

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Performance and Benchmarks

Let's take a look at a few basic benchmarks so you can get an idea of how the dv5z stacks up.

wPrime comparison results (lower scores means better performance):

Notebook / CPU	wPrime 32M time
HP Pavilion dv5z (Turion X2 Ultra ZM-80 @ 2.1GHz)	39.745s
Dell Inspiron 1525 (Core 2 Duo T7250 @ 2.0GHz)	43.569s
Dell XPS M1530 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.485s
HP Pavilion dv6500z (Turion 64 X2 TL-60 @ 2.0GHz)	40.759s
Sony VAIO NR (Core 2 Duo T5250 @ 1.5GHz)	58.233s
Toshiba Tecra A9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	38.343s
Toshiba Tecra M9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.299s
HP Compaq 6910p (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz)	40.965s
Sony VAIO TZ (Core 2 Duo U7600 @ 1.20GHz)	76.240s
Zepto 6024W (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz)	42.385s
Lenovo T61 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.705s
Alienware M5750 (Core 2 Duo T7600 @ 2.33GHz)	38.327s
HP Pavilion dv6000z (Turion X2 TL-60 @ 2.0GHz)	38.720s

We'll have a full set of synthetic benchmarks in the full review coming next week, but we know that many of our readers are sitting on pins and needles waiting to find out how the new ATI Radeon HD 3200 integrated graphics perform. I decided to publish some 3DMark06 benchmark numbers ... just to keep you happy.

3DMark06 comparison results for graphics performance (higher scores are better):

Notebook	3DMark06 Score
HP Pavilion dv5z (2.1GHz Turion X2 Ultra ZM-80, ATI Radeon HD 3200)	1,599 3DMarks
Dell Inspiron 1525 (2.0GHz Intel T7250, Intel X3100)	545 3DMarks
HP Pavilion dv6500z (2.0GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-60, NVIDIA 8400m GS)	1,551 3DMarks
Sony VAIO NR (1.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5250, Intel X3100)	504 3DMarks
Dell XPS M1530 (2.20GHz Intel T7500, Nvidia 8600M GT 256MB)	4,332 3DMarks
Dell Inspiron 1520 (2.0GHz Intel T7300, NVIDIA 8600M GT)	2,905 3DMarks
Dell XPS M1330 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS 128MB)	1,408 3DMarks
Alienware Area 51 m5550 (2.33GHz Core 2 Duo, nVidia GeForce Go 7600 256MB	2,183 3DMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16 GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	827 3DMarks

Keyboard and Touchpad

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Buying Choices for the HP Pavilion dv5z Customizable Notebook PC

HP Home & Home Office Store | $699.99

First Impressions

As of this writing we've only had the HP Pavilion dv5z in our office for a short while now. Still, there are a lot of reasons to be excited about this notebook. First, we're just glad to see HP release a new notebook chassis design since they were using the same old dv6000 series design for several years. More importantly, we're in complete awe over the performance of the integrated graphics on this machine.

Sure, you can get better gaming performance if you spend the money for a notebook with a good dedicated graphics card, but you would have to purchase a mid-range or high performance dedicated card to surpass the performance of the integrated graphics in the dv5z. For the first time consumers shopping for a budget notebook don't have to sacrifice performance in order to have a low-cost laptop.

We reserve final judgment for the full review, but right now it's hard not to recommend this notebook to anyone and everyone needing a laptop for less than $900.