$600 Notebook Roundup - Crowning the Affordability King
by Anand Lal Shimpi on November 29, 2005 10:38 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
The Test
For all tests, each machine was tested with a clean install of Windows and all drivers installed (the latest available as of the publication date), but none of the bundled applications were installed (with the exception of any battery/power management utilities).
All performance tests were conducted with the Power Management settings set to Always On.
All benchmarks were conducted with the display set to the native resolution of the notebook's LCD panel.
Mobile Mark 2005 battery life tests were conducted with the Power Management settings set to Portable/Laptop, but with the screen set to never turn off and with the hard disk set to power down after 5 minutes. All battery life tests were conducted with the displays set to 60 - 70 nits.
Performance testing was done using Business and Multimedia Content Creation Winstone 2004, as well as SYSMark 2004.
Battery life testing was done using Mobile Mark 2005.
| Test Configuration | |
| Chipset Drivers | Intel 915/855 - Intel INF Installation Utility 7.2.2.1006 ATI Radeon Xpress 200M - ATI Catalyst 5.10 |
| Graphics Drivers | Intel 915/855 - Intel Graphics Driver 14.17 ATI Radeon Xpress 200M - ATI Catalyst 5.10 |
For all tests, each machine was tested with a clean install of Windows and all drivers installed (the latest available as of the publication date), but none of the bundled applications were installed (with the exception of any battery/power management utilities).
All performance tests were conducted with the Power Management settings set to Always On.
All benchmarks were conducted with the display set to the native resolution of the notebook's LCD panel.
Mobile Mark 2005 battery life tests were conducted with the Power Management settings set to Portable/Laptop, but with the screen set to never turn off and with the hard disk set to power down after 5 minutes. All battery life tests were conducted with the displays set to 60 - 70 nits.
Performance testing was done using Business and Multimedia Content Creation Winstone 2004, as well as SYSMark 2004.
Battery life testing was done using Mobile Mark 2005.
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Hacp - Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - link
x200 graphics with/o dedicated memory.If you get x300 graphics with some dedicated memory, it should play some of hte latest games at halfway acceptable settings. Just dont' expect to be playing FPS smoothly though, but RPGs/rts should be fine. Racing should be fine too.
manno - Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - link
meLoneWolf15 - Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - link
Interesting to note that even without Speedstep, the Celeron-M still has better battery life. Then again, didn't Intel change some designs in transistor-switching to make battery performance better even at full speed?One comment, more to notebook manufacturers: Where the heck is my Trackpoint mouse? I can't stand touchpads, which require me to take my fingers off the keyboard to use, when a trackpoint can be used almost simultaneously. I can type 75-80wpm, and don't find touchpads very efficient for this reason (my older but top-of-the-line-when-released Latitude C840 has both devices). Somebody, please bring back the Trackpoint!
Hacp - Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - link
Also, why do you have to take your fingers of the keyboard to use the touchpad? I keep one hand on the keyboard, and one hand on the touchpad when using my computer. Rightclick is tap top right corner, leftclick is tap anywhere on the touchpad that doesn't involve the top right corner.Zorba - Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - link
I too hate touchpads and miss the old mouse sticks. I always rub the touchpad with my arm when typing and usually end up clicking some where I don't want to. It also takes me much longer to navigate with a touchpad and I usually accidently click something because I change the amount of pressure on the pad (I know you can turn the clicking off, but I still don't like the pad). It is a personal preference but I would like to at least be given the chance to pick between the two.matthewfoley - Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - link
Yeah, well I hate the mouse sticks. Who cares.Zorba - Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - link
The point the original poster and I were trying to make is manufacturers should include both devices, which a lot of them used to do.Hacp - Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - link
The battery life difference is most likely due to the ATI chipset and integrated graphics, which uses more power than intel EE.Tamale - Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - link
page 9's link to page 10 is shotTamale - Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - link
nvm :]