ASUS N10JC: the Netbook Goes Corporate
by Jarred Walton on December 24, 2008 4:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
Graphics Performance
We also ran some graphics performance tests for quick reference. We don't have any comparable gaming results at 1024x600 for other laptops, so we're comparing the N10JC to itself, with and without the 9300M. For 3DMark, we used an external display in order to test at the standard resolutions.
| ASUS N10JC Gaming Performance @ 1024x600 Low Quality | ||
| GPU | 9300M | GMA 950 |
| Company of Heroes | 40.4 | 8.4 |
| Unreal Tournament 3 | 30.41 | Fail! |
Obviously this is not going to be a gaming powerhouse, but at the native 1024x600 resolution the GeForce 9300M is capable of running many games at low to medium detail. Note that the slow CPU is also going to be a bottleneck in certain titles; unreal tournament for example scored the same at 800x600 as at 1024x600, indicating a CPU bottleneck. The 9300M certainly won't set any performance records, but it does offer nearly 5 times the performance of the GMA 950. It also allows you to offload video decoding, which is definitely required for high definition content -- the Atom N270 completely choked on any H.264 content without GPU assistance.
Something else the 9300M brings to the table is compatibility. You will notice that we put "fail" under Unreal Tournament 3 with the GMA 950. There will certainly be plenty of other games that won't run on the integrated graphics, so it's nice to be able to flip a switch, reboot the system, and meet the necessary GPU requirements. It would be even better if we didn't have to reboot the system, but it's not something we envision ourselves doing so frequently that it's a critical flaw on this type of laptop. Also remember that while the GPU does support DirectX 10, you will need to install and run Windows Vista to enable those features. Considering the GPU performance on tap, however, Windows XP and DX9 are a safer bet.
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Penti - Wednesday, December 24, 2008 - link
As I said before you wrote your post is that Vista Business includes downgrade rights (without volume license so small businesses can use it too even if they don't want to purchase SA via some license agreement).So there is a Asus N10 laptop for corporate use that has Vista business on it, the N10J-A2 I mentioned. A business version of the same netbook. So it has nothing to do with restriction but rather that this is a consumer variant / version of the somewhat business-oriented N10-series. It can have XP Pro preinstalled it's just that you need a VB license COA. And that it costs about 100 dollars more then XP Home for low end netbooks. It's cheaper then to get a retail (FPP) copy of XP Pro or Vista though. That would cost more then most netbooks. XP H can't be included in volume licenses.
JarredWalton - Wednesday, December 24, 2008 - link
ASUS is the one stating it's a "corporate" netbook, and outside of XP Home instead of Pro I think it succeeds well enough. It's not a corporate *laptop* by any means, but it can do what many traveling people would do. I went on a trip a week ago and used this laptop on the road; it was great to work in the airport for two hours (delayed flight) and then catch a two hour plane ride and still end up with nearly 50% battery remaining.MonkeyPaw - Wednesday, December 24, 2008 - link
I use my Eee 701 for "business" all the time, and I use Ubuntu + Open Office. Basically, I need it for viewing excel spreadsheets and hitting the internet in a pinch. It works well enough, and any critical documents stay on a thumb drive for easy moving about. I find there's no substitute for a full PC-interface when it comes to some things, and this Eee has served me well. In fact, I just read this entire article and posted this comment on my 701. Thanks, Anandtech, for a low-res-friendly website!skaaman - Sunday, December 28, 2008 - link
I think the point to be made here is that XP Home can't connect to a domain and therefore isn't an option in a corporate environment or small business environments. As was noted Vista business includes downgrade rights to XP Pro and therefore would fit the bill.Penti - Wednesday, December 24, 2008 - link
Well it's still a consumer netbook and not a "corporate netbook" if it hasn't VB (the only way to run XP Pro at home today apart from in the business). It's still the same hardware as their corporate version though, just that it has 1GB and 160GB instead of 2GB of ram and 320GB drive. You can't connect to a corporate network without at least XP Pro. Of course it lacks security features such as TPM/Bitlocker too. But truecrypt is always an alternative. Of course lacking built in 3G modem is also a downside on business stuff. I wouldn't buy one without, using it as a terminal would be what it's used for and useful for. You don't need more performance to run RDP / Citrix.