Introduction:
I was looking for a reasonably priced thin & light notebook for my parents.
Since their computing requirements are not very resource intensive, I was
OK with a moderately well configured machine. However, the machine needed
to be well built, light and with a small-medium form factor (No 17"/15.4"
inchers)
So to make the selection process a little more objective, I decied to
assign weights to the parameters that were important to me, so i made this
spreadsheet which looked something like:
- Processor + platform- 20%
- Weight and dimensions- 15%
- Build Quality- 15%
- Screen Quality- 15%
- Battery life- 20%
- Looks & style- 5%
- Other peripherals- 10%
Price deviation frm budget was also assigned a 10% weight taking the total
to 110%
After a bit of looking around, I listed down a few probables viz: Dell XPS
M140/dell 630m, Toshiba M55, Fujitsu s2000, Dell700m, HP DV1000 and Sony
FJ180
One notable exception in the list here is the popular Compaq V2000/V2000z
which I ommitted for the simple reason that my own notebook is a v2000 and
though I am pretty happy with it, I Didn't want two exactly similar looking
lappies
After comparing configs, reviews and prices; some of the options were
dropped viz:
Toshiba M55- checked in a store, it comes with a 4 cell battery=~1.5 hrs - 2hrs of battery time, build quality left a ot to be desirted
Dell700: Based in the older Intel 855 based Centrino platfrm
Sony FJ180: Overpriced for the config
HP DV 1000- perhaps alittle too staid a model
Thus this left with with the option to choose between Dell XPS M140 and the
Fujitsu s2110
Dell- XPS M140:
Pros: low price for a nice config, P-M 750 is a nice proccy
Cons: It's a Dell, Slightly bulky & heavy at 2.8 kgs, Intel 915
gfx
Fujitsu s2110:
Pros: extremely light at 1.7 kgs, Radeon 200m, Fujitsu build
quality and a Mg Alloy case, 5.4 AH battery for 4 hr + battery life , 64 bit proccy, DX9 card= Vista ready
Cons: Relatively Pricey, Turion MT-30 performs below the P-M
750, My lack of comfort with the Turion platform
After a lot of deliberation + some good advice frm Dipdude and Chaos who
basically helped alleviate my worries abt chosing a turion machine, I went
ahead and ordered the Fujitsu s2110
First thing I did after receiving the machine was to swap one of the DDR333 256 RAM sticks with one of the 512 DDR333 sticks on my compaq V2000
768 MB was overkill for the Centrino machine so I , and since the Radeon 200 on the s2110 can be pushed up to 128 MB, I set the Video memory to max ..
Thus now the V2000 has 256+256 DDR 333 while the new Fujitsu now has 512+256 - 128 =640 MB of RAM
Configuration:
* AMD Turion 64 Mobile MT-30 1.6 GHz
* 640 + 128 MB DDR333 SDRAM (After swapping one 256 stick with 512)
* 13.3" Crystal View XGA LCD
* ATI Radeon XPRESS 200m Integrated Graphics (At 128
MB of memory)
* 60 GB 4200 RPM Hard Drive (To be replaced with a 80 gig 5400rpm)
* Atheros Super AG Wireless LAN 802.11 a/b/g
* 3 USB Ports, 1 Firewire, VGA out, S video out
* Memory Stick/SD Slot
Design, Looks & Build
The first thing that struck me when i picked it up was the weight, or
rather the lack of it...Though I knew that this was a >2Kg notebook, the
low weight still took me by surprise....
Lying Next to a regular sized book (A4 i guess)- This notebook is a magnet for fingerprints
The good: Extremely light, Awesome screen (one of the best i have seen),
Very sturdy Mg- Alloy case with no hint of flex on the screen and the body,
heat vents on the sides (not below), nice LCD info indicator (batt charge,
wireless signal, HDD activity, Optical drv activity etc.)
The bad: Extremely fingerprint stain prone, keyboard a little cramped,
Home/End keys need a button combo to be used, All USB ports on the back
side, minor flex on the keys
The ugly: No backlight for the LCD info indicator,
The All black casing looks very professional, though I may have preferred a
shade of silver at places to make it look more jazzy
Look Ma, no backlight!
Rating: 9/10
Peripherals and connectivity:
3 USB ports, 1 firewire, modular DVD writer, Atheros Wireless b/g..this is
one department I can't complain about
Heat, noise, other irritants
Noth much to crib about, runs as hot or as cool as the Compaq V2000, IBM
R50 or Dell 630/6000 centrinos ....
one funny and slightly irritating aspect is when you switch on the PC, the
fan whirs up to a rather fast and noisy spped for 1-2 seconds, steps down
to a moderate spped for the next 1-2 seconds before dropping down to silent
speeds....
The palmrest runs cool all the time, the underside gets slightly warm (like
any other notebook) I was slightly worried about the heat build-ups on the
turion platform, thankfully, my fears were unfounded
Pros: Fan vents on sides, so you can place the notebook on a soft surface
like a bed without worries
Cons- The 2 seconds whirry fan
Rating: 7/10
Screen XGA with Clearview
Ahh, the screen is nothing short of lovely, the colors are vibrant, the
viewing angles are excellent, the contrast ration is awesome..all of this
coupled with the nice 2d rendering on the radeon 200makes using the
notebook for reading /working a delight...The Crystal View screen also
makes watching movies a delight...
Frankly, nothing here to complain about
Screen compared to my friend's Compaq 2100, both at ~3/4th lighting
(perhaps i should have used the same backgrnd image, but nevertheless...)
Rateing: 9.5/10
Input devices- Keyboard & Mouse
The textured touchpad is decently sensitive, but is a tad small so you need
to raise up the pointer speed from the default.
The mouse keys are strictly OK.
There is a scroll button between the left-right keys which you can click
upward and downward . the feature works fine, however, i am used to scroll
regions on touchpads and that's what I'd have preferred, but as I said,
it's a matter of individual prefernce or being used to a particular
method...however, side scrolling isn't supported.
Edit: Scroll regions can indeed be activated on the scroll pad including side scroll
The Keyboard has a mild amount of flex but nothing annoying. "tis as good
or as bad as my V2000 but pales out compared to my Fiancee's IBM R50
The small size of the keyboard (given the overall dimension of the
notebook) is slightly annoying + some commonly used keys like Home/End need
a Key combination (Fn key + Right/Left ccursor)
Rating: 6/10
Speakers
The speakers are tinny and lack bass (like most notebook speakers) The
clarity is good though ...better than the IBM R50 spkrs but nowhere as good
as the JBL pro on the V2000
Rating - 6.5/10
Performance:
Unfortunately, since i don't have access to my storage workhorse, my desktop currently, i couldn't runall the benchies i'd have wanted...Nevertheless, here is a small sampler:
Boot time: WIndows fresh install with just the basic startup items:
Press-On to POST -> Windows startup screen: 10 seconds
startup screen to complete loading: 30 seconds
Total- 40 seconds
Super-Pi:
2M- 2 min, 21 seconds
R-50e- P-M 725- 2 Min 06 seconds
3dmark05
downloading currently...To be posted
UT2003
Antalus Botmatch @1024X768 16 bit- 64 fps
Gameplay, very fluid, no issues at all
I wonder if Far Cry/HL2 will be playable....As I said, currently I dont have access to my beloved desktop.....will post my findings later
Video Encoding
TBD
Audio Encoding
TBD
Battery Life
I ran the notebook from fullcharge to 100% charge to 3% when it goes to auto stand-by. I kept using the notebook all the while with LCD brightness ~50% with winamp running at low volume and browsing on firefox....The battery lasted 3:42 mins (perhaps Winamp driving the speakers is the culprit)
Not a very objective way to test , but this was the best i cld do
Conclusion
Though better configurations are available at a lower price, the light weight, small for factor and the brilliant screen on this notebook make it a very compelling choice for students and young professionals alike.
The Radeon 200m may not be a powrhouse of a gfx card, but it does a very decent job, way - way better than the Intel 900 chipset and is actually pretty good for an casual gamers looking for one-off gaming-sessions while travelling
Contrary to my own notions, the Turion is no slouch compared to the Dothan, and given its 64 bit capability is actually Vista ready
Multimedia powerhouse lookers will be disappointed given the 13.3" screen and the tinny speakers
Needless to say , Hard core gamers too need to look elsewhere,
However, for most other users who are looking for the right balance between weight/size , battery life, cost and screen size, this may be a very decent choice
Now I just hope my Dad decides to keep my V2000 and pass this on to me instead
More Pics
Next to the V2000 which is a rather small notebook by itself
Nextto the compaq V2100
I was looking for a reasonably priced thin & light notebook for my parents.
Since their computing requirements are not very resource intensive, I was
OK with a moderately well configured machine. However, the machine needed
to be well built, light and with a small-medium form factor (No 17"/15.4"
inchers)
So to make the selection process a little more objective, I decied to
assign weights to the parameters that were important to me, so i made this
spreadsheet which looked something like:
- Processor + platform- 20%
- Weight and dimensions- 15%
- Build Quality- 15%
- Screen Quality- 15%
- Battery life- 20%
- Looks & style- 5%
- Other peripherals- 10%
Price deviation frm budget was also assigned a 10% weight taking the total
to 110%
After a bit of looking around, I listed down a few probables viz: Dell XPS
M140/dell 630m, Toshiba M55, Fujitsu s2000, Dell700m, HP DV1000 and Sony
FJ180
One notable exception in the list here is the popular Compaq V2000/V2000z
which I ommitted for the simple reason that my own notebook is a v2000 and
though I am pretty happy with it, I Didn't want two exactly similar looking
lappies
After comparing configs, reviews and prices; some of the options were
dropped viz:
Toshiba M55- checked in a store, it comes with a 4 cell battery=~1.5 hrs - 2hrs of battery time, build quality left a ot to be desirted
Dell700: Based in the older Intel 855 based Centrino platfrm
Sony FJ180: Overpriced for the config
HP DV 1000- perhaps alittle too staid a model
Thus this left with with the option to choose between Dell XPS M140 and the
Fujitsu s2110
Dell- XPS M140:
Pros: low price for a nice config, P-M 750 is a nice proccy
Cons: It's a Dell, Slightly bulky & heavy at 2.8 kgs, Intel 915
gfx
Fujitsu s2110:
Pros: extremely light at 1.7 kgs, Radeon 200m, Fujitsu build
quality and a Mg Alloy case, 5.4 AH battery for 4 hr + battery life , 64 bit proccy, DX9 card= Vista ready
Cons: Relatively Pricey, Turion MT-30 performs below the P-M
750, My lack of comfort with the Turion platform
After a lot of deliberation + some good advice frm Dipdude and Chaos who
basically helped alleviate my worries abt chosing a turion machine, I went
ahead and ordered the Fujitsu s2110
First thing I did after receiving the machine was to swap one of the DDR333 256 RAM sticks with one of the 512 DDR333 sticks on my compaq V2000
768 MB was overkill for the Centrino machine so I , and since the Radeon 200 on the s2110 can be pushed up to 128 MB, I set the Video memory to max ..
Thus now the V2000 has 256+256 DDR 333 while the new Fujitsu now has 512+256 - 128 =640 MB of RAM
Configuration:
* AMD Turion 64 Mobile MT-30 1.6 GHz
* 640 + 128 MB DDR333 SDRAM (After swapping one 256 stick with 512)
* 13.3" Crystal View XGA LCD
* ATI Radeon XPRESS 200m Integrated Graphics (At 128
MB of memory)
* 60 GB 4200 RPM Hard Drive (To be replaced with a 80 gig 5400rpm)
* Atheros Super AG Wireless LAN 802.11 a/b/g
* 3 USB Ports, 1 Firewire, VGA out, S video out
* Memory Stick/SD Slot
Design, Looks & Build
The first thing that struck me when i picked it up was the weight, or
rather the lack of it...Though I knew that this was a >2Kg notebook, the
low weight still took me by surprise....
Lying Next to a regular sized book (A4 i guess)- This notebook is a magnet for fingerprints
The good: Extremely light, Awesome screen (one of the best i have seen),
Very sturdy Mg- Alloy case with no hint of flex on the screen and the body,
heat vents on the sides (not below), nice LCD info indicator (batt charge,
wireless signal, HDD activity, Optical drv activity etc.)
The bad: Extremely fingerprint stain prone, keyboard a little cramped,
Home/End keys need a button combo to be used, All USB ports on the back
side, minor flex on the keys
The ugly: No backlight for the LCD info indicator,
The All black casing looks very professional, though I may have preferred a
shade of silver at places to make it look more jazzy
Look Ma, no backlight!
Rating: 9/10
Peripherals and connectivity:
3 USB ports, 1 firewire, modular DVD writer, Atheros Wireless b/g..this is
one department I can't complain about
Heat, noise, other irritants
Noth much to crib about, runs as hot or as cool as the Compaq V2000, IBM
R50 or Dell 630/6000 centrinos ....
one funny and slightly irritating aspect is when you switch on the PC, the
fan whirs up to a rather fast and noisy spped for 1-2 seconds, steps down
to a moderate spped for the next 1-2 seconds before dropping down to silent
speeds....
The palmrest runs cool all the time, the underside gets slightly warm (like
any other notebook) I was slightly worried about the heat build-ups on the
turion platform, thankfully, my fears were unfounded
Pros: Fan vents on sides, so you can place the notebook on a soft surface
like a bed without worries
Cons- The 2 seconds whirry fan
Rating: 7/10
Screen XGA with Clearview
Ahh, the screen is nothing short of lovely, the colors are vibrant, the
viewing angles are excellent, the contrast ration is awesome..all of this
coupled with the nice 2d rendering on the radeon 200makes using the
notebook for reading /working a delight...The Crystal View screen also
makes watching movies a delight...
Frankly, nothing here to complain about
Screen compared to my friend's Compaq 2100, both at ~3/4th lighting
(perhaps i should have used the same backgrnd image, but nevertheless...)
Rateing: 9.5/10
Input devices- Keyboard & Mouse
The textured touchpad is decently sensitive, but is a tad small so you need
to raise up the pointer speed from the default.
The mouse keys are strictly OK.
There is a scroll button between the left-right keys which you can click
upward and downward . the feature works fine, however, i am used to scroll
regions on touchpads and that's what I'd have preferred, but as I said,
it's a matter of individual prefernce or being used to a particular
method...however, side scrolling isn't supported.
Edit: Scroll regions can indeed be activated on the scroll pad including side scroll
The Keyboard has a mild amount of flex but nothing annoying. "tis as good
or as bad as my V2000 but pales out compared to my Fiancee's IBM R50
The small size of the keyboard (given the overall dimension of the
notebook) is slightly annoying + some commonly used keys like Home/End need
a Key combination (Fn key + Right/Left ccursor)
Rating: 6/10
Speakers
The speakers are tinny and lack bass (like most notebook speakers) The
clarity is good though ...better than the IBM R50 spkrs but nowhere as good
as the JBL pro on the V2000
Rating - 6.5/10
Performance:
Unfortunately, since i don't have access to my storage workhorse, my desktop currently, i couldn't runall the benchies i'd have wanted...Nevertheless, here is a small sampler:
Boot time: WIndows fresh install with just the basic startup items:
Press-On to POST -> Windows startup screen: 10 seconds
startup screen to complete loading: 30 seconds
Total- 40 seconds
Super-Pi:
2M- 2 min, 21 seconds
R-50e- P-M 725- 2 Min 06 seconds
3dmark05
downloading currently...To be posted
UT2003
Antalus Botmatch @1024X768 16 bit- 64 fps
Gameplay, very fluid, no issues at all
I wonder if Far Cry/HL2 will be playable....As I said, currently I dont have access to my beloved desktop.....will post my findings later
Video Encoding
TBD
Audio Encoding
TBD
Battery Life
I ran the notebook from fullcharge to 100% charge to 3% when it goes to auto stand-by. I kept using the notebook all the while with LCD brightness ~50% with winamp running at low volume and browsing on firefox....The battery lasted 3:42 mins (perhaps Winamp driving the speakers is the culprit)
Not a very objective way to test , but this was the best i cld do
Conclusion
Though better configurations are available at a lower price, the light weight, small for factor and the brilliant screen on this notebook make it a very compelling choice for students and young professionals alike.
The Radeon 200m may not be a powrhouse of a gfx card, but it does a very decent job, way - way better than the Intel 900 chipset and is actually pretty good for an casual gamers looking for one-off gaming-sessions while travelling
Contrary to my own notions, the Turion is no slouch compared to the Dothan, and given its 64 bit capability is actually Vista ready
Multimedia powerhouse lookers will be disappointed given the 13.3" screen and the tinny speakers
Needless to say , Hard core gamers too need to look elsewhere,
However, for most other users who are looking for the right balance between weight/size , battery life, cost and screen size, this may be a very decent choice
Now I just hope my Dad decides to keep my V2000 and pass this on to me instead
More Pics
Next to the V2000 which is a rather small notebook by itself
Nextto the compaq V2100
