The VAIO CS is a 14.1” multimedia notebook from Sony that offers a light bar that pulses with the music you are playing. This sleek colorful notebook is offered in a wide range of colors including Sangria red, Glossy or Matte Black, Cosmopolitan Pink, Seashell Beige, Copper Brown, and Dove White. No matter if you are listening to music or watching an HD movie with the optional Blu-ray drive, the Sony VAIO CS is designed to handle your needs with a splash of style. Sony VAIO CS (VGN-CS220J/T) Specifications: Build and Design The build quality of the VAIO CS is a mixture of durable alloy panels and flexible plastic bezels. If you were only going to look at the bottom of the CS, you would see excellent build quality with very rugged panels covering vital components. The bottom shell is made entirely of a metal alloy, with a nice rugged plate covering the hard drive to prevent impact from damaging your data. Once you flip over the notebook your opinions on the build quality quickly change. The screen cover, keyboard bezel, and hinge covers use very flexible and weak feeling plastics. When you open up the notebook the hinges squeak and creak as the plastic covers flex. Carrying the notebook around closed the screen cover exhibits quite a bit of flex, but thankfully even strong pressure on the back of the screen doesn’t distort colors on the LCD. The paint quality is excellent with a nearly perfect glossy surface. Our review model has a metallic copper finish, which I might say is one of the nicest paint jobs I have seen on a notebook. Screen and Speakers The speakers are about average for a notebook of this size. Bass and midrange are weak, with only higher frequency sounds coming through. Peak volume levels are good, but don’t expect to start a rave with only this notebook providing the tunes. The LED light bar located beneath the touchpad buttons on the front edge of hte notebook only appears to work when using the Sony suppled “VAIO MusicBox” software. In a dark room it will slightly illuminate the desk in front of you. I think a better position would have been above the display so it would light up the keyboard and a larger area around the notebook. Keyboard and Touchpad Sony uses a large Synpatics touchpad on the VAIO CS, with is comfortable to use, but shows signs of some lag. Making quick movements side to side or around in a circle it almost seems like the refresh rate isn’t high enough. It isn’t too noticeable, just something that stuck out at us. The surface texture is a smooth matte finish, with two buttons located directly beneath it for the left and right mouse triggers. The buttons require greater than average pressure to activate, and have shallow feedback when pressed. Ports and Features Performance and Benchmarks wPrime processor comparison results (lower scores mean better performance): PCMark05 measures overall system performance (higher scores mean better performance): 3DMark06 measures video and gaming performance (higher scores mean better performance): *All 3DMark06 benchmark tests are set at 1280 x 800 screen resolution. HDTune storage drive performance results: Heat and Noise Battery Conclusion Pros: Cons:
The Sony VAIO CS looks great sitting closed on your desk. Our review unit has a luxurious copper finish with gold-colored trim around the edges of the screen. Opening up the notebook you see the same glossy copper paint around the palmrest and keyboard bezel, with a matte black inlay for the keyboard. Even the touchpad uses a metallic copper finish, albeit matte instead of glossy. Underneath the front edge of the keyboard is a fairly unique feature, a pulsing LED light bar that adds a bit of flare to whatever music you are listening to. I am not sure I would use it if I owned this notebook, but if you are into strobing lights and techno it would probably be fantastic.
The VAIO CS has a glossy 14.1 display using the 1280x800 16:10 aspect ratio. Colors appear bright and vibrant with very good levels of contrast thanks to the glossy surface. Black levels could be a tad deeper, but this is normal for a notebook in this price segment. Backlight brightness levels are adequate for viewing in bright office conditions, but with the glossy surface outdoor computing is limited to late at night. Viewing angles are average with colors quickly inverting about 20 degrees forward or back vertically. Horizontal viewing angles are much better, with colors staying accurate, only dimming until reflections off the glossy surface overpower what is on the screen.
The keyboard is a VAIO-style chiclet layout (a similar keyboard layout is used on all Apple notebooks) that is comfortable to type on, but awkwardly sized compared to a normal notebook keyboard. Even with the 14.1” frame Sony condensed the keyboard slightly, making finger placement for blind typing difficult at first. Once you get used to it there are no problems, but it does have a slight learning curve.
Port selection on the VAIO CS as a multimedia notebook is lacking without HDMI out, especially considering that you can configure it with a Blu-ray drive. Not having HDMI means no digital video or audio out to connect the laptop up to a stereo for surround sound. Another feature missing is eSATA, which is becoming very common on most consumer notebooks. The ports offered are VGA, audio jacks, three USB ports, Firewire, LAN, and modem. The CS also sports a SD multi-card reader and MS slot.
Front: MS slot, SD multi-card reader, activity lights, wireless on/off
Rear: Modem
Right: Optical drive, ExpressCard/34, 1 USB, LAN
Left: AC Power, VGA, 2 USB, Firewire, audio jacks
System performance was average compared to other mid-range notebooks with integrated graphics. The Intel Core 2 Duo T6400 processor helped keep system lag to a minimum while compressing music or video for a portable media device, and even allowed the system to play 720p and 1080p HD video. The notebook is also designed to handle Blu-ray movies with configurations that have that drive, which is fine for the X4500 graphics chipset. Outside of gaming the notebook handled everything we threw at it without bogging down. I think the only area that could see some improvement is the hard drive, which is easy to swap with a 7200rpm model when configuring the notebook on the Sony website, or upgrading after the purchase.
HP Pavilion dv4t (Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 @ 2.8GHz) 26.972 seconds Toshiba Satellite E105 (Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 @ 2.26GHz) 33.961 seconds Lenovo ThinkPad SL400 (Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 @ 2.26GHz) 34.628 seconds Toshiba Satellite U405 (Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 @ 2.1GHz) 37.500 seconds Sony VAIO CS (Intel Core 2 Duo T6400 @ 2.0GHz) 38.314 seconds
HP Pavilion dv4t (2.8GHz Intel T9600, NVIDIA 9200M GS 256MB) 5,463 PCMarks Lenovo ThinkPad SL400 (2.26GHz Intel P8400, NVIDIA 9300M GS 256MB) 5,173 PCMarks Toshiba Satellite E105 (2.26GHz Intel P8400, Intel 4500MHD) 4,836 PCMarks Sony VAIO CS (2.0GHz Intel T6400, Intel X4500) 4,428 PCmarks Toshiba U405 (2.1GHz Intel T8100, Intel X3100) 3,052 PCMarks
Lenovo ThinkPad SL400 (2.26GHz Intel P8400, NVIDIA 9300M GS 256MB) 2,211 3DMarks HP Pavilion dv4t (2.8GHz Intel T9600, NVIDIA 9200M GS 256MB) 1,741 3DMarks Toshiba Satellite E105 (2.26GHz Intel P8400, Intel 4500MHD) 1,030 3DMarks Sony VAIO CS (2.0GHz Intel T6400, Intel X4500) 899 3DMarks Toshiba U405 (2.1GHz Intel T8100, Intel X3100) 539 3DMarks 
Thermal output from the VAIO CS was minimal, with little heat output from the Intel T6400 processor and Intel integrated graphics. All sections of the notebook that make contact with your legs or hands stayed just above room temperature, never getting hot. Noise from the notebook was minimal while the fan was spinning, but the noises that the fan made starting and stopping did get annoying. It would make a low pitch chirp each time it cycled, which happened frequently under normal use.
Battery life with the 6-cell battery was pretty good for a 14.1” multimedia notebook. With Windows Vista set to the Balanced profile, wireless active, and brightness set to 70% the VAIO CS managed 3 hours and 51 minutes before turning off. Sony also offers a higher capacity battery option for this notebook, but we were unable to test this battery in our review.
The Sony VAIO CS is a nice multimedia notebook with good looks and some pretty cool features. The pulsing light bar adds a bit of flare to this notebook, with the closest alternative being LED’s on some large gaming rigs. Build quality could be better, with a lot of flex in the upper half of the notebook. The plastic creaks when you are opening and closing the lid ... not really the sound you want coming from your notebook. Sony also limited the amount of ports on the notebook, not even including eSATA or HDMI. With an optional Blu-ray drive it is inexcusable not to offer an HDMI to hook it up to a stereo and HDTV. Overall I think if you like the design and the pulsing lights this notebook is worth checking out in retail stores like Best Buy, but still look at other VAIOs above and below the size of the CS.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Notebook Review Spec : Sony VAIO CS
Notebook Review Spec : Asus Eee PC 1008HA Seashell
There is no shortage of netbooks (ultraportable budget laptops) on the market, but the new ASUS Eee PC 1008HA "Seashell" might prove to be one of the best netbooks yet. With a new thin and light design and long life battery the 1008HE Seashell has a lot to offer for a modest price. Keep reading to find out more about this little laptop. Our ASUS Eee PC 1008HA features the following specifications: Build and Design Once again, ASUS managed to impress our editors with their attention to build quality in the Eee PC line of netbooks. The glossy black plastics suffer from very little flex and the keyboard is as firm as even the best business-class notebooks on the market. The various parts of the chassis come together with tight seams and good attention to detail. ASUS claims that the plastics used on Eee PC 1008HA are coated with an "Infusion finish" that makes the netbook scratch resistant. I wasn't able to produce any scratches in the plastics during the testing period, but the glossy surface is extremely prone to fingerprint smudges which make this brand new netbook look a little dirty after just a few minutes of use. The 1008HA is also available in white, blue, and pink ... in case black isn't your color of choice. ASUS switched to a new keyboard design on the 1008HA that is 92% of a full sized keyboard, which is a nice improvement over some of the older Eee PC netbook keyboards. The gesture-based Synaptics touchpad is likewise pretty large for a netbook. If ASUS made any obvious sacrifices with the design of the 1008HA then those sacrifices are related to making this netbook as thin as possible. I'll explain later in the review. Screen Keyboard and Touchpad The Synaptics touchpad used on the 1008HA is a gesture-enabled model that allows you to use multi-figure gestures such as "pinching" your fingers together or "pulling" your fingers apart to zoom in or out. You can also use a "three-finger tap" as an alternative to a right click on a mouse. The Synaptics control panel in Windows also allows you to customize these gestures as well. The touchpad surface is covered in dots that provide a clear indication of the edges of the touchpad, but this also makes the touchpad surface too rough for quick finger movement. The left and right touchpad buttons are located beneath a single rocker-style button, but with no separation between the left and right side it's easy to accidentally press the middle of the touchpad button when you're trying to press the left or right side. The touchpad buttons have extremely shallow feedback, so it isn't always easy to feel when you have or have not pressed a button. ASUS also included a number of dedicated buttons and keyboard shortcuts to make life easier. There's a dedicated wireless on/off button, touchpad on/off, as well as FN keyboard shortcuts for screen brightness, video output, volume, and Windows task manager. Input and Output Ports Here is a quick tour around the Eee PC 1008HA: Performance and Benchmarks ASUS also includes a proprietary overclocking application on the 1008HA called the "Super Hybrid Engine" that allows you to cycle through pre-set power profiles to maximize battery life by underclocking the processor, keep the processor at stock speed or slightly overclock the processor (from 1.66GHz to 1.70GHz). If the Eee PC 1008HA suffers from any problems in terms of performance, it's likely related to the new proprietary VGA connector that ASUS uses to make the Seashell as thin as possible. The connection appears to be USB-to-VGA and if so that may be the heart of the problem. We've tested many simple video over USB solutions in the past and every single one of them suffers from sub-par performance with 720p and 1080p video files. As you can see from the benchmarks below, the 3DMark06 score for the 1008HA isn't particularly impressive despite the fact that this netbook uses the same Intel GMA 950 integrated graphics that are found in most netbooks. That said, it's worth mentioning that the GMA 950 graphics in the Eee PC Seashell use the default clock speed of 133MHz for better battery life while some netbooks use a clock speed of 166MHz for better performance. The proprietary VGA port on the 1008HA should be fine if you're just wanting to display a Word document on an external monitor or show a PowerPoint presentation on a projector, or even standard definition (DVD quality) video files, but 720p and 1080p video playback over the proprietary VGA port to a higher resolution monitor suffers from some dropped frames/stutter. We used a number of widely available 720p HD trailers (such as this one) during our tests and none of the 720p movies played without some dropped frames. As long as you stay away from HD video you'll never notice any video problems ... similar to other netbooks currently on the market. wPrime processor comparison results (lower scores mean better performance): PCMark05 measures overall system performance (higher scores mean better performance): 3DMark06 comparison results against netbooks @ 1024 x 768 resolution: HDTune for the built-in hard drive: Audio Granted, most audiophiles will want to use external speakers or headphones for a better listening experience ... but the built-in speakers work well in a pinch. The audio output from the headphone jack is free of any obvious distortion and worked fine with the earphones and external speakers I used during the testing. Heat and Noise This little seashell-shaped netbook stayed perfectly silent during our testing and it's safe to say that the 1008HA is one of the quietest netbooks we reviewed. However, we might have been willing to put up with some fan noise to keep temperatures down when the netbook was connected to an external display. Below are images indicating the temperature readings (listed in degrees Fahrenheit) taken inside our office where the ambient temperature was 74 degrees Fahrenheit. Keep in mind that these temperatures were recorded while the 1008HA was connected to an external display running at 1280x1024 resolution. When the 1008HA was not connected to an external display the bottom temperatures never exceeded 96 degrees. Battery Conclusion Still, what the 1008HA lacks in performance, it makes up for in finishing touches. The thin and light design, extreme battery life, and nearly full size keyboard make the Seashell Eee PC a very attractive travel laptop. If you can overlook the integrated battery and weak HD video performance the 1008HA is every bit as good or perhaps even better than the competition. Pros: Cons:
The Eee PC 1008HA Seashell features a completely new design for the ASUS Eee PC family of netbooks. Like the name implies, the chassis shape is inspired by the curves of a seashell. The clamshell-like design gives the 1008HA a very clean and distinct appearance. Every port from Ethernet to USB is covered with plastic doors which are probably more decorative than they are protective. ASUS claims this version of the Eee PC is just one inch thick at its thickest point, but that doesn't include the feet on the bottom of the netbook. We measured the maximum thickness at more than one inch, but the 1008HA is still remarkably thin and light.
The new Eee PC 1008HA Seashell uses a fairly standard LED-backlit display panel with a 1024x600 native resolution. The glossy screen surface helps to improve color and contrast, but glare and reflections indoors under strong lights or outdoors under direct sunlight can be a problem. Although the 1024x600 resolution is far superior to the old 800x480 screen resolution on the original Eee PC, I was a little disappointed that ASUS didn't use a higher resolution display on the Eee PC 1008HA. Considering that several other manufacturers such as HP and Dell are offering netbooks with 1366x768 screens the display on this netbook just seems a little underwhelming. Vertical viewing angles are average, with minimal color distortion when viewing from below and some over-exposed colors when viewed from above. Horizontal viewing angles are better with colors staying accurate at extremely wide viewing angles; you won't have trouble sharing a YouTube video with friends using this display.
As previously mentioned, the 1008HA uses an all-new keyboard that is 92% of full size. The keys are slightly smaller than the keys on an average notebook but the spacing between the keys is quite limited. If you prefer the shape and feel of traditional keys then you'll probably like the new keyboard. That said, I personally prefer the "chicklet" style keyboard used on the ASUS Eee PC 1000HE since there is more space between the keys to prevent me from accidentally hitting the wrong key. Still, the keyboard on this netbook is quite usable and should be perfectly fine for typing quick emails or editing documents while traveling.
In terms of port selection the Eee PC 1008HA is pretty basic. You get two USB 2.0 ports, a 4-in-1 media card reader, headphone and microphone jacks, and a special collapsible Ethernet port. The curved door on the right hand side of the netbook flips down to allow a standard Ethernet cable to be connected to the netbook.
Front view: No ports here, just clean lines.
Rear view: No ports here either, just the hinge and battery status lights.
Left side view: Power jack, proprietary VGA out, USB 2.0 port, and heat vent. 
Right side view: 4-in-1 card reader, USB 2.0 port, microphone jack, headphone jack, and Ethernet. 
In case you're wondering how that proprietary VGA port works, it's very simple and similar to the USB-to-video out ports on digital cameras. In order to make the 1008HA Seashell as thin as possible ASUS had to remove the standard VGA monitor output. As a result the VGA adapter is stored in a convenient slot in the bottom of the netbook ... there when you need it and hidden away when you don't.
When it comes to testing netbooks, I can't really get that excited about the benchmarks. If you've read our reviews of other netbooks that use the Intel Atom processors then you know that all Atom-based netbooks have nearly identical performance in terms of actual real-world use. Overall performance with the Intel Atom platform is very reasonable for daily activities like Web browsing, email, using Microsoft Office, listening to music, and even watching movies. If you're in a bind you can even use photo editing software like Photoshop or GIMP for basic image editing.
Notebook / CPU wPrime 32M time Sony VAIO TZ (Core 2 Duo U7600 @ 1.20GHz) 76.240 seconds HP Pavilion dv2 (AMD Athlon Neo MV-40 @ 1.60GHz) 103.521 seconds ASUS Eee PC 1000HE (Intel Atom N280 @ 1.66GHz) 114.749 seconds ASUS Eee PC 1008HA (Intel Atom N280 @ 1.66GHz) 116.030 seconds HP Mini 2140 with HD screen (Intel Atom N270 @ 1.60GHz) 123.281 seconds Acer Aspire One (Intel Atom @ 1.60GHz) 125.812 seconds Lenovo IdeaPad S10 (2009) (Intel Atom @ 1.60GHz) 126.406 seconds Samsung NC20 (VIA Nano ULV U2250 @ 1.30GHz) 173.968 seconds
Notebook PCMark05 Score Sony VAIO TZ (1.20GHz Intel Core 2 Duo U7600, Intel GMA 950) 2,446 PCMarks HP Pavilion dv2 (1.60GHz AMD Athlon Neo, ATI Radeon HD 3410 512MB) 2,191 PCMarks ASUS N10 (1.60GHz Intel Atom, NVIDIA 9300M 256MB) 1,851 PCMarks Toshiba Portege R500 (1.20GHz Intel Core 2 Duo U7600, Intel GMA 950) 1,839 PCMarks ASUS Eee PC 1008HA (1.66GHz Intel Atom N280, Intel GMA 950) 1,564 PCMarks Acer Aspire One (1.60GHz Intel Atom, Intel GMA 950) 1,555 PCMarks ASUS Eee PC 1000HE (1.66GHz Intel Atom N280, Intel GMA 950) 1,535 PCMarks Samsung NC20 (1.30GHz VIA Nano ULV U2250, VIA Chrome9 HC3) 1,441 PCMarks HP Mini 2140 with HD screen (1.60GHz Intel Atom, Intel GM1 950) 1,437 PCMarks
Notebook 3DMark06 Score HP Pavilion dv2 (1.60GHz AMD Athlon Neo, ATI Radeon HD 3410 512MB) 1,520 3DMarks ASUS N10 (1.60GHz Intel Atom, NVIDIA 9300M 256MB) 1,417 3DMarks Samsung NC20 (1.30GHz VIA Nano ULV U2250, VIA Chrome9 HC3) 151 3DMarks Acer Aspire One (1.60GHz Intel Atom, Intel GMA 950) 122 3DMarks HP Mini 2140 with HD screen (1.60GHz Intel Atom, Intel GM1 950) 112 3DMarks ASUS Eee PC 1000HE (1.66GHz Intel Atom N280, Intel GMA 950) 92 3DMarks Sony VAIO P (1.33GHz Intel Atom, Intel GMA 500, Windows Vista) 88 3DMarks ASUS Eee PC 1008HA (1.66GHz Intel Atom N280, Intel GMA 950) 83 3DMarks 
The built-in speaker performance on the Eee PC 1008HA is extremely good for a 10-inch netbook. I'm not a fan of the location of the built-in speakers since they're located on the bottom front edge of the 1008HA, but the audio quality is quite good. The speakers produce excellent volume (enough to fill a small room) and there is minimal distortion even at higher volume levels. The speakers lack much bass, but the range of highs and midtones are perfectly enjoyable.
Temperatures on the new Eee PC Seashell are quite comfortable thanks to the use of the Intel Atom processor and a well thought out chassis design. Temperature readings taken from the outside of the plastic chassis remained "lap friendly" during normal use. The only time that temperature readings spiked was when I connected the VGA adapter to the netbook and connected an external display.
Battery life with the integrated 3-cell lithium-polymer battery is reasonably impressive for a travel laptop. In our test with the screen brightness set to 70%, wireless active, and XP set to the laptop/portable power profile the system stayed on for 6 hours and 36 minutes of constant use. Although I'm more than a little annoyed by the fact that you cannot replace the battery or use an extended life battery, the fact that the Eee PC 1008HA delivers more than 6 hours of battery life with constant use is pretty impressive.
At first glance, the new ASUS Eee PC 1008HA Seashell might not seem like an extraordinary netbook. Indeed, with so many netbooks using the same processor, integrated graphics, and standard 10-inch display, there isn't much on paper to make this netbook stand out in a crowd.
Notebook Review Spec : HP EliteBook 8730w
The HP EliteBook 8730w is the largest workstation in HP's current lineup of business notebooks. Featuring the latest Intel processors and Nvidia Quadro graphics and available with HP's exclusive 17-inch "DreamColor" display, the EliteBook 8730w might be a graphics artist's best friend. We took a closer look at this desktop replacement mobile workstation to see if the system performance and color quality of the screen are as good as HP wants you to believe. Read on to find out if the EliteBook 8730w deserves a place in your office. Our review unit of the EliteBook 8730w features the following configuration: The 8730w starts out at $1,699 but more powerful configurations top out at $4,879.00 after instant discount. Build and Design The main body of the laptop is covered in the "HP DuraCase" and "HP DuraFinish" which is essentially a hard plastic and strong magnesium alloy inner shell much like its predecessor strengthened by a brushed aluminum outer shell that is scratch resistant (but not scratch proof). The entire chassis from the base to the screen lid feels exceptionally strong and resistant to flex when heavy pressure is applied. The keyboard is almost completely rock solid except for some minor flex on the dedicated number pad directly above the optical drive. Although I never recommend doing this, you could throw this notebook across the room and it would likely survive unharmed. The outer shell of the screen casing is made of metal, but the inner screen bezel is plastic. HP says that this mobile workstation "has been tested and meets the military standard MIL-STD 810F tests" so this notebook is built to last. Additionally, the 8730w also features hard drive shock protection in the form of the new HP 3D DriveGuard which will help to protect your hard drive in the event the laptop gets dropped or violently bumped ... or smacks into a desk because an editor wasn't paying enough attention. You can also configure the 8730w with a solid state drive (SSD) if you need extreme speed and resistance to vibration. Despite the rugged durability built into the design the weight of the 8730w is perfectly reasonable compared to other 17-inch workstations. If you didn't already notice, the EliteBook 8730w tips the scales at seven and a half pounds but a similarly equipped workstation such as the Lenovo ThinkPad W700 weighs in at more than eight pounds. In any case, this is clearly a desktop replacement system so most people won't be too concerned about the weight of this notebook. Finally, in the same way that the gray and black exterior and smooth design suits a professional environment, so do the internals. The EliteBook 8730w uses two simple plastic covers on the bottom of the notebook (each held in place with standard Phillips head screws) so that the user or your IT department can easily access the hard drive, wireless cards or RAM for fast upgrades. The optical drive can also be removed and replaced with a second hard drive or SSD if you need more storage. The bottom of the notebook also features a dedicated docking station port, external battery port, and a convenient place to store your business card. Screen and Speakers When viewing the screen from straight ahead, colors are rich and the contrast is excellent. High-definition movies (compliments of the Blu-ray drive) are absolutely stunning. Horizontal viewing angles are almost as impressive, and the vertical viewing angle from above is likewise impressive. The only time the screen starts to disappoint is when you view it from below ... but the overwhelming majority of users will never view the screen in this way. The speakers on the 8730w are pretty impressive for a business notebook, but consumer-oriented 17-inch notebooks with dedicated subwoofers produce better sound quality that what comes out of the speakers in this mobile workstation. Since the speakers are located on the front edge of the notebook the sound isn't being directed up and toward the user when the EliteBook is used as a laptop. In fact, our staff usually refers to laptop speakers with this type of placement as "crotch speakers" because the speakers are directing sound to your waist rather than your ears. If you're using the 8730w on your desk this isn't a problem, but if you've got this massive notebook on your lap then the audio will be muffled because of poor speaker placement. The headphone jack on the 8730w works well with the two different brands of earphones I used during the test. No static or other noise was noticed through the jack besides imperfections in the audio source itself. Keyboard and Touchpad The layout of the keyboard is just slightly different than what you might find on the HP consumer notebooks. The individual key presses are quiet without loud clicking sounds as you type. Keys are flatter and have less space in between them. Overall the keyboard layout is extremely nice for a 17-inch desktop replacement. Above the keyboard also rests a series of touch-sensitive media buttons similar to what you find on HP consumer notebooks. There is an Info, Wi-Fi Toggle, Presentation Mode, and Mute touch buttons on this glossy strip. Additionally, next to the Mute button is a volume control slider that enables the user to raise and lower the volume by sliding their finger across that area. The touchpad also features the DuraFinish so that oils from your fingertip don't build up on the surface and make the touchpad look weathered after just a few months. The Synaptics touchpad is very responsive to my touch, and the three rubber mouse buttons are quiet and about the right size. There is also a secondary set of mouse buttons above the touchpad to work with the pointstick that comes with all 8730w's. The pointstick is amazingly accurate and comfortable to use. The only negative we experienced with the touchpad interface on our review unit is that the arrangement of the rubber touchpad buttons made it easy for me to press the wrong buttons. Since there is a third touchpad button I often found myself pressing the middle button rather than the left or right buttons I was trying to press. This isn't a major problem, but it was frustrating enough to make me use an external mouse while I was finishing this review. Speaking of which, I would have also liked to see a dedicated touchpad disable button (like the ones HP uses on their consumer notebooks) so that you can disable the touchpad if you're using the pointstick or an external mouse. Ports and Features The 8730w features a good number of ports on all sides, so let us take a brief tour ... Bottom side: Also, on the underside there is a docking connector and the second battery port. Both RAM slots are accessible from the bottom under the RAM access cover. Performance and Benchmarks Our EliteBook 8730w came with the Intel quad core QX9300 processor, clocking in at 2.53GHz, and jammed packed with 12MB of cache. For graphics, HP included an Nvidia Quadro 3700M series video card with a full 1GB of GDDR3 memory. A fast 250GB 7200 RPM hard drive was also included, which helped applications load without much lag. This workstation consistently exceeded our expectations, thanks in large part to the workstation-class GPU. Serious users will find this machine packs plenty of power for even the most demanding tasks, and "normal" users who are only concerned with working in Microsoft Office and encoding the occasional video for work will have more power than they know what to do with it. With that said, let's jump into the performance benchmarks. wPrime processor comparison results (lower scores mean better performance): HDTune storage drive performance test: Heat and Noise Finally, we recorded the following external temperatures using an IR thermometer after running two consecutive PCMark05 benchmarks. This should serve as an indicator of how hot the notebook will get after about 30 minutes of serious use. All temperatures are listed in degrees Fahrenheit. The system gets pretty hot above and below the RAM, but these temperature ranges should be perfectly fine for a desktop replacement. Battery Conclusion The HP EliteBook 8730w is probably the most balanced workstation-class 17" notebooks we've seen. This notebook is designed more for desktop replacement than it is for mobility, but the 8730w is thinner and lighter than other 17-inch workstations. That said, HP didn't sacrifice durability when making this machine thinner and lighter. In terms of overall value, the EliteBook 8730w strikes an excellent balance between price and performance. If you just need a basic configuration for your office then the starting price of $1,699 is pretty impressive ... particularly since a ThinkPad W700 costs several hundred dollars more and is bigger and heavier to boot. Of course, for those professionals who need to absolute best performance, the 8730w is available in configurations costing more than $4,000 ... so there's something for almost every budget. Bottom line, if you're looking for a 17-inch mobile workstation notebook the HP EliteBook 8730w probably belongs at the top of your list. Pros: Cons:
The HP EliteBook 8730w is a business workstation notebook, which means the 8730w has to meet very specific requirements for performance, durability, power consumption and a host of other features. In every case the EliteBook line meets or exceeds those standards, so you can rest easy that the price you pay for this notebook is money well spent.
The 8730w comes equipped with your choice of a standard 17.0" anti-glare widescreen display or a "DreamColor" RGBLED backlit screen with an 8-bit panel that can display 16.7 million colors ... quite a bit different than the desktop DreamColor displays that support over one billion active colors—64 times the colors supported by traditional LCDs. The screen brightness is rated at 300 nits and the contrast ratio of 800:1 make this screen extremely viewable under direct sunlight. At 1920 x 1200 resolution, this high-definition display is capable of displaying the finest details in workstation applications like Maya, CAD, 3dsMax, and more. Or course, you can also enjoy this extra resolution for 1080p movies when you use the Blu-ray optical drive.
The full-size keyboard on the 8730w is nice and large and features the new "HP DuraKeys" which is a highly durable textured finish applied to each key have a nice matte appearance and prevents the "shine" that appears on old keyboards after the buildup of dirt and oils from your fingertips.
Left side: Here we see the security lock slot, heat exhaust, power jack, HDMI port, VGA port, USB, FireWire, an ExpressCard/54 slot and a smart card slot.
Right side: eSATA port, three USB ports, Blu-ray optical drive, Ethernet and modem port.
Rear side: The battery and heat exhaust.
Front side: The only ports on the front are the headphone jack, microphone jack and multi-card reader.
Notebook / CPU wPrime 32M time HP EliteBook 8530w (Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9300 @ 2.53GHz) 15.701s Lenovo W700 (Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9300 @ 2.53GHz) 15.771s Dell XPS M1730 (Core 2 Extreme X7900 @ 2.8GHz) 29.477s HP EliteBook 8530w (Intel Core 2 Duo T9400 @ 2.53GHz) 30.919s Dell Studio 17 (Core 2 Duo T9300 @ 2.50GHz) 31.574s Dell Precision M6300 (Intel Core 2 Duo T7250 @ 2.0GHz) 46.797s
PCMark05 measures overall system performance (higher scores mean better performance):
Notebook PCMark05 Score HP EliteBook 8730w (2.53GHz Intel QX9300, Nvidia Quadro FX 3700M 1GB) 8,672 PCMarks Lenovo W700 (2.53GHz Intel QX9300, NVIDIA Quadro FX 3700M 1GB) 8,207 PCMarks Dell XPS M1730 (Core 2 Extreme X7900 2.8GHz, Dual Nvidia GeForce 8700M-GT 512MB) 7,148 PCMarks Dell Precision M6300 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7250, NVIDIA Quadro FX 1600M) 7.070 PCMarks HP EliteBook 8530w (2.53GHz Intel T9400, Nvidia Quadro FX 770M 512MB) 6,287 PCMarks Dell Studio 17 (2.50GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9300, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650) 5,982 PCMarks
3DMark06 graphics comparison against notebooks @ 1280 x 800 resolution (higher scores mean better performance):
Notebook 3DMark06 Score HP EliteBook 8730w (2.53GHz Intel QX9300, Nvidia Quadro FX 3700M 1GB) 14,271 3DMarks Lenovo W700 (2.53GHz Intel QX9300, NVIDIA Quadro FX 3700M 1GB) 11,214 3DMarks Dell XPS M1730 (Core 2 Extreme X7900 2.8GHz, Dual Nvidia GeForce 8700M-GT 512MB) 8,536 3DMarks Dell Precision M6300 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7250, NVIDIA Quadro FX 1600M) 5,335 3DMarks HP EliteBook 8530w (2.53GHz Intel T9400, Nvidia Quadro FX 770M 512MB) 5,230 3DMarks Dell Studio 17 (2.50GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9300, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650) 2,974 3DMarks 
During normal use (browsing the Web or working on a text document) the EliteBook 8730w remained nice and quiet. However, after watching some streaming video online and after stressing the graphics the cooling fan inside the laptop gets quite loud. When doing tasks that stress the processor and graphics card, the laptop's fan works hard to keep this laptop cool. This is something of a mixed blessing in that while noisy, it helps to lower the internal temperatures and helps extend the life of your notebook components.
The battery life is basically unchanged from the last refresh in which HP claims that the laptop will achieve more than 4 hours of life when unplugged. During our timed tests, the laptop was set with screen brightness at about 60%, Wi-Fi on, and accessing the hard drive while listening to music files. The laptop shut down after exactly 3 hours and 21 minutes with 3% of the battery left, which is reasonable for a laptop with so much power. If your configuration of the 8730w is running Windows Vista then battery life can also be extended via using the "power saver" power profile in Vista or by simply lowering the brightness of the display.
Notebook Review Spec : Gateway P-7805u FX
The Gateway P-7805u FX is a 17-inch gaming notebook for users who want the performance to play the latest games, but don’t want to empty their wallets in the process. Priced at $1,299 the FX offers an Intel Core 2 Duo Processor and NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GTS dedicated graphics with 1GB of video memory. Can an affordable gaming notebook compete in a market segment usually reserved for notebooks sometimes costing twice as much? Read our full review to find out. Gateway P-7805u FX Specifications: Build and Design Build quality is average with some flex apparent in areas around the chassis. The palm rest and screen lid flex under moderate pressure, but it is really only felt when carrying the notebook around gripping the palmrest. The brushed metal surfaces feel stronger than the glossy plastic, and don’t bend as much when you press down on them (except around the media keys as intended). Internal components are easy to access for upgrading through panels on the bottom of the notebook. The hard drive cage has one panel, whereas the processor and RAM are located underneath another. Although this model ships with only one hard drive, the notebook has a fully functional open bay with cage ready to have another drive installed with it. This is actually the first notebook with dual bays with a single drive that included the other cage I have seen, most don’t include it. Screen and Speakers The P-7805u FX includes stereo speakers located beneath the screen right above the keyboard. For listening to YouTube clips or streaming internet radio they are more than capable, but compared to speakers on other 17” notebooks they leave much to be desired. Bass and midrange performance is weak, and peak volume levels could be greater. I think headphones are a much better alternative than the internal speakers, giving higher audio quality and greater privacy. Keyboard and Touchpad The Synaptics-based touchpad was quick to respond to movement, showing no signs of lag when quickly moving around. The surface texture is a smooth matte finish that is easy to move across even when your finger is slightly sweaty. I think Gateway could have improved the touchpad buttons by giving them a longer throw that would increase feedback, instead of using “clicky” style buttons. Ports and Features Performance and Benchmarks Another nice aspect of this notebook was the 7200rpm drive, which helps speed up load times between game levels, and can even lower the amount of time needed to install applications. Outside of gaming the P-7805u FX performed quite well as a media hub for a home theater, decoding 720p and 1080p videos without any problems. Most modern full-size notebooks have the ability to decode HD movies using software decoding with the processor, but if you have dedicated graphics you can put that in charge and lower processor usage, allowing you to multitask better if needed. wPrime processor comparison results (lower scores mean better performance): PCMark05 measures overall system performance (higher scores mean better performance): 3DMark06 graphics comparison against notebooks @ 1280 x 800 resolution (higher scores mean better performance): HDTune for the built-in hard drive: Heat and Noise Noise from the cooling system was higher than average, since it has to move more air to cool its processor and powerful GPU. Under light loads depending on how long the notebook has been on the fan was at a faster speed than most notebooks, and under load it kicked it up an additional notch. It is probably loud enough to be noticed in a small lecture hall or conference room. Battery Conclusion Pros: Cons:
The outside of the P-7805u FX looks great with a glossy black finish and a carbon fiber pattern band across the lid showing the FX insignia. The three primary colors used throughout the body are glossy black, silver or brushed silver, and orange to outline various components. The side profile of the notebook shows an orange ban dividing the notebook horizontally and surrounding the exterior ports. Opening up the notebook the keyboard is surrounded by orange trim, which is also outlined with brushed metal trim. While I normally take the stance that bright colors and LED’s can make some gaming notebooks stand out in a negative way, Gateway keeps the flare to a minimum in a very classy manner.
Our review unit was equipped with a 1920x1200 WUXGA screen, although this model is actually supposed to include a WXGA+ 1440x900 panel. We think this was a pre-production change, probably to lower the price of the notebook. Colors on the WUXGA panel are bright and vibrant, with high levels of contrast thanks to the glossy surface. Screen brightness is adequate for gaming in a bright lecture hall or office setting, but isn’t bright enough to overpower glare from sunlight in an outdoor setting. Vertical viewing angles are very good with a broad viewing range before colors start to distort. Horizontal viewing angles are much better, showing almost no color changes at steep angles.
Taking advantage of the large 17” frame, Gateway included a full-size keyboard with number pad on this notebook. The keys are painted with a slightly glossy matte texture which gives just a bit of traction, but doesn’t show fingerprints as much as completely glossy keys. It is comfortable to type on for extended periods of time, with a smooth key action that doesn’t’ require much pressure to trigger. The keyboard has good support and shows very little flex under strong typing. The keyboard does hint towards its gaming abilities, with the WASD keys labeled with the appropriate direction arrows.
Port selection seemed limited for the size of the notebook, with plenty of open space that could have been used to add additional ports. The P-7805u FX offers three USB ports, eSATA, HDMI, VGA, LAN, FireWire, and a modem jack. A forth USB port could have been easy to add with a combo USB/eSATA port, which should almost be mandatory these days.
Front: Activity LEDs, wireless On/Off
Rear: Battery, AC Power, modem
Left: Kensington lock slot, 2 USB, optical drive
Right: 4-in-1 card reader, ExpressCard/54, audio jacks, FireWire, 1 USB LAN, HDMI, eSATA, VGA
The P-7805u FX has an Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 and NVIDIA 9800M GTS working together to give excellent results while gaming. The processor might not seem as high end or fast as others, but one reason for it is to keep costs down as well as power consumption. In our tests the notebook performed very well across a wide range of games including Call of Duty 5: World at War, Left 4 Dead, and Bioshock, even at the WUXGA native resolution of our review machine. For our game tests we generally disable or lower Anti-Aliasing, disable V-Sync, and turn the detail settings to high. Below are screenshots showing the average frames per second under high motion scenes.
Notebook / CPU wPrime 32M time Sony VAIO FW (Core 2 Duo T9400 @ 2.53GHz) 30.373 seconds Dell Studio 17 (Core 2 Duo T9300 @ 2.50GHz) 31.574 seconds Dell Studio XPS 16 (Core 2 Duo P8600 @ 2.40GHz) 31.827 seconds ASUS F50SV-A2 (Core 2 Duo P8600 @ 2.40GHz) 31.857 seconds Gateway P-7805u FX (Core 2 Duo P8400 @ 2.26GHz) 34.287 seconds HP Pavilion dv6z (AMD Athlon X2 QL-64 @ 2.10GHz) 38.519 seconds
Notebook PCMark05 Score Gateway P-7805u FX (2.26GHz Intel P8400, NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GTS 1GB) 6,637 PCMarks Dell Studio XPS 16 (2.4GHz Intel P8600, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3670 512MB) 6,303 PCMarks ASUS F50SV-A2 (2.4GHz Intel P8600, Nvidia GeForce GT 120M 1GB) 6,005 PCMarks Sony VAIO FW (2.53GHz Intel T9400, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3470) 6,002 PCMarks Dell Studio 17 (2.50GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9300, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650) 5,982 PCmarks HP Pavilion dv6z (2.10GHz AMD Athlon X2 QL-64, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4530 512MB) 4,119 PCMarks
Notebook 3DMark06 Score Gateway P-7805u FX (2.26GHz Intel P8400, NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GTS 1GB) 9,190 3DMarks ASUS F50SV-A2 (2.4GHz Intel P8600, Nvidia GeForce GT 120M 1GB) 5,152 3DMarks Dell Studio XPS 16 (2.4GHz Intel P8600, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3670 512MB) 4,855 3DMarks HP Pavilion dv6z (2.10GHz AMD Athlon X2 QL-64, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4530 512MB) 3,254 3DMarks Dell Studio 17 (2.50GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9300, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650) 2,974 3DMarks Sony VAIO FW (2.53GHz Intel T9400, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3470) 2,598 3DMarks 
Under the light load of normal activity the Gateway P-7805u FX kept temperatures to a minimum and fared just as well as other non-gaming notebooks. Once under the stress of a game though the notebook warmed up significantly. Exhaust temperatures were high enough to make your hand uncomfortable if near the vent on the side, and sometimes the notebook would seem as though it would overheat if the air intake on the bottom was blocked. While it never fully crashed or stopped a game, there were some instances where odd glitches would happen, and then I would notice I was blocking the intake with my leg. The external temperatures below are listed in degrees Fahrenheit.
Battery life for a 17” gaming notebook was very good, with plenty of time to take notes or surf the web away from an outlet. With the screen brightness set to 70%, wireless active, and Vista on the Balanced profile the system stayed on the 3 hours and 29 minutes. Using the same settings, but having the system set to Power Saver or High Performance, the notebook stayed on for 3 hours and 43 minutes and 3 hours and 20 minutes respectively. Compared to some gaming notebooks that can barely get an hour and a half on battery, getting 3.5 hours is pretty amazing.
The Gateway P-7805u FX is a very competent gaming notebook, capable of playing modern games at good frame rates and gets impressive battery life under light activity. Compared to when we last saw this series of notebook it has received a slightly better graphics card with double the video memory and larger hard drive, while still managing to drop in price by $100. Overall for the price it is hard to pass up this notebook if you are in the market for a gaming rig below $1,500.
