10. Mobilemark 2002

A look at the battery life and power attained with the synthetic "Mobile Mark 2002" battery benchmark is worthwhile too:

Anyone who thinks that the processor is the notebook's "energy hog" should think again. This is because even at maximum processor speed (the "Always On" setting), relatively long battery life can be reached, if the user reduces the screen brightness. The user can get the longest life in "Max Battery" mode, but has to reckon with a considerable loss in performance.

Conclusion

The test of the Evo N1015v from HP/ Compaq shows three things very clearly:

The AMD AthlonXP-1800+ CPU produces powerful notebooks with stamina. A chipset with an integrated graphics solution need not be the absolute worst solution, as ATI's mobile chipset IGP320M showed in this test. The overall performance of the system is seriously deficient in memory performance as delivered by the IGP320M.

In spite of this, we'll stick to our recommendation. The Evo N1015v is a good and, above all, persistent notebook for everyday work tasks. Although it is designed for the SOHO and SME market, the integrated combination drive, the very good sound system from JBL and, not least of all, the $1500US price (net) recommend the machine to price- and quality-conscious private users for whom its weight (3.3kg) is not a factor.

Currently, the IGP320M is the chipset of choice for notebooks with mobile Athlon XP processors. But we would like to see this CPU with a chipset that is not only equal to its power savings capacity, but also has a correspondingly fast memory interface.