17. MobileMark2002

We included the Acer 803LCi in the MobileMark2002 in order to show the advantages of an integrated graphics solution.

As you may recall, the Acer 803LCi sports a dedicated GPU (ATi Mobility Radeon), 64 MB RAM and a larger 15" display. Its battery capacity is a somewhat lower 65 Wh. The advantage of this solution is clearly its superior 3D performance.

There is a drawback to its design, however: it has a higher power consumption, and thus a shorter battery rundown time, than a machine with integrated graphics like the Asus M2N.

Conclusion

Asus' M2N is a fast business notebook with WLAN functionality and a lot of endurance. If you can accept the fact that the integrated graphics solution in the M2N (Intel 82852/ 82855 GM/ GME) has less system memory bandwidth and poorer 3D performance than a design with a state-of-the-art, dedicated GPU, you'll be rewarded with an extra dollop of battery rundown time.

Asus has followed its own power management instincts to extend battery rundown time. It claims that relying on passive cooling in battery mode for certain power schemes helps conserve precious battery energy and makes battery-powered machines silent. However, the results from the CPU-intensive benchmarks revealed that, after running at top speed under the "Portable/ Laptop" Windows power scheme, the CPU starts throttling down. This greatly reduces the CPU's performance in many respects.

You generally won't notice it in day-to-day activities, though, since the performance requirements for your standard office application are too low to cause the processor to red-line and then to throttle down as a consequence. If you look at it that way, the Asus engineers did a pretty good job.

Even though the power management/ cooling method Asus uses in battery mode clearly conforms to the specifications, the manufacturer really should point out this special feature in the laptop's user manual. The same thing applies to the Power4Gear tool that ships with the machine. It provides you with power schemes that have been tailored to the Asus M2N, but it certainly leaves a lot to be desired in user-friendliness and documentation.

So, if you need non-stop top performance in battery mode, you should go with the "Minimal Power Management" power scheme.