8. The Display

Editor's Note: See Part II.

Testing: Methods And Benchmarks

Given the short time I've had access to the Dell XPS M1710, so far I have been able to run the PCMark05 and 3DMark05 benchmarks. In Part II will include some comparisons of 3DMark05 results with other graphics processors, a couple of battery-based tests and some game tests.

PCMark05 produces performance scores for certain discrete components in a computer, while the computer is running on AC power. For tests of the XPS M1710 and the other two comparison computers, I used PCMark05's CPU and memory benchmarks.

3DMark05 measures gaming graphics performance on a computer that is plugged into an AC socket. A computer must obtain a 3DMark05 overall score of over 500 before we report its performance.

For more on how we use these various benchmarks see How We Test Laptop and Notebook Computers for Home and Office.

PCMark05 Test Results

In this case the most interesting PCMark05 benchmark results are those involving CPU and memory performance. These are presented immediately below.

With its 2.16 GHz Core Duo processor, the XPS M1710 attained a significantly higher CPU score than the other two mobile computers with their 1.66 GHz Core Duo processors. With only a few Core Duo processors under my belt, I'm not ready to make judgments about the results, but it's certainly interesting to see a difference of nearly 1200 points between the 2.16 GHz and the 1.66 GHz Core Duo processors.

On the memory side, assuming the influence of differences in CPU speed are controlled for by PCMark05, the results are most interesting. In my review of the HP DV1000T, I noted that the performance of the Fujitsu N6410's and HP DV1000T's memory should have been different, given that the Fujitsu had 667 MHz memory and the HP had 533 MHz memory. For some reason none of the programs I use to measure memory speed worked with the Fujitsu. However, I hypothesized that the Fujitsu memory might be running slower than 667 MHz, more precisely at 533 MHz. Perhaps the PCMark05 findings for the Dell M1710 support my hypothesis. The Dell has 667 MHz memory and achieves a score about 500 points higher than the other two computers.