Source: Tom's Guide US | Keywords: intel, unleashes, dualcore, for, laptops | Themes: Business Notebooks
- 1. Market Conditions Affect Early Intel Centrino Duo CPU Sales
- 2. Does Napa Taste Better Than Sonoma?
- 3. Napa Vs. Sonoma, Continued
- 4. Dual Core In The Ultra-Portable Asus W5F
- 5. Dual Core In The Ultra-Portable Asus W5F, Continued
- 6. Asus W5F, Continued
- 7. Asus W5F, Continued
- 8. Restricted Memory Upgrade
- 9. Display
- 10. Display, Continued
11. Test Systems Compared
As we indicated above, we compare the performance of Intel's new mobile Core Duo T2400 CPU, based on the Centrino Duo platform, in Asus' W5F laptop to the performance of the platform's predecessor, the Centrino 915GM-Pentium M system, which is inside Asus' W5A notebook. The following table offers an overview of the components in each of our two test devices.
| Manufacturer | Asus | Asus |
|---|---|---|
| Model | W5F | W5A |
| URL | www.asus.com | www.asus.com |
| Type | 2-Spindle / Modular | 2-Spindle / Modular |
| Dimensions & Weight | ||
| Width x Height x Depth | 12 x 1.2-1.4 x 8.9-9.5"
30.5 x 3.1-3.5 x 22.6-24.3 cm |
12 x 1.2-1.4 x 8.9-9.5"
30.5 x 3.1-3.5 x 22.6-24.3 cm |
| Unit & Battery | 1643/1798g 3.62/3.96lb | 1715/1870g |
| Battery | 173/326g 0.38/0.72lb | 173/326g |
| Charger & Cable | 412g 0.91lb | 412g |
| Drives | none | none |
| Total (Notebook & Charger) | 2055/2210g 4.53/4.87lb | 2127/2282g 4.69/5.3lb |
| AC Adapter & Battery | ||
| Battery I Capacity | Li-Ion 6 cells (11.1 V,4800 mAh,53 Wh) | Li-Ion 6 cells (11.1 V,4800 mAh,53 Wh) |
| Battery II Capacity | Li-Ion 3 cells (11.1 V,2400 mAh,26 Wh) | Li-Ion 3 cells (11.1 V,2400 mAh,26 Wh) |
| AC adapter | 65 W | 65 W |
| Pointing Device(s) | Touchpad | Touchpad |
| Display and Graphics Controller | ||
| Display Size | 12.1" (30.5cm) | 12.1" (30.5cm) |
| Display Resolution | 1280 x 768 | 1280 x 768 |
| Graphics controller | Intel 945GM | Intel 915GM |
| Core clock | n/a | n/a |
| Memory | 8 to 128 MB | 16 to 128 MB |
| Memory clock | n/a | n/a |
| System | ||
| BIOS | 202 (01/10/2006) | 0209 (11/17/2005) |
| CPU | Intel Core Duo T2400
(1.83 GHz 2 MB L2-Cache, FSB664) |
Intel Pentium M 760
(2.00 GHz 2 MB L2-Cache, FSB533) |
| Northbridge | Intel 945 GM (Rev. 03) | Intel 915 GM (Rev. 03) |
| Southbridge | ICH7-M (82801GHM) | ICH6-M (82810FBM) |
| Memory | 1x 512 MB DDR333 (onboard)
1x 512 MB DDR333 (Dual Channel) |
1x 256 MB DDR2-400 (onboard)
1x 256 MB DDR2-400 (Dual Channel) |
| Hard Drive | ||
| Manufacturer & Model | Fujitsu MHV2100AH | Hitachi IC25N080ATMR04-0 |
| Size | 100 GB | 80 GB |
| Performance | (P-ATA / 5400 rpm/ 8 MB/ 12 ms) | (P-ATA / 4200 rpm/ 8 MB/ 12 ms) |
| Optical Drive | ||
| Manufacturer & Model | Matjitsu UJ-8325 | MATSHITA UJ-822D |
| Speed DVD/+R/+RW/RAM/+DL | 8x/8x/4x/4x/4x | 8x/2x/2x/2x/- |
| Speeed CD/R/RW | 24x/24x/10x | 24x/8x/8x |
| Floppy Drive | none | none |
| Hard drive bay | 2x 2.5", 9.5 mm height | 2x 2.5", 9.5 mm height |
| Connectors
B=Back side, F=Front, L=Left side, R=Right Side |
||
| PS2 Mouse/Keyboard | none / none | none / none |
| USB 2.0 | 1x (B) 1x (L) 1x (R) | 1x (B) 1x (L) 1x (R) |
| IEEE1394/Firewire | 1x (L) | 1x (L) |
| Serial COM Port | none | none |
| Parallel LPT Port | none | none |
| Microphone | yes | yes |
| IR port | none | none |
| Bluetooth-Radio | yes (v2.0) | none |
| VGA / DVI out | 1x (R) / none | 1x (R) / none |
| TV out | SVIDEO (B) | SVIDEO (B) |
| AC Power | yes (B) | yes (B) |
| PC-Card / PCIe-Card Slots | none / 1x (R) | 1x (R) / none |
| LAN | Realtek RTL8139 (100 Mbit) | Realtek RTL8139 (100 Mbit) |
| WLAN | Intel Wireless Pro 3945ABG | Intel Wireless Pro 2200BG |
| Audio Connectors | Mic (R) Headphone, SPDIF (R) | Mic (R) Headphone (R) |
| Audio Chip | Realtek (High Definition Audio) | Realtek (High Definition Audio) |
| Modem/Model | Motorola SM56 Data Fax Modem | HDAudio SoftV92 with SmartCP |
| Card-Reader: | SD, MMC, MS/Pro | SD, MMC, MS/Pro |
| Software | ||
| OS | Windows XP Professional | Windows XP Professional |
Benchmark Considerations
To evaluate battery lifetime and notebook performance, we used the following test suites: BAPCo MobileMark 2005 and Sysmark 2004 SE, as well as FutureMark 3DMark05 and PCMark05. 3D Mark 2005 and the graphics benchmark in PCMark05 indicate the performance of the built-in graphics cores in these notebooks. That said, we chose to skip measurements for 3D games, because these notebooks target business users rather than gamers. In addition, we could not even get some games to run on these machines, as the following screenshot from Call of Duty 2 clearly illustrates. While Quake 3 runs faster on the newer platform, this isn't enough of a reason for anybody to buy this notebook for gaming.
Call of Duty wouldn't even start up.
- Previous page Display, Continued
- Next page Benchmark Results
