5. How Does The 3.06 GHz Pentium 4 Performance Stack Up?

Thursday, we looked at the new 3.06 GHz Pentium 4 processor with Intel's new HyperThreading Technology, while today with the J4 we are looking at a standard Pentium 4 Northwood that is clocked at 3.06 GHz. It is amazing to think that it is possible to carry a 3 GHz+ chip in a mobile form factor.

While some might argue that the J4 is more of a transportable, the obvious applications for a unit like this are for a user who requires the maximum power possible on a desktop in a mobile form factor.

The J4 that we tested was a Final Engineering Sample, and we will find out in the conclusion what this means as far as availability of final product release goes. Other than our standard performance graphs, we didn't test the unit against another notebook, so we present these numbers for reference only. All tests were run at the max resolution, which is 1400x1050 with 32-bit color. Each of these tests was run with ATI's PowerPlay power management technology disabled. Each test was preformed both on AC power (3.06 GHz) and on battery power using the J4's throttling system which starts at 2.3 GHz.

The overall performance in our testing was good for both the SiS chipset that the J4 uses, as well as the additional power that the 3.06 GHz processor provides. The scores when on battery, however, are a mixed bag, with the Sysmark 2002 tests showing at lot less performance. It is obvious that when using the WinBook's throttled perfomance, it still does impact the scores. While the scores are still slower than what we see in the testing of the highest levels of configuration for desktop units, the J4 strikes a good balance in its performance, getting a lot of "bang for the buck," but like the Dell SmartStep, you can not run at full speed when on battery.