Mobile Buyers' Guide, December 2009
by Jarred Walton on December 6, 2009 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Guides
NVIDIA ION
NVIDIA's ION platform uses the same N270/N280 Atom CPUs we've already discussed, but instead of the anemic GMA 950 Intel GPU you get an ION GPU - essentially the equivalent of the 9400M G. ION is significantly faster than GMA 950, but the Atom CPU is such a huge bottleneck that it really doesn't make for better gaming in the majority of titles. ION also helps with video decoding, and the combination of Atom and ION with the Flash 10.1 Beta allows for fullscreen HD video playback on YouTube, Hulu, and other similar sites. Without ION, you'll want to avoid HD Flash video on Atom netbooks.
The only real option for NVIDIA ION in this price bracket is the base model of the HP Mini 311. It's priced at exactly $400 (barring any holiday sales), and it comes with the bare minimum of amenities. You do get an HDMI port and an 11.6" 1366x768 LCD, but you only get 1GB RAM and an N270 CPU. HP's 311 integrates the 1GB of RAM on the motherboard, though, so you can easily upgrade the RAM on your own after the fact. The other ION netbooks are the Lenovo IdeaPad S12, which starts at around $430 with 1GB RAM and XP or $550 with 2GB and Windows 7; meanwhile, the Samsung N510 doesn't have an inexpensive option, going for 2GB and Windows 7 for closer to $600. In short, all of the ION netbooks are in the next price bracket after we make a few upgrades.
Intel CULV Laptops
Atom has a reputation of "fast enough" performance with great battery life and a low cost. It provides all of that, sure, but the catch is you can get something much better from Intel if you look around. The Celeron SU2300 is a dual-core CPU based on the Core 2 architecture, with a 10W TDP. However, TDP isn't a real indication of power requirements, and in testing it appears most of the 10W CULV CPUs are able to match Atom CPUs (within a few hundred milliwatts) in low power states.
CULV laptops do cost more than Atom laptops, but if you're looking at an Atom-based laptop costing $400 or more, you'd be crazy not to take a closer look at the CULV options. Even the Celeron SU2300 (1.2GHz, 1MB shared cache) is more than a match for the fastest single-core Atom CPUs - in raw performance, it's about twice as fast. Dual-core Atom CPUs should match the slower CULV processors, but pricing is going to be a wash as well.
There are at present two CULV laptops that meet our $400 criterion: the Acer Aspire 1410 and the Gateway EC1435u. The differences between these two laptops are mostly cosmetic, so buy whichever you like. Similar to ION, you get an HDMI port, the CPU will provide substantially more performance, and the GMA 4500MHD graphics will help with video decoding (unlike the GMA 950). You also get two SO-DIMM slots and a standard 2GB RAM (but it's 2x1GB so you'll have to ditch the SO-DIMMs if you want to upgrade to 4GB). Battery life is quite similar to what we've measured with Atom netbooks, with over 7 hours out of a 53Wh battery.
If it weren't for the Celeron SU2300 laptops, NVIDIA's ION would be a lot more attractive. That said, Flash 10.1 still doesn't decode all HD videos without a few stutters on CULV + GMA 4500MHD; 720p is usually fine, but higher bitrate videos and 1080p stutter. It's very likely an issue with the Intel drivers and the Flash 10.1 beta, though, as DXVA allows flawless 1080p x264 playback on these systems. Flash 10.1 also appears to have some image quality issues right now, so we're waiting for the final release to see how things pan out.
Other Inexpensive Options
We'll mention these last, but you can often find sales and used laptops for under $400. As one example, the Gateway NV52 we reviewed a few months ago, originally priced at $500, has been on sale for $400 several times during the past few weeks. If you value raw performance over battery life, the dual-core AMD laptops with HD 3200 graphics are worth a look, especially if you can find them for $400.
Our opinion on used laptops isn't nearly so positive. Unless you know the seller personally, buying used represents a risk, and buying used from an online auction site like eBay could come back to haunt you. Assuming all goes well, you can get a 2-3 year old laptop offering better performance than most new $400 laptops, but it will have (substantially) worse battery life. You might also find that the battery has gone through enough cycles that it needs replacing, which could end up being another $100 cost. We're not going to say you should never buy used laptops, but we definitely recommend caution. As the saying goes: if a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is.
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Hrel - Monday, December 7, 2009 - link
I've said it before on here I'd be glad to buy the ASUS UL80Vt if it only had a screen with a resolution of at least 1600x900 (decent quality screen required. like 1000:1 contrast ratio) The Intel SU9600 CPU instead with the same percentage overclock and the Nvidia GT240 GPU. Finally I'd like that laptop to cost less than 1000 dollars and get at least 7 hours internet battery life. If removing the integrated GPU and having only the dedicated GPU is required to keep the price down I'd be totally fine with that.Or better yet, sell it with the integrated GPU, leave the slot and heatsink for the dedicated GPU and offer the dedicated GPU as an add on or after-market purchase on newegg.
geok1ng - Sunday, December 6, 2009 - link
I really don't get the idea behind the suggestion of the ASUS UL80Vt on the sub $850 range, when you can get the Dell Studio 14z: you get a better CPU, a better IGP ( and having Nvidia 210M as add on VGA isn't really a great improvement over the 9400M G)and a better battery for the same price range.The problem is that outside Mac Books you simply dont get state of art notebook hardware: a C2D 45nm CPU, a 9400M G IGP and a small form factor. And a Non-TN LCDs is a dream.
LongTimePCUser - Monday, December 7, 2009 - link
For many people the ul80vt is a much better solution than the Dell 14z.The Dell 14z has a 5 hour battery life. The ul80vt has a 12 hour battery life.
The Dell 14z doesn't have a DVD player. The ul80vt has one.
JarredWalton - Sunday, December 6, 2009 - link
G210M is roughly twice the performance of 9400M G, and where 9400M still has games where it struggles, G210M can run everything, albeit at low details in some instances (i.e. Crysis @ LQ 1366x768 and 42.05FPS -- compare to 14z with 25FPS for the same setting, with a CPU that's running 38% faster). If you can get both the benefits of G210M performance with better battery life than 9400M, isn't that desirable?As for non-TN panels, I believe you're mistaken. Everything out right now is TN on laptops. MacBooks used some IPS in the past, but that was several years ago. They have matte LCDs on the 15" and 17" MBP, but that's about it.
Paulman - Sunday, December 6, 2009 - link
I was very surprised to see no mention of the AMD Athlon Neo based netbooks, such as the MSI Wind U210 or the HP dv2 series. My brother got an MSI Wind U210 with the Athlon Neo processor several months ago, and it ran Windows Vista on 1GB of RAM decently and I think the prices was just under $400 CDN online at Future Shop here in Canada. This was a 12.1" netbook (1366x768 with a bright LED backlight) at ~1.5 kg in weight with a 6-cell battery. I recently upgraded it to Windows 7 and it's running nicely.I quite like it, so I was disappointed to see that Athlon Neo-class products weren't even mentioned in this roundup.
JarredWalton - Sunday, December 6, 2009 - link
My experience with Neo is limited, but battery life didn't appear to be in the same ballpark as Atom and CULV products. Neo is faster than Atom, but CULV is clearly faster (dual-core CULV at 1.2GHz easily beats single-core MV-40).I guess it depends on what you're after. The MSI Wind U210 should get 3-5 hours of battery life at 100 nits. The HP dv2 with 4-cell battery looks like you'll get about two hours of Internet surfing, or 3 hours with the 6-cell upgrade. So if you're after battery life, Neo isn't an answer to Atom or CULV. However....
When Neo is paired with a decent GPU, you can get much better than Atom performance, but the price of the HP dv2 is too high (nearly as much as the ASUS UL80Vt and UL30Vt). The Wind U210 uses X1270 IGP, which is only slightly better than GMA 4500MHD in terms of performance. Still, the Wind U210 would be a better choice for Neo than the HP dv2... pairing a (relatively) low power CPU like Neo with a discrete GPU doesn't make much sense, unless you can turn the dGPU off and run on an IGP when you want (a la UL80Vt).
rwrentf - Friday, December 11, 2009 - link
I posted a comment about the HP DM3 asking you how that would compare, and for some reason my comment is gone. The DM3 has a dual core neo (L335), 4GB ram, 7200 rpm hard drive and ATI HD3200 graphics. You say in your comment that the CULV is clearly faster, but I haven't seen any tests that back that up online. And Why would you compare the dual core CULV directly to a single core MV-40 when you can compare it to a dual core L335?JarredWalton - Friday, December 11, 2009 - link
I'd expect a 1.3GHz CULV (i.e. Pentium SU4100) to be roughly on par with the performance of the L335 (1.6GHz), and I would expect the L335 to use more power (18W TDP, but in my experience AMD chips run much closer to TDP than Intel chips). However, HD 3200 is still 2~3 times faster than GMA 4500MHD (though still too slow for gaming IMO).I suppose the question is what sort of battery life you can get out of such a laptop compared to CULV options of a similar price. I found a comment from an HP representative (off Wal-mart) stating around 3 hours from the DM3, which is about half of what a typical $600 CULV will get, but elsewhere you see "up to 6 hours". If it can truly get 6 hours, it's definitely worth a look.
Incidentally, if I were to go with a DM3, I'd grab the Turion X2 L625 -- better power characteristics than the Athlon X2 L335.
zefyr - Sunday, December 6, 2009 - link
I commend you you on a thorough article. You've covered many of the laptops I've been looking at, and indeed have raised the same question "Any Good LCDs?" But, whats the answer? Especially if you plan on buying online. Can one find a high contrast LCD w good blacks like the Sony VAIO you mentioned and also get a gaming level NVIDIA GPU? Can it be done online w/o actually seeing it in person? I've almost bought both an ASUS g51vx and g71 for $800 or $900 respectively, until I realized the only thing they lack is a good LCD. Anyone, please post any suggestions.kawatwo - Sunday, December 6, 2009 - link
I have the G71x from Best Buy and the viewing angle is not great but for just you sitting directly in front of the laptop it is not an issue. The bang for the buck is still amazing. Don't know how long it will take for someone to come out with a 280m for ~ 1500, maybe never. I'm happy with the 260m though.