This is kind of a follow-up to Donk3y's review, since I make a few comparisons to his statements. What follows are my opinions and is in no way intended to invalidate his.
Read his review:
http://www.notebookforums.com/showthread.php?p=1191187
It's nearly 2 A.M. here in France, and I've finished fiddling with my new Uniwill 259EN3 (bought from a german online retailer).
Quick specs:
15,4" WSXGA+ screen
Pentium M 750 1.86Ghz
i915GM chipset
NVIDIA GeForce Go 6600 256MB + Intel GMA900 (can switch between both)
80GB Fujitsu SATA 5400rpm HDD (MHT2080BH)
3x USB2.0, 1x IEEE1394a, TV-out and so on (go see the full specs on a retailer's website)
9 cells battery (78.2Wh according to CHC)
The notebook is sturdy, a bit large (as one would expect from a wide-screen notebook). It's also rather silent, the fan is often on, but it really isn't an annoyance at all. Even in full load, the noise from the fan is noticeable, but not annoying. I used to have a notebook with a very loud high-pitched fan, so I'm very happy with the little noise this one makes.
The design is very simple. It's no eye-candy in my opinion, but it's not ugly either. I like it the way it is, although I'd have appreciated some blue LEDs, they look cool
The extended battery does stick out at the back, which looks awkward.
The keyboard is OK, nothing to say about that, except the Fn key is at the left of the left Ctrl key and the Enter key isn't at the foremost right, and that might be a nuisance to some people.
The screen is not the same as Donk3y's. The WXGA version is a Sony-like glossy screen. Mine is the WSXGA+ version and it's a matte screen. I'm guessing it's not as good as the WXGA version when it comes to colours and contrast (and watching DVDs), but the brightness is good. I just wanted the high resolution anyway.
I was happy to find out that I did not get any dead pixel, but that's a very random thing, it doesn't mean other people won't get any. Out of 5 computer LCD displays I have owned though, this is actually the first one which does not have a single dead/stuck pixel or subpixel.
The backlight is slightly uneven, but it's like that on most displays anyway.
I've tried the last two versions of 3DMark and the scores are very good, 2683 in 05, 6225 in 03, it's much more than what my previous Mobility Radeon 9700-based notebook could do.
Judging by the scores (if they mean anything), it appears to be 15-20% more powerful than most X700-based notebooks, and at the very least that GeForce Go 6600 (with 256MB) has no reason to be shy in front of the X700.
The temperature after 10 minutes of full load in a DX9 game is about 70°C for the CPU and about 83°C (!) for the GPU. I don't know if that's ok, but since NVIDIA sets the threshold at 105°C, and Intel sets it at 115°C on its Pentium 4s, I guess it won't fry.
The chassis doesn't get very hot though, it just gets very warm (ok maybe hot just over the exhaust), and that's just when playing games. Since the warmth is on the right-hand side and when I play games I have my right hand on the mouse, it's a non-issue for me. Even when leaving my wrist on the notebook, I find it easily bearable.
Also, unlike Donk3y, I just can't feel the exhaust blowing on the mouse and my hand, because the exhaust is a bit more to the back of the notebook, and I use the mouse more to the front. That's also a reason why I really don't mind the layout of the ports. Actually I prefer the USB ports where they are because they're much more accessible than at the back.
For comparison, you should see where the USB ports are on the Acer 810x notebooks, now _that_ is not well thought-out:
http://www.ixbt.com/portopc/acer-tm8100/right-big.jpg
After all those tests I proceded to undervolt the CPU with CHC: 0.7V at 800Mhz works just fine, and small increments to 1.1V at 1.86Ghz also work very well. I don't know how much of a difference that made though.
There is no DVI port, and no Infrared. There is a compartment at the bottom of the notebook with an "internal" USB 2.0 port. It's intended mostly for bluetooth dongles, but one might fit a USB DVB-T (DTT) tuner-stick in there, although I'm not sure.
I have not tested the battery life, although I did unplug the power cord at one point to see how much battery time the notebook estimated. With the GeForce graphics, it told me I had 3 hours and 10 minutes. I did not try that with the Intel graphics (which work well by the way), but a german test claims 4 hours and 10 minutes (while just 2:50 with the GeForce).
Overall I'm very pleased with this notebook, and I intend to keep it and hopefully enjoy it in the long run.
I'd give it a 8.5/10 considering the price I paid it: 1370€ (which is a good price for us V.A.T.-paying europeans).
Here is a bunch of not-yet-resized pictures taken with my lowly 5mpixel camera. And yes I should deal with the dust, but it just keeps coming back.
http://antbj.free.fr/259EN3
(I suggest you turn on the automatic resizing feature of your web browser for these, or save them to disk then use an ACDSee-like application)
Read his review:
http://www.notebookforums.com/showthread.php?p=1191187
It's nearly 2 A.M. here in France, and I've finished fiddling with my new Uniwill 259EN3 (bought from a german online retailer).
Quick specs:
15,4" WSXGA+ screen
Pentium M 750 1.86Ghz
i915GM chipset
NVIDIA GeForce Go 6600 256MB + Intel GMA900 (can switch between both)
80GB Fujitsu SATA 5400rpm HDD (MHT2080BH)
3x USB2.0, 1x IEEE1394a, TV-out and so on (go see the full specs on a retailer's website)
9 cells battery (78.2Wh according to CHC)
The notebook is sturdy, a bit large (as one would expect from a wide-screen notebook). It's also rather silent, the fan is often on, but it really isn't an annoyance at all. Even in full load, the noise from the fan is noticeable, but not annoying. I used to have a notebook with a very loud high-pitched fan, so I'm very happy with the little noise this one makes.
The design is very simple. It's no eye-candy in my opinion, but it's not ugly either. I like it the way it is, although I'd have appreciated some blue LEDs, they look cool
The extended battery does stick out at the back, which looks awkward.
The keyboard is OK, nothing to say about that, except the Fn key is at the left of the left Ctrl key and the Enter key isn't at the foremost right, and that might be a nuisance to some people.
The screen is not the same as Donk3y's. The WXGA version is a Sony-like glossy screen. Mine is the WSXGA+ version and it's a matte screen. I'm guessing it's not as good as the WXGA version when it comes to colours and contrast (and watching DVDs), but the brightness is good. I just wanted the high resolution anyway.
I was happy to find out that I did not get any dead pixel, but that's a very random thing, it doesn't mean other people won't get any. Out of 5 computer LCD displays I have owned though, this is actually the first one which does not have a single dead/stuck pixel or subpixel.
The backlight is slightly uneven, but it's like that on most displays anyway.
I've tried the last two versions of 3DMark and the scores are very good, 2683 in 05, 6225 in 03, it's much more than what my previous Mobility Radeon 9700-based notebook could do.
Judging by the scores (if they mean anything), it appears to be 15-20% more powerful than most X700-based notebooks, and at the very least that GeForce Go 6600 (with 256MB) has no reason to be shy in front of the X700.
The temperature after 10 minutes of full load in a DX9 game is about 70°C for the CPU and about 83°C (!) for the GPU. I don't know if that's ok, but since NVIDIA sets the threshold at 105°C, and Intel sets it at 115°C on its Pentium 4s, I guess it won't fry.
The chassis doesn't get very hot though, it just gets very warm (ok maybe hot just over the exhaust), and that's just when playing games. Since the warmth is on the right-hand side and when I play games I have my right hand on the mouse, it's a non-issue for me. Even when leaving my wrist on the notebook, I find it easily bearable.
Also, unlike Donk3y, I just can't feel the exhaust blowing on the mouse and my hand, because the exhaust is a bit more to the back of the notebook, and I use the mouse more to the front. That's also a reason why I really don't mind the layout of the ports. Actually I prefer the USB ports where they are because they're much more accessible than at the back.
For comparison, you should see where the USB ports are on the Acer 810x notebooks, now _that_ is not well thought-out:
http://www.ixbt.com/portopc/acer-tm8100/right-big.jpg
After all those tests I proceded to undervolt the CPU with CHC: 0.7V at 800Mhz works just fine, and small increments to 1.1V at 1.86Ghz also work very well. I don't know how much of a difference that made though.
There is no DVI port, and no Infrared. There is a compartment at the bottom of the notebook with an "internal" USB 2.0 port. It's intended mostly for bluetooth dongles, but one might fit a USB DVB-T (DTT) tuner-stick in there, although I'm not sure.
I have not tested the battery life, although I did unplug the power cord at one point to see how much battery time the notebook estimated. With the GeForce graphics, it told me I had 3 hours and 10 minutes. I did not try that with the Intel graphics (which work well by the way), but a german test claims 4 hours and 10 minutes (while just 2:50 with the GeForce).
Overall I'm very pleased with this notebook, and I intend to keep it and hopefully enjoy it in the long run.
I'd give it a 8.5/10 considering the price I paid it: 1370€ (which is a good price for us V.A.T.-paying europeans).
Here is a bunch of not-yet-resized pictures taken with my lowly 5mpixel camera. And yes I should deal with the dust, but it just keeps coming back.
http://antbj.free.fr/259EN3
(I suggest you turn on the automatic resizing feature of your web browser for these, or save them to disk then use an ACDSee-like application)
