New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

1557G Notebook Review. - Page 6

post #101 of 182
1/23/04 at 2:07am
Ok, finally got my zForce F2.

1.6 Ghz
1GB DDR333 RAM
80GB 5400RPM HDD
ATI Radeon M10 9600 64MB
WinXP Pro

Here's a quick bench I did using all the latest drivers from Aopen (not the Omega drivers):

AquaMark3-
GFX - 2385
CPU - 7870
Total - 20723

3DMark2001SE - 9451

3DMark2003 - 2525

I haven't had time do any tweaking at all because I'm having trouble with my wireless network. I don't have a router or access point so I'm trying to do a Ad-Hoc with the desktop (with a wireless USB adapter) being the server with ICS on for a DSL connection while the laptop is a client). They share file just fine, but when I try to connect through the ICS it doesn't connect. I'm even running Sygate Home Networking to help. I can see the "Earthlink DSL on Nutrend" in my network connections, but when I try to go online it just won't show. Any help here would be appreciated.

I'll try to do a much more detailed look at the laptop on the weekend. But for now I must say its a great laptop. ABS installed it so all the software is patched and all the drivers are updated (though I did a reformat into WinXP Pro anyways). Though there is heat generated on the right side of the laptop, just on the d keyboard, there did not seem like enough for concern, even after an hr of benchmarking. Optical drive spin up is a bit loud but I can't put that against it much. Very sturdy construction, though I don't know how to use the DJ controls yet.
Reply
Reply
post #102 of 182
1/23/04 at 10:37am
Thread Starter 
whoa, your benchies are pretty close to mine.
Reply
Reply
post #103 of 182
1/23/04 at 11:20am
It ought to be, my config is only different from yours in that I used 80GB 5400RPM HDD instead of your 60GB 7200RPM HDD.

Aah, this wireless thing with ad-hoc is killing me. Why in the world can two pcs on wireless ad-hoc share files perfectly fine and the second recognize the first's dsl connection can only connect to google.com?

This is taking away precious sleep time.
Reply
Reply
post #104 of 182
1/25/04 at 5:10pm
Thread Starter 
Heres a brief follow up. So far I've had no major problems with this notebook. I've decided to keep it despite some minor flaws.

1. The dead pixel on the screen. This kind of thing normally drives me nuts but I really dont notice it. Its in the lower right portion of the screen and I have to go looking for it to notice it.

2. Devast has reported a flimsy left mouse button. So far both my mouse buttons are fine (I'll be watchin). The middle scroll button does not work, I dont think the drivers even know its there. The pad has horizontal and vertical scroll features, I dont consider this a big deal as I prefer the pad scrolling anyways.

3. Plastic on the hand rests. I finally got tired of the plastic so I took it off. It wasn't long after than I notice some slight scaring (size of pixels) on the hand wrest area near the latch. The display frame was obviously rubbing against it when the laptop was closed. The little rubber bumpers on the corners of the display frame needed some help near the latch. I bought some felt pads at Wal-Mart and placed 2 of them about 2" on either side of the latch hook on the display frame (not the hand rest). It does the job well and doesnt look bad at all. If you have a 1557G and remove the plastic, I highly recommend you put something there to stop the friction from maring the paint on the hand rests. If you decide on the pads, try to get something as thin as possible so you dont put too much pressure on the latch when its closed. The pads I got were 6154 SoftTouch (by Waxman) and they were near perfect in terms of color and thickness. They were like $.88 (assorted sizes).

4. Overclocking. Yes, I did try this. Downloaded PowerStrip and I was able to clock the 9600 to roughly 361/219. I benched 3dMark03 at 2720 but AquaMark3 froze up on me. I had to disconnect the battery to regain control of the computer. When it did come back I promptly set it back to the next highest successful overclock and it froze on me again. So I set it back to the original settings.. and it froze on me again. I finally set it back to the original settings and uninstalled Powerstrip. Finally everything worked as it did before and I'm back to where I started. If I need an extra boost, I think I'll stick to setting the display properties to maximum performance but for now I have no need of overclocking since eveything I have plays fine.

I still havent tested the wireless but I'm sure it works, it detected two different wireless networks from the corner of my house (unfortunately they were protected). My wireless button does work. Oh yeah, the SD card works great with my digital camera.

That should just about do it.
Reply
Reply
post #105 of 182
1/25/04 at 11:59pm
Quote:
The middle scroll button does not work, I dont think the drivers even know its there. The pad has horizontal and vertical scroll features, I dont consider this a big deal as I prefer the pad scrolling anyways.
If you decide that you want to fix the scrollbutton, I found drivers that work, added it to the end of my review. Install, then go to mouse properties, find the the touchpad properties.

http://www.cformatdesign.lunarpages....557Review.html
Reply
Reply
post #106 of 182
1/26/04 at 12:12am
Hey Devast, are the drivers you posted the same as those on the CD that came with the notebook? Or you've actually found new updated ones?
Reply
Reply
post #107 of 182
1/26/04 at 12:33am
Thread Starter 
Thanks devast, I downloaded the lastest from AOpens site and I just tried the touchpad.exe from your site, still no go. In the mouse properties under the hardware tab, I selected the Synaptics PS/2 Port TouchPad and then clicked Properties. In the Advanced Settings tab under the touchpad properties, the sample rate is at 100, the wheel detection is set to Assume wheel is present, and the Input Buffer length is set to 100. The driver shows as 7.6.1.0. I'm also running under XP Pro, so maybe that has something to do with it. Basically the middle button behaves like the left button.
Reply
Reply
post #108 of 182
1/26/04 at 1:52am
Same here, the scroll button still feels like a big round left mouse button.

That guy that made that review had some wierd scores. I can understand that CPU and stuff should improve with WinXP Pro for some but how did his score go down with WinXP Pro and Omega drivers. I think I'm gonna hold out going to Omega for now.
Reply
Reply
post #109 of 182
1/26/04 at 2:37am
Quote:
Thanks devast, I downloaded the lastest from AOpens site and I just tried the touchpad.exe from your site, still no go. In the mouse properties under the hardware tab, I selected the Synaptics PS/2 Port TouchPad and then clicked Properties
control panel> mouse properties> device settings > synaptics settings > buttons , scroll up, down, left, right, etc... just set each button to whatever action you want. for some reason they are all defaulted to left mouse button.

Quote:
Hey Devast, are the drivers you posted the same as those on the CD that came with the notebook? Or you've actually found new updated ones?
none of them are from the CD. All are the latest from the Aopen site except the intel chipset drivers, wireless drivers, and omega drivers, which are the latest from their respective sites.

Quote:
how did his score go down with WinXP Pro and Omega drivers. I think I'm gonna hold out going to Omega for now.
Something is up with my HDD drivers, I think the newest ones might be slower. I used to score >800 before on pcmark 2k2, but now only get ~6xx. Also it could be stuff I'm running in the background since the >800 XP home score was pretty much a complete stock install . My XP pro install i benchmarked was already fairly huge, apache, mysql, norton antivirus, and pc maclan among other things running in the background. Also, Its more likely the HDD score brings down the scores in the other benchmarks, pure graphics benchmarks seem to improve w/the omega drivers.
Reply
Reply
post #110 of 182
1/26/04 at 10:04am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by devast
control panel> mouse properties> device settings > synaptics settings > buttons , scroll up, down, left, right, etc... just set each button to whatever action you want. for some reason they are all defaulted to left mouse button.
Under control panel> mouse properties> device settings > synaptics settings > buttons , scroll up, down, left, right, etc... I only see the left and right buttons. When I get back from work tonight I might try to download the latest drivers from Synaptics website.
Reply
Reply
post #111 of 182
1/26/04 at 10:19am
Thread Starter 
Nevermind guys, I just downloaded the drivers from synaptics.com and now the center button works,... scrolls up, down, left, and right now.

Drivers are 7.8.1.0 and I downloaded the English only. Download them from here.
Reply
Reply
post #112 of 182
1/26/04 at 11:32am
Ok, I will update my drivers and re-bench tonight. I look forward to breaking 2830
Reply
Reply
post #113 of 182
1/26/04 at 3:54pm
Quote:
Nevermind guys, I just downloaded the drivers from synaptics.com and now the center button works,... scrolls up, down, left, and right now.
yeah... I was happy when I got it working too.... but then I realized... I don't use this ******* thing..... but whatever. wuz happy anyway...
Reply
Reply
post #114 of 182
1/26/04 at 4:11pm
Well, they got the HD and b/g card back in stock, so I just ordered. One week to go!
Reply
Reply
post #115 of 182
1/26/04 at 4:30pm
have anyone tested the ABS customer service? I hope its not like dealing with a bunch of foreigners that dont wanna listen to u like dell people. Is the service worth getting the 3 year warranty?
Reply
Reply
post #116 of 182
1/26/04 at 6:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Clonedancient
have anyone tested the ABS customer service? I hope its not like dealing with a bunch of foreigners that dont wanna listen to u like dell people. Is the service worth getting the 3 year warranty?
Just talked w/ them on the phone after getting my notebook. They gave me the wrong RAM (256MB instead of 512MB) and the wrong HDD (80GB 5400rpm instead of 60GB 7200rpm). The wait is usually shorter than bigger companies (i.e. Dell, HP make you wait for 1/2 hour+), and the reps. are friendly people who know what they're talking about w/o an accent.

BTW, if you're going to order from ABS, be sure to call in and order. If you ask for a discount, they'll usually knock off a little of the price.
Reply
Reply
post #117 of 182
1/26/04 at 8:59pm
As much as I like a lil discount, I usually prefer online ordering because there is lil chance of a mistake due to miscommunication. Then again if you gonna order parts not available as an option on the order page, you might as well order it by phone. I hear from ppl who also gets rushed s/h for free with request, then again mine came exactly a week after order, so can't cut that much shorter.

I tried the new Omega drivers based on Catalyst 4.1. Raised my 3DMark2003 to 2555 and my 3DMark2001SE to 95685. Not bad at all.

The synaptic driver works great and the scroll button works, now. So many options and features with that driver.
Reply
Reply
post #118 of 182
1/30/04 at 1:51am
I am interested in buying a z2 and i noticed that little "notebook" logo on the front. I was wondering if that was just a dome sticker put on by wistron or aopen, or who ever makes it or if it was part of the casing. Also, how big is it? This isnt the deciding factor of whether or not I will buy it, I just want to be prepared with something to cover it up with as soon as i can be... Thanks
Reply
Reply
post #119 of 182
1/30/04 at 2:21am
Thread Starter 
Yes, the logo is a sticker put on by the manufacturer. Its not a dome, just a flat sticker that you can remove if you want (not sure how it would look without). For a good look, check out Pic5 on my review page. Its about 1" high and a bit over an inch long.

I'm thinking you could order a custom dome to replace it. Here is some vendors that you could call, I'm sure they could make something to fit nicely in its place.

PCDecals, ShadowMajik, and Securisys. If someone knows more please post.
Reply
Reply
post #120 of 182
1/30/04 at 12:44pm
thanks for the info. Just on the picture it looked like it was embeeded into the casing a bit? Even if it is, Im sure I could find a nice sticker online to cover the empty space up with .


This forum has really helped me make my final decisions.
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Other Brand Notebook Reviews