Request for Dashby's ABS Mayhem G1 Review!

come on dashby please help us out

The suspense is killing us!

Sorry for the delay fellahs. Just got back from Charlotte, NC. Anyway, this is an excerpt I posted in another thread:

I received my Mayhem G1 last week from ABS:

Travel Weight: 7.85lbs
15.4" WXGA 1280x800 TFT Display
512MB DDR333 SDRAM
80GB Hard Drive
Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 2.8GHz 800MHz FSB w/HT Technology
Internal DVD/CDRW Combo Drive
Multimedia Card Reader
ATI Mobile Radeon 9600 w/128MB graphic memory
S-Video TV-out
Integrated 802.11g/b Dual Band Wireless
56K V.92 Modem & 10/100 LAN
1 Firewire port & 3 USB 2.0 High-Speed Ports
3.5 Hours Battery Life
Windows XP Home Edition

So far, in limited use, it's been all it was billed as. ATI Radeon 9600/128MB card works splendidly with the only high-end game I've played so far. That would be EA's Madden 2004. The picture quality is much better than on my ADM Athlon 1.4 gig desktop running an older ATI Radeon 9000. I've also noticed the speed of play is much better on the G1.
The specs above pretty much sum up what the system offers. A couple throw-ins were also pretty nice. ABS includes a real nice Dicota notebook bak-pack, which I hauled to Charlotte, NC last week and was quite pleased with the convenience a back-pak offers over standard brief-case style carrier. Also, a couple games are included and (this was what I really liked) Farstone GameDrive software. This software allows a complete backup of any game, so that it can be played completely off the hard-drive with no need for a key-disk...SWEET!.
Customer support was awesome. I spoke with a girl named Robin who helped me set up the system. She was extremely knowledgable about the product line. Not only that, when I told her I was leaving town last week and would really like to take the notebook with me she assured me she would send it 2-day delivery (regular UPS ground is free on this system). However, there were a couple problems with my credit card early on (not mine, security stuff on Chase's end) that slowed down the process. This product was ordered on a Wed. and by Friday I noted from checking their on-line delivery status..they had not shipped by end of day Friday. Since I was leaving Tuesday I realized I might have a problem as 2-day would not do it. Phoned Robin back and she said she would make sure it went overnight. She was good to her word as the system was delivered Tuesday morning. I checked their S&H rates and normally next-day on a notebook is $120. This I got for free.
Anyhow I hope to have some benchmarks sometime soon. I've never really attempted to benchmark a system before, so if someone can advise me how to get some numbers (without spending too much time) I would be more than happy to get some solid numbers out for everyone.

Pics! We want Pics!

Can you please post 3dmark 01 and 03 scores? I was seriously considering that machine as well but went with the F2 instead.

How does the widescreen look and do games look stretched on it?

How about when you run games in 1024x768, how does it look?

Dashby, nice review thanks. If possible could you include an idea of the battery life along with your benchies?

more stuff about G1

This post is an excerpt from another previously posted on the General forum. One of these days I'm gonna have to take time to figure out how to link a post.

Boyz, just got to defend my G1 here for a bit. I do a lot of web development myself, using Dreamweaver MX, Flash, and Adobe 7.0 extensively. One of the main reasons I wanted a notebook (which I never owned previously) was for the convenience they allow for programming. BTW, I work for the state of Illinois as a software engineer and work off-site a bunch using a VPN connection..which prompted the notebook decision also. Anywho, I've done oodles of development the last week with the G1 using the afore mentioned tools and I know this at least...I ain't touched ANY desktop that has the speed, functionality, and efficiency of the Mayhem. Now, that is my take on it's practical use. I had a professor years ago that recanted, if he said this once he said it 50 times, "pc's are for games!"

As far as gaming goes, the wide-screen absolutely rocks playing Madden 2004. I've got a 19" monitor on my desktop and will never play Madden on it again because of the better display the G1 15" WXGA presents. I'm sure the Radeon 9600 has a bunch to do with this, but the combination is just superlative.

I'm not saying anyone screwed up by selecting the ZForce, I read an arbitrary review about it several weeks ago singing it's praises (as well as ABS) and headed out to ABS web-site with all intents of buying it. That was when I saw the G1 and realized..at least in my opinion and ABS's..it's the best all-around gaming notebook they offer. Oh, and also, I watched 2 dvd movies (each at least 1 1/2 hours in length) traveling by auto to Charlotte, NC last week and also composed a couple memos on 1 fully charged battery. It brought the meter down to about 10%, but just substantiates the 3 1/2 hour battery-life claim.

In retrospect, one of the DVD's may have been shorter than 1 1/2 hours, but I don't have it here to say. It was at least 1 hour. Bottom line...I got over 3 hours on a fresh battery and still had something left in the tank.

Thanks for the update. I've been looking into this machine, waiting to hear some reviews. Now I'm glad I did. The ZForce was on my list because of battery life. The 64 meg non pro card was a bit of a trade off, though. But 3 hours on a P4 plus solid construction, and good performace sound like just the ticket!