PowerPro L8:15/Compal Hel80 Review

I got my first laptop, the hel80, a couple days ago from Powernotebooks.com (superb reseller btw. Donald is the man!) and all i can say is wow.

See specs in sig. TV tuner works just as it should. Installation wasn't quite as easy as I had hoped due to my unsteady hands, fairly large fingers, and tiny tiny screws. Still not too much of a hassle.

The finger print reader has been working flawlessly

Added pics in post 3.

Build quality: Solid overall feel, very firm hinges on the lcd, definitely takes two hands to open. It doesn't look half bad in person either with a brushed aluminum cover and powerpro decal-thing. Metal strip around keyboard is a great touch.

LCD: amazing screen brightness, no dead pixels! Zero screen flex, no dimpling when pressing on the back of the lcd panel. no light leakage whatsoever, no "ghosting", extremely fast response. i have the glossy display and i can use the screen comfortably at notch 2 or 3 of 8 depending on the application.

Keyboard: very nice. best of the 3 laptops i have ever used. i dont like how the "fn" key is placed left of "ctrl" but i can get used to it.

Heat: never gets hot, but it can get pretty warm, especially the left palmrest. fan is going most of the time at default voltage, but since i undervolted the fan comes on less and my system runs 5-10 deg. Celcius cooler. fan blows out warm, not hot, air.
(quick tip: dont play oblivion with the machine in your lap if you are blocking the fan intake on the bottom... )

Speakers: pretty nice for laptop speakers. not tinny at all. more than loud enough for me, but i have excellent hearing.

Integrated 1.3MP camera: not very useful imo, but some may like it. it does the job

Touchpad: i am not really a fan of touchpads, but this one seems adequate. The buttons under the pad make a loud click when pressed, but i just configured the pad to use tapping so i dont have to use the buttons much. i usually use my usb logitech mx310 optical mouse. (a note that the touchpad settings and logitech mouse settings software kind of conflict, but you can solve everything by playing around with both a bit)

General observations: Blazing fast compared to my 2.6Ghz pentium 4 w/ hyperthreading desktop. I finished installing all of my software in a flash. Powernotebooks didn't waste my hd space with a bunch of bloatware... very minimal install just how i like it.

Gaming performance: Oblivion. The game defaults to high quality at a lower res, but i tweaked some settings and raised it to native res. followed a lot of the tweakguides: oblivion tweaks(found here http://www.tweakguides.com/Oblivion_1.html), lowered shadows, got short grass mod, 2x AA, bloom lighting. i get right around 20fps outside, 40-50 indoors, 15-20 in cities. not too shabby at stock gpu clock speeds (which i dont know off hand).
edit: now overclocked to 480/360 and using HDR instead of bloom+AA. All the above framerates have risen a bit higher.

Gaming Performance: HL2. Everything maxed. Never dropped below 60fps even in the heaviest firefights through the first 4 chapters. Averages around 100-120, just from observation (haven't used FRAPS).

Battery life: haven't used much off of AC. Will update later.

Benchmarks: No 3dmark yet. As i said, oblivion plays well and HL2 rocks. Maybe i will download 3dmark06 over dialup for the next 3 days...

Concluding thoughts: WOW a great laptop! Seems like i made a great choice with this one.

Pros: + Everything, especially LCD.
Cons: - "fn" key in wrong spot for me, but a very minor complaint.

UPDATE: Had my first dealing with the PowerNotebooks.com tech support. One of my sticks of RAM died on me. I emailed tech support and was pleased with the quick response. They had a replacement stick shipped out within a day and I sent back the defective module no problem.

Update OP with pics.

Yep I found all the protective coverings and took them off. I didn't realize that there was covering around the keyboard until a few hours in. The pictures just can't do this laptop justice. I love the metal look.

derek: The lid and area around the keyboard are actually metal. The rest is made of plastic as far as i know, but overall it is an extremely solid build. I agree that it looks better in person.
compal: i play oblivion at native res 1280*800 with solid framerates. Dips a bit in crowded town areas but averages 25ish outdoors and anywhere from 35-70 in dungeons. Lowest fps outside is around 16-18 when loading a new cell. THis is at above high settings, 2x AA, bloom light, and an overclocked gpu (480/360 up from 350/350)

Yes the core overclocks pretty well, memory not so much. See this thread at notebookreview for more information on overclocking: Compal HEL80 Geforce Go 7600 OC Results - NotebookReview.com Forums. Not much difference in heat at all, around 2-5 degrees. I undervolted the cpu so even after oc'ing the video card the system runs cooler overall at max load (aka Oblivion). I also underclocked the vid card in 2d mode to lower the heat and save some battery.

I assume you mean as a dual boot or Linux-only machine. That is one thing I am unsure about, since I generally only run LiveCD distros. Perhaps someone else can help Steve out...

everything i've heard from Donald and other prominent members on the forums at notebookreview is that the video drivers that came with the laptop are the best available now, but i suppose experimenting couldn't hurt