Rincewind - Compal CL56 Review

Ordered:
Pentium M 1.7Ghz w/ 1MB L2 Cache
ATI Mobility 9700 Radeon w/ 128MB
60gb 7200rpm Hardrive
512mb of PC2700 memory
Internal wireless b/g card

Total cost shipped:
$1700


Contents:
Nylon laptop case
Powerbrick w/ Europeon and American power cord
Manuals (CL56, Intel)
Notebook drivers
Notebook bundled software (nero, powerdvd)


Mobility:
Thin & Light
Weighs less than 6 pounds
4.5+ hours on battery during general use
2+ hours on battery during full load gaming
3+ hours on battery during DVD viewing

Keyboard:
CTRL key is where it should be, FN key does not replace it like some other laptops
PGUP and PGDN keys are left and right of the arrow keys
DEL key is to the right of the right ALT key
HOME and END key are on the upper right corner
No number pad


LCD:
no dead or stuck pixels
bright and colorful screen
limited vertical viewing angles
the color black is not 'truly' black like on my CRT monitor



Gaming & Synthetic Benchmarks:
(Tests were done at default cpu speed of 1700MHz and default gpu speed of 390core and 200mem)
(Benchemall version 2.5.8 was used to test gaming benchmarks)
3DMark01: 10,002
3DMark03: 2.803
Aquamark03: 22,700
PCmark04: 3,200
UT2004: 1024x768 88.50 fps botmatch (dm-rankin: 103.81 fps, as-convoy: 54.55 fps, br-colossus: 107.14 fps )
Far Cry: 1024x768 run# 0: Average FPS: 23.89

Overclocked Gaming & Synthetic Benchmarks:
(Tests were done at default cpu speed of 1700MHz and overclocked gpu speed of 480core and 255mem)
3DMark01: 11,284
3DMark03: 3,501
Aquamark03: 27,367
PCmark04:
UT2004:
Far Cry

Design and Layout:
Left side has IR sensor, empty PCMCIA slot, SD drive, mic-in, sound-out, wireless toggle on/off switch, 1 usb

Rear has parallel port, vga port, s-video, mini-firewire, 2 usb, modem, ethernet

Right side has AC outlet, cpu exhaust vent

Front has CD/DVD drive



Noise and Heat:
Under general use there is no noise whatsoever
Under full load gaming a barely noticable fan is enabled
Right side of laptop has an exhaust vent and warm air is blown out from there
Rear bottom of laptop gets warm after an hour of use

And there you have it, a detailed review of the Compal CL56, which is also known as the Voodoo M:360/Falcon Northwest Fragbook T&L (Priced at 3,500 dollars with the same configuration)



For more pictures and all available pictures of this laptop, visit the Notebook General Photo Gallery or visit this link here:

http://notebookforums.com/showthread...356#post243356

I initially missed keystrokes around the "e" area.
I fixed it after playing around with the internals of my laptop.
I disconnected the keypad from the motherboard and reconnected it as firmly as possible.
After that everything was fine and dandy, no missed keystrokes.
Under general use you cannot hear a fan, you cannot hear any noise. Even in a dead quiet room like a cubical study room, you cannot hear anything.
I can only hear noise from the laptop if I stick my ear physically ontop of the laptop, then I can hear the HD whizzzing
Under gaming conditions a fan turns on and its not loud at all, very quiet

I ordered from Ibuypower, but keep in mind they dont carry Dothan and their dead pixel policy is 5 or more to replace. You do have 30 days to return it for a full refund no questions asked.

Well you should know I missed keystrokes around the 'e' area and I fixed it myself by opening up the laptop.
Maybe you could try the same with the ECS before returning it?

No it doesnt bother me at all because I dont keep my mouse/hand there... its too far away... I like to have my mouse closer to me and its not in that area where the exhaust is

no coz i never seen one

www.shinza.com

15" notebook sleeve

large size

comes in blue/silver/black

that keyboard duster thing looks neat. i was thinking about getting it but i forgot to add it to my cart when i was ordering...

if u get it let me know how it is!

no i dont have light leakage

yes this lcd doesnt show blacks as truly black as my crts

its like a black w/ some brightness