Alright, the beast is finally here and setup...
I first began by installing Windows XP Pro, then ran windows update until satisfied. After that, I installed the drivers as per manual. All went fine without a hitch.
In order to run 3dMark2003, I installed DX9. I at first wanted to run the benches without it but since 3dmark cannot do it without it goes in.
After that, I started up System Mechanic and ran it, and installed the appropriate benchmarking programs.
Just for fun, let's compare these to what I score on my old system (basic specs, AMD 800 mhz, 256 mb ram, Geforce 2 GTS 64 mb)
Old Computer
3dMark2001SE - 2809
3dMark2003 - 121 (OUCH! My computer could only run two tests... i.e., all the plane flying ones)
PCmark2002:
CPU score – 2079
Memory score – 1909
HDD score – 403
5670
3dMark2001SE - 7176
3dMark2003 - 1068
PCmark2002:
CPU score - 7391
Memory score - 5410
HDD score - 606
I believe that the 5670 came with Cat 3.2 drivers right to begin with, but I am not sure (because I was an idiot and downloaded the drivers from Sagernotebooks). It's a 45 mb download if you go that way but no mods are needed on the drivers. BTW, gs, I have no clue how you got the scores you did in the benches. I had all basic drivers installed, with Cat 3.2, and it still scored under what you got. I even have 512 mb more RAM. Any ideas how this could be?
In place of a better structured review I have a list of impressions that this laptop has had on me in the past few days.
First, the computer is rather heavy, but that is okay as I am not going everywhere with it.
The new cooling system is nice. It is quieter than my desktop and doesn't feel all that hot at all on the bottom after a few hours of running. The keyboard can get a little warm but nothing that I care about.
No dead pixels, at least as far as I can tell. And a real nice screen. There is a little bit of a motion blur effect in games but nothing that destroys the ambience of any game (in fact, I kind of like it in comparison to a normal CRT screen with its instant refresh rate).
I love laptops. Take 'em with you to the library to study. Take 'em to school. It is extremely useful.
After getting all of my applications and drivers setup I started trying out the games... which work incredibly well now! I can run UT2K3 with max details 1024X768 smoothly in 16 bit and with a few rough spots in 32 bit. All other games that I own are not as system intensive as UT2K3, so naturally they run beautifully.
My only complaints? The speakers that are built into the laptop really suck (but it is fine if you go with headphones/stereo). Also, the placement of the fn key is a little disturbing for a desktop user like me (I tend to hit it instead of the ctrl key a lot, but I am sure I will adjust). Also, the battery life on a laptop of this power is ABYSMAL. Half an hour at max power is what I got. I am not sure what is going on here, so I am going to post about this in the help area.
Anyways, that is all that I thought of the 5670.
I first began by installing Windows XP Pro, then ran windows update until satisfied. After that, I installed the drivers as per manual. All went fine without a hitch.
In order to run 3dMark2003, I installed DX9. I at first wanted to run the benches without it but since 3dmark cannot do it without it goes in.
After that, I started up System Mechanic and ran it, and installed the appropriate benchmarking programs.
Just for fun, let's compare these to what I score on my old system (basic specs, AMD 800 mhz, 256 mb ram, Geforce 2 GTS 64 mb)
Old Computer
3dMark2001SE - 2809
3dMark2003 - 121 (OUCH! My computer could only run two tests... i.e., all the plane flying ones)
PCmark2002:
CPU score – 2079
Memory score – 1909
HDD score – 403
5670
3dMark2001SE - 7176
3dMark2003 - 1068
PCmark2002:
CPU score - 7391
Memory score - 5410
HDD score - 606
I believe that the 5670 came with Cat 3.2 drivers right to begin with, but I am not sure (because I was an idiot and downloaded the drivers from Sagernotebooks). It's a 45 mb download if you go that way but no mods are needed on the drivers. BTW, gs, I have no clue how you got the scores you did in the benches. I had all basic drivers installed, with Cat 3.2, and it still scored under what you got. I even have 512 mb more RAM. Any ideas how this could be?
In place of a better structured review I have a list of impressions that this laptop has had on me in the past few days.
First, the computer is rather heavy, but that is okay as I am not going everywhere with it.
The new cooling system is nice. It is quieter than my desktop and doesn't feel all that hot at all on the bottom after a few hours of running. The keyboard can get a little warm but nothing that I care about.
No dead pixels, at least as far as I can tell. And a real nice screen. There is a little bit of a motion blur effect in games but nothing that destroys the ambience of any game (in fact, I kind of like it in comparison to a normal CRT screen with its instant refresh rate).
I love laptops. Take 'em with you to the library to study. Take 'em to school. It is extremely useful.
After getting all of my applications and drivers setup I started trying out the games... which work incredibly well now! I can run UT2K3 with max details 1024X768 smoothly in 16 bit and with a few rough spots in 32 bit. All other games that I own are not as system intensive as UT2K3, so naturally they run beautifully.
My only complaints? The speakers that are built into the laptop really suck (but it is fine if you go with headphones/stereo). Also, the placement of the fn key is a little disturbing for a desktop user like me (I tend to hit it instead of the ctrl key a lot, but I am sure I will adjust). Also, the battery life on a laptop of this power is ABYSMAL. Half an hour at max power is what I got. I am not sure what is going on here, so I am going to post about this in the help area.
Anyways, that is all that I thought of the 5670.
).
