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Ferrari 4000 vs. Travelmate 8104 - conclusion?

post #1 of 59
6/23/05 at 11:34pm
Thread Starter 
First of all: Thanks to all the enthusiastic owners that continue post pictures, specs, benchmarks etc!!
It is really nice to be able to read so much about the computers we are planning to buy!

I’ve been doing a lot of reading in here, and I have obtained these impressions on the subject,
but please correct me if I’m wrong:
a. Physically: Design: A question of taste! Weight: both 2.86kg!
b. Gaming performance: The two models actually quite even, maybe the Ferrari has a little advantage.
c. Battery life: The 8104 has an advantage here, but Ferrari 4000 is pretty decent too - approx three vs. two hours of DVD watching could sum it up?
d. Price: Almost the same, for now at least…
e. LCD panel: Same resolution and size! …but maybe the Ferrari offers more brightness?
f. Other features: Ferrari 4000 comes with a really nice bluetooth mouse, and has a neat slot-in DVD burner. Other than that, they both provide Bluetooth, 54mbit WLAN, 1000mbit LAN, one cardbus slot, Lots of USB2.0 ports, Firewire port, DVI port etc! And they both lack the new PCI-ExpressCard-slot, but they both offer support for the ezDock that can provide it!

What I have not found, are answers on these following things:
1. Which one of the two can provide the most silent operation when using office apps?
(I don’t care much about the noise levels when I use it for gaming, as I crack up the volume! But when I use it for surfing, programming etc. I would really like a quiet pc!)
2. Many people complain about lack of volume and bad sound quality on the 8104! Is it the same situation with Ferrari 4000?

Hope that some of you can give me the answers on the last two questions, before I purchase the replacement for my 5.4kg Inspiron 7500, sometimes next week!
Thanks in advance!
(btw. I have only seen the 1GB/100Gb Ferrari 4000 model for sale, so this is the one I’m talking about to sum things (RAM, CPU, chipset, harddisk) up performancewise)
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post #2 of 59
6/24/05 at 12:21am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Torben
(I don’t care much about the noise levels when I use it for gaming, as I crack up the volume! But when I use it for surfing, programming etc. I would really like a quiet pc!)
2. Many people complain about lack of volume and bad sound quality on the 8104! Is it the same situation with Ferrari 4000?
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I can answer both of those questions after seeing couple Acer's before. Acer will be noisy (especially 8104 where the fan is constantly on) and when you are in a quiet environtment (your room at night, library) you can definetely hear it

Sound quality is just like any other laptop, if you want better sound you need a laptop with some kind of subwoofer, otherwise it will be pretty tiny sound.
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post #3 of 59
6/24/05 at 1:11am
I am on the Ferrari right now and the fan is running. It seems to run most of the time, but I think its pretty quite, and I don't seem to get bothered by it. It just depends on how loud is to loud. For me, im not really picky or annoyed easily so i don't mind it at all
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post #4 of 59
6/24/05 at 3:26am
The louder speed of the fan doesn't turn on until about 70 degrees on the Ferrari. The lower speed is pretty quiet and doesn't bother me at all.
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post #5 of 59
6/24/05 at 7:05am
Thread Starter 
From what you say, I assume that both the cooling solution and sound quality could be alike on the two machines?
...Well then I'll stick with the Ferrari as I really like the design, mouse and slot-in drive!

Thanks again for all your info!
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post #6 of 59
6/27/05 at 12:37pm
I would like to see actual benchmarks for games like Far Cry and HL2, on ferrari 4005 and TM8104. From the gamepc and THG reviews, I would think the 8104 would be considerably faster than the ferrari at these two games.
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post #7 of 59
6/27/05 at 1:07pm
The 8104 has the Platinum Secure card facility which allows you to lock down the whole machine with a smartcard
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post #8 of 59
6/27/05 at 1:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by klas
I can answer both of those questions after seeing couple Acer's before. Acer will be noisy (especially 8104 where the fan is constantly on) and when you are in a quiet environtment (your room at night, library) you can definetely hear it

Sound quality is just like any other laptop, if you want better sound you need a laptop with some kind of subwoofer, otherwise it will be pretty tiny sound.
What are you talking about, i'm using a 8104 and its not noisy at all, the fans not running at full speed all the time
and even when it is its not noisy.


XIII
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post #9 of 59
6/27/05 at 5:40pm
This is a great thread. I'm ordering an 8103 within the next month myself (just sold old comp and gave the current notebook listed in my sig to the wife), so I've been glued to this forum for at least an hour or so a day reading up on everything. I'd get an 8104, but due to the huge price difference ($460), the 8103 is much more attractive (2G's of ram for less than I pay for the 8104 with 1G).

Thanks to all who contributed. I'll probably write up yet another official review on this great notebook.

-Ransom
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post #10 of 59
6/27/05 at 6:21pm
Found a Ferrari 4000 (4005wlmi) VS Acer TM 8104 comparision. Everything stock.

Ferrari 4000 (4005wlmi) GPU Mem and Core clock: 344 MHz / 358 MHz
Acer TM 8104 GPU Mem and Core Clock: 297 MHz / 358 MHz

PCMark04 Graphics Benchmark:
Ferrari 4000: 3858
Acer TM 8104: 3277

3DMark03 Benchmark:
Ferrari 4000: 6167
Acer TM 8104: 5688

So for games Ferrari 4000 is a given winner esp. with 64-bit enhanched games coming out soon.

Swap in some DDR 400 memory and you will see the Acer Ferrari 4000 pull ahead even further.

Only reason to buy Acer TM 8104 over Ferrari 4000 (4005wlmi) would be if you during non-gaming scenarios need a fiew extra minutes of battery life. If that is how you will use your notebook, but then why get one with a X700 to begin with...
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post #11 of 59
6/27/05 at 7:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ramificatio
Ferrari 4000 (4005wlmi) GPU Mem and Core clock: 344 MHz / 358 MHz
Acer TM 8104 GPU Mem and Core Clock: 297 MHz / 358 MHz
So is the higher clock on the GPU mem the only reason why the Ferrari scores better in graphics?

Still there is a large difference between CPU performance in the synthetic (3dmark) and the actual game benchmarks (e.g. farcry)
http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/2005...ntium4-12.html
http://www.gamepc.com/labs/view_cont...urion64&page=7

AFAIK AMD64 scores better in 3dmark, whereas the pentium M scores in "real life" games

- Getting my own Ferrari 4000 tomorrow - Just want to set things straight in this thread - not trying to diss the F4000.
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post #12 of 59
6/27/05 at 7:45pm
Yes basicly the higher mem clock of the GPU. The Ferrari 4000 must either have better memory modules on the X700 and/or probably much improved cooling. Whatever does the trick! I'm planing to switch the memory to DDR 400 when I get mine. There is 1 GB DDR 400 Kingston sticks approved for Acer Ferrari 4000!

See: http://www.ec.kingston.com/ecom/conf...submit1=Search
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post #13 of 59
6/27/05 at 8:03pm
How much gain in performance will u get from upgrading to DDR 400 ? I was under the impression that the "bus" speed did not influence the amd64 processors that much. I was told this is the reason why the F4000 is not running on DDR-II ram??
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post #14 of 59
6/27/05 at 8:24pm
No, There is more to it. Going from 333MHz to 400MHz DDR1 will yeld some improvments in performance. Going to DDRII however can be a downside (compared to DDR 400MHz or faster) due to higher latency. DDR2 has to be fast (and is then expencive) to make a real diffrence. Basicly I was interested in 2GB RAM and thought to just aswell get DDR 400MHz while I'm at it.

It's not a big diffrence in any of the memory used. You will be fine with stock memory in the Ferrari 4000 as was used in the comparision above.
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post #15 of 59
6/27/05 at 10:40pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ramificatio
Found a Ferrari 4000 (4005wlmi) VS Acer TM 8104 comparision. Everything stock.

Ferrari 4000 (4005wlmi) GPU Mem and Core clock: 344 MHz / 358 MHz
Acer TM 8104 GPU Mem and Core Clock: 297 MHz / 358 MHz

PCMark04 Graphics Benchmark:
Ferrari 4000: 3858
Acer TM 8104: 3277

3DMark03 Benchmark:
Ferrari 4000: 6167
Acer TM 8104: 5688

So for games Ferrari 4000 is a given winner esp. with 64-bit enhanched games coming out soon.

Swap in some DDR 400 memory and you will see the Acer Ferrari 4000 pull ahead even further.

Only reason to buy Acer TM 8104 over Ferrari 4000 (4005wlmi) would be if you during non-gaming scenarios need a fiew extra minutes of battery life. If that is how you will use your notebook, but then why get one with a X700 to begin with...
You found that right here right?

http://www.laptoplogic.com/news/06/27/2005/326/0/


After undervolting, i'm sure both would be similar in battery life.

BTW, LaptopLogic runs batterymark for their laptop reviews, so when it's up, you'll get a good answer for this question.
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post #16 of 59
6/27/05 at 11:32pm
I don't know all the details on the slot-in drive but it would make me nervous as there doesnt seem to be a way to get your disc out if there is no power. Maybe I'm wrong on that though. Otherwise the TM8100 series still comes with a DVD drive. I have to say I find the CD spin-up time on the drive to be a bit slow however.

Noise on the TM8103 is negligable and by far the quietest notebook I have ever owned (way better than my old Gateway with its airplane engine fan that would turn on and off rapidly and sporatically, thereby droving me nuts). The TM just creates light, harmless white noise.

The sound level on the headphone jack is what makes the TM's audio capabilities so deplorable. The volume is extremely low. If you use headphones regularly you will pretty much have to buy a PCMCIA sound card for it.

I wouldn't consider an external mouse to be a driving factor in a laptop purchase. They can be bought seperately for $50+/-. Thats like buying a new car because you like the tires.
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post #17 of 59
6/28/05 at 2:35am
instead of getting a PCMIA card to boost your headphone volume I suggest the Turtle Beach Audio Micro USB sound adapater. It's much cheaper than anything else and it boosts sound A LOT. It hurt my ears not even on max volume easily. It also sounds a lot better. And it can pass through 5.1 surround sound to digital speakers. It was about $45 Canadian... which is what... $30+ USD ???
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post #18 of 59
6/28/05 at 3:52am
Might wanna keep checking LAPTOP LOGIC for a upcoming in depth comparison of the 4000 and 8100. http://www.laptoplogic.com/news/06/27/2005/326/0/
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post #19 of 59
6/28/05 at 4:36am
Does the ferrari 4000 have the same problem as the 8100 with low sound output levels?
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post #20 of 59
6/28/05 at 5:01am
Quote:
Originally Posted by wombatten
So is the higher clock on the GPU mem the only reason why the Ferrari scores better in graphics?

Still there is a large difference between CPU performance in the synthetic (3dmark) and the actual game benchmarks (e.g. farcry)
http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/2005...ntium4-12.html
http://www.gamepc.com/labs/view_cont...urion64&page=7

AFAIK AMD64 scores better in 3dmark, whereas the pentium M scores in "real life" games

- Getting my own Ferrari 4000 tomorrow - Just want to set things straight in this thread - not trying to diss the F4000.
Nah, that's what toms want you to believe. You forget the fact that you see heavily overclocked Pentium-M's being on par, or even slightly better than AMD's CPU's that AREN'T OVERCLOCKED.

Take a look at these benchmarks, 2Ghz A64 vs 2Ghz Pentium M, Athlon wins in 4 out of 5 games and remember that Turions are slightly faster than Athlon 64s:

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets...px?i=2129&p=10
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