Hey everyone,

Just ran 3Dmark03 and 05 scores for my 8103 an they are.....................................................

2194 & 893 respectively

can this be right?????????????????????

Hopefully I've done something wrong, otherwise the 8100 isn't all its craked up to be

All help appreciated

Something is definitely wrong. Definitely. I own an 8104 and i'm getting around 5800 in 3dmark2003 scores. Are you running this when you're plugged in to AC power? That's a must. Do you have everything turned up in ePower Management? Are your drivers installed for the x700? Maybe reinstall them off the Acer system disc. Are you running like 8 other programs at the same time? For optimal graphics scenarios most programs need to be off. See if that helps...if not, it could be your system but I hope not.

what airscottie said: make sure you disable Powerplay. I made the same mistake with my 4601WLMi (X600 64mb) and was disappointed with UT2K4 performance...until I found out it was set at medium speed when running batteries!

Thanks for the tips dudes, plugged in the power and viola....

3Dmark03: 5699
3Dmark05: 2259

Is this good? anyone woth other laptops have scores we can compare?

I wouldn't even attempt to run a benchmark on battery power. The way centrino chips are configured are to allow for maximum battery life, so theoretically you'll never be able to achieve full speed on battery power even if you have the settings set to full. I've tried Half-Life 2 on batteries and it just can't run as well as when it's plugged in. I can push the performance to the max and run in native 1680x1050 resolution and get a nice framerate plugged in, but unplugged it just chugs along.

That's pretty damn good. Very few setups are getting good scores for 05, and that is very respectable. If you want to push it even further, you can download ATiTool and overclock it a bit, I've been able to push the 03 score to over 6100. Be careful though, if you don't know what you're doing you might overheat the GPU.

Back to the scores, they're impressive. Try playing Half-Life 2 and you'll see how it translates over to high end games.

Thanks airscottie: do you know how to insert a pic when posting an review???

3DMARK03-- I got a 2773 on my Gateway MoA64 3400+ 2.2GHz, 1GB RAM, 80GB HDD(4200) MoATI 9550 64MB. MODEL #7422GX Is this any good???

Your 8103:
3Dmark03: 5699
3Dmark05: 2259

My 8104 :
3Dmark03: 5698
3Dmark05: 2269

My 8104 was running VERY stock with a lot of background processes, but I'd say your 8103 is looking prettttty good. Link to my benchies.

so is there a point getting a 04 if the 03 runs just as fast?

Your guess is as good as mine. The 8104 has a little more to it: 1GB RAM, 100GB 5400RPM, slightly higher speed 2.0 cpu. But the 8103 is no slouch. There's always people on either side of the fence. Want to save a (good) few quid, or want the absolute TOP configuration? Have a coin?

Although the 04 is much more future proof, if I did get the 03 I can upgrade the ram. Not straight away just wait a year. I'm so lost!!!

Just jump. Future proof is relative IMO. At least the 8100 is on the leading edge of new tech. The only thing that kept me from buying one of 2+ dozen other very fine laptops was that they'd been out for 6 months or more. My leading edge Sager 8887 (see sig) was still going strong after 2 years when I sold it last month. There's new tech out about every 6 months. If quid is a consideration (and it is for MOST of us) then get the 8103 and upgrade the RAM later. You can also easily upgrade the HDD later. I personally doubt the graphics will be upgradeable, but if it is you'll be able to do that too. SOME people buy a new laptop every six months, and good for them, but again, not most of us.

Same for me. In England all the laptops out here seem to still have the same technology that has been out for a while, but I want something a bit more up to date. My PC an amdXP2000+ with 9600xt, I should still see better performance with a 8103

If you can bear to wait another month or 2 you'll probably have more choices that are at least as good as the 8100s. The new Dell XPS Gen 2 looks pretty hot, but very pricey. I like Clevo\Sagers and would probably have gone with a Clevo M400A, but it still has yet to fully appear. It, and others, may have the new NCQ hard drive caching technology, which is supposed to make the HDD faster. Good luck. Over and out.