XSternMinator
01-23-2004, 08:34 AM
Well, I've had my F2 for about 12 hours now and so far I am very impressed.
Screen:
1. Brightness: Better than my Presario 2180T/N800v, across all brightness settings
2. Resolution: I love it! I have more screen real estate on this lappy than my 17" LCD at work. Now I can view pix in 1280x1024 without scrolling :D
The screen also supports stretching so that means even when I play my games at XGA there will be no black bars around the screen. And XGA is optimal for the 64mb R9600.
3. Quality: Hinges are solid and no creaking what so ever. Also no dead pixels as far as I can tell (fingers crossed).
Performance:
1. CPU: Pentium M is definitely a big improvement over my Presario 2810T. Mainly the P4m runs hotter and the fans came on quite a bit, while the PM just stays luke warm and I detect no slow downs whatever even running at 600MHz.
2. R9600 vs. R9000: The Radeon 9600 didn't show much improvement over my Presario's 9000 64mb. At least from what I run (WarCraft 3). I will benchmark with 3dmark 03 after work today to get better figures.
EDIT: After 3 rounds of benching the lappy with 3dmark 03, I obtained the result of about 2550.
EDIT2: I used ATITool to set my clocks at 390/230 and obtained 2770 in 3dmark03. Roughly 10% gain from the origial 343/210.
3. HDD: Noticeably faster than my Presario's 40G 5400 2mb cache. Note that I have the 60G 5400 15mb cache.
4. Battery lasts quite a while on this thing. I haven't timed it yet but at 70% battery it lasted me 2.5 hours. Will post better impression as time goes.
5. Speakers: Piss poor. My cellphone's polyphonic ringer has more bass. This is a real disappointment compared to my Presario's JBL Pro. The Presario was wondeful when it came to portable music.
6. Wireless: Tested with both b and g, both worked well and signal stayed very strong.
MISC:
1. Keyboard: Not as solid as my Presario. When you press the keys hard the keyboard flexes. This isn't the case with my Presario. They keys are too soft and lack the solid clicking feel of the Presario. I can live with it however.
2. Build Quality/Size/Appearance: Build Quality is good, but not exceptional. The Presario is slightly better. But then again, the Presario is a rebadged Evo. Size is very good and the weight is awesome! Even feels lighter than my Presario. The looks department can use some help, this laptop looks well, plain Jane. Not bad but not great either. The Presario came with a travel module for the bay to lighten the machine to 5.8lbs, but the F2 doesn't include any accessories like that.
3. This machine is QUIET! I can't hear a thing spinning in it and stay very cool. I can put it on my lap for hours without getting burned.
Issues:
1. Wireless button doesn't work! Can other F2 owners confirm this?
2. Wireless indicator doesn't light up ever! Can other F2 owners confirm this?
3. The battery icon on my taskbar only displays how many % battery is left but not time. My Presario would display the battery in terms of how many minutes of power left. Any ideas to why my F2 doesn't do that?
My Config:
PM 1.6
1 gig DDR333, I sandra'd and confirmed that my machine is running at 333.
15" SXGA+
5400 RPM 16mb Cache 60G Toshiba
CDRW/DVD Combo
R9600 64mb
Engenius b/g mini PCI Wireless
WinXP Pro
Overall I feel that this is an upgrade from my Presario, but not as big an upgrade I had hoped for. I love the screen, weight and performance but I gripe about the little things like speakers and soft keyboard. I wouldn't say this machine obliterates my Presario but it is still a heck of a buy at $1775.
Overall: 8/10
Pros:
1. Screen
2. Size/Weight
3. Performance
4. Price
Cons:
1. Less than tank-like build quality, compared to the Evo N800v
2. Lack of Documentation and Accessories
3. Crappy Speakers
Screen:
1. Brightness: Better than my Presario 2180T/N800v, across all brightness settings
2. Resolution: I love it! I have more screen real estate on this lappy than my 17" LCD at work. Now I can view pix in 1280x1024 without scrolling :D
The screen also supports stretching so that means even when I play my games at XGA there will be no black bars around the screen. And XGA is optimal for the 64mb R9600.
3. Quality: Hinges are solid and no creaking what so ever. Also no dead pixels as far as I can tell (fingers crossed).
Performance:
1. CPU: Pentium M is definitely a big improvement over my Presario 2810T. Mainly the P4m runs hotter and the fans came on quite a bit, while the PM just stays luke warm and I detect no slow downs whatever even running at 600MHz.
2. R9600 vs. R9000: The Radeon 9600 didn't show much improvement over my Presario's 9000 64mb. At least from what I run (WarCraft 3). I will benchmark with 3dmark 03 after work today to get better figures.
EDIT: After 3 rounds of benching the lappy with 3dmark 03, I obtained the result of about 2550.
EDIT2: I used ATITool to set my clocks at 390/230 and obtained 2770 in 3dmark03. Roughly 10% gain from the origial 343/210.
3. HDD: Noticeably faster than my Presario's 40G 5400 2mb cache. Note that I have the 60G 5400 15mb cache.
4. Battery lasts quite a while on this thing. I haven't timed it yet but at 70% battery it lasted me 2.5 hours. Will post better impression as time goes.
5. Speakers: Piss poor. My cellphone's polyphonic ringer has more bass. This is a real disappointment compared to my Presario's JBL Pro. The Presario was wondeful when it came to portable music.
6. Wireless: Tested with both b and g, both worked well and signal stayed very strong.
MISC:
1. Keyboard: Not as solid as my Presario. When you press the keys hard the keyboard flexes. This isn't the case with my Presario. They keys are too soft and lack the solid clicking feel of the Presario. I can live with it however.
2. Build Quality/Size/Appearance: Build Quality is good, but not exceptional. The Presario is slightly better. But then again, the Presario is a rebadged Evo. Size is very good and the weight is awesome! Even feels lighter than my Presario. The looks department can use some help, this laptop looks well, plain Jane. Not bad but not great either. The Presario came with a travel module for the bay to lighten the machine to 5.8lbs, but the F2 doesn't include any accessories like that.
3. This machine is QUIET! I can't hear a thing spinning in it and stay very cool. I can put it on my lap for hours without getting burned.
Issues:
1. Wireless button doesn't work! Can other F2 owners confirm this?
2. Wireless indicator doesn't light up ever! Can other F2 owners confirm this?
3. The battery icon on my taskbar only displays how many % battery is left but not time. My Presario would display the battery in terms of how many minutes of power left. Any ideas to why my F2 doesn't do that?
My Config:
PM 1.6
1 gig DDR333, I sandra'd and confirmed that my machine is running at 333.
15" SXGA+
5400 RPM 16mb Cache 60G Toshiba
CDRW/DVD Combo
R9600 64mb
Engenius b/g mini PCI Wireless
WinXP Pro
Overall I feel that this is an upgrade from my Presario, but not as big an upgrade I had hoped for. I love the screen, weight and performance but I gripe about the little things like speakers and soft keyboard. I wouldn't say this machine obliterates my Presario but it is still a heck of a buy at $1775.
Overall: 8/10
Pros:
1. Screen
2. Size/Weight
3. Performance
4. Price
Cons:
1. Less than tank-like build quality, compared to the Evo N800v
2. Lack of Documentation and Accessories
3. Crappy Speakers