Intel Core 2 Duo Laptop / Notebook Reviews

16/11/06

Previous [1] [2] [3] Next

Intel’s Core 2 Duo revolution continues. They just released their Quad Core Processors for the Xeon Servers, more on that later.  The Core 2 Duo Processor, which is proving to better then anybody had hoped for, is now coming more widespread and part of many more laptops. So today we will bring some reviews of different laptops that are now carrying the Core 2 Duo processor.
Dell has released two different models with the Core 2 Duo Processor the Dell Latitude D820 for the consumer user and the Dell XPS M1710 for the gamers. And we can't not mention the Apple MacBook that now has the Core 2 Duo and it out for the holidays.
So read the reviews and let us know what you think:

Dell Latitude D820 with Core 2 Duo Review

The professional look of the Latitude D820, paired with a workstation class video card, is reason enough for Dell to call it a business notebook. While I agree that it would be a great tool for a business, the D820 could also be an excellent notebook for a student looking for performance, ease of use and occasional gaming. If equipped with the Quadro NVS video card, it can be quite useful for a business application such as AutoCAD, but can also provide the user with extra power for gaming breaks. A great desktop replacement with long battery life, but not a back breaker either.

This is my configuration:

• Intel Core 2 Duo T7200 (2GHz) 667Mhz Dual Core
• Genuine Windows XP Home Edition, SP2, with Media
• 15.4 inch Wide Screen WUXGA LCD Panel
• 2.0GB, DDR2-533 SDRAM, 2 DIMMS
• 512MB NVIDIA Quadro NVS 120M TurboCache (meaning 256MB on board and 256MB shared with the ram)
• 80GB Hard Drive, 9.5mm, 7200RPM
• 24X CD-ROM Drive
• Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g Mini Card
• 9 Cell Primary Battery
• 6 Cell Media Bay Battery
• 3 Years next business day onsite Support
  

Processor and Performance

I used Super Pi to see if my brand new Core 2 Duo was performing up to my expections. The results are below, as well as a comparison with other similarly clocked processors/laptop.

The hard drive is very responsive and copy tests have shown quite fast. I have also included results from HDTune. The hard drive seems very responsive and copying files is quite fast. Access times are also very good and the computer takes less than a minute to boot up.
I also ran a PCMark benchmark in order to compare my Latitude D820 to other notebooks.

Comparison table for PCMark05.

Video Benchmarks and Gaming

Although video benchmarking software such as 3DMark05 and 06 can give you an idea of the gaming capabilities of a notebook (or any pc for that matter), I'm a strong believer that real game tests are better suited to tell you how well a particular machine performs at the all important task of gaming.

3DMark05 Comparison Results:

As you see, this is no high end video card, but it should perform quite well with older games.

Heat and Noise

The notebook is extremely silent. There's even an option in the bios to enable a "silent mode" for the hard drive. This means that even under stress, the laptop will do it's best to remain as quiet as possible. This seems to be working extremely well; I have tested it with the option on and then off. When it was on, I couldn't hear anything and when off, I could hear the occasional clicking of the hard drive when I was accessing it.
The keyboard is also very quiet. No loud typing sounds here. I find this very good since I'll be typing my notes in class and the last thing I want is to disturb everybody in class.
I haven't noted any heat issues with this particular model. It does get a little bit warm on the top left side, where the fan is (and probably the video card), but it's nothing to be afraid of. The same can be said of the bottom of the notebook; it's a bit warm to the touch after playing games, but I don't think it would be uncomfortable if it were to be on your lap.

Battery

Battery Eater Pro was used to figure out approximately how long the battery would last. Since the theoretical value I came up with is over 7 hours, I didn't want to test it out by writing notes for 7 hours straight. Not only would I get bored, but my wife would probably not like it either. Battery Eater Pro managed to eat away my 9-cell battery and 6-cell media bay battery's power in only 3:03. This was with WiFi on, screen at maximum brightness and an optical mouse plugged in. I disabled all power saving features, turned off the screensaver and let it do it's thing. I'm quite surprised in only lasted 3 hours, but this number is supposed to be the absolute lowest amount of time the batteries will last.
Under normal usage, with power saving features on, low screen brightness and settings at max battery, my battery meter reports that I still have a little over 7 hours of battery life. I guess we'll see if this is true when I get to sit in a class for 6 hours in January. Until then, I can only assume that Battery Eater Pro really eats away the batteries like there's no tomorrow. A minimum of 3 hours is pretty good in my books, especially considering most notebooks these days have a maximum of 3 hours.

Conclusion

I really like my Dell Latitude D820. It performs like I was expecting, the battery life is excellent with the additional 6-cell media bay battery and it's gaming power is close to what I was hoping for. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this model to any professional looking for a solid system for work related task or to students looking for a good machine that can game a bit on the side.

Pros

* Very fast and responsive system
* Can do light gaming
* Silent across the board
* Beautiful screen with good resolution
* Extra long battery life

Cons

* A bit expensive
* Could use better dedicated video card
* RAM upgrade options through Dell overpriced.

Source: http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3348&review=Dell+Latitude+Core+2+Duo

Previous [1] [2] [3] Next