Testing methodology
Before we get on to benchmark results, here's a detailed specification of the performance-reviewed laptop and a range of comparison systems.
Comparison Laptops |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laptop | AMD 2012 Trinity* | ASUS N55SF | ASUS Zenbook UX31 | Dell XPS 15z | Dell Inspiron 14z | HP Pavilion dv6 | Lenovo ThinkPad X1 | Samsung Series 9 |
| Processor | AMD A10-4600M (2.30GHz, 4MB cache, quad-core, 35W) | Intel Core i5-2430M (2.40GHz, 3MB cache, dual-core, 35W) | Intel Core i7-2677M (1.80GHz, 4MB cache, dual-core, 17W) | Intel Core i5-2410M (2.30GHz, 3MB cache, dual-core, 35W) | Intel Core i5-2430M (2.40GHz, 3MB cache, dual-core, 35W) | AMD A6-3430MX (1.70GHz, 4MB cache, quad-core, 45W) | Intel Core i5-2520M (2.50GHz, 3MB cache, dual-core, 35W) | Intel Core i5-2467M (1.60GHz, 3MB cache, dual-core, 17W) |
| Memory | 4GB DDR3 | 6GB DDR3 | 4GB DDR3 | 4GB DDR3 | 4GB DDR3 | 6GB DDR3 | 4GB DDR3 | 4GB DDR3 |
| Integrated Graphics | AMD Radeon HD 7660G | Intel HD 3000 | Intel HD 3000 | Intel HD 3000 | Intel HD 3000 | AMD Radeon HD 6520G | Intel HD 3000 | Intel HD 3000 |
| Discrete Graphics | - | NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M 2GB | - | NVIDIA GeForce GT 525M 1GB | - | AMD Radeon HD 7470M | - | - |
| Display | 14.0in - 1,366x768 | 15.6in - 1,600x900 | 13.3in - 1,600x900 | 15.6in - 1,366x768 | 14.0in - 1,366x768 | 15.6in - 1,366x768 | 13.3in - 1,366x768 | 13.3in - 1,600x900 |
| Battery | 9 cell | 6 cell, 56Whr | Lithium Polymer, 50Whr | 8 cell, 64Whr | 6 cell, 65Whr | 6 cell, 62Whr | 6 cell, 38.4Whr | Lithium Polymer, 40Whr |
| Weight | 2,162g | 2,815g | 1,405g | 2,517g | 2,057g | 2,533g | 1,741g | 1,165g |
| Wireless | Generic Wireless (802.11bgn) and Bluetooth | Atheros AR9002WB-1NG (802.11bgn) and Bluetooth | Atheros AR9485WB-EG (802.11bgn) and Bluetooth | Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6230 (802.11bgn) and Bluetooth | Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1030 (802.11bgn) and Bluetooth | Broadcom 4313GN (802.11bgn) and Bluetooth | Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 (802.11bgn) and Bluetooth | Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6230 (802.11bgn) and Bluetooth |
| Disk drive(s) | Kingston SV200 128GB | Hitachi Travelstar 640GB HDD, 5,400RPM, 8MB cache | ADATA XM11 120GB SSD | Seagate Momentus 500GB HDD, 7,200RPM, 16MB cache | Seagate Momentus 500GB HDD, 5,400RPM, 16MB cache | Toshiba MK7575GSX 750GB, 5,400RPM, 8MB cache | Hitachi Travelstar 320GB HDD, 7,200RPM, 16MB cache | SanDisk U100 128GB SSD |
| Optical drive | Blu-ray reader + DVD-RW | Blu-ray reader + DVD-RW | None | DVD-RW | DVD-RW | DVD-RW | None | None |
| Operating System | Microsoft Windows 7 Professional, 64-bit | Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, 64-bit | Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, 64-bit | Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, 64-bit | Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, 64-bit | Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, 64-bit | Microsoft Windows 7 Professional, 64-bit | Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, 64-bit |
| *The benchmarked AMD laptop is strictly an engineering sample and will not be productised | ||||||||
Benchmarks |
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| Cinebench | Using Cinebench's multi-CPU render, this cross-platform benchmark stresses as many cores as possible. Run using high-performance mode. | |||||||
| Geekbench | A cross-platform benchmark used to measure memory and processor performance. Run using high-performance mode. | |||||||
| 3DMark Vantage | A PC benchmark used to test the DirectX 10 performance of a system's graphics card. Run using high-performance mode. | |||||||
| PCMark 7 | PCMark 7 combines various single- and multi-threaded CPU, Graphics and HDD tests to score overall system performance. Run using high-performance mode. | |||||||
| Power Consumption | Using a high-performance power mode, we record mains power draw whilst playing back a 720p movie trailer. | |||||||
| Battery Test | To calculate battery life, we run the laptop on a balanced power plan and loop a 720p movie trailer, measuring the time taken to hibernate. | |||||||
We reckon it makes sense for you to focus on the performance of the test laptop against the HP Pavilion dv6: it features a quad-core (Llano-based) A6-3430MX chip, albeit specified with a higher, 45W TDP, with integrated graphics lent a helping hand by a discrete Radeon HD 7470M GPU. The remaining laptops are all powered by Mobile 2nd Generation Core (Sandy Bridge) chips with, in two cases, discrete graphics cards. We'll be adding Mobile Intel 3rd Generation Core-equipped laptops (Ivy Bridge) into this line-up in due course.
