GPU, and battery life
| Terminator Salvation 1080p (mov) playback via VLC | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| HP Pavilion dv2 | ASUS U20A | Acer Timeline 5810 | MSI Wind |
| 80.2 | 88.41 | 32.4 | 91.5 |
Crank it up some, to 1080p, useful if outputting via HDMI to a big-screen TV, and the single-core chip's potential is reached. The movie becomes corrupted and jaggy, which is true of all the single-core chips' performance.
| Terminator Salvation 1080p (mov) playback via MPC-HC | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| HP Pavilion dv2 | ASUS U20A | Acer Timeline 5810 | MSI Wind |
| 14.5 | 92.6 | 35.1 | 92.3 |
MPC-HC is a free download that has hooks for GPU-based acceleration of QuickTime clips. The discrete Mobility Radeon HD 3410 in the HP Pavilion dv2 pays dividends here, clearly, as the X4500MHD isn't supported.
| Laptop - ET:QW - medium quality - 1,024x600 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| HP Pavilion dv2 | ASUS U20A | Acer Timeline 5810 | MSI Wind |
| 28.3 | 5.7 | 5.6 | 0.1 |
The X4500MHD is also poor at running games with older engines. Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is a case in point. The 1,280x800 test returns an equally-unplayable 2.1fps average frame-rate. But it's better than the GMA 950 in the Wind, which can't even play the game.
| Battery-life with 480p QT (Terminator Salvation) clip looping | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| HP Pavilion dv2 | ASUS U20A | Acer Timeline 5810 | MSI Wind |
| 95 | 192 | 288 | 111 |
ASUS' U20A consumes around 13W when idling and up to 28W when gaming. Set to run the QuickTime 480p clip via VLC (or MPC-HC, if supported, as with the HP dv2) the U20A's battery-life credentials are good. It gives over three hours of usage from a single charge, but doesn't come close to matching the near-five-hour life from the larger battery in the Acer 5810T CULV laptop.
