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• Battery Life Of course, no review of a netbook platform is complete without a look at battery life, especially if we’re interested in the differences between OS versions. However, we shouldn’t forget that we’re still dealing with a release candidate of Windows 7, which means that both the operating system itself and its drivers are still very much works in progress. As previously mentioned, we decided to run our tests using the latest Intel drivers for Windows Vista. It is possible and even likely that native Windows 7 drivers will allow for longer battery life. We certainly hope so, since Windows 7 looks decidedly bad in this discipline. Idle runtime, simulated with Battery Eater’s Reader test, is shortened by 2.5 hours by moving to the newer OS. That’s unacceptable for a mobile platform. Cinebench R10 We begin our benchmark analysis with Cinebench. Its CPU test determines the processing power of the CPU and puts as many cores to work in the x-Core run as are available. In the case of Intel’s Atom processor, that means that it uses the two threads provided by Hyper-Threading. Scores are nearly identical across the two OS versions. As the name implies, the OpenGL test focuses on graphics performance. This is where we initially stumbled across the lackluster performance resulting from Microsoft’s drivers, which lagged behind with a two-digit score. Switching to Intel’s latest Vista driver boosted performance almost tenfold, but Win 7 still couldn’t catch up with XP. PCMark 05 PCMark 2005 clearly favors Windows XP. The more modern operating system is unable to best its eight year old predecessor in even a single subtest, although results are sometimes quite close. Graphics and hard drive performance show the largest performance deltas. Again, all we can say is that more optimized drivers should improve performance to some extent, providing Intel invests the time and actually releases them.

• At first glance, one might come away from our benchmarks with the impression that Windows 7 is just as slow as Vista and that nothing much has really changed. However, looking only at the benchmarks doesn’t give you the full picture either. Subjectively, the release candidate feels quite snappy. Even with only 1 GB of RAM installed, the pronounced slowdowns that plague Vista on the netbook platform were extremely rare. So unlike Vista, Windows 7 may very well develop into an alternative to XP for netbook hardware. After all, performance isn’t exactly the primary concern of this platform, although newer and more optimized drivers should give it a boost. We are a lot more critical of battery life under Microsoft’s newest OS. Even with its huge 59 Wh battery, Windows 7 shuts off much sooner than XP. This is beyond disappointing, since a newer OS should come with better and more refined power saving mechanisms than its eight year old predecessor. Then again, they won’t do any good if there aren’t any drivers to take advantage of them. See a pattern here? This is where Windows 7 currently falls short. Microsoft and the hardware vendors have their work cut out for them. We can only hope that Intel won’t only release optimized drivers for its “revamped” Atom platform based on the GN40 chipset, but will also provide newer versions for the aging 945G chipset found in the majority of netbooks in stores today. Aside from that, Windows 7 provides a much more pleasant user experience on a netbook than Vista ever did. While its updated user interface adds several new features, Microsoft has also made many changes under the hood that aren’t as visible to the user. Where functionality and feature set are concerned, the new version has the upper hand anyway, if not now, then in the future. At some point, newer technologies will no longer be made available for Windows XP via patchs, hacks, or service packs. Also, since Microsoft has already terminated mainstream support, companies are less and less likely to provide drivers for new products that work with the aging OS. Like it or not, the future belongs to Windows 7. Hopefully, IHVs share this view and will provide newer drivers even for older hardware. If you’re interested in trying the release candidate of Windows 7 for yourself, you can download it for free directly from Microsoft after registering. A word of warning: we don’t recommend pulling Win 7 RC1 from P2P sites, as several versions have been shown to be infected with viruses and malware.

• Alienware m15x: True Gaming Portability?

  In last year’s battle-of the behemoths, Dell’s M1730 took on Alienware’s m9750, and with the exception of a few quirks, came out on top. But not everyone is ready to lug around a notebook that weighs nearly fifteen pounds with its power adapter. Alienware’s advantage in portability among 17” gaming notebooks was still noteworthy, even if the Area-51 m9750’s battery life didn’t lend itself to truly mobile computing. The company now looks to extend its portability lead, with a smaller, lighter 15.4” unit that maintains the high resolution of the former 17” model without sacrificing battery life. There’s another key difference in Alienware’s 15.4” model, though. While the 17” test unit contained an SLI set of graphics cards, the Area-51 m15x has only a single graphics card. Does the new configuration deliver enough horsepower to qualify as gaming-ready? For comparison purposes, we continue to use an XPS M1730, which retains its SLI muscle. In fact, Dell has upgraded this unit with a new CPU and graphics processor, and changed a few smaller parts as well. The exterior remains unchanged from last year’s review. The Dell XPS M1730 still looks like an Alienware design, but the Alienware m15x is clean, smooth, and dare we say, business-like? Of course the real business is gaming, so let’s take at look at the “business” inside. (Editor’s Note: Check out our Quick Look: Alienware Area-51 m15X Notebook video of the m15x for even more up-close detail on the notebook) System Hardware and Software Configuration Model Alienware m15x Dell XPS M1730 Dimensions and Weight Width x Height x Depth 14.5" x 1.75" x 11.75" 16" x 2" x 12" 36.83 cm x 4.45 cm x 29.85 cm 39.37 cm x 5.08 cm x 27.94 cm Unit & Battery 7 lb 15 oz / 3600.4 g 11 lb / 4990 g Charter & Power Cord 1 lb 11 oz / 765.5 g 3 lb 8 oz / 1588 g Total 9 lb 10 oz / 4365.9 g 14 lb 8 oz / 6578 g AC Adapter & Battery Battery I Capacity Li-Ion 6 Cell 5200mAh Li-Ion 9 Cell 85 Wh Battery II Capacity None None AC Adapter 120 W 230 W Display & Graphics Controller Display Size 15.4" 17" Display Resolution 1920x1200 1920x1200 Graphics Controller nVidia GeForce 8800m GTX 2x nVidia GeForce 8800M GTX SLI System BIOS Phoenix vX32 P3A33 (04/11/08) Dell A06 (02/04/08) CPU Intel Core 2 Extreme X9000 Intel Core 2 Extreme X9000 2.80 GHz, 6 MB L2 Cache, FSB 200 2.80 GHz, 6 MB L2 Cache, FSB 200 Chipset Intel 965PM Intel 965GM Memory 2x 2 GB 667 MHz DDR2 2x 2 GB 667 MHz DDR2 Hard Drives Manufacturer & Model Seagate ST9200420ASG Seagate ST9250421ASG Size 200 GB 250 GB Performance (SATA / 7200.2 / 8 MB / 11 ms) SATA / 7200.2 RPM / 16 MB / 4.17 ms Other Devices Optical Drive MATSHITA BD-MLT UJ-220 Blu-Ray Burner PBDS DVD+-RW DS-8W1P DVD Burner Floppy Drive None None Pointing Device(s) Touchpad Touch Pad Audio Chip Realtek ALC885 @ Intel 82801HBM ICH8M SigmaTel STAC9228 @ Intel 82801HBM ICH8M Modem None None WLAN Intel Pro/Wireless 4965AGN Intel Pro/Wireless 4965AGN Connectors PS2 None None USB 2x Left, 1x Right 2x Right, 1x Left, 1x B IEEE1394 / Fire Wire 1x Right 1x Left Serial Com Port None None Parallel LPT Port None None Microphone Yes Yes IR Port Yes None Bluetooth None Yes VGA / DVI / HDMI None / None / 1x Right None / 1x Left / None TV Out None 1x Left TV In None None AC Power Yes Yes PC/Express Card Slots 1x Right 1x Right LAN 1x Left 1x Back Audio Connectors 1x Mic, Headphone Left 1x Mic, Headphone, Line In Left Card Reader 1x Multi Card Reader Right 1x Multi Card Reader Left Fingerprint Security None None Manufacturer Docking Socket None None System Software & Drivers OS Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Microsoft Windows XP Professional DirectX Version DX10 DX9.0c Platform Driver Intel 9.0.0.1008 Intel 8.2.0.1014 Graphics Driver 7.15.11.6755 - nVIDIA ForceWare 167.55 6.14.11.6757 - nVIDIA ForceWare 167.57