Notebook Trio: ASUS A8JS and G2P and ABS Mayhem Z5
by Jarred Walton on December 29, 2006 12:15 PM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
Power Consumption
Related to the battery life discussions we've just finished, we have power and temperature results. For power testing, we removed the battery from the laptops and measured system power draw at the wall outlet using a Kill-A-Watt device. All three laptops were configured to run at maximum performance when plugged into AC power. We tested several different scenarios to try to isolate the power draw of the various components. First, we have the baseline measurement when the system is idle and sitting at the desktop. No applications are running for 10 minutes or more and the screensaver and hard drive sleep mode are disabled. As a CPU load test, we run two instances of Folding@Home at 100%. Finally, for maximum power load we leave the two folding instances running and start 3DMark05. In this way, we can see roughly how much power the GPU is using in 3D mode versus 2D mode.
A few interesting things become apparent when we look at the power numbers. First, the beautiful, bright display on the G2P definitely contributes a lot to the high power draw. The power ranges listed above are for setting the displays to minimum and maximum brightness. The Mayhem Z5 and A8JS have a 4-6W difference in power draw when going from minimum to maximum brightness, while the G2P difference is 9-10W. Also worth noting is that at minimum brightness levels, the G2P remains brighter than the other two at minimum brightness.
Given the differences in LCDs, it's difficult to say exactly how much power is being used by the LCD and how much is being used by the graphics chips in the various laptops. Obviously, the ASUS A8JS requires the least power, but that makes sense considering it has the smallest chassis/LCD. The GeForce Go 7700 in the A8JS appears to draw a bit more power than the Radeon Mobility X1700 in the G2P, but as the 7700 performs better in games the additional 2W difference at maximum load vs. 100% CPU load could just as well be coming from other areas besides the GPU. What's particularly surprising is that the G2P uses almost as much power as the Mayhem Z5 at maximum load, despite running less than half as fast in most games at comparable settings. With a 100W maximum power draw, however, it's not at all surprising that the battery life during gaming on the Z5 can be less than an hour. Again, note that the maximum brightness of the G2P LCD is reduced when in battery mode, which is why battery life is still quite a bit better than the Z5.
Heat
Similar to the power testing, we checked the temperatures of the laptops. However, as we're more interested in a worst-case scenario, we only recorded temperature results for the maximum load scenario described above (3DMark05 looping for at least 30 minutes with two Folding@Home instances). We measured temperatures across the bottom of the system as well as on the keyboard and palm rests. Graphs don't do a good job of conveying this information, so we've used a table instead.
It might be surprising at first that the ASUS A8JS is the warmest of the three laptops. Considering that it packs quite a bit of performance into a smaller chassis, however, the result is not entirely unexpected. We should also note that the ABS system tends to generate slightly more noise than the other two systems, although the fan noise from any of the systems never broke 35 dB at a distance of 24 inches. If you return to the earlier images of the system internals, you can see that the heatpipe and cooling arrangement on the Mayhem Z5 appears to be quite effective in dealing with all of the generated heat. The fan intake is much larger on the Z5, as is the exhaust, and the net result is that it is actually not really any warmer than the other two laptops. We should note that the bottom of the Mayhem Z5 was consistently warmer than the G2P, so while the G2P had a few hotspots and the rest was relatively cool, the Mayhem was 31-35° across most of the bottom.
Related to the battery life discussions we've just finished, we have power and temperature results. For power testing, we removed the battery from the laptops and measured system power draw at the wall outlet using a Kill-A-Watt device. All three laptops were configured to run at maximum performance when plugged into AC power. We tested several different scenarios to try to isolate the power draw of the various components. First, we have the baseline measurement when the system is idle and sitting at the desktop. No applications are running for 10 minutes or more and the screensaver and hard drive sleep mode are disabled. As a CPU load test, we run two instances of Folding@Home at 100%. Finally, for maximum power load we leave the two folding instances running and start 3DMark05. In this way, we can see roughly how much power the GPU is using in 3D mode versus 2D mode.
| System Power Draw (Watts) | |||
| ABS Mayhem Z5 | ASUS A8JS | ASUS G2P | |
| Idle | 44-49 | 26-32 | 43-52 |
| 100% CPU | 67-71 | 47-52 | 71-81 |
| Maximum | 100 | 71 | 97 |
A few interesting things become apparent when we look at the power numbers. First, the beautiful, bright display on the G2P definitely contributes a lot to the high power draw. The power ranges listed above are for setting the displays to minimum and maximum brightness. The Mayhem Z5 and A8JS have a 4-6W difference in power draw when going from minimum to maximum brightness, while the G2P difference is 9-10W. Also worth noting is that at minimum brightness levels, the G2P remains brighter than the other two at minimum brightness.
Given the differences in LCDs, it's difficult to say exactly how much power is being used by the LCD and how much is being used by the graphics chips in the various laptops. Obviously, the ASUS A8JS requires the least power, but that makes sense considering it has the smallest chassis/LCD. The GeForce Go 7700 in the A8JS appears to draw a bit more power than the Radeon Mobility X1700 in the G2P, but as the 7700 performs better in games the additional 2W difference at maximum load vs. 100% CPU load could just as well be coming from other areas besides the GPU. What's particularly surprising is that the G2P uses almost as much power as the Mayhem Z5 at maximum load, despite running less than half as fast in most games at comparable settings. With a 100W maximum power draw, however, it's not at all surprising that the battery life during gaming on the Z5 can be less than an hour. Again, note that the maximum brightness of the G2P LCD is reduced when in battery mode, which is why battery life is still quite a bit better than the Z5.
Heat
Similar to the power testing, we checked the temperatures of the laptops. However, as we're more interested in a worst-case scenario, we only recorded temperature results for the maximum load scenario described above (3DMark05 looping for at least 30 minutes with two Folding@Home instances). We measured temperatures across the bottom of the system as well as on the keyboard and palm rests. Graphs don't do a good job of conveying this information, so we've used a table instead.
| Surface Temperatures (Min-Max in Celsius) | |||
| ABS Mayhem Z5 | ASUS A8JS | ASUS G2P | |
| Palm Rest | 27-33 | 25-32 | 23-31 |
| Keyboard | 24-35 | 31-36 | 27-39 |
| Bottom | 27-43 | 25-39 | 24-44 |
| Exhaust | 39 | 46 | 44 |
It might be surprising at first that the ASUS A8JS is the warmest of the three laptops. Considering that it packs quite a bit of performance into a smaller chassis, however, the result is not entirely unexpected. We should also note that the ABS system tends to generate slightly more noise than the other two systems, although the fan noise from any of the systems never broke 35 dB at a distance of 24 inches. If you return to the earlier images of the system internals, you can see that the heatpipe and cooling arrangement on the Mayhem Z5 appears to be quite effective in dealing with all of the generated heat. The fan intake is much larger on the Z5, as is the exhaust, and the net result is that it is actually not really any warmer than the other two laptops. We should note that the bottom of the Mayhem Z5 was consistently warmer than the G2P, so while the G2P had a few hotspots and the rest was relatively cool, the Mayhem was 31-35° across most of the bottom.
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unclebud - Saturday, December 30, 2006 - link
"Seems all the usual suspects are on a holiday"more than likely they were just thrown speechless by such extreme bias in this "review"...
newsflash - it can have a sorry gma 900 in it that can barely play rollercoaster tycoon and call it a "gaming laptop" if they want...
ugh. i tried skipping around to get something valuable out of this "article", but there aren't any pictures of the models even...
going to reread mr anand's review of his laptop to cheer myself up -- now that's a thorough review!
JarredWalton - Saturday, December 30, 2006 - link
"but there aren't any pictures of the models even"Umm... what? There are 36 images (with enlarged shots) in the article, plus another 30 or so graphs/charts. If you're not seeing them, either your browser is incorrectly configured and is blocking the images, or else the servers are having issues. And if someone called a GMA900 a "gaming notebook" they would be lying; calling an X1700 laptop a gaming laptop is more of an exaggeration, but it's clearly not the fastest mobile GPU.
I honestly have no idea what you mean by bias, so I'd be happy if you would point out areas that are "biased" rather than just giving a blanket label to the article.
mino - Friday, December 29, 2006 - link
Overall a nice review, those ASU are getting some serious popularity here in Europe while the reviews are nowhere to find..However, ranting for half a page about 14inch not having numeric keypad? I would have thought it was under you level of knowledge...
While the KB is NOT perfect in any sense - small enter, small keys.. - the absence of numeric keypad is natural.
Maybe you should spend a few weeks on road with some 17inch baby of yours to see how "important" numeric keypad really is...
One thing I hate about A8J is that transreflective (CrystalSomething) screen. It is pretty much unusable the moment the sun shines, and it does shine a bit too much in the summer.
JarredWalton - Friday, December 29, 2006 - link
I wasn't really complaining about the lack of a numpad on the 14" A8Js, merely pointing out that it's not there and you really can't fit one into such a chassis. My "rant" for half a paragraph was dedicated to the Fn key - and mostly I was just talking about the uses and making a minor complaint about it not being switched with the Ctrl key location. Unless you're looking somewhere else?I tried to discuss my feelings about the keyboards on each laptop, as that's pretty important with long-term use. Given what I do for a living (writing), I would actually avoid purchasing the G2P (as tested) and the Mayhem Z5 purely on the basis of the keyboard alone. The US G2P might actually be fine, as the primary issue I had was with the mixed up locations (relative to most keyboards) of the \ and " keys.
As for the G2P, that's where I complained about the missing numpad, and it's a 17" model notebook. I complained about this same issue on the Dell XPS M1710 and E1705, as I use numpads on a regular basis and find them to be important. Ironically, the ABS includes a numpad, which I liked, but the other missing keys (Home - PgDn) were at least as irritating to me as the lack of a numpad. Obviously, my taste in keyboards isn't the same as every other person's, which I why I started the article talking about the importance of trying out laptops in person where possible - or try a similar laptop if that's all you can do.
Ideally, I'd like a 17" notebook to have a numpad and a layout very much like the ABS, only shrink the width of the Backspace, \, Enter, and Shift keys and put in a column with Home, End, PgUp, and PgDn similar to how the two ASUS laptops do it. There's plenty of room there for those keys... or just extend the keyboard area down a bit and put the keys right above the cursors like on a regular keyboard.
As for the two ASUS laptop LCDs, I didn't find the LCD on the G2P to have problems in bright light (sunlight is a stretch but possible). Hopefully all newer ASUS laptops have LCDs more like the G2P. The A8J on the other hand is definitely the worst LCD of the bunch and really suitable for indoor use only (or on overcast days). When I first used it I didn't think too much about the LCD quality, as most laptop LCDs can't compete with desktop LCDs in terms of brightness and color quality. After playing with the other notebooks, however, I became quite unhappy with the A8J LCD. Sure, it helps battery life, but all you need to do is have more brightness levels to allow for lowered battery use on LCDs like the G2P.
mino - Saturday, December 30, 2006 - link
Seems all the usuall suspect are on a holiday :)Maybe I should read a bit more thoroughy, and sllep more too :). Point taken.
As for the display, the are two things. I am yet to see an glossy surface LCD to be usable on sunlight. They are nice and sharp for movies and indoors. But my observation is that the moment sun shines (also through an unprotected window) the display changes to a mirror - well, it called an "mirror effect" dispaly sometimes :). At the same conditionas even a poor-quality anti-glare one retains usability.
That said I will have to pass the A8J, otherwise it is pretty solid bundle(I like the BT+DVI+14"WXGA+ combo).
Should the time come when the notebook are regularly of built-to-order variety such is it with cars now. That way most of these "issues" with manufacturer isung bad display, VGA, CPU and so on would be a thing of the past.
It would not even increase the price too much provided good automation is employed. Actually this would greatly simplify the abundance of notebook based of the same chassis with a bit different internals only.
Hell, just ASUS has 5+ series with the same 15.4inch chassis...
mino - Saturday, December 30, 2006 - link
spelling, here you come :(francisco54 - Friday, May 16, 2014 - link
hola mepodeia mamdar los draivers de este ordenador