Archive for the category Mobility
Test Driving AMD’s 2nd Generation Ultrathin Notebook Platform
Posted by Patrick Moorhead in 10:47 PM
(22 votes, average: 4.14 out of 5)
Loading ...
Back in April of this year, HP introduced the world’s first value ultrathin notebook, the HP Pavilion dv2. It was chock full of AMD technologies like the new AMD AthlonTM Neo processor and even had an ATI RadeonTM discrete graphics card, all in a slim and affordable package. The press noticed. Could it get better? Let me give you my first impressions on the AMD 2nd generation ultrathin platform, introduced today along with our new “Vision Technology from AMD” campaign designed to de-mystify the PC buying experience. This time, I got to test out an MSI X-Series notebook and it impressed.
Notebook based on AMD’s Second Generation Ultrathin Platform
It’s real easy to describe the 2nd generation ultrathin design: Take the 1st generation, give it a second CPU core and take nearly the performance of the first generation’s discrete card, shrink it and place it into the chipset decreasing energy consumption. Oh yeah, and add sprinkles of VISION Technology. Easy, right? Don’t tell the engineers I said that.
Specs for MSI notebook based on AMD’s 2nd Generation Ultrathin Platform
- CPU: AMD Athlon Neo X2 Dual Core Processor L335 at 1.6 GHz.
- GPU: ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics
- Display: 12″ at 1366×768 resolution with HDMI for 1080P bliss and VGA port out
- RAM/HDD/Optical: 2GB (dual channel)/160GB/None
- Memory Slot: SD/SDHC/MMC
- Networking: Bluetooth, Gig-E, and BGN wireless
- 3 USB ports
- 1.3 MP Webcam
Size Matters
The best way to do a size comparison is to compare it to something someone may be familiar with. Below are comparisons to a BlackBerry Bold and an MSI U100 Netbook.
MSI notebook based on AMD’s 2nd Generation Ultrathin platform next to a BlackBerry Bold
MSI U100 Netbook next to MSI notebook based on AMD’s 2nd Generation Ultrathin platform
MSI U100 Netbook on top of an MSI notebook based on AMD’s 2nd Generation Ultrathin platform
HD Video Playback-Bring It On
The MSI ripped through HD video off of the web from YouTube HD as well as Hulu HD (to my surprise). I also played HD files from my Sony Webbie (1080P/30FPS) and Kodak ZI6 (720P/60FPS) inexpensive HD palmcorders and it didn’t even break a sweat. I plugged an external Blu-Ray drive and two movies with Cyberlink 8, “I Am Legend” and “Speed Racer”, and I never saw CPU utilization go above 25%. Add this to the ability to project externally at 1080P video to my HDTV along with high-fidelity audio over the HDMI port and cable and I was real happy.
Games- Not Sweating the Small Stuff
Like the AMD 1st generation ultrathin platform, the 2nd generation ultrathin platform can (of course) play mainstream games well like the Sims and Spore, but even the more hard-core games (albeit at low settings) like Left 4 Dead. I must caveat by saying that if you consider yourself a gamer, go for a system that has a higher end GPU like the higher end ATI Radeon HD 3000 or HD 4000 series. But if you play games but don’t consider yourself a gamer, no need to worry, you get a real ATI-branded graphics capability, not a generic brand in many systems.
Web Browsing- Flash Eater
I already described how this MSI notebook tore through YouTube HD and Hulu HD so why bring up anything else? Well, it’s called Flash and it’s the basis for a ton of web sites and it chews up inordinate amounts of power. Try this test- open up task manager to see how much CPU is being used then go to americanidol.com and then disney.com. If you have one of those underpowered machines, you know what happens. If you have a notebook based on the 2nd generation ultrathin platform, you get a good experience where the CPU isn’t pegging at 100%.
Conclusion
The 2nd generation ultrathin platform turned out exactly as I would have hoped: lighter, cooler, and more powerful to enable consumers to have an even better experience than they did with the first generation. No-compromise computing in a thin package at a good value. As “Active” and “Resting” battery life benchies go, the lab is working on those and I will update my blog when I get them. Until then, let me know if you have any questions.
Pat Moorhead is Vice President of Advanced Marketing at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.
Codename Tigris, Surprises Found Test Driving the New AMD Mainstream Notebook Platform
Posted by Patrick Moorhead in 10:45 PM
Ultrathin laptops have been the talk of the press for about 6 months now, but the reality is that many laptops that will ship in 2009 will likely have 14″ or larger displays and not be ultrathin. Why? Many consumers prefer the full-featured nature of those notebooks with their larger displays, integrated optical drives, larger keyboards, expandability and for the most part, the ability to crank more quickly through software. That’s where AMD’s newest full-featured platform comes in with all its entertainment goodies with VISION. I got the chance to take a drive in a new MSI C-Series notebook based on the 2009 AMD Mainstream Notebook Platform (codename “Tigris”), and it had a few tricks in store I MUST share.
Tigris-based MSI Notebook Specs
- CPU: AMD TurionTM II X2 Dual Core Mobile Processor M640 at 2.6 Ghz.
- GPU: ATI RadeonTM HD 4200 Graphics
- Display: 16″ 16:9 at 1366×768 resolution
- Video out: HDMI and VGA port
- Keyboard: Full-size with full number pad
- RAM/HDD/Optical: 4GB/300GB/DVD-RW
- Memory Slot: SD/MMC/MS/MS Pro
- Networking: Bluetooth, Gig-E, and B/G/N wireless
- 1 E-SATA port/USB combo port
- 2 USB ports (3 if you count combo)
- ExpressCard 34 slot
- Webcam (1.3 MP) and microphone
Video Encoding- A Giant Leap
The most amazing and new feature of this Tigris-based notebook for me was the GPU-assisted video transcoding. Quite simply, video transcoding is changing the format of a video to be played on another device. One example is taking a family video on an HD camera and encoding it to play on an iPod or iPhone.
Of the 15 videos I tested, when I was using the GPU, I got nearly twice the performance or the time was nearly cut in HALF! Your mileage will vary with video type of course and I have seen published numbers of even higher scores converting to a PSP. You can see a video of this in action here.
This is accomplished through the graphics card’s ATI Stream Technology and using the ATI Stream-enabled Cyberlink Espresso software application.
Video Playback- Reality is King
The “Tigris” platform has taken the video playback capabilities of its predecessor and placed it on steroids. Not only do you get the HD video offload capabilities, which means lower CPU utilization and heat, but now the visual quality is greatly enhanced. The features are described in super-geek terms like “dynamic contrast”, “flesh tone enhancement”, “HD color vibrance”, but it basically means that whites are brighter, blacks are richer, skin tones look more realistic, and the colors look better. I noticed the differences when I connected the Tigris-based MSI notebook to my 1080P flat screen TV.
A couple of other cool video features that I thought were useful were video upscaling and Blu-ray PIP acceleration. Video upscaling takes lower resolution videos like 400×240 and converts them to look better when shown on a larger screen (e.g. 1920×1080). Here is a nice example here. Blu-ray PIP acceleration allows you to watch a Blu-ray enabled movie (with PIP) with much lower CPU utilization, which results in less heat and noise.
AMD’s Ian McNaughton has done a fine job in his blog drilling down on key video features.
Games- Plow through Mainstream
Like video, the “Tigris” platform has taken the gaming capabilities of its predecessor to the next level. While we would recommend to those who would consider themselves “gamers” a full discrete card, the ATI Radeon HD 4200 graphics didn’t disappoint. In fact it impressed me more than I thought it would.
I started off with a simple 3DMark 06 test and was surprised at the 1,800 base score I achieved, particularly with last year’s 2008 AMD Mainstream Notebook Platform (codename “Puma”) coming in at around 1,500. Why? The ATI Radeon HD 4200graphics are based on the RV620 core, a step ahead of the ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics based on the RV610 core.
Forget benchies a second, I wanted to try out a few games that a user would probably play on this system. So I was forced 
to try some mainstream games: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Sim City Societies, Ghostbusters, Sims 3, and X-Men Origins Wolverine. I had a good experience on all of them with decent frame rates and resolutions. For fun I loaded Left 4 Dead, Call of Duty World at War, and Tom Clancy’s Hawx. Sure, take down the res and some of the eye candy; just the fact that they were playable on integrated graphics is a feat in itself.
One final feature I must point out is the “Tigris” platform’s support of Direct X 10.1 from Microsoft, currently the latest graphics technology available until DirectX 11 arrives sometime next month. It allows either better looking games or better performance. While I didn’t personally run these FPS scores the lab did, and on higher end games with some eye candy on the ATI Radeon HD 4200 drove HAWX at 1024×768 at 25FPS, Battleforge at 1280×1024 at 24FPS, and Stalker: Clear Sky at 30 FPS, while the competition either crashed or had worse than a third the performance and experience.
Why would any consumer buy a system with generic or dated graphics? Beats me.
Thin Is In: Tigris-based MSI Notebook next to the MSI notebook based on AMD’s Second Generation Ultrathin Platform
Conclusion
For that full-sized, full-featured mobile experience, I was impressed with the MSI system based on the “Tigris” platform. Like I said above, the video encoding quantum leap was amazing and just shows how powerful the combination of the GPU and CPU working together can be. Increasing the stakes on the video playback side was a treat and fun to try out and see all those features. Finally, with support for Direct X 10.1 technology from Microsoft and the ability to play real games and of course mainstream games, the system should keep all the mainstreamers happy and surprise even some gamers. Now that’s VISION. Let me know if you have any questions or comments.
Pat Moorhead is Vice President of Advanced Marketing at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.
Battery Life Advertising Getting More Confusing and Pervasive
Posted by Patrick Moorhead in 2:19 PM
Last week I wrote a blog covering the different ways notebook battery life is being advertised in North America for the back-to-school season in what are called the “Sunday Circulars”. I dug into the last two weeks and found some interesting changes that occurred. Specifically there were changes and additions to battery life verbiage I think you will find interesting. Let’s start with the key observations.
Observations
- 23% increase over the prior two weeks in the number of SKUs advertised with battery life. (34 to 42 SKUs) 23 SKUs I observed advertised battery life or inference to it during the week of 8/10/09, and 19 the week of 8/17/09. (See raw data at very end of blog.)
- 2X increase in the number of ways battery life is being advertised.
- Four different ways observed from weeks of 7/27 and 8/3:
- “up to X hours, Y minutes”
- “up to X hours” (no minutes)
- “X+ hours” (no “up to”)
- “X cell battery for longer performance” (adds concept of battery cell)
- Five NEW ways battery life was described or inferred to the consumer weeks of 8/10 and 8/17 in addition to those listed above:
- “up to X hours of battery life that will last in class all day” (adds idea of all day computing)
- “X cell battery” (no information on what this means)
- “X cell battery will give you up to X hours of battery life”
- “X cell Li-ion battery” (no battery life claim and introduces battery type)
- Graphic with icons, small description, but no data.
- Four different ways observed from weeks of 7/27 and 8/3:
- Still in these advertisements there is still only one battery life measurement being advertised. This is like buying a car and only seeing the “up to 52 MPG,” even though you would never realize that gas mileage in city driving. Also, it’s like advertising battery life for a mobile phone and only listing “up to 300 hours battery life”. (See raw data at very end of blog.)
- Apple notebooks never list battery life, only Windows-based PCs.
- Two retailers provided disclaimers for the advertised battery life information. (See raw data at very end of blog.)
Conclusion
Net-net, more notebooks are advertising battery life or inferring it, and the different ways of describing it to the consumer has more than doubled. Some questions:
- Do nine different ways to describe battery life help set clear battery life expectations? I will let you be the judge.
- Do disclaimers or explanations behind the metric help increase awareness? Do they deserve broader application? I will let you be the judge.
- Does one single measurement of battery life help tell the whole story? I will let you be the judge.
If you would like to read more about the battery life discussion, please find the links below:
Nigel Dessau’s blogs on battery life
Pat Moorhead’s (me) blogs on battery life
FriendFeed page with select press articles
Improving Understanding of Notebook PC Battery Life Measurements
Let me know what you think!
NOTES:
Week of 8-10-09
|
Retailer |
Notebook Battery Life Listed? |
# Models (SKUs)with Battery Life Listed and Verbiage |
Battery Life Disclaimer |
|
A |
Yes |
7 SKUs-” up to X hours, mins” 2 SKUs-“up to X hours” | “Battery life tested using MobileMark 2007. Battery life will vary depending on the product configuration, product model, applications loaded on the product; power management setting of the product, and the product features used by the customer. As with all batteries, the maximum capacity of this battery will decrease with time and usage.” |
|
B |
No |
None | None |
|
C |
Inferred |
1 SKU- “X cell battery” | None |
|
D |
No |
None | None |
|
E |
Yes |
6 SKU-”up to X hours, mins” | “Battery life will vary depending on the product configuration, product model, applications loaded on the product; power management setting of the product, and the product features used by the customer. As with all batteries, the maximum capacity of this battery will decrease with time and usage.” |
|
F |
Inferred |
1 SKU- “X cell battery for longer performance” | None |
|
G |
No |
None | None |
|
H |
Yes |
5 SKUs-“up to X hours”1 SKU- “X cell battery will give you up to X hours” | None |
|
I |
No |
None | None |
Week of 8-17-09
|
Retailer |
Notebook Battery Life Listed? |
# Models (SKUs)with Battery Life Listed and Verbiage |
Battery Life Disclaimer |
|
A |
Yes |
7 SKUs-” up to X hours, mins”1 SKU-“up to X hours” | “Battery life tested using MobileMark 2007. Battery life will vary depending on the product configuration, product model, applications loaded on the product; power management setting of the product, and the product features used by the customer. As with all batteries, the maximum capacity of this battery will decrease with time and usage.” |
|
B |
No |
None | None |
|
C |
Inferred |
1 SKU- “x-cell battery”1 SKU- “x-cell Li-ion battery” | None |
|
D |
Yes |
4 SKUs-”up to X hours, mins”1 SKU-”up to X hours” | “Battery life will vary depending on the product configuration, product model, applications loaded on the product; power management setting of the product, and the product features used by the customer. As with all batteries, the maximum capacity of this battery will decrease with time and usage.” |
|
E |
Inferred |
1 SKU- “X-cell battery for longer performance” | None |
|
F |
Yes |
3 SKUs-“up to X hours” | None |
Pat Moorhead is Vice President of Advanced Marketing at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.
Back To School Battery Life Follies
Posted by Patrick Moorhead in 11:08 AM
For the last 15 years, I have routinely browsed the aisles of electronics stores and their circulars looking for cool technology, and to see how devices are marketed and merchandised. I was away from the office the last few weeks and got a chance to dig deep into North American back-to-school “Sunday Circulars,” where each retailer lists deals and special offers of the week. I took a close look how notebook battery life was explained in the circulars. What I found was interesting……
Week of 7-27-2009
|
Retailer |
Notebook Battery Life Listed? |
# Models (SKUs) with Battery Life Listed and Verbiage |
Battery Life Disclaimer |
|
A |
Yes |
7 SKUs- “up to X hours, mins” | “Battery life tested using MobileMark 2007. Battery life will vary depending on the product configuration, product model, applications loaded on the product; power management setting of the product, and the product features used by the customer. As with all batteries, the maximum capacity of this battery will decrease with time and usage.” |
|
B |
No |
None | None |
|
C |
No |
None | None |
|
D |
No |
None | None |
|
E |
Yes |
5 SKUs- “up to X hours, mins” | None |
|
F |
Inferred |
1 SKU- “X cell battery for longer performance” | None |
|
G |
Inferred |
1 SKU-“X cell lithium ion battery” | None |
Week of 8-3-2009
|
Retailer |
Notebook Battery Life Listed? |
# Models (SKUs)with Battery Life Listed and Verbiage |
Battery Life Disclaimer |
|
A |
Yes |
8 SKUs-” up to X hours, mins” | “Battery life tested using MobileMark 2007. Battery life will vary depending on the product configuration, product model, applications loaded on the product; power management setting of the product, and the product features used by the customer. As with all batteries, the maximum capacity of this battery will decrease with time and usage.” |
|
B |
No |
None | None |
|
C |
Yes |
1 SKU-”X+ hours battery life” | None |
|
D |
Yes |
5 SKU-“up to X hours, mins” | “Battery life will vary depending on the product configuration, product model, applications loaded on the product; power management setting of the product, and the product features used by the customer. As with all batteries, the maximum capacity of this battery will decrease with time and usage.” |
|
E |
Yes |
1 SKU-”up to X hours” | None |
|
F |
No |
None | None |
|
G |
Yes |
4 SKUs-“up to X hours” | None |
|
H |
Yes |
1 SKU-”X+ hours on one battery charge” | None |
Observations
- 14 notebook SKUs I observed advertised battery life during the week of 7/27/09, and 20 SKUs I observed advertised battery life during the week of 8/3/09.
- In these advertisements there is still only one battery life measurement being advertised. This is like buying a car and only seeing the “up to 52 MPG,” even though you would never realize that gas mileage in city driving. Also, it’s like advertising battery life for a mobile phone and only listing “up to 300 hours battery life”.
- Battery life as I observed it is being advertised four different ways:
- “up to X hours, Y minutes”
- “up to X hours” (no minutes)
- “X+ hours” (no “up to”)
- “X cell battery life for longer performance”
- Only two retailers out of eight I observed provided disclaimers for the advertised battery life information.
During the holiday time frame, we hope and expect this situation to change. A few retailers have unofficially indicated that they are planning to adopt a “Min and Max” (aka guardrail approach) to notebook battery life communications. Based on the lack of consistency I observed in the circulars, I expect this will be a very welcome change for consumers.
Above is a sample graphic that AMD has proposed for this guardrail approach.
If you would like to read more about the battery life discussion, please find the links below:
Nigel Dessau’s blogs on battery life
Pat Moorhead’s (me) blogs on battery life
FriendFeed page with select press articles
Improving Understanding of Notebook PC Battery Life Measurements
Let me know what you think!
Pat Moorhead is Vice President of Advanced Marketing at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.
Kudos to iPhone 3GS on Battery Life Disclosure
Posted by Patrick Moorhead in 2:02 PM
The new iPhone 3GS is capturing the attention of press, bloggers, and most importantly, consumers. While I get my work jollies from my BlackBerry Bold and portable PMP fun from my iPod Touch, I also must give the iPhone 3GS credit in one dimension that’s not getting a lot of attention: consumer battery life information. I have thought for a while that cellphones and smartphones are marketed with better battery life information than notebook computers, despite the price premium notebooks command, and the iPhone 3GS demonstrates this once again.
Main iPhone Information Page
When consumers navigate to the main iPhone page, about ¾ of the page down you see a link that says, “iPhone 3GS or Iphone 3G: Compare”.
Compare iPhones Page
Click this and you go to a comparison page of the iPhone 3G versus iPhone 3GS. About ¾ down the page, you see a battery life comparison:
|
iPhone 3GS |
iPhone 3G |
|
|
Talk time: |
Up to 5 hours on 3G; |
Up to 5 hours on 3G; |
|
up to 12 hours on 2G |
up to 10 hours on 2G |
|
|
Standby time: |
Up to 300 hours |
Up to 300 hours |
|
Internet use: |
Up to 5 hours on 3G; |
Up to 5 hours on 3G; |
|
up to 9 hours on Wi-Fi |
up to 6 hours on Wi-Fi |
|
|
Audio playback: |
Up to 30 hours |
Up to 24 hours |
|
Video playback: |
Up to 10 hours |
Up to 7 hours |
These seems like intuitive figures to provide a consumer, yet Apple is already operating in rarefied air in providing this much consumer information. But wait, what about the details on what was tested, you ask? Apple iPhone delivers, again. When you click on the disclaimer (3) you are brought down to a line that says, “3) All battery claims depend on network configuration and many other factors; actual results will vary. For more details of iPhone performance tests for talk time, standby time, Internet use over 3G, Internet use over Wi-Fi, video playback, and audio playback, see www.apple.com/iphone/battery.html.”
Full Battery Life Performance Testing Disclosure Page
Click on the link in the disclaimer above and you are brought to a page that contains more battery life procedure testing than I have ever seen before. These 1,173 words of technical bliss scream detail. Sure, someone could chose to pick at the way the testing was done, but you cannot complain about the detailed disclosure. The page meticulously goes through the tests performed, the hardware used, and how it was done.
Who Cares?
We have made it very public and clear that AMD is striving to guide the PC industry to deliver better notebook PC battery life information for consumers. Nigel and I have articulated the challenges and provided suggestions to this. We expect some in the industry to adopt these, but some will sit on the sidelines. To those who choose to sit I ask, how do you feel about better battery life information being disclosed on a $99 iPhone than a $799 notebook PC? Industry, we can do better than the cell phone industry.
Pat Moorhead is Vice President of Advanced Marketing at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.
MobileMark 2007, the Apps, and your Notebook
Posted by Patrick Moorhead in 11:08 AM
Last week I presented you with some facts, thoughts and opinions about notebook screen brightness settings required in the industry’s de-facto standard battery life benchmark, MobileMark 2007 (MM07). Now I would like to explore how closely MM07’s application selection and activity distribution reflects consumer usage and purchase patterns. Like that last blog, I will provide you the facts and let you decide.
As a reminder, MobileMark 2007 is now being advertised and merchandised in retail circulars across the US. This benchmark is developed by the Business Applications Performance Corporation (BAPCO). (More background and our suggestions for more accurate battery life metrics can be found here, here, and here.)
Applications in MMO7 compared to consumer use
In my opinion, it is not credible to construct a consumer benchmark consisting primarily of applications that business people use. To demonstrate my point, take a look at the battery life benchmark applications now being used in consumer adverts.
These benchmarked applications inside MM07 include: Microsoft Project 2003 for project management, Microsoft Excel 2003 for calculation sheets, Microsoft Outlook 2003 for email, calendar and scheduling, Microsoft PowerPoint 2003 for presentations, Microsoft Word 2003 for word processing, WinZip Computing WinZip 10.0 for archive compression, Adobe Photoshop CS2 for manipulating and compressing images, Adobe Illustrator CS2 for manipulating images and Adobe Flash 8 for vector graphics and animation.
Do these look like your most commonly used consumer PC applications to you? Here’s my personal list of most commonly used consumer applications as a starting point:
- Web browsers like Firefox, Safari, and Chrome or Internet Explorer. And with browsers come Google, Gmail, YouTube, Hulu, ESPN.com, Disney.com, etc.
- Music apps like iTunes or Windows Media player
- Video or movie playback for DVDs, Blu-ray or iTunes movies or TV shows
- Games like Spore, Sims, and Worlds of Warcraft
Like I said, you be the judge.
Application % weightings in MM07 compared to usage patterns
Even if we pretend for a moment that consumers don’t use web browsers, listen to music, watch videos or play games, and they primarily use the listed MM07 apps. Surely someone on the planet does that, right?
BAPCO has published MM07’s “distribution of measured application task times“, or in other words the apps the tested notebook was running 5-10% of the time when it wasn’t idling or resting 95-90% of the time.
Inside MM07, The “measured application task times” for Adobe Flash Creation is 33.6%, Adobe Photoshop CS2 is 21.8%, Adobe Illustrator CS2 is 16.7%, Microsoft Excel is 16.6%, WinZip 10.0 is 7.1%, Microsoft Word is 1.1%, Microsoft PowerPoint is 1.0%, Microsoft Project is 1.2% and Microsoft Outlook is 1.0%.
I ask, when you use your notebook, do you spend 72% of your time recoding Flash videos, manipulating and compressing pictures in Photoshop and Illustrator? I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that that is not an accurate reflection of most of our usage profiles!
MM07 Applications compared to retail notebook software loads
One final aspect I would like to examine is the software preloaded on retail notebooks compared to the MM07 load. I also looked up the potential costs associated with a consumer adopting the MM07 software load if they bought it on their own.
I took what looked like popular notebooks and those which advertised battery life and compared their software load with MM07’s software load. I looked at five notebooks advertised in major Sunday circulars last weekend and here is what I found.
|
SKU #1 |
SKU #2 |
SKU #3 |
SKU #4 |
SKU #5 |
|
|
Price |
$399.99 |
$549.99 |
$649.99 |
$799.99 |
$599.99 |
|
MS Project 2003 |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
|
MS Excel 2003 |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
|
MS Outlook 2003 |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
|
MS Powerpoint 2003 |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
|
MS Word 2003 |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
|
Winzip Pro 10.1 |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
|
Adobe Photoshop CS2 |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
|
Adobe Illustrator CS2 |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
|
Adobe Flash 8 |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Granted this is a pretty limited sample, but as you can see above, there was 0% correlation between the MM07 software load and what is installed on these notebooks. Note: SKUs #1 and #2 did have a 60 day edition of MS Office Pro(1). SKUs #3, 4, and 5 came with 60 day edition of MS Office Student Edition(2). Close but no cigar.
I then looked at what it would cost a consumer to buy the latest and greatest MM07 updated apps. Here is what it could cost at retail:
|
$419.99 |
|
|
MS Professional 2007 |
$363.99 |
|
$657.49 |
|
|
$533.49 |
|
|
$669.99 |
|
|
$56.99 |
|
|
$2,701 |
As you can see above, it would cost the consumer approximately $2,701 at retail to load all of the updated MM07 applications.
Conclusion
My goal was to compare MobileMark 2007 (MM07) application selection and activity distribution and compare that to a consumer’s behavior. I showed the following:
1) MM07 Productivity is utilized in consumer facing advertisements to indicate comparative notebook battery life.
2) MM07 Productivity tested applications do not contain a single web browser, music app, video playback app, or game.
3) 72% of MM07’s application usage comes from Flash video encoding and photo manipulation and compression in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.
4) MM07 tested applications have a 0% correlation between what is pre-loaded on retail notebooks and are six years old on average. (Yes, I admit it was a small sample, but you get my point…)
5) If a user bought software representing the MM07 test suite, it could cost $2,701 at retail.
I ask you, do MM07 applications represent real world consumer usage behavior and purchase characteristics? You be the judge.
Notes:
(1) loaded w/MS Works (word processor, spreadsheet, calendar) & 60-day trial of MS Office Pro2007 (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook, Access, Publisher)
(2) loaded w/MS Works (word processor, spreadsheet, calendar) & 60-day trial of MS Office 2007 Home & Student Edition (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, OneNote)
Pat Moorhead is Vice President of Advanced Marketing at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.
MobileMark 2007, 60 nits, One Nit-Picker and You
Posted by Patrick Moorhead in 3:19 PM
As we have already discussed here, here, and here, the current de-facto standard to measure notebook battery life in consumer marketing materials is MobileMark ® 2007 (MMO7). One thing I want to help educate on are the basic facts behind the notebook brightness settings recommended by MM07 and compare that to my home electronics and what settings others are using for their notebook displays.
The facts about MM07 and notebook display brightness
MM07 requires the following (1): “The display brightness should be measured for a white screen while on battery and be set at the lowest possible setting, no lower than 60 nits.” One needs a nit meter and yes, we have a few of those in our labs. :-)
So what is a nit? Wkipedia defines a nit as a “candela per square meter.” Yes, that really helped me too. Think of a “nit” as a unit of measure of brightness.
How does 60 nits compare to brightness of other home electronics?
I pretend to be a technically-capable business, strategy and marketing guy, which according to the engineers, makes me REAL dangerous. You see, 95% is good enough for my trade, but for theirs, its 99.999% and I respect that.
So I wanted to know what 60 nits really related to, as I didn’t know nits from nuts. You should have seen the look on the engineer’s faces when I asked them to borrow their nit meter. Chad, his real name J, showed me how to use the nit meter and instructed me how to use the nit meter and to make sure to have a white background on all devices.
I literally went around my house testing many of my home electronics and tested them without changing any settings outside shutting off “auto adjustment” on the phones which I am told is best practice. I suppose I can call this my family’s “comfort setting” based on the setting my family and I actually use the devices. So there is variation in room setting, light, etc. that dictates this.
Here are the test results:
Net-net, the lowest nit measurement I observed with my “comfort setting” was still 2.58X brighter than the MM07 brightness level of 60 nits on which notebook battery life is measured.
I then wanted to see how nits related to notebook screen brightness. So I tested a few notebooks I had in my office to see what the “max nits” were when the screen was set to the highest setting.
As you can see from the figures above, the MM07 requirement was between 20-30% of the samples notebooks’ max screen brightness.
What notebook display brightness setting do consumers use?
Now, I know that a sample set of one doesn’t represent anything, and I’m far from normal, as my friends frequently tell me, but the results of my home survey were interesting – interesting enough to make me real curious about what others are doing with their screen brightness settings.
So last week I started Tweeting and Facebooking questions to real users on what is the display brightness setting on which they place their notebooks. I received qualitative and quantitative responses. Yes, I know, this isn’t a 17-country, global discrete choice, double blind methodology survey followed by focus groups, BUT there were telling, directional indicators.
Quantitative: I wasn’t expecting anything like the response I got from Neowin respondents. They actually placed a poll on their community website asking the question, “What brightness level do you run your notebook?“ Over 1,100 community members voted in a few days, and according to Shane Pitman, Editor-in-Chief, “Polls require a member account, and to be logged in to said account. Provides accountability, keeps people from voting multiple times.”
The results were overwhelming in that 75% of the Neowin community member respondents kept their notebook display brightness between 61% and 100%. Somehow, I don’t think that fits into the 60 nit range.
Qualitative: These responses were as valuable as the quantitative as they gave insight into “why” they did this. Some comments gave insight into the folks who use their notebooks at very low display settings. I didn’t use their Twitter names to protect the innocent. :-)
Here was the response to my question, improper grammar and all, “Research question: what display brightness do you run your notebook at? (Please RT)”. Here is just a sampling of public tweet responses.
- “On the machines I see, normally I prefer to have them fully backlit with the slider up to around 75% or so.”
- “I run my laptop at maximum brightness unless the battery is really low, or I have an external screen. “
- “Now running MBP 15.4″ 3.1 at 75% brightness with auto adjust turned ; but was at 100% without auto adjust til you asked! “
- “90 – 100% brightness, 90% of the time. “
- “depends entirely on my battery level and surroundings. “
- “Research question: what display brightness do you run your notebook at? (Please RT). I run full bright 95+% of the time. “
- “oh sorry , 100% unless I’m running low on battery, where I bring it down to a minimum, I’m guessing 50%, but thats rare”
- “usually around 60-70%”
- “i don’t use them much, mainly desktop, but i either have brightness at full or minimum: latter at night and if battery low”
- “When running laptop on battery, i set brightness to 25-40%, when plugged in -100%.”
- “100% brightness. Left default setting (and I appreciate it that way… old eyes). “
- “slammed up to full when possible, monitor screens vary though”
- “mine is usually as bright as I can make it. I hate dim screens. “
- “max brightness notwithstanding battery impact. “
- “I lower my screen brightness to the lowest, usable level that’s comfortable. It’s all about the battery life.
“ - “Agreed…I think mine is usually around 30% or so. “
- “it varies by location due to lighting levels. Usually around 30% or 40%. Never > 50% when on battery. “
- “ME: 90 to 100% on AC, about 50 % on battery when I’m watching movies and about 20 to work. “
I also received some really interesting responses related to interpretation, explanations, tools and resources on brightness after asking about 60 nits. Got to love social media.
- “not all that hard. Need 800+ nits to read screens in direct sun, 30-150 for night highway signs: http://bit.ly/cjxJB“
- “60 nits = table in an office with 300 lux illumination: http://bit.ly/FvoKe BTW sRGB calibration target = 80 nits. “
- “oh and here’s a Kodak guide on how to use a digital camera and gray card as an ad-hoc nit estimator: http://bit.ly/1IMLK3“
You be the judge
I titled this blog, “MM07, 60 Nits, One Nit-picker and you” and now I ask you, am I just nitpicking? I ask you to make that decision for yourself. I have described a few things:
- First, MM07 test requires a 60 nit or higher display brightness. To maximize battery life benchmarks, systems are set at the minimum allowable 60 nit level. This setting is thereby integrated into this battery life benchmark that is then used in consumer advertisings.
- Secondly, worst case, the display brightness of many electronics inside my home at my family’s “comfort setting” is 2.58X more than the MM07 nit setting requirement. Based on the small set of notebooks I tested, MM07’s 60 nits equated to around 20-30% of the max notebook brightness. Your mileage will vary, maybe.
- Third, my unscientific querying last week says many classes of users crank their screen beyond 61% and many at max brightness. Yes, I said max. Some self-selected a lower brightness setting to conserve battery life.
Nuff said, you be the judge. Agree, disagree, I would love to hear your thoughts on this.
(1) MobileMark 2007 White Paper, March 2008, Revision 1.0. 4.2.1 “Display brightness”
Pat Moorhead is Vice President of Advanced Marketing at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.
Does only AMD love the HP Pavilion dv2?
Posted by Patrick Moorhead in 8:43 AM
AMD is excited about the HP Pavilion dv2 powered by AMD “Yukon” platform, as evidenced by many of our communications. Obviously HP is excited, as it’s their baby. On the blog front, Nigel, Casey, and I have written accounts of our personal HP dv2 experiences. But, is this just an AMD love affair with its own stuff, or do others share the enthusiasm?
I kindly asked the PR team to provide me with some of the reviews and headlines, and it appears that many agree with our assessments.
Here are the highlights, and I recommend visiting the sites to get the full download. I have separated the reviews into the following segments: Blu-ray experience, HD video capabilities, gaming experience, content creation capabilities, and AMD and HP’s new category creation:
Blu-ray Experience
ComputerShopper: HP Pavilion dv2-1030us, John Delaney
- “We were also impressed with the system’s video-handling prowess; the ATI graphics did a good job of delivering smooth playback of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest on Blu-ray.”
SlashGear: HP dv2 and Blu-ray preview, Steven Grady
- “The dv2 is running Vista Home Premium, and plays Blu-ray movies beautifully on the display. The dv2 has an HDMI port for making it easy to use the dv2 as your home Blu-ray player with your HDMI television…”
CrunchGear: HP’s new external Blu-ray driver is sleek as hell, Devin Coldeway
- “The Blu-ray drive that will be coming with the HP dv2 “ultra-slim” notebook is looking really nice. It’s shiny, gorgeous, and incredibly thin. I thought I better get some pictures of this sexy accessory up so you guys know how HP rolls with this new stylish line of not-netbooks-but-not-notebooks.”
HD Video Capabilities
Notebookreview.com: HP Pavilion dv2 Review, Jerry Jackson
- “If you want to connect your laptop to your HDTV and watch 1080p video, the dv2 can handle it.”
JKOntherun.com: HP dv2 on a Road Trip: First Impressions, Kevin Tofel
- “I mentioned HD video playback before. I decided to download and view some 720p content before closing out this post. Hitting up the Microsoft WMV HD Content Showcase, I downloaded the “Super Speedway” video; something I wouldn’t even bother doing with a netbook. I expected playback to be superb and the dv2 didn’t disappoint. It was a joy to watch: I couldn’t detect any stutter or dropped frames.”
JKOntherun.com: HPdv2 Battery Tests Illustrate Compromise of Power vs. Performance, Kevin Tofel
- “Of course, the intent and design of this device is to do just that: you can’t effectively enjoy high quality video on a netbook. And while you can watch high-def media on other notebooks at this price, they’ll generally weigh more and/or have a bigger footprint.”
Gaming Experience
TGDaily: The netbook-killing HP dv2, Rob Enderle
- “The product feels high quality and the graphics performance exceeds anything else short of a gaming box that I’ve had in this year.”
Notebooks.com: HP Pavilion dv2 Unboxed, First Impressions, Xavier Lanier
- “the Pavilion dv2 is the first notebook that’s based on AMD’s Yukon platform, which combines an Athlon Neo processor with ATI Mobility Radeon HD3410 graphics. The result is a computer that can be used to watch high-definition video and handle some 3D games.”
SlashGear: HP dv2 and Blu-ray preview, Steven Grady
- “it has been promised to me that the dv2 will game with the best of them, thanks to the ATI graphics card. Fear 2, Call of Duty: World at War and others are said to run amazingly well on this tiny device, showing the capability of a good GPU paired with a less power-intensive processor.”
Notebooks.com: HP Pavilion dv2 Game Demo: Call of Duty World at War, Xavier Lanier
- “The HP Pavilion dv2 is an ultraportable notebook that’s affordable, but has enough graphics muscle that users can enjoy video games….”
Content Creation Capabilities
PC Magazine: HP Pavilion dv2 (1030us), Cisco Cheng
- “So how did the Neo processor fare against the Atom in actual testing? The dv2, with its Neo processor, showed its muscle in video encoding tests, outperforming the Atom-powered Asus 1000HE by 20 seconds and the Mini 12 by 1 minute, 18 seconds. It was the only one that completed Photoshop CS4 tests, finishing in 1 minute 49 seconds (the Dell 12 did not complete the test and the 1000HE’s resolution was too low to even run the test.”
- “In terms of raw horsepower, the Neo clearly has an advantage over Atom.”
Notebookreview.com: HP Pavilion dv2 Review, Jerry Jackson
- “If you want to edit high-resolution images in Photoshop while you’re on vacation, the dv2 can handle it.”
ComputerShopper: HP Pavilion dv2-1030us, John Delaney
- “Compared with other netbooks, the dv2 performed brilliantly, scoring a class-leading 1,261 on our Cinebench 10 benchmark, while the Atom-based Dell Inspiron Mini 12 and Asus N10Jc came in at 718 and 774, respectively.”
Creating the New Affordable Ultrathin Category
PC World: Netbook or Ultraportable: Which is Best for the Job?, James Martin
- “DV2 blurs the lines between netbook and ultraportable more than most portable computers. That’s just $120 more than a high-end HP Mini 2140 netbook, which can’t compare to the dv2’s more robust specs.”
TechNewsWorld: The Death and Rebirth of Silicon Valley, Rob Enderle
- “By creating a hybrid between a netbook and a notebook, the DV2 falls into an interesting product gap. It isn’t as small as a netbook, it is vastly less expensive than a small notebook, it has more performance than many notebooks have (let alone netbooks) and it still costs under US$750.”
JKOntherun.com: HP dv2 Runs the CrystalMark Benchmark Gauntlet, Kevin Tofel
- “The AMD Neo platform is squarely targeted between the netbook market and traditional notebooks. You can get traditional notebook performance in a near-netbook sized package: call it a more portable package than a standard notebook, but not as anemic as a netbook.”
ZDNet: HP Pavilion dv2: Netbook or Notebook?, Jennifer Bergen
- “If Goldilocks was in the market for a laptop, she might pick the new HP Pavilion dv2. It’s not too big, and not too small. It sits between the large and expensive notebooks, and the small-screened netbooks – it’s just right.”
TGDaily: The netbook-killing HP dv2, Rob Enderle
- “As it was designed to be, this is a product that falls within the price range of netbooks and provides capabilities that exceed many $2000 products.”
Notebookreview.com: HP Pavilion dv2 Review, Jerry Jackson
- “The HP Pavilion dv2 satisfies an important need that low-cost netbooks never could.”
Tom’s Hardware: HP Launches Pavilion dv2 Notebook for $749, Jane McEntergart
- “At $749 it’s more expensive than a netbook and more in the range of an ultra portable; a great option for those who’ve realized that a netbook won’t cut it when it comes to anything more than classes, business trips, Facebook or browsing.”
The feedback wasn’t perfect, and that’s expected, as some raised points of question about the dv2’s battery life and fan.
So, all in all, a very good showing for the HP dv2 in regards to the Blu-ray experience, HD video capability, gaming experience, and content creation capabilities; all in a new category created by AMD and HP. The affordable ultrathin. And it’s nice to know that we weren’t the only ones extolling the virtues of the dv2. The best part about it is that AMD’s ultrathin platform roadmap only begins here, and it even gets better, in the form of the “Congo” platform planned for release in 2H09. I will see you then!
Pat Moorhead is Vice President of Advanced Marketing at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.
AMD: 40 Years of “Just Doing it”
Posted by Patrick Moorhead in 10:30 PM
AMD celebrates its 40th anniversary May 1st and I want to provide my thoughts and perspective. Yes, I am a proud AMD employee, so this blog is biased in that I am personally invested in AMD’s future success and its history. To me AMD means a lot of things, but the best way I can express it is to say: AMD means “We can” and “Can do”.
Let me tell you about that.
I met up with AMD during my tenure at Compaq Computer Corp. starting in 1995. Back then, lots of PCs sold for as much as $2,000 and the idea of notebooks for consumers instead of just business people was new. AMD helped change the entire landscape on both those fronts and the market has never been the same.
I also fondly recall loving the ATI RageTM Pro graphics card. In fact it was at that time that Compaq actually soldered the ATI Rage Pro engine onto the motherboard [it was in fact the first motherboard-resident AGP graphics chip]. Soldering anything on a mobo back in the day was a huge commitment and vote of confidence.
In late 2000, I joined AMD and have called it home ever since.
I admire AMD for a lot of things, but three things come top of mind:
1. Integrity, the highest levels.
2. Putting customers first, sometimes seemingly at its own peril.
3. Defying the pundits and “just doing it”
#1 and #2 are reasonably self-explanatory so I will drill down into #3. I will provide the “dialogue” as people may have heard it play-out many times before:
- 1990 Pundit: “You have the 386 mask set, but not the microcode. No way can you make a 386.”
But AMD did it.
- 1992 Pundit: “You don’t have the 486 mask set or the microcode. No way can you make a 486.”
But AMD did it.
- 1997 Pundit: “You have relied on Intel’s infrastructure this whole time so no way you can make a 7th generation CPU with an AMD-based motherboard infrastructure. You are dead.”
But AMD did it.
- 1999 Pundit: “New and proprietary instruction sets from massive companies are the way to go. You are nuts if you think you can drive a 64-bit instruction set by yourselves. You will be dead.”
But AMD did it.
- 2003 Pundit: “No way you can get into the datacenter. You are just a consumer desktop CPU company. Get back in your box.”
But AMD did it.
- 2007 Pundit: “You’ve lost graphics technology leadership and you won’t ever get it back. The competition is too tough.”
But AMD did it.
So I hope I refreshed your memory banks on what pundits may have said, how AMD said “we can” and how AMD “just did it”. I want to highlight that we didn’t do anything on our own without the support of our customers, their customers, and technology and infrastructure partners.
I am excited about AMD, our employees, and our future. I am excited about what we plan to bring to our customers on cloud server computing and media-rich consumer usage models. Pundits will take shots and that’s okay, as it tends to motivate us and enhance the sweetness of our successes in the end.
Pundits laughed when Kennedy set his challenge to send a man to the moon and return him safely by the end of the 1960s. We like our moon-shots at AMD, too, and surprising the pundits again and again.
AMD, happy 40th and I promise I will keep promoting the “we can” attitude and we’ll just do it.
Note: Nigel Dessau, CMO and SVP at AMD is also providing his unique blog perspective on the 40th anniversary here.
Pat Moorhead is Vice President of Advanced Marketing at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.
HP dv2: Can you Really Combine Sophistication, Simplicity and Value in an Ultrathin?
Posted by Patrick Moorhead in 1:15 PM
Can an ultrathin notebook be sophisticated, simple, and not cost an arm and a leg? After using the new HP Pavilion dv2 for a few months, I would say, “yes”. Since I did my first blog on it back in January I even found some new tricks with the HP dv2. I was also amazed at how many ways the dv2 exceeded some of the specifications outlined in my “My Perfect Mini-Notebook”. Finally, I was surprised how much more I could do with the dv2 when compared to some of the pricey $2,000 ultraportables.
HP dv2 (.9" thin) next to BlackBerry Bold
For The Record
I have a mixed family of systems from many manufacturers. I use these to help with my day job. (No, I don’t blog or tweet for a living. J ) I also want to say that I have been immensely impressed with many of those $2,000 ultraportables on certain usage models like basic couch web surfing, writing emails, and social media sites. Finally, I am not a mainstream user; I am a media geek and a mid-range gamer. I do many things most non-geeks won’t do.
HD Video
- Blu-ray: My dv2 came with the optional Blu-ray drive. It’s simple; plug the drive into one of the 3 USB ports, pop in a movie, the HP player pops up, and watch it. Some of the pricey ultraportables don’t even support Blu-ray or come at an immense price adder.
Blu-ray drive next to a Blu-ray case
- HD video off hard drive: I wrote earlier on the fun and implications of the new breed of inexpensive HD palmcorders. Whether it’s the Kodak Zi6 or the Flip Mino HD, which capture video at 720P, or the Sony Webbie, which captures video at 1080, I can play these files back flawlessly on my dv2.* I use Cyberlink 8 playback these files and my CPU utilization is around 35%. In my personal experience at home with one of my ultraportables, CPU utilization sometimes ran as high as 75%.
Inexpensive HD Palmcorders at 720P or 1080P under $200
TV Connection
- Single HDMI cable: I connected my dv2 to my TV and got digital video and digital audio. Why? My family and I like to watch Blu-ray movies and Hulu together on a 60″ display, not 12″. Many advanced users are doing this today and our research says more and more people are doing this. Why? It’s one cable and they can get content on their PC they can’t get on their TV. Many of the current HDTV models even feature an HDMI port on the side panel to facilitate this usage model.
HP dv2's HDMI port for one cable digital video and audio
To accomplish this on some of the pricey ultraportables, a user could be required to buy additional cables and adapters, increasing cost and difficulty to setup. Would your wife prefer one cable or five cables in the living room?
Real Games
- ATI Radeon TM HD 3410 graphics: It’s generally understood that typical netbooks cannot play “real” J games well, and some say they aren’t intended to. The dv2 can because it has discrete graphics that you might expect to find in a larger, more expensive notebook. Not only could I play mainstream games well like WOW and Spore, but I could also play first-person-shooter PC games like Left 4 Dead and Call of Duty 4, albeit at lower settings than I could on an ATI RadeonTM HD 4000 Series card. The fact that I can even play these games is impressive. Some of the pricey ultraportables have Intel integrated graphics that may struggle to effectively play real games at a level I prefer to play. Ian McNaughton will be covering gaming and the dv2 in depth in a later blog.
3G Connectivity
- Integrated 3G: My HP dv2 came with 3G support capabilities, built-in! All I needed to do was remove the battery, plug in my AT&T SIM card, run HP connection manager to authorize my card (one click) with AT&T, and I was surfing in my car (while my wife was driving, of course). Alternatively, with some of these pricey ultraportables, I needed to plug in a relatively large external dongle into the side USB port.
HP dv2's Built-in 3G
The alternative 3 G dongle, NOT Built-In
Memory Card Connectivity
- SD card: The dv2 has a built-in memory card slot for devices like digital cameras and video cameras. It supports SD, MMC, MS/Pro, and xD. I take my pictures and videos, pull out the SD card from my digital still camera or video camera, and transfer it to the dv2. With some of the pricey ultraportables, you might need to buy an external SD card reader. By providing a built-in card reader at no extra cost, the dv2 may be able to save you time and money.
HP dv2's built-in memory reader
I like my expensive ultraportable for basic couch web surfing, writing emails, and social media sites. For more sophisticated tasks, I prefer my HP dv2 ultrathin notebook over my expensive ultraportable. It’s sophisticated in that it I can play HD videos and Blu-ray movies, play “real” games, and connect with 3G, yet it is simple enough to quickly connect what I want, when I want it, helping me save me time, hassle and even money. Oh yeah, and did I mention that you may even be able to buy two HP dv2’s and some Blu-ray movies for the price of one of those expensive ultraportables?
* Standard HP dv2 screen resolution is 1280 x 800; 1080p playback is possible when connected to an external 1080p display.