The heroes of our today's review are two notebooks: Compaq Presario 2810T and Toshiba Satellite 1900-703. Both have similar configurations, but differ by the graphics subsystems: the solution from Compaq features an ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9000 64MB DDR while the one from Toshiba - an NVIDIA GeForce4 440 Go 32MB DDR. So, we are going not only to check out the performance of the notebooks as complete systems, but also to compare two the speed and features of two popular graphics cards used in mobile graphics stations and notebooks offering an alternative to desktop PCs.
First of all, let's enumerate the key hardware features of each device. Their manufacturers position these notebooks as top-end solutions. That's why both: Compaq Presario 2810T and Toshiba Satellite 1900-703, are based on Intel Pentium 4 processor. But while Compaq used a high-end mobile Intel Pentium 4-M CPU, Toshiba chose an ordinary desktop Pentium 4. However, the CPUs features don't differ that greatly, to tell the truth.
We have already talked a lot about ordinary Pentium 4 processors in our previous articles (see the CPU section for more info). Now let's dwell upon their mobile counterparts. The mobile Pentium 4-M is based upon the same architecture as its desktop mate, but still has certain unique peculiarities. It's based on the 0.13micron Northwood core and has 512KB L2 cache, but its bus frequency is 400MHz. The main features of Pentium 4-M are, of course, the power-saving technologies used:
- Intel Enhanced SpeedStep helps to boost portables performance to the level of desktops, with all the mobile advantages remaining. This can be achieved due to two dynamically switched performance modes. In the maximum performance mode, the notebook is plugged into the AC line and works as fast as a desktop. The second, economy, mode saves power thus prolonging the battery life. For example, if the system is supplied by the batteries, the clock-rate of Pentium 4-M is reduced from the nominal 2.2GHz down to 1.2GHz. The same works for the CPU voltage: it is reduced from 1.3V to 1.2V. The software part of the Intel Enhanced SpeedStep allows switching between the modes automatically or manually, that is upon the user's desire.
- Deep Sleep technology turns the CPU into low power-consumption mode - below 1.2W. It's done when the CPU isn't involved, independent of the performance mode the system works in.
- Deeper Sleep technology, as the name suggests, means even lower power consumption than in the Deep Sleep mode.
Notebooks built on Pentium 4-M, including the one, which we are going to review today, are based on the i845M chipset. It's a mobile analog of i845D. This chipset supports 400MHz CPU bus, DDR200/DDR266 SDRAM and external AGP 4x graphics cards. Moreover, i845MP supports the three above-mentioned power-saving technologies and is able to control graphics card power consumption through the AGP bus. The South Bridge of the chipset (ICH3-M) supports ATA/100, AC'97 sound and six USB 2.0 ports.
As we have already said, Compaq Presario 2810T is based on Intel Pentium 4-M 2.2GHz CPU and supports all the pertaining technologies. Toshiba Satellite 1900-703 can't boast any power-saving tricks, as it is based on an ordinary desktop Pentium 4 2.2GHz. The Toshiba's notebook uses the regular i845D chipset with ICH4 South Bridge. Does it tell on the consumer qualities of the products? We will answer this question later on in the article!
Closer Look: Compaq Presario 2810T
The design of this model is rather unusual for a mobile graphics station. Here we deal not with a 10lb giant, but with a lightweight one. It's about 6lb, which is more typical of those carry-on notebooks.
The upper and lower covers of the notebook are colored silver and we even thought at first that they were made of plastic. But having removed a part of the upper cover (under which the wireless network card's antenna is supposed to be), all became clear.
But the part of the surface where the hands usually lie at work is not silver-colored. This is very smart, I think as the cover won't rub away with the time and won't show scratches, for example, from the watch bracelet.
The keys are made of black nontransparent plastic. A pressed key gives out a soft click. Some people who are accustomed to the crackle of mechanical keyboards may find this feature appropriate.
Some keys combine a few functions, available after you press the notebooks-peculiar Fn key. Among those functions are the ones managing the CD-ROM drive. Unfortunately, this model doesn't have an additional CD-ROM drive control panel so you can't use the drive without turning the computer on.
The pointing device is a touchpad with two keys and an additional scrolling key. The latter key is rather an ingenious solution, but not very easy to work with, from my personal point of view.
Between the keyboard and the screen there are functional keys that serve to power up the computer and to control the loudspeakers volume. The others are programmable ones that can be assigned whatever functions you like. Next to these keys, two on each side, are the LEDs of the LOCK mode, AC power supply and the HDD. The diodes that show the computer status (on or off) and batteries charge level are located on the front panel and are available with both opened and closed cover.
On the front panel we also see grated loudspeakers. They are JBL-Pro, but I didn't really like the quality of the sound - trebles and medium frequencies aren't very expressive. This notebook won't become a replacement for your audio center, but will allow you to enjoy your favorite CD far from home. Maybe, even more than once :). This model is also equipped with a microphone and the quality of recorded voice is quite good.
On the left side of the notebook (from the left to the right in the snapshot below) you can see audio ports (microphone input and headset output), one PCMCIA type II slot, the CD-RW/DVD drive that can theoretically be replaced with a floppy-drive, an additional rechargeable battery or a second hard drive. I said theoretically, because we didn't manage to find any special slide rails for these pieces of equipment here in Russia to see how it works.
The back panel carries a heatsink ventilation grid, an infrared port, and a plastic bracket. This bracket hides a parallel port, an output onto an external display, an S-Video output, two USB 2.0 ports, RJ-11 and RJ-45 connectors for modem and LAN, respectively, and a power supply unit connector.
On the left side we have a rechargeable battery, the HDD bay, heatsink grid and a Kensington lock slot.
What we liked a lot about Compaq Presario 2810T is the easiness with which you can replace the CD-ROM drive, memory modules, HDD and miniPCI card. By the way, the miniPCI slot in this model was occupied by a modem.
 CD-RW/DVD drive |  Hard disk drive | |
 | ||
We were quite upset to find no FireWire controller. Of course, you can just buy a PCMCIA card, but still… Also, it seemed pretty inconvenient to have that plastic bracket on the back panel, which turned out quite hard to open, and even harder to close. And you can hardly get along without the USB 2.0 ports it locked when closed! So, you really need to practice opening it a lot then...
The CPU cooling system is implemented via a set of heat-conductive tubes and a fan. The air inlets of the cooling system are placed at the sides of the case. It's better than place them at the bottom of the case, which may lead to overheating when you work with the notebook on your laps.
Moreover, this notebook was sparing on the cooling system and turned it on very rarely. The fan was rather noiseless, unlike in the second notebook we will discuss below.
A few words about the display. It is with a 15-inch diagonal and has 1600x1200 resolution. Whether it's good or not, depends upon the tasks you will be using this notebook for. System fonts look very small, and you will probably want to install large system fonts. However, for the graphics processing, you get everything you might ever wish. Viewing angle is rather short-ranged, but this is not much of a problem, if you prefer to look directly onto the screen :).
You can also connect an external display to the notebook. There are two options: the external display duplicates the picture on the notebook's screen, or it's used to enlarge the Windows Desktop. Moreover, you can enlarge it in any direction you can think of.
Compaq Presario 2810T Configuration
| Chipset | Intel 845MP |
|---|---|
| South Bridge | Intel 82801CAM |
| BIOS/Version | Compaq/F.06 |
| Processor Cache | Intel Pentium 4-M 2.2GHz 512KB |
| Bus frequency | 400MHz |
| RAM size | 512MB (2x256MB) DDR SDRAM |
| Memory frequency | 266MHz |
| Max. memory size | 1024MB |
| Number of memory slots/Free slots | 2/0 |
| Display Resolution Colors | Hannstar HSD-1503 15.1" TFT/1600x1200/32bit |
| Response time Contrast Brightness | 35ms 250:1 150nit |
| Graphis subsystem | ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9000 |
| Graphics memory | 64MB DDR SDRAM |
| Hard disk drive | 60GB, IBM IC25T060ATCS05-0, ATA-5, UDMA-100 |
| Spindle rotation speed Cache | 5400rpm 2MB |
| 3.5" floppy drive | None |
| CD-ROM drive | 24x/10x/24x/8x CDRW-DVD, Hitachi GCC-4240N |
| Sound subsystem | Intel 82801CA/CAM AC'97 |
| Speakers Microphone | Stereo, JBL Pro Yes |
| Infrared port | IrDA 1.1 FIR/SIR |
| PCMCIA controller | Texas Instruments PCI-1410 CardBus |
| PCMCIA slots | 1xPCMCIA 2.1 type II |
| MiniPCI slots/Free slots | 1/0 |
| Modem | Conexant HSFi V.92 |
| Network card | Intel Pro/100 VE Fast Ethernet |
| USB controller | NEC, 2.0 |
| IEEE-1394 controller | None |
| Interfaces: LPT/COM/USB/IEEE1394/IrDA | 1/0/2/0/1 |
| Communications: Modem/LAN/Wi-Fi/Bluetooth | 1/1/0/0 |
| Audio ports: In/Out/Mic/SP-DIF | 0/1/1/0 |
| Docking station connector | Yes |
| Power supply unit | AC: 100-240V, 1.6A, 50-60Hz; DC: 18.5V, 3.5A |
| Battery | 14.4V, 4.4AHr |
| Dimensions (L x W x H) | 326 x 265 x 38 mm |
| Weight | 2.8kg |
Closer Look: Toshiba Satellite 1900-703
This notebook is notable for its large size. Well, the modern mobile graphics stations are not supposed to change their environments too often. Although I would call this model an alternative to the home desktop computer, not to a graphics station, though. I will explain what made me think so later on.
The developers of this model planned that their product would be used stationary, as a desktop PC. And thus included certain features, which contribute a lot to making this solution correspond to the desired application. This notebook is equipped with a detachable keyboard that can be used as a wireless one. And if you add here a cordless optical mouse, which we found in the box, we will get a fully functional desktop PC with mobile input devices.
The keys are semi-transparent, they can be pressed easily and noiselessly. As for the marking, I didn't like it at all. The model features an English and Russian layout and both were marked in the same white color with the symbols of almost the same size, which is pretty misleading. Nearly all the functional keys have additional capabilities, available after pressing the Fn key. On adjusting the screen brightness, it shows a scale with the current value of the parameter. There is also a very handy opportunity to disable the touchpad when working with the keyboard.
The pointing device here, as in the Compaq Presario 2810T model, is a touchpad, though it has only two keys. There are no scrolling keys at all, and the touchpad doesn't support this feature. It's a pity...
The notebook's case is designed in dark colors, although the traditional silver parts also haven't been forgotten.
This is the CD-ROM drive control panel and LED panel. The latter one is very informative and can be easily seen when the cover is closed. In the corners we see the cordless mouse initialization key (to the left) and the infrared port (to the right).
The left side panel carries a cooling system grid, the keyboard locking clip above the grid, two PCMCIA type II slots and a FDD. The FDD can be removed if necessary.
At the back panel, there are the following ports (from left to right): the power supply connector, RJ-45 connector (LAN) and RJ-11 (modem), 4-pin iLink connector (FireWire), two USB ports, external display connector, parallel port, composite video output, Kensington lock slot.
The right panel features (in the same order): the volume control wheel, headset output, microphone input, USB port, CD-ROM drive, and above it - the second keyboard locking clip.
This model can't boast any serial ports, too, but is equipped with the iLink port. One of the USB connectors is placed on the right panel for easy connection of the peripherals. But the CD-RW/DVD drive is situated right behind this connector so it might be a problem to open the drive tray and change the CD when something is connected via the right USB port. The infrared port could have also been placed more conveniently. It's all right if you want to connect your cell phone to the notebook, but printing via a portable printer may appear quite a hard thing to do.
The sound system deserves a complementary word. When playing not at its maximum volume (otherwise it starts to wheeze), the sound quality is simply excellent. Even low frequencies are all here! I bet you should listen to a favorite CD on this notebook, even if you want to sit in silence :). This notebook model has no built-in microphone.
The upgrade options include: RAM, hard disk drive and floppy disk drive (!).
The notebook has a free miniPCI slot, placed beneath the keyboard.
We couldn't make out how the cooling system is designed in Toshiba Satellite 1900-703. But judging by the incessant hum, it had not a single second of rest. Well, no wonder, considering that this notebook uses an ordinary desktop CPU. Air is sucked in through the bottom cover, which may result in overheating if you work with the notebook standing on your laps. On the other hand, this model is intended for "desktop" work, so this cooling solution should be OK.
We really liked the large and bright display with a wider viewing angle than by Compaq Presario 2810T. The 1280x1024 resolution may prove insufficient for certain tasks involving a lot of graphics, but the system fonts don't look small, and there is no need to set a higher zoom in office applications. This resolution will also be quite enough for games. If consider this notebook as an alternative to the home desktop PC, the combination of the screen diagonal length and resolution seems optimal and suits for most practical tasks.
This notebook also allows connecting an external display. You can duplicate the picture onto the second display, or enlarge your Windows Desktop. The last option is limited on the software level: you can only enlarge the desktop horizontally or vertically. Well, I think this is quite enough as you don't often wish to extend your Desktop diagonally, do you?
Toshiba Satellite 1900-703 Configuration
| Chipset | Intel 845D |
|---|---|
| South Bridge | Intel 82801BA |
| BIOS/Version | Phoenix/4.0 R 6.0 for Toshiba |
| Processor Cache | Intel Pentium 4 2.2GHz 512KB |
| Bus frequency | 400MHz |
| RAM size | 512MB DDR SDRAM |
| Memory frequency | 266MHz |
| Max. memory size | 1024MB |
| Number of memory slots/Free slots | 2/0 |
| Display Resolution Colors | 16.0" TFT/1280x1024/32bit |
| Response time Contrast Brightness | No data |
| Graphis subsystem | NVIDIA GeForce4 440 Go |
| Graphics memory | 32MB DDR SDRAM |
| Hard disk drive | 40GB, Toshiba MK4018GAP, ATA-5, UDMA-100 |
| Spindle rotation speed Cache | 4200rpm 2MB |
| 3.5" floppy drive | 1.44MB, built-in |
| CD-ROM drive | 16x/10x/24x/8x CDRW-DVD, Toshiba SD-R2212 |
| Sound subsystem | Intel 82801BA/BAM AC'97 |
| Speakers Microphone | Stereo Yes |
| Infrared port | SMC IrCC |
| PCMCIA controller | O2Micro OZ6933 CardBus |
| PCMCIA slots | 2xPCMCIA 2.1 type II or 1xPCMCIA type III |
| MiniPCI slots/Free slots | 1/1 |
| Modem | Tpshiba Software AMR |
| Network card | Realtek RT8139/810X Fast Ethernet |
| USB controller | Intel 82801 BA/BAM |
| IEEE-1394 controller | Texas Instruments |
| Interfaces: LPT/COM/USB/IEEE1394/IrDA | 1/0/3/1/1 |
| Communications: Modem/LAN/Wi-Fi/Bluetooth | 1/1/0/0 |
| Audio ports: In/Out/Mic/SP-DIF | 0/1/1/0 |
| Docking station connector | None |
| Power supply unit | AC: 100-240V, 1.4A, 50-60Hz; DC: 19V, 4.74A |
| Battery | 14.8V, 5.85AHr |
| Dimensions (L x W x H) | 346 x 328 x 57 mm |
| Weight | 4.39kg |
Testing Methodology
We carried out our benchmarking in two steps.
The first step served to determine the overall performance of the notebooks in synthetic tests and office applications tests.
The second step was dedicated to the graphics subsystem performance. We used benchmarks and popular games to see which of the two testing participants is faster.
At both testing stages we measured the autonomous work time during the benchmarks.
Note: since Compaq Presario 2810T features a processor supporting SpeedStep power saving technology, we will provide the test results obtained in the power-saving mode in brackets.
Overall System Performance
| Benchmark and settings | Performance | |
|---|---|---|
| BAPCo/MadOnion MobileMark 2002 | Compaq Presario 2810T | Toshiba Satellite 1900-703 |
| Productivity workload - Performance rating | 99 (98) | 159 |
| Productivity workload - Average response time (sec) | 1.98 (2.02) | 1.24 |
| Productivity workload - Battery life rating (min) | 184 (186) | 173 |
| Reader workload - Battery life rating (min) | (211) | 193 |
| ZD Content Creation Winstone2002 1.0 | 30 (20.4) | 29.5 |
| BAPCo/MadOnion PCMark 2002 Pro | ||
| CPU score | 5396 (2977) | 5354 |
| Memory score | 4770 (3878) | 4594 |
| HDD score | 467 (463) | 420 |
| ZD Winbench 99 2.0 | ||
| Business Disk WinMark | 2610 (2230) | 5240 |
| High-End Disk WinMark | 11700 (9060) | 13400 |
| Business Graphics WinMark | 343 (228) | 593 |
| High-End Graphics WinMark | 1510 (874) | 1040 |
| SiSoft Sandra 2003 | ||
| CPU Arithmetic Benchmark | ||
| Dhrystone ALU, MIPS | 5730 (3129) | 5555 |
| Whetstone FPU/iSSE2, MFLOPS | 1250/2907 (687/1584) | 1243/2746 |
| CPU Multimedia Benchmark | ||
| Integer iSSE2, it/s | 8764 (4779) | 8728 |
| Floating-Point iSSE2, it/s | 11173 (6091) | 11064 |
| File System Benchmark, KB/sec | 13065 (13038) | 14534 |
| CD-ROM/DVD Benchmark (CDRW), KB/sec | 2162 | 637 |
| Memory Bandwidth Benchmark | ||
| RAM Int Buffered iSSE2 Bandwidth, MB/sec | 1936 (2015) | 2004 |
| RAM Float Buffered iSSE2 Bandwidth, MB/sec | 1934 (2010) | 2001 |
| 3DMark 2001 SE (1280x1024, 16bit color, 16bit Texture Format, 16bit Z-buffer depth, Triple Frame Buffer, FSAA 2 samples, D3D Pure Hardware T&L | ||
| Battery life rating, min | 89 | 77 |
The benchmark results seem rather confusing.
The synthetic benchmarks (SiSoft Sandra 2003, MadOnion PCMark 2002) tell that the HDD in the Compaq's notebook is faster. In fact, this is quite logical: as this HDD boasts faster spindle rotation speed as well as better average access time (12ms against 13ms). But the benchmarks that emulate real-life office and content creation applications indicate just the contrary. Maybe Compaq was unlucky to have a higher level of file fragmentation than its competitor. We can't find a better explanation.
The processors and memory of the two notebooks turned similar to each other, while the read speed of a compact disk with the tests (CDRW) was quite different. Moreover, we carried out this test a few times, but the results remained the same: the gap was more than three times in Compaq's favor.
The autonomous work time shown by Toshiba's notebook was very pleasing. To tell the truth, we didn't expect the monster with a 16" screen, 10lb weight and a desktop CPU to run with a battery for so long. Although Compaq Presario 2810T is the leader here, its rival from Toshiba is not very far behind.
One way or another, we had to admit that both notebooks showed similar performance. Quod erat demonstrandum :).
Now, let's go over to the second part of our tests.
Graphics Subsystem Performance
Here we would like to make a few comments before we start. The notebooks we tested boast powerful graphics subsystems and excellent displays so it's no wonder we paid so much attention to their performance in 3D applications.
Below are the key characteristics of the graphics chip used in the notebooks:
| Notebook | Compaq Presario 2810T | Toshiba Satellite 1900-703 |
|---|---|---|
| Graphics core | ATI RADEON MOBILITY 9000 | NVIDIA GeForce4 440 Go |
| Graphics memory | 64MB unified buffer, 128bit DDR SDRAM | 32MB unified buffer, 128bit DDR SDRAM |
| Chip/memory clock frequencies | 266MHz/220MHz (440MHz DDR) | 220MHz/220MHz (440MHz DDR) |
| Peak memory bus bandwidth | 6.7GB/sec | 6.7GB/sec |
| Pixel pipelines | 4 | 2 |
| Texturing units per pipeline | 1 | 2 |
| Max. fillrate, Mpixels/sec | 1064 | 440 |
| Max. fillrate with multitexturing, Mtexels/sec | 1064 | 880 |
| Max. number of textures laid per pass with multitexturing | 6 | 2 |
| Texture filtering | bi-linear tri-linear anisotropic (up to 16x) | bi-linear tri-linear anisotropic (up to 2x) tri-linear+anisotropic |
| DirectX8 pixel shaders | yes, version 1.4 (DirectX 8.1) | no |
| DirectX8 vertex shaders | yes, version 1.1 (DirectX 8.1) | no |
| Full-scene anti-aliasing | yes, 2x..6x supersampling | yes, 2x..4x supersampling |
| Video and DVD playback | FULLSTREAM technology: eliminates the artifacts of block video compression. VIDEOSHADER: involves pixel shader units to process the video images, performs color spaces conversion, motion compensation, DVD-iDCT hardware decompression. | Color spaces conversion, motion compensation, DVD-iDCT hardware decompression, Inverse Quantization. |
| Dual-monitor configurations | Yes (any combinations of its own display, CRT, TV) | |
| TV-Out | Yes, S-Video, NTSC/PAL, max. resolution up to 1024x768 | |
| Power saving technologies | Yes, PowerMizer technology: Disables the clock signal for the uninvolved blocks of the graphics core, monitors the power supply type and battery status, managers the working frequency flexibly in real time adjusting it according to the applications needs. | |
Judging by the specs, the MOBILITY RADEON 9000 graphics chip from ATI is more attractive than NVIDIA GeForce4 440 Go. It supports a number of modern standards and is simply faster. No wonder as MOBILITY RADEON 9000 is the mobile version of RADEON 9000 (RV250), which in its turn was developed basing on RADEON 8500 (R200). The NVIDIA GeForce4 440 Go is the mobile version of GeForce4 MX, which is a much weaker chip.
Seems like MOBILITY RADEON 9000 from ATI has every chance to become a graphics chip, which would change the popular opinion that the notebook graphics is deficient by the mere definition. This graphics subsystem boasts better specs than some "desktop" graphics cards. Just look here: MOBILITY RADEON 9000 has full hardware DirectX8.1 support, anisotropic filtering, anti-aliasing and multi-display configurations support, can work with video and overlays. And all this comes at a good performance level and moderate power consumption, which is typical of a mobile graphics chip.
But these are still words. They will ring truth only if confirmed by actual benchmarking results. So, let's run our benchmarks:
| Benchmark and settings | Performance | |
|---|---|---|
| 3DMark 2001 SE | Compaq Presario 2810T | Toshiba Satellite 1900-703 |
| Overall performance (1024x768, 16bit color, 16bit Texture Format, 16bit Z-buffer depth, Double Frame Buffer, D3D Pure Hardware T&L) | 7273 | 4894 |
In general reckoning, 3DMark 2001 SE shows that the notebook equipped with MOBILITY RADEON 9000 is the winner. Moreover, the leader managed to leave its rival almost 1.5 times behind!
When we set higher resolution and turn anti-aliasing 2x on, the workload increases and the speed slows down…:
| Benchmark and settings | Performance | |
|---|---|---|
| 3DMark 2001 SE | Compaq Presario 2810T | Toshiba Satellite 1900-703 |
| Overall performance (1280x1024, 16bit color, 16bit Texture Format, 16bit Z-buffer depth, Triple Frame Buffer, FSAA 2 samples, D3D Pure Hardware T&L) | 2961 | 1852 |
| Game 1 Low/High Detail | 41.2/26.8 | 29.5/18.8 |
| Game 2 Low/High Detail | 37.8/24.6 | 25.7/19.0 |
| Game 3 Low/High Detail | 38.4/24.7 | 23.9/15.3 |
| Game 4 | 13.2 | - |
| Fillrate Single/Multi | 436.0/498.0 | 209.8/210.4 |
| High Polygon Count 1Light/8Light | 15.8/4.3 | 17.3/4.3 |
| Environment Bump Mapping | 41.1 | - |
| DOT3 Bump Mapping | 26.9 | 19.3 |
| Vertex Shader | 33.8 | 27.5 |
| Pixel/Advanced Pixel Shader | 33.8/25.8 | -/- |
| Point Sprites | 7.8 | 5.6 |
But still, the notebook with the ATI's graphics is in the lead. Note that NVIDIA GeForce4 440 Go didn't pass tests with EMBM, pixel shaders and Nature test - it just doesn't support pixel shaders, EMBM and rendering of over two textures per pass. It means that modern and upcoming DirectX8 games, even if we do not take into account the performance of a notebook with NVIDIA GeForce4 440 Go, will hardly look impressive, or even won't start up at all.
| Benchmark and settings | Performance | |
|---|---|---|
| Unreal Tournament 2003 Demo Color: 32bit; Texture Detail: Normal; World Detail: High; Character Detail: Normal; Physics Detail: High; All Options: ON; Decay Stay: High | Compaq Presario 2810T | Toshiba Satellite 1900-703 |
| Flyby: | ||
| 800x600, fps | 78.71 | 76.76 |
| 1024x768, fps | 52.17 | 51.12 |
| 1280x1024, fps | 34.22 | 32.66 |
| BotMatch: | ||
| 800x600, fps | 37.85 | 40.27 |
| 1024x768, fps | 33.90 | 32.91 |
| 1280x1024, fps | 25.29 | 20.25 |
Here both notebooks perform equally fast.
Compaq Presario 2810T  | Toshiba Satellite 1900-703  |
But if we take a closer look at the screenshots made on the Toshiba notebook, we will notice serious problems with the Z-buffer (see the slope at the left in the upper picture and the white artifacts near the tree).
| Benchmark and settings | Performance | |
|---|---|---|
| Serious Sam SE, The Grand Cathedral Quality; 1024x768; Color: 32bit; Texture Size: Tiny; Texture Quality: 32bit; Effect Quality: 32bit; Textures: Detail; Shadowmap: Large; Lens: Std; Nosound | Compaq Presario 2810T | Toshiba Satellite 1900-703 |
| Flyby: | ||
| Originally recorded, fps | 51.2 | 33.2 |
| Without excessive peaks, fps | 51.6 | 33.6 |
| High peak, fps | 115.7 | 51.8 |
| Low peak, fps | 33.0 | 24.4 |
| High sustained, fps | 82.5 | 44.2 |
| Low sustained, fps | 38.6 | 26.3 |
The ATI's graphics subsystem has huge advantage in Serious Sam: The Second Encounter.
Compaq Presario 2810T | Toshiba Satellite 1900-703 |
| Benchmark and settings | Performance | |
|---|---|---|
| Quake3, DM6 1280x1024; Color: 32bit; Lightmap; Geometric Detail: High; Texture Detail: Max; Texture Quality: 32bit; Texture Filter: Trilinear | Compaq Presario 2810T | Toshiba Satellite 1900-703 |
| Frames | 1260 | 1260 |
| Time, sec | 13.1 | 14.5 |
| Result, fps | 96.5 | 86.8 |
RADEON MOBILITY 9000 is better in Quake3 Arena, too, although the gap is smaller this time.
Compaq Presario 2810T   | Toshiba Satellite 1900-703   |
Well, this is a Pearl Harbor for NVIDIA! The graphics subsystem in Compaq Presario 2810T has 64MB of graphics memory against 32MB in Toshiba's notebook, but…The only game that doesn't definitely show the advantage of ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9000 is Unreal Tournament 2003. However, let's recall the splash screen before the game with the NVIDIA's logo. It's all right if the game is well optimized for one of the most popular graphics chips, but there are not very many games like that. And if it's optimized for ATI?
Conclusion
Our benchmarks showed that the Compaq Presario 2810T notebook with the ATI RADEON MOBILITY graphics subsystem from ATI boasts high functionality and impressive performance even from a "non-mobile" point of view. Our tests proved that this solution really can become a good replacement for a mainstream desktop gaming system, or for sure provide highly comfortable gaming in most modern applications.
Toshiba Satellite 1900-703 with the NVIDIA GeForce4 440 Go graphics is not that excellent in 3D applications. Well, it's no dishonor to lose to a worthy rival. NVIDIA GeForce4 440 Go remains one of the fastest mobile GPUs, but the absence of hardware DirectX8.1 support and lower performance don't allow suggesting Toshiba Satellite 1900-703 as a fully-fledged substitute for a "desktop" gaming system.
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