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  • Hrel - Monday, July 11, 2011 - link

    I wish compal would release a 15.6" with a GTX560 in it... sigh. Oh well, just ordered the Clevo.

    I'd be curious to know if DDR3-1333 with CAS latency 9 is faster or if 1066 with latency 7 is faster. Like I said, I just ordered this laptop and intend to add or swap out the RAM. Came with 1333, so I know it's CAS 9. It's always made sense to me to reduce latency whenever possible. But I'd like to know for sure. What do you think, 1333 at CAS 9 or 1066 at CAS 7? Gaming, video editing, web surfing. Media playback is the usage model. Tests would be great, but that's asking a lot.

    It annoys me that they put so much RAM on GPU's in notebooks. Like you said it can't use anywhere near that much. They just wanna sell more RAM and don't want you to have a choice. So they just let the price creep up. Similar feeling to the old RAM price fixing issues from a decade ago. Same idea, just forcing quantity on you instead of straight price.

    Finally, I'd like to see the Seagate Momentus XT compared to a laptop 7200rpm drive. Anand's review of it compared it to a 5400rpm drive, hardly a reasonable comparison considering the XT runs at 7200rpm AND has 32MB of cache. I ordered it already anyway, but I like numbers:)

    On to the rest of the review!
  • Hrel - Monday, July 11, 2011 - link

    I like the keyboard mostly. The NBLB2 never bothered me except where the ctrl key is. They 10-key on this looks good, all the numbers and enter key at least. The other keys I just couldn't fit to the right. I'm ok with that. I can still do the number part as fast as ever, just have to alter brain patterns to hit the + - / * keys.

    I hate one mouse button, give me two actual buttons please.

    I know it's silly but I want a fingerprint scanner. Seriously, how much can they cost? 15 bucks? I got that.

    Overall I agree. Much improved but still in need of work.
  • Hrel - Monday, July 11, 2011 - link

    Final thing I should mention. If you google "cyberpowerpc coupon" you will find multiple coupon codes that STILL work. Can save you about 20-80 bucks depending on some variables. Basically paid for shipping and then a little thank you for me.
  • GuinnessKMF - Monday, July 11, 2011 - link

    The latency is a measure of how many clocks, so comparing latency directly is misleading. 1333mhz, 9 clocks is 6.75 microseconds (my units might be off, but I'll be consistent), and the 1066 with CAS 7 is 6.56 microseconds, less than a 3% degradation in actual latency, but you're looking at about a 25% throughput improvement. Different applications demand different performance characteristics, but I think for the most part a DDR3-1333 at CAS 9 is going to be an improvement over DDR3-1066 CAS 7.
  • PlasmaBomb - Monday, July 11, 2011 - link

    It would be nanoseconds (ns), and I don't think 3% is enough to be worried about (you probably won't notice it due to benchmarking variations). Other than that thumbsup.
  • tzhu07 - Monday, July 11, 2011 - link

    Tacky build quality and design + glossy screen on a laptop = auto-fail

    Bleh.
  • DanNeely - Monday, July 11, 2011 - link

    "Unfortunately, the PBL21's keyboard is more of a lateral move than anything and I'm beginning to think that despite the ability to cram a 10-key into a 15.6" chassis, manufacturers should probably just avoid it."

    Yeah, if there's only room to fit 3 columns naturally I'd much rather see the ins-pgdn keys and the arrow T in a proper desktop layout than anything else.
  • wurizen - Monday, July 11, 2011 - link

    why does a modern gpu like the gt 540m have trouble playing in 1080p when console games like the PS3, which is like 5 yrs old have no problem w/ it?
  • Dustin Sklavos - Monday, July 11, 2011 - link

    Consoles typically render at 720p (sometimes lower) and then upscale the image. The lion's share of the time they're not ACTUALLY rendering at 1080p.
  • wurizen - Monday, July 11, 2011 - link

    huh? aren't ps3 games already 1080p? no need to upscale. are you saying ps3 developers render their games at less than 1080p and tell you it's 1080p? i think you can sue them for that.
  • DanNeely - Tuesday, July 12, 2011 - link

    It's true, and if that was litigatible class action lawyers would've been circling Sony like sharks years ago. the first PS3 game to upsample came out only a year or two after the console launched. The clueless brigade of the internet press concluded that it meant that PS# hardware was maxed out and that the console would be fated for a very early replacement.
  • shooty - Monday, July 11, 2011 - link

    "Noise levels are comfortably low even under extreme load..."

    Is the this the only mention of noise or did I miss something? Noise levels are important in a notebook, can you please have a comparison graph of this notebooks noise levels idling and under load? Similar to what is done for graphics cards.
    Thanks
  • aranyagag - Tuesday, July 12, 2011 - link

    why is it that except apple no one is capable of giving a 16:10 or taller screen -- am I the only one that does not spend all the time on the notebook watching movies?
    and even for 16:9 movies I prefer the onscreen menu to remain visible-- and not hide the movie.
  • Kakureru - Tuesday, July 12, 2011 - link

    last time I had a Compal laptop, the support was complete crap.
    I was left to my own devices as I had to fix obscure built in un replaceable components
    with the life cycle of less than one service pack cycle...
    I would be willing to invest another look if that has changed.
  • StrangerGuy - Wednesday, July 13, 2011 - link

    WTF...vendors still wanna build laptops with glossy surfaces in Q3 2011 despite we saying a million times that we don't want out laptops to be fingerprint and scratch magnets.

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