Second Chance: Desktop Processors In A Mobile Form Factor – THG.RU

Introduction

Earlier this month, Harald Thon and Uli Ries took a look at the Dell SmartStep 250N in the article The Gigahertz Dupe: Dell SmartStep 250N. In this article, we uncovered some of the problems with using a desktop Pentium 4 Northwood processor in a mobile form factor. The results of our investigation into the Dell SmartStep 250N provided some much needed perspective on the pros and cons of using this configuration, although the editors who wrote this article were less than impressed with some of the shortcomings of the SmartStep 250N.

We received an interesting e-mail from the folks at WinBook requesting that we take another look at a desktop processor in a mobile form factor. WinBook suggested that they might be able to provide a better solution to address the shortcomings noted in our Dell testing. Initially, we were not really that excited about this idea, but WinBook “sweetened the pot” by allowing us the exclusive opportunity to test their new J4 with an Intel 3.06GHz non-HyperThreading CPU. While we were still skeptical (since the 3.06GHz uses more power than the 2.2GHz Pentium 4 Northwood that we saw in the Dell SmartStep 250N), we agreed to take a look at their new J4 Final Engineering Sample to see what we might find under its hood.

Yes, that is a Pentium 4 Northwood running at 3.06GHz in the WinBook J4.

The WinBook J4 – Specifications and Background

The WinBook J4 appears, at first glance, to be a notebook that nearly anyone can afford. With configurations priced as low as $999 US, it is clear that, like the Dell SmartStep 250N, WinBook’s goal with the J4 is affordability along with features that most users would like to have in a power notebook. Let’s take a look at the specifications of the J4.

The J4 offers a 1x” SVGA+ display with a max resolution of 1400×1050. The ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 (M9) with 64MB of video RAM feeds the display. We would rate the display quality as excellent. The Mobility Radeon in the J4 unit was clocked at 260MHz core and 200MHz RAM.

The J4’s case is made of plastic and metal which is finished in black. This color scheme is a return by WinBook to its all-black color scheme, which had changed to silver and grey finishes only in recent years. The J4 is neither light nor slim, checking in at the following dimensions: 13.07″ (332mm) x 10.8″ (275mm) x 1.64/1.81″ (41.8/46.2mm) overall; back to front height of 1.64″/ 1.81″ (41.8/ 46.2mm) (front/ back); typical weight is 9.5 pounds (4.3kg), which puts the J4 in the “heavy” category. Most of its weight is due to its 12 cell LiIon, 87.02 W/hr battery, which has a recharge time of 3.5 hours with the system off.

When it comes to connections, however, the J4 is loaded with everything that you could ask for. The back of the unit includes a headphone jack, mic jack, printer port, VGA port, S-Video out, modem jack, and AC in. As you can see in the picture below, the J4 unit includes two vents on the back of the unit to help with heat dissipation.

The WinBook J4 – Specifications and Background, Continued

A look a the back of the WinBook J4. WinBook has gone the extra mile to keep the J4 well vented, as there are vents all over this system to keep it running cool.

The right hand side of the unit includes the 16X DVD/ CDRW combo drive, four USB ports and a Kensington lock socket.

The right side of the WinBook J4.

The left side of the unit has a 10/ 100 Ethernet connector, four-pin 1394 Firewire port, and a single Type II Cardbus Slot with Zoomed Video Support. Again, there are more vents on this side of the notebook, too, to dissipate heat buildup.

The left side of the WinBook J4.

The front has two speakers, as well as audio CD controls. The J4 has a unique metal magnetic latch locking mechanism that connects the latch to the notebook unit when the lid is almost closed. This mechanism seems sturdy, and our repeated abuses of the case and lid to try to break the locking mechanism failed.

A view of the front of the WinBook J4.

The J4 offers a keyboard that we would consider to be slightly above average, but still far from the over-the-top performance offered by the IBM A31p that we reviewed earlier this year. The keyboard action was crisp and had nice travel with a good key size. The J4 includes a Synaptics Glide Pad with scroll support, but no pointing stick.

A close-up look at the keyboard of the WinBook J4.

A Different Approach To Power Management With A Desktop CPU

WinBook takes a different approach to power management with the J4 than Dell did with its SmartStep 250N. The BIOS in the J4 utilizes a tiered throttling system when on battery power. The system monitors the battery charge capacity and adjusts accordingly. Throttling on battery power is obviously necessary due to the extremely high current draw desktop location of the CPU on the battery. In our test unit, when it was on a full charge and on battery power, the speed of the unit is reduced to 2.3GHz, which is only about 25% less than the 3.06GHz that you receive when the system is powered by AC.

The bottom of the WinBook J4 tells a lot of the story. Once the battery and the three access covers are removed, you can see the Intel Pentium 4 3.06GHz, as well as the 5400-RPM hard drive and the two SODIMM slots. This makes upgrades pretty easy. As you can see, it is very easy to add more RAM, upgrade the hard drive, and perhaps even upgrade the processor, if the thermal envelope of the J4 can handle it.

We asked Matt DeLille, the Lead Engineer for the WinBook J4, what would happen if they let the CPU run at full speed, what kind of issues he thought we would see. His response was the following:

1. The battery pack will overheat and trip the battery thermal sensor, causing the battery to protect itself (i.e. system shutdown).
2. Unrestricted current draw will play havoc with the battery smart card and the battery is unable to calibrate charge levels correctly. The idea is to have a controlled discharge instead of an exponential discharge (especially when the battery charge gets close to EDV1).
3. Unacceptable battery life (approximately 75 to 90 minutes if unrestricted and running a heavy load; less than that if the battery protects itself).

WinBook utilizes the following methods for BIOS throttling on the battery in order to prevent these issues from happening:

• If charge level is > 14%, then the system implements a 25% duty cycle. (The 3.06 would run at 75% speed or 2.3GHz.)
• If charge level is < 15%, then the system implements a 50% duty cycle. (The 3.06 would run at half speed or 1.5GHz.)

WinBook selected these levels because they offer optimum performance while protecting the battery/ system. This choice also addresses the concerns that we saw with battery management strategies in other units that throttle the CPU to half speed. The J4 does everything possible to make the battery last as long as possible. WinBook also offers the user the option of turning on ATI’s Power Play technology, which also helps increase battery life.

While it is obvious that WinBook cannot include all of the power saving features that the Pentium 4m offers, we found that WinBook’s throttling strategy did allow the J4 to run at full speed while on battery. To that end, we saw some change between the scores on AC and Battery, when the battery had a full charge.

The battery performance scores were not as low as we thought they would be, but the DVD playback scores were slightly lower than we would have liked. If you choose a short DVD, or one that is 1 hour and 45 minutes, you should be able to get through the entire movie before the J4 shuts down. However, if you are watching a DVD with running time as long as “The Patriot” or “JFK,” you will not be to see all of it on one battery charge.

How Does The 3.06GHz Pentium 4 Performance Stack Up?

Thursday, we looked at the new 3.06GHz Pentium 4 processor with Intel’s new HyperThreading Technology, while today with the J4 we are looking at a standard Pentium 4 Northwood that is clocked at 3.06GHz. It is amazing to think that it is possible to carry a 3GHz+ chip in a mobile form factor.

While some might argue that the J4 is more of a transportable, the obvious applications for a unit like this are for a user who requires the maximum power possible on a desktop in a mobile form factor.

The J4 that we tested was a Final Engineering Sample, and we will find out in the conclusion what this means as far as availability of final product release goes. Other than our standard performance graphs, we didn’t test the unit against another notebook, so we present these numbers for reference only. All tests were run at the max resolution, which is 1400×1050 with 32-bit color. Each of these tests was run with ATI’s PowerPlay power management technology disabled. Each test was preformed both on AC power (3.06GHz) and on battery power using the J4’s throttling system which starts at 2.3GHz.

The overall performance in our testing was good for both the SiS chipset that the J4 uses, as well as the additional power that the 3.06GHz processor provides. The scores when on battery, however, are a mixed bag, with the Sysmark 2002 tests showing at lot less performance. It is obvious that when using the WinBook’s throttled perfomance, it still does impact the scores. While the scores are still slower than what we see in the testing of the highest levels of configuration for desktop units, the J4 strikes a good balance in its performance, getting a lot of “bang for the buck,” but like the Dell SmartStep, you can not run at full speed when on battery.

Conclusion – Good Performance & Nice Package

Although the fan in our unit did run all of the time, the system never was really hot. At times, it was perhaps on the warm side, but never what we would consider to be hot. “The WinBook J4 3.06 engineering sample proves the outstanding thermal characteristics of the WinBook J4 and this shows the extraordinary performance possible with Intel’s fastest Pentium 4 processor. This J4 offers the most advanced components in a notebook including the ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 GPU and 5,400 RPM hard drives,” says Kevin Hollingshead, WinBook Vice President of Future Products. We would agree that WinBook has certainly done its homework on the thermal levels for the J4 and they have provided a desktop-oriented solution that can work pretty well in the J4’s mobile form factor.

As we explained earlier in this article, the WinBook J4 models with the ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 GPU are available now with Intel Pentium 4 processors 2.0 GHz thru 2.4 GHz versions. 2.8 GHz versions will be available within the next month. When we asked Kevin Hollingshead when we can expect to see the 3.06GHz Pentium 4 processor in the J4 available for retail purchase, he replied, “We are making some additional enhancements that will be available in the production J4 3.06 GHz version. This will include a 125 Watt power supply, 3.06 GHz Pentium 4 with HyperThreading, 333 MHz DDR SDRAM and ATI’s next GPU – code named ‘M10’ – for performance even more awe-inspiring than the ATI Mobility Radeon 9000.” Look for these to debut when ATI launches the M10. (We estimate this be as soon as Q1 of 2003.)

As far as the design of the J4 test unit, we found it to be very good, but we really missed the floppy drive that we are so accustomed to having with most portable units. The lack of a track point might also be something that you miss, as well. We did like the addition of the new scroll button, however. The clean, sleek, black color of the J4 is a bit more attractive than the previous J4 revision that was high-tech silver.

WinBook has put a good package together with the J4. With the upcoming enhancements to the next revision of the J4, WinBook appears ready to take it to the next level. The J4 offers solid performance in a well-rounded package, and is a viable solution for travelers who remain close to a power source and aren’t dependent on battery power. It offers a more than capable solution for those who want a system to carry to LAN parties, for example, or to take along on short trips. Unlike some other systems, the J4 puts desktop performance in a desktop replacement form factor. The J4 indicates WinBook’s attention to detail in its design, and both the CPU throttling to better extend the battery life and the excellent thermal design are features that deserve high marks.