Gateway E-155-C: A Lightweight Convertible
by Jarred Walton on July 4, 2007 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
Synthetic Graphics and Gaming Performance
We don't place a lot of stock in the performance results generated by Futuremark's 3DMark applications, and the Gateway E-155-C isn't designed with gaming or graphics performance in mind. About the best we can say is that the Intel GMA950 GPU manages to run Vista Aero Glass more or less acceptably. The system scores a 3.1 on the Windows Experience Index, and unlike the new X3100 graphics core SM3.0 is not supported. As a rough estimate of gaming performance, we're presenting the 3DMark results, and we will follow with a brief discussion of actual gaming tests.
We'll let the charts speak for themselves here. Basically, you get CPU performance that's about half as fast as your typical desktop system these days, and integrated graphics performance that was already slow when the GMA950 first launched last year. It's somewhat entertaining to use the tablet PC interface to play solitaire, but anything beyond casual gaming most likely won't run properly (if at all).
Taking a quick look at actual gaming performance, we loaded up Quake 4 and turned off all of the graphical details after selecting low-quality defaults. That means we disabled bump-mapping, detailed textures, shadows, etc. At 640x480, the system managed to average 7.0 FPS. To its credit, frame rates didn't drop a whole lot as we increased resolution up to the native 1280x800, but regardless of resolution Quake 4 remained unplayable. Far Cry at minimum graphics detail settings didn't fare much better: 14 FPS at 640x480, and decreasing performance from there. At that point we decided to call it quits on any further graphics tests.
Something else that we should mention in regards to graphics concerns the drivers. The system shipped with drivers that were over one month old (the driver file from Intel's web site was named winvista_154.exe), and Intel recently updated all of their graphics drivers. Using the latest "winvista_1543.exe" drivers, we experienced problems with Vista whenever the system dropped out of Aero Glass mode into Vista Basic mode.
It appears that vsync isn't working in the latest drivers in Vista Basic mode, so when the Windows login screen first appears up until the time the graphics drivers are fully initialized, we experienced intense flickering. This also occurred with a few applications that forced the graphics to run in Vista Basic mode - 3DMark03/05 and Xmpeg both cause this to occur. You can see a horizontal dark area that extends the width of the screen in the above image; when you're actually sitting in front of the computer, this black area flickers around the entire screen rapidly. Long story short, stick with the older Intel drivers for now and don't worry too much about graphics performance.
We don't place a lot of stock in the performance results generated by Futuremark's 3DMark applications, and the Gateway E-155-C isn't designed with gaming or graphics performance in mind. About the best we can say is that the Intel GMA950 GPU manages to run Vista Aero Glass more or less acceptably. The system scores a 3.1 on the Windows Experience Index, and unlike the new X3100 graphics core SM3.0 is not supported. As a rough estimate of gaming performance, we're presenting the 3DMark results, and we will follow with a brief discussion of actual gaming tests.
We'll let the charts speak for themselves here. Basically, you get CPU performance that's about half as fast as your typical desktop system these days, and integrated graphics performance that was already slow when the GMA950 first launched last year. It's somewhat entertaining to use the tablet PC interface to play solitaire, but anything beyond casual gaming most likely won't run properly (if at all).
Taking a quick look at actual gaming performance, we loaded up Quake 4 and turned off all of the graphical details after selecting low-quality defaults. That means we disabled bump-mapping, detailed textures, shadows, etc. At 640x480, the system managed to average 7.0 FPS. To its credit, frame rates didn't drop a whole lot as we increased resolution up to the native 1280x800, but regardless of resolution Quake 4 remained unplayable. Far Cry at minimum graphics detail settings didn't fare much better: 14 FPS at 640x480, and decreasing performance from there. At that point we decided to call it quits on any further graphics tests.
Something else that we should mention in regards to graphics concerns the drivers. The system shipped with drivers that were over one month old (the driver file from Intel's web site was named winvista_154.exe), and Intel recently updated all of their graphics drivers. Using the latest "winvista_1543.exe" drivers, we experienced problems with Vista whenever the system dropped out of Aero Glass mode into Vista Basic mode.
 |
It appears that vsync isn't working in the latest drivers in Vista Basic mode, so when the Windows login screen first appears up until the time the graphics drivers are fully initialized, we experienced intense flickering. This also occurred with a few applications that forced the graphics to run in Vista Basic mode - 3DMark03/05 and Xmpeg both cause this to occur. You can see a horizontal dark area that extends the width of the screen in the above image; when you're actually sitting in front of the computer, this black area flickers around the entire screen rapidly. Long story short, stick with the older Intel drivers for now and don't worry too much about graphics performance.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
25 Comments
View All Comments
DEMO24 - Wednesday, July 4, 2007 - link
stylus is the only way to make commands work on the screen.also if you configure the stylus right, then having the issue mentioned in the article is not a problem.
I carry a tablet around where I work. While I don't use the tablet function, its been pretty damn reliable. They seem to be a bit more durable than a normal laptop. This thing has seen its fair share of abuse, and it's never missed a beat.
JarredWalton - Wednesday, July 4, 2007 - link
You can interface with the display using a finger, but for a variety of reasons I would definitely recommend the stylus. You get better accuracy, you can easily click or right-click, and you don't leave fingerprints everywhere.Vidmar - Wednesday, July 4, 2007 - link
Page 10: The chart says "Batter Life". I guess you can't have your cake and eat it too! ;)Vidmar - Wednesday, July 4, 2007 - link
I wonder if you could get better battery life under XP tablet instead of Vista? Our E-155Cs are getting ~240-260 mins of battery life with the six cell battery under XP tablet while doing routine tasks and the display fully bright. (Which I agree is necessary)Also you had mentioned in the article that the display would dim sometimes all on its own. There is a BIOS option, ALS control (Ambient Light Sensor) that allows the machine to control display brightness using a sensor on the laptop. This reason for this option is when you would want/need to use it in daylight. The sensor senses the extreme brightness of daylight and lowers the brightness of the display so that it can be read in full sunshine. Unfortunately I think it’s a bit more sensitive and can also lower the display brightness when it really should not. This can be simply disabled in the BIOS.
JarredWalton - Wednesday, July 4, 2007 - link
It wouldn't surprise me if XP lasts a bit longer in terms of battery life. Vista seems like it tends to keep the CPU in a higher performance state, at least on other laptops. The HP dv6500t, for example, rarely ran at lower than 1.6 GHz, even though it could go as low as 800 MHz (or perhaps 1 GHz?). One of these days I'll have to do a better XP vs. Vista laptop comparison, just to see how things stand.MercenaryForHire - Wednesday, July 4, 2007 - link
Or at least beaten with a hose. I haven't used a telephone cable for anything other than the household phone for about ten years.And while the forward location of the (only) two USB ports makes it easy to pop in a memory stick or other peripheral, it makes using a mouse more than a slight nuisance as the cord will have to snake backwards across the optical drive.
Vidmar - Wednesday, July 4, 2007 - link
One aspect of this table pc that was missing from this article was that it also can be configured with Bluetooth. A Bluetooth mouse is the perfect companion for this machine. No wires, USB wireless adapters necessary.bldckstark - Friday, July 6, 2007 - link
USB wireless mouse = $12Bluetooth mouse = $80
Extra 3lbs of batteries you have to carry for the Bluetooth mouse = Priceless
At least that's what my Chiropracter said.
If you have to plug in a USB device to run your mouse, why not just use a wired one? Why bother with the batteries.
Visual - Wednesday, July 4, 2007 - link
that laptop is utter crap, it seems.only people that really want something ultra-light and don't care for performance at all would be interested... and they would be better off with a pda or smartphone, with an additional portable keyboard if they need a lot of typing.
i dont understand why laptop makers don't make a decent convertible - at least 13-15", with reasonable graphic card and all... and even bigger laptops, even if they're not too comfortable for holding in one hand can still benefit from a touchscreen and a tablet-like folding.
Vidmar - Wednesday, July 4, 2007 - link
This laptop/tablet is for those who need to run a queries against an database, while programming that new interface for the next rev of the accounting app, while reading their email, while taking notes tablet style, all while connected to the corporate VPN and never having to touch an electrical outlet for ~4.5 hours in those day long meetings.Do that on your PDA.