MSI MEGABOOK S270
Notebook at work
Noise and cooling
The mobile Sempron proved a bit too hot processor. During the
work, the notebook emits so much heat that can be used as a premises
heater. In fact, all is not that bad - the ventilation system of the
notebook does an excellent job of cooling even when the computer is
loaded to the full. Of course, the machine not only expels heated air
while working but also produces quite a lot of noise. It's not at all
recommended to block the vent holes in the bottom part of the computer
so as not to prevent outer air coming in. This fact somehow spoils the
impression described in the beginning of the article saying that
MEGABOOK S270 is a traveler's notebook.
LCD
The quality of the LCD matrix is a pleasure to any user, be it
somebody who likes watching films or an office worker. Having run a
number of graphic tests, including those with NokiaMonitorTest, we
found out that the matrix of S270 offers no gaps and drops in the
grayscale, has a high enough color rendition, as well as good viewing
angles. With dynamic movies, we ascertained that the matrix offers a
high enough speed that allows watching films comfortably without object
bifurcation on the screen and even playing dynamic games, but in this
case the graphic system may prove a bottleneck, but we'll talk about
that below. It should be also noted that the display offers a wide
range for brightness adjustment, which is very important for a
comfortable work in various illumination levels.
Audio
Like the vast majority of small-sized compact notebooks, S270
does not offer powerful audio system able reproducing an adequate audio
pattern both with high and low components. In a word, speakers in S270
appear to be regular mobile "tweeters".
General impressions of the work
This notebook is comfortable enough to work not only due to
its lightness and compactness, but also because of the high enough
manufacturing of all the components. The computer is simply nice to
hold in your hands. The feeling of convenience is spoilt merely by the
excessive heat emission, so you've got to be prepared to that nuisance
when buying a MEGABOOK S270.
Performance tests
The novelty by MSI is not a replacement to the home-based PC
and is not a gamer's laptop. This is an office computer, a traveler's
computer, one for all those who have to solve not difficult office
tasks on the run and plays once in a while.
The overall system performance was measured with SiSoftware
Sandra 2004 SP2. To estimate the capabilities of the new processor, the
table presents comparative results for the ASUS V6000V notebook of
characteristics surpassing those of S270: Intel Pentium M 2.13 GHz, 1
GB DDR 2, ATI.
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SiSoftware Sandra
2004
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MEGABOOK S270
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V6000V
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CPU arithmetic Benchmark
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Dhrystone ALU, MIPS
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8278
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9198
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Whetstone FPU, MFLOPS
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2824
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2966
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Whetstone iSSE2, MFLOPS
|
3637
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3795
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CPU Multimedia Benchmark
|
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Integer x4 iSSE2, it/s
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17070
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20286
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Floating point x4 iSSE2, it/s
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18361
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22412
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Memory Bandwidth
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RAM Integer Buffered iSSE2, Mb/s
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2217
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2892
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RAM Float Buffered iSSE2 Mb/s
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2216
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2899
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As you can see, Sempron offers no worse at all capabilities at
the overall performance than Pentium M. On the whole, the novelty by
MSI does not confine the user to only office tasks. The interior is
evidently aimed at much more - e.g. handling mathematical computations.
The same conclusions can be made proceeding from the results
produced for MEGABOOK S270 after running PCMark 2005:
- CPU 2497;
- Memory 2014;
- Graphics 688;
- HDD 2545.
Tests of the video system were run with 3DMark 2003.
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3DMark 2003
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MEGABOOK S270
|
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Testing mode
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1024x768
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Score
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745 3D Marks
|
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Game1 Wings of Fury
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29.6 fps
|
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Game2 Battle of Proxycon
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4.7 fps
|
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Game3 Troll’s Lair
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4.6 fps
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Game4 Mother Nature
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3.6 fps
|
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CPU Score
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376
|
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CPU Test 1
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38.9 fps
|
|
CPU Test 2
|
7.2 fps
|
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Fill rate (Single-Texturing)
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241.9 MTexels/s
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Fill rate (Multi-Texturing)
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580.5MTexels/s
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Vertex Shader
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3.1 MTriangles/s
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Pixel Shader 2.0
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8.8 MTriangles/s
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Ragtroll
|
3.6 fps
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As is seen from the results, S270 is not a gaming notebook at
all. The video system is weak, allows playing no more than strategies
and other games not so demanding for resources. Of course, 3DAction
does not fall within this category. Nevertheless, the integrated
graphic system is quite enough for solving such tasks like watching
video.
Offline operation time
This indicator is very important for a portable notebook. It
determines whether the user will be able working and playing on the run
for a long time or not.
Unfortunately, S270 in our test had a not quite
power-consuming battery, so durable operation was out of the question.
Nevertheless, it should be noted that this model will be equipped with
the second battery of increased capacity - 4400 mA*hr.
The duration of work was tested only through watching DVD
using Mobile Mark 2005 and amounted to 1 hour 20 minutes. In other
words, you'll fail to watch a film on the journey, but you'll be able
to work a little. Needless to say - office tasks is a more partial load
mode for the battery. The only advantage is in that the 2200 mA*hr
battery in S270 is small-sized enough.
Final words
MSI MEGABOOK S270 is quite an interesting product both in
terms of design and performance, a sample notebook based on the AMD
processor. Anyway, we can't say the computer is free of shortcomings:
there is no way doing the upgrade without dismantling the housing
completely; the video system is integrated onboard. Among the pros is
the strict design, small size, small weight; the LCD matrix offers good
real characteristics; the performance is sufficient for solving most
everyday tasks, as well as playing games and watching video; a battery
of increased capacity comes as a bundled item. Of note is also the
price which starts with 1040$ for the version based on Sempron 2800+.
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