Asus V6V V6800V Review
Overview
Better known for mainboards, Asus is rapidly emerging as one of the top notebook brands around the entire world. In addition to revamping their notebook lineup and successfully increasing market share, Asus is designing laptops that appeal to consumers in order to gain recognition. From barebones to pre-built, Asus has taken into account aesthetic design, functionality, and performance in all of their notebooks. This is most evident in their latest product line, with designs and specifications that exemplifies originality and quality. Asus drew attention during CeBIT 2005, the largest computer gathering in the world , as they announced the V6800V that claimed to be the thinnest and lightest notebook PC with a 15-inch screen. The V6800V comes in a few versions, depending on where you live, with the thinnest model measures only 0.9 inches thick. Although our model is 1-1.18 inches thick and weighs 5.5 pounds with the 8-cell battery, it is still an attractive package.
Also known as the V6V, business users, multimedia users, and power users will appreciate its portable form factor, large SXGA+ 15.1-inch screen, and cutting-edge technology. The slim chassis is made from magnesium and brushed aluminum, adding elegance and refinement to the design. Inside, the V6V is filled with a robust set of features that takes advantage of the latest Intel Centrino technology: a Pentium M 750 CPU (1.86 GHz with 533 MHz bus) that runs on the Intel 915PM chipset, completed with a built-in Intel PRO/Wireless 2915 mini-PCI card that connects to 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g wireless formats. Other prominent features include a slim DVD +RW drive, 512MB (2x256) Dual-Channel DDR2 400, Bluetooth wireless, and PCI-Express graphics with 64MB ATI Mobility RADEON X600. The 15.1' SXGA+ LCD display is sharp and bright, but its limited viewing angle hinders the overall viewing pleasure. The V6V's portable design, powerful features, and large screen are some very strong points, but at a cost. For a mere $2,200 you also get 2 years Global Asus warranty, Zero Bright Dot LCD policy (panel can be exchanged within 30 days due to a dead/stuck pixel), and a stylish carrying case with a separate sleeve case.
Design Portability
Weighing only 5.5 pounds with the battery and measuring 13-inches across, 10.7-inches deep and only 1-1.18 inches thick, the V6V was designed for mobility with compromising on screen size. No larger than the size of a textbook, the V6V can easily slip inside most mid-sized carrying cases or laptop backpacks. For convenience, Asus supplied a slip case and carrying bag made specifically for the V6V, which are nice portable necessities. The V6V reminds me of the ThinkPad T42, both almost identical in dimensions and close in weight; while the ThinkPad T42 is slightly lighter, the V6V is certainly thinner.
Case and Design
The most distinctive characteristic of the V6V is its design. Thanks to its slim form factor, clean look and material composition, the V6V is one sleek-looking notebook. The two tone color scheme keeps it clean and simple, with the top lid and bottom chassis wrapped in matte black while the surface around the palm rest and keyboard area is brushed in a dark gun metal metallic finish. Forget the plastic chassis found in other notebooks, the V6V's chassis material blows them away. The magnesium-reinforced LCD lid, aluminum alloy palm rest, and carbon fiber bottom chassis gives the computer extra durability, a much more solid build, and keeps the system cooler than notebooks made from plastic. Lastly, the smooth and clean surface gives it a touch of elegance that refines the V6V.
Two hinges hold the LCD panel together, located near each corner of the display. The V6V features a latchless design, so the display closes without a latch, but instead with four magnets built in the aluminum palm rest. These act as a magnetic clasp to secure the lid down by pulling on the four screws that are built behind the bezel. When shut, the screen hovers slightly over the keyboard and palm rest area reinforced by four rubber pads to prevent the screen from touching the keyboard and wrist area.
For convenience, the V6V features three sets of status indicators located on the top cover, wrist area , and above the keyboard. The indicator lights emit a dazzling blue glow that is very stylish. The top cover contains indicators for power, battery, Bluetooth, and wireless LAN, useful when the lid is closed . However it should be noted that only the battery and power indicators will light up when the lid is shut.
Status indicator on top cover
Located in the bottom corner of the palm rest are a set of status indicators which provide a quick glance at the pad-lock indicator (to show if the touchpad is disabled), power, battery charge, Bluetooth, and Wireless LAN.
Status indicators on the left palm rest
Above the keyboard are a set of hot keys and another status indicator. The four hot keys: pad-lock, Power4 Gear, Bluetooth, Internet Launch, and Wireless LAN are embedded on a strip of thin plastic with the associated function symbols engraved into the surface below. These symbols are unfortunately difficult to see due to their light colored print.
The pad-lock key is used to either disable or enable the touchpad, useful when connecting an external pointing device. The Bluetooth and Wireless LAN keys functions the same way, to disable or enable Bluetooth and wireless LAN respectively. The Power4 Gear key toggles between various power saving modes (more on this in the battery section of the review). Lastly, the Internet key is used to launch your web browser.
Hot Keys above the keyboard
The status indicators found on the same strip as the hot keys (to the right) will indicate hard drive activity, number lock, capital lock, and scroll lock, with the corresponding LED that emits the cool blue glow. To the right, the built-in mono microphone is stationed inside a tiny hole-punch.
Another set of status indicators with the power button
Design Continued
Keyboard
The black, full-sized 86-key keyboard contains all the essential keys, particularly the Windows and Ctrl keys at the bottom left of the keyboard, where normally some laptops contain only the Fn key. The PgDn, PgUp, Home and End cursor keys are also present and are placed vertically on the right side of the keyboard. The Caps Lock, Shift, Alt, Tab, Backspace, and Enter keys are of appropriate size. In addition, there are function keys to adjust the audio volume, screen brightness, put the system to sleep, disabling or enabling wireless LAN, and for switching to an external monitor when connected. When toggling one of these function keys, such as the brightness for example, it will activate an on-screen brightness indicator. This helps you identify exactly which brightness settings you want to select. The on-screen indicator applies to other function access as well.
With respect to usage, the keyboard offers decent key travel distance and response. I can type quickly, accurately, and comfortably. The keys are soft and feel light when depressing them (lighter than the keys found on the Sony FS550) with a lot of spring to it, allowing it to be quite responsive. The keys depress at a comfortable 2.5mm of depth and feel good to type with. There is one gripe that may distract some users: the keys exhibit noise when typing. While it's not a major issue, it may take some time adjusting to the noise level. The layout of the keyboard is nice and there is sufficient room around the palm rest area to ensure a comfortable typing experience on your wrists. While the V6V keyboard does not compare to the likes of the ThinkPad T42 or Acer 8100 series, it still has a solid keyboard.
Touch pad
As part of the overall design, the touchpad is built along with the surface of the entire wrist area. In other words, the touchpad is not engraved like in other notebooks. Like the palm rest area, the flush surface is clean and smooth, accurately sensitive to touch and responds well to movement. There is a sufficient amount of surface area, measuring 1.8-inches wide and 2.5-inches deep to comfortably glide your finger. As with most touch pads, it also allows for tapping to execute an action if you prefer not to use the click button. To the right and bottom edge of the surface area, the touchpad has a function to scroll vertically or horizontally . This allows you to scroll in applications like Internet Explorer when sliding your finger in the appropriate direction. As a nice touch, the left and right click buttons are brushed aluminum to match the entire wrist area.
Connectivity Options
The V6V is loaded with a multitude of connectivity options, all squeezed onto the left and right sides of the computer. This may cause overcrowding of cables since connections are all packed on the sides and none are on the back or front. The computer offers a whopping four USB 2.0 ports instead of the common two USB ports found in most laptops. Unfortunately, DVI and S-Video out are missing from the list of connections. The lack of S-Video output is a serious loss for a laptop, as a lot of people connect their notebooks to projectors, TVs, and the like; the only output options is a VGA connection to a monitor.
On the left-side: Kensington lock port, VGA port, 1394 FireWire port, PC Card slot (PCMCIA), an Infrared port for wireless synchronization and the optical drive. Although the V6V is based on the new Intel Centrino ' Sonoma' platform, it does not include the new Express card format. The 1394 FireWire port is similar to Sony's S400, which is a six-pin port that provides power to the device.
Left Side Click Image to Enlarge
On the right-side: one of four USB 2.0 ports, memory card slot, headphone/SPDIF out, microphone input, the second USB 2.0 port, modem port, third and fourth USB 2.0 ports, air vents, LAN (10/100/1000 Base T) port and DC power. The memory card slot supports Memory Stick, Memory Stick Select, Memory Stick Duo (with adapter), Memory Stick Pro, Memory Stick Pro Duo (with adapter), Secure Digital (SD), and Multi-Media Card (MMC). All four USB 2.0 ports are crammed on the right side; it would be more convenient if two were located on the left side for more balance.
Right Side Click Image to Enlarge
The front side has no ports.
Front Click Image to Enlarge
On the rear the battery pack fits nicely without protruding.
Back Click Image to Enlarge
Heat and Noise
For such a thin casing, the V6V runs and feels cool, yet the system fan operates continuously. During general use such as web browsing, word processing, and playing music, the system fan spins at 1400 RPM, emitting a slight noise that is tolerable. During heavier and extended use, the fan reaches 1700 RPM and is more audible, emitting a loud 'windy' like noise. As I mentioned earlier, the system fan never takes a break, which could be distracting to some. The laptop is well ventilated and heat is dispersed through air vents located on the right and bottom sides. The heat build up is minimal and makes the Asus comfortable to use on your lap. When it becomes warm, the bottom and the right palm rest are the only areas that heat is noticeable.
Upgrading and Expansion
Upgrading the V6V is fairly simple, thanks to the accessible compartments located on the bottom side which include the Wi-Fi mini-PCI adapter, CPU, memory, and hard drive. There are two RAM modules pre-installed in the computer. Each RAM module is a 256MB stick of 400MHz (PC2-3200) DDR2 totaling 512MB in Dual Channel mode. CAS latency for each module is rated 3.0-3-3-8. The V6V does support DDR2 533 if you opt to upgrade to the higher speed RAM, but right now that costs a pretty penny over PC2-3200. The cover that houses the RAM also contains the processor, however if you decide to upgrade the processor you will void your warranty. Replacing the hard drive is also incredibly simple, completed with the removal of the hard drive access panel. If you ever happen to loose your notebook or need a way to identify the owner, there is a name card holder that can store your business card or ID.
Click Image to Enlarge
Features
Processor/Chipset/RAM
Based on the next generation Pentium M processor, the Asus V6V is powered by the new mid-range Pentium M 750 processor clocked at 1.86 GHz and utilizes the Intel 915PM chipset (code-named Alviso). Compared to the previous generation Dothan models, the new CPU's front side bus, which controls the speed of data flow between memory and CPU, jumps from 400 MHz to 533 MHz, a 33% increase. This also raises the peak bandwidth of the CPU to 4.2 GB/second. To run at its full bandwidth potential, faster main memory that enables higher peak bandwidth, like that offered by a single channel DDR2 533 module, should be used in to run the memory in synch with the front side bus. As mentioned in the preceding section, the V6V has a pair of DDR2-SDRAM modules rated at 400MHz (PC2-3200) and each with a max theoretical bandwidth of 3.2 GB per second. Since the Intel 915PM chipset supports dual channel technology that utilizes the bandwidth of two modules simultaneously, meaning the theoretical max bandwidth is doubled to 6.4 GB per second. In our SiSoft Sandra 2005 Memory Bandwidth test, bandwidth efficiency shows only 68%. It should also be mentioned DDR2 modules consumes less power, thus conserving battery life and minimizing heat since they're rated at 1.8 volts, which is about 30% lower than that of regular DDR.
Another major difference with Sonoma is the processor's new thermal design power (TDP), now rated at 27W, whereas the previous Dothan consumed only 21W. This means the new processors have the capacity to use more power, thus negatively affecting battery life. The CPU itself is identical to those used in the previous generation Centrino platform, but uses more power due to the faster front side bus. As with all previous Centrino platforms, Sonoma supports Enhanced Intel Speedstep where the CPU adjusts its speed dynamically based on system usage. However, unlike the previous generation processors that clock down to 600 MHz, the Dothan processors used in the Sonoma motherboards only go down to 800 MHz due to the higher front side bus speed. Even with the processor clocked down to 800 MHz, it is still fast enough to watch DVDs or do general-purpose computing (Web browsing, Word processing) with respectable performance. Clock speed can be adjusted in the Power Options or Asus' Power4 Gear software utility (more in the battery section).
GPU
Part of the Intel 915PM chipset package requires a discrete PCI-Express chip with dedicated video memory. PCI-Express GPUs demand more power compared to the AGP solutions, potentially affecting battery life. The ATI MOBILITY RADEON X600 powers the video of the Asus V6V, which was actually the first native PCI Express based mobile GPU. The chip inherits the architecture of the MOBILITY RADEON 9700, but includes a number of enhancements such as new power-saving (POWERPLAY 5.0) and image quality (LCD-EE) technology. The POWERPLAY 5.0 technology monitors system activity and dynamically adjusts clock and voltage based on system usage. The LCD-EE technology compensates LCD response time and allows better image scaling. According to ATI, in idle mode, the chip consumes around 1W of power, while under maximum load the processor uses about 9W to 10W. Other key features include DirectX 9 hardware acceleration support, 4 rendering pipelines, 2 vertex pipelines, and 64MB of dedicated video DDR RAM. The core clock is rated as 405MHz while the memory runs at 250MHz, or 500MHz effective.
To test the ATI MOBILITY RADEON X600 GPU, I loaded one of the more graphically intensive games available, Half Life 2.With the resolution set to 1024x768 and recommended image settings, frame rates varied between 70-100 frames per second according to the in-game FPS display. Overall I was rather satisfied with the detail and fluidity of gameplay. Moving on to Doom 3, running at 800x600 on medium image quality is very playable and varied between 40-60 frames rates per second. During scenes with heavy action, frame rates varied between 20-30 frames per second. Stuttering is noticeable when every graphical option set to the max but for the most part, both Half Life 2 and Doom 3 perform well. [Note: CPU speed was set to run full performance during game testing.] More on the gaming performance in our benchmark section.
Display
One of the great features on this thin and light notebook is its large 15.1' LCD panel. Although it's a transmissive display (as opposed to a reflective screen), Asus labeled the screen as 'Color Shine', which offers more brightness. In 2D desktop use, it does appear to offer sufficient brightness and contrast, and colors appear bright and vibrant. Text is perfectly legible and the response rate is fast enough to keep up with games and movies without significant 'ghosting.' In addition, scrolling through a webpage full of text does not exhibit motion blur.
While the 15.1" SXGA+ LCD panel offers large viewing estate, thanks in part to the 1400 x 1050 resolution, the viewing angle is quite limited for such a high end notebook. Viewing the screen from a slight angle (horizontally or vertically) will cause the colors and brightness to distort. This is more obvious when watching DVD movies, where images and colors appear pale and washed out. Compared to DVD playback displayed on the Acer 8103 (which also uses a transmissive LCD screen), color rendering is more vibrant and brightness is more even. It also has better color accuracy and the viewing angle is substantially wider than what is offered from the Asus V6V. The same vignette effect occurs with images as well. I then placed my IBM ThinkPad T42 aside to the Asus V6V and viewed identical web images - the image displayed on the V6V appeared washed out compared to the image displayed on the ThinkPad. As long as you view the V6V's screen at a specific angle, like straight on, then you will not experience these distortions as I've mentioned.
Sound
The on-board stereo speakers positioned in the front palm wrist sound clear but lack bass, a common trait for laptop speakers. Like the Sony VAIO notebooks, the V6V's on-board speakers can reach a high volume without becoming distorted. Dialogue in movies was clear but bass was non-existent; with the same results during MP3 playback. Overall, I would recommend using a pair of quality headphones as the sound quality is substantially better.
Speakers located on the palm rest area
Features Continued
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
As part of the Sonoma trio, the Asus V6V comes with the Intel Pro Wireless 2915ABG card, which can connect to 802.11b, 802.11g, and 802.11a wireless networks. As mentioned earlier in the design section of the review, the V6V includes the now common wireless hot key to turn on or off the Wireless LAN Card, which helps conserve battery when Wi-Fi is not needed. Connecting wirelessly with this machine is incredibly simple, thanks to the Intel PROSet/Wireless utility, which has a simple connection process after detecting available networks.
In regards to wireless performance, reception was excellent overall and I never experienced a signal drop. My tests mainly consisted of connecting to a home 802.11b/g wireless network with no difficulty to speak of. Signal strength was reported between 'very good' to 'excellent' while using it in my home network, even when being about 30 feet away from the wireless base station.
The V6V also features integrated Bluetooth wireless technology to wirelessly sync with Bluetooth enabled devices such as printers, mice, keyboard, PDA, and cellular phones. I connected the Logitech MX900 Bluetooth mouse with ease, thanks to the Add New Connection Wizard that detected the mouse immediately with no software drivers needed in order for it to operate. The MX900 Bluetooth mouse felt responsive and precise without ever loosing connection. Although Bluetooth works within a smaller scope, it is useful for connecting multiple devices simultaneously. If that wireless option is not enough, the V6V comes with infared (IrDA) communication that allows you to synchronize with PDAs or mobile phones.
Optical Drive
The slim Matshita DVD +RW drive is capable of burning DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, CD-R/RW and reading DVD-ROM & DVD-RAM discs. The drive loads incredibly fast, as soon as I insert a disc the movie or application loads almost instantly. You can hear the disc spinning, but it's not as loud as the optical drive found in the Apple iBook or Sony VGN-S260. I was also able to burn DVDs and CDs without a single problem using the included Nero burning software.
The supported disc formats and maximum burning capabilities are as follow:
DVD-R Write: 2X; DVD-RW: 2X
DVD+R Write: 2X; DVD+RW: 2X
CD-R Write: 24X; CD-RW Write 10X
Hard Drive
The factory installed hard drive in the V6V is a Hitachi Travelstar 5K80 60GB hard drive with 8MB data buffer and a reasonable 5,400 RPM rotational speed. Thanks to the fluid dynamic bearing motor, the drive does operate whisper quiet. When the drive seeks, it exhibits only a slight crunching noise that is just barely audible. Although the drive provides 60GB of storage space, it is not contiguous. The drive came formatted with two partitions. Asus included a hidden restore partition reserved on the C: drive so that users can restore the operating system, drivers, and utilities to original factory state. Interestingly, Asus included a NTFS converter utility to convert the factory installed FAT32 file system to NTFS.
Battery
A lithium-ion rechargeable battery powers the Asus notebook. The rated capacity and voltage is 4,800 mAh (8-Cell) and 14.8V, respectively. During general use like web browsing, word processing, and MP3 playback, the battery lasted approximately 2 hours and 55 minutes with the power scheme set to 'Portable/Laptop'. This correlates with the results from the BatteryMark test (more in the performance section). With the brightness setting set to the middle and power scheme set to 'Portable/Laptop', the DVD movie X2 (134 minutes) made it through the entire duration with approximately 10% battery life remaining.
The bundled Asus Power4 Gear application utility allows for you to toggle between various power saving modes designed for gaming, watching DVDs, listening to music, and more. The software controls the CPU speed to maximize battery performance. Setting the mode to 'Battery Saving' underclocks the processor down to 800MHz, thus maximizing battery life even more.
With Power4 Gear, you can adjust various settings based on the various power saving modes.
AC Adapter
The AC Adapter is a commonly overlooked part of a notebook's features, even though it is the most important part! The included AC adapter measures 4.5' long, 2' wide, and 1.2' thick (identical AC adapter to the Acer TravelMate 8103), which is much more compact than most AC adapters compared to ones from Sony or Dell. The AC adapter is extremely light and can easily slip in a carrying case or backpack pocket. Unfortunately, it is missing a strap or some form of cable management around the adapter to organize the lengthy power cables.
Software
Asus included a wide array of software programs pre-installed and bundled in multiple discs including AsusDVD (rebadged Cyberlink DVD) for DVD playback, CyberLink PowerDirector for video editing, MediaShow for multi-dimensional slide shows, and Nero burning software suite. Some Asus utilities included are Power4 Gear, WinFlash to flash the bios, Wireless Console to enable or disable Bluetooth or Wireless, and Probe to monitor system fan & temperature. The convenient Asus Live Update program connects to Asus's FTP server to download and update the latest driver or software program. Asus also included recovery discs and a few games: GunMetal, Battle Engine, and a disc that includes six popular classic games.
Quickly disable or enable Wireless LAN or Bluetooth.
Setup Method
The Asus V6V was set to run at full performance by setting the power scheme set to 'Home/Office Desk', meaning that the CPU will not underclock while running the tests. For the battery performance test, the power scheme was set to 'Portable/Laptop'. This activates SpeedStep technology, which lowers CPU speed when not needed, thus increasing battery life. Screen brightness and audio were both set to 50% and Wi-Fi & Bluetooth were turned on. Each test was repeated 3 times to ensure accuracy. Before each test was run, the laptop was rebooted and its hard drive defragmented.
Business Winstone 2004 runs business related applications through a series of scripted activities and uses the time a PC takes to complete those activities to produce its performance scores. Each application runs 5 tests through a series of demos and activities. Business Winstone 2004 FAQ. Business applications include:
- Microsoft Access 2002
- Microsoft Excel 2002
- Microsoft Frontpage 2002
- Microsoft Outlook 2002
- Microsoft PowerPoint 2002
- Microsoft Project 2002
- Microsoft Word 2002
- Norton AntiVirus Professional Edition 2003
- Winzip 8.1
Multimedia Content Creation Winstone 2004 is a single large test that runs multimedia applications through a series of scripted activities and returns a single score. Applications include:
- Adobe Photoshop 7.0.1
- Adobe Premiere 6.50
- Macromedia Director MX 9.0
- Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 6.1
- Microsoft Windows Media Encoder 9 Version 9.00.00.2980
- NewTek's LightWave 3D 7.5b
- Steinberg WaveLab 4.0f
You can read more from: Multimedia Content Creation Winstone 2004 FAQ.
Business Winstone 2004 Batterymark measures a laptop computer's battery life by simulating real-world usage. The program measures the time it takes to drain the battery by running applications such as Microsoft Office XP, Norton AntiVirus, and WinZip through a series of scripted activities to drain the battery in a realistic way.
3DMark 2001 SE PRO build 3.3.0 measures graphics performance by benchmarking the CPU, memory, and graphics through a series of 21 tests, including simulated games, theoretical tests, DX8 feature tests, and image quality tests. Resolution was set to 1024x768 with all default settings.
3DMark 2003 build 3.6.0 measures DX9 performance through a series of 3D game based sound, graphics, and CPU tests. Resolution was set to 1024x768 with all default settings.
PCMark 2004 build 1.3.0 uses real life application tests to generate a combined score by running specific tasks like application loading, game tests, 3D rendering, multimedia encoding, and more. Resolution was set to 1024x768 with all default settings.
Doom 3 (Version 1.1) using the built-in time-demo, initiated with the console command 'timedemo demo1 precache'.
Test1:
- 800x600 resolution
- Quality Setting: Medium
- 0xAA
- VSynch Disabled
- High quality special effects enabled
- Shadows enabled
- Specular enabled
- Bump Maps enabled
Test2:
- 1024x768 resolution
- Quality Settings: High
- 4xAA
- VSynch Disabled
- High quality special effects enabled
- Shadows enabled
- Specular enabled
- Bump Maps enabled
Half Life 2 (Source Engine 7) timedemos Coast 05 and Canals 08 from Anandtech.com with the following tests and graphic settings:
Test1:
- 1024x768 resolution
- Medium model detail
- Medium texture detail
- Blob shadows
- Simple Reflection water detail
- Low shadow detail
- 0xAA
- Trilinear filtering
- Low shader detail
- V Sync disabled
Test2:
- 1024x768 resolution
- Highest model detail
- Highest texture detail
- Reflect All water detail
- High shadow detail
- 4xAA
- Anisotropic 8X
- High shader detail
- V Sync disabled
Configurations
System | V6800V | TravelMate 8103 | VAIO FS550 |
OS | Windows XP Pro SP2 | Windows XP Pro | Windows XP Home |
CPU | Pentium M 750 1.86 GHz | Pentium M 750 | Pentium M 730 |
Bus | 533 MHz | 533 MHz | 533 MHz |
RAM | 512MB DDR2 400 | 512MB DDR2 533 | 512MB DDR333 CL2.5 |
Hard Drive | Hitachi 60GB | Seagate 100GB | Hitachi 80GB |
Video | ATI X600 | ATI X700 | Intel GMA 900 |
Battery | 4,800 mAh | 4,800 mAh | 4,400 mAh |
Performance
General Usage (Business Winstone 2004)
Multimedia Content Creation (Business Winstone 2004)
PCMark04
The V6V and 8103 were neck-in-neck in the PCMark04 tests but the 8103 edges the V6V by a slight margin, thanks in part to the ATI MOBILITY RADEON X700.
Here are the associated scores:
| System | V6V | 8103 | FS550 |
| CPU | 3587 | 3577 | 3038 |
| Memory | 3157 | 3186 | 2852 |
| Graphics | 2162 | 3282 | 781 |
| HDD | 2868 | 3163 | 2439 |
PCMark04 Overall Score
Performance Continued
The following 3DMark 2001, 2003, and 2005 scores will show the X700's dominance, however the X600 can still handle most graphic intensive games such as Doom 3 and Half Life 2.
3DMark 2001 SE
3DMark 2003
3DMark 2005
Gaming Performance
Doom 3
Half Life 2
The V6V scored the following frames per second:
| Level | Coast 05 | Canals 08 |
| Test 1 - AA/AF OFF | 78.66 fps | 51.87 fps |
| Test 2 - 4X/8X | 36.32 fps | 18.25 fps |
Now with the comparison with AA/AF OFF:
...and with AA/AF ON:
Battery Performance
Lasting 2 hours and 40 minutes in the BatteryMark conditioning run scripted test, the V6V falls 10 minutes behind the Acer 8103 and lasting about 13 minutes longer than the FS550.
Conclusion
Pros:
- Sleek and innovative design
- Thin-and-light
- Good keyboard
- Fast performance
- Responsive touchpad
- Latest technology: PCI Express and Dual-Channel DDR2
- Wireless functions: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g, Bluetooth, Infrared
- Wide array of connectivity options: 4 USB 2.0 ports, FireWire, SD/MMC/MS/MS Pro Media Card slot
- Runs cool
- Average battery life
- Power4 Gear power management software
- Outstanding warranty & dead pixel coverage
Cons:
- Poor viewing angle
- Lacks DVI, S-Video Out, and Express Card
- Constant running fan
Recommendation
Asus is transforming into a major notebook vendor, thanks in part to its remarkable design and technologically advanced offerings. Performance was quite fast on the V6V, but falls slightly behind the Acer 8103 due to its slower performing ATI MOBILITY RADEON X600 and surpassed the Sony VAIO FS550 by a huge margin. Gamers, multimedia users, and business users will be satisfied with the V6V's prominent offerings. It utilizes the latest technology, including dual-channel DDR2, PCI Express, three wireless formats (802.11 a/b/g), Bluetooth, and a wide array of connectivity options. However the V6V has one important drawback and it is a huge one. If you're into visual design - graphics, web, or photography and color accuracy and wide viewing area is paramount of importance to you, then unfortunately you will probably be disappointed. The poor viewing angles and pale color rendering may supersede nearly all the strong points the V6V has to offer. On the plus side, the sharp looking SXGA+ screen does offer high contrast and brightness - 2D desktop use looks good for a transmissive display. The lack of S-Video is quite surprising also. While Asus maybe counting on people to want to view movies on their screen, a lot of laptops users like to connect to projectors or TV. The rest of the drawbacks are more minor, like not including DDR2 533 or ExpressCard support. These do not affect practical usage much, yet one would expect these features in such a high-end model. Asus put together a stylish, solidly built, and technologically impressive premium notebook for a hefty price. The V6V comes in with a myriad of functions packed in a slim and portable design. This is a good investment if you need attributes of a desktop replacement in a mobile package.
Availability/Warranty
Some configurations of the V6V will be able to support faster processors, ranging from the Intel Pentium M 730-770 (1.6-2.13GHz) and various hard drive sizes. The V6V is available now for a suggested retail price of $2199.99 with 2 year global parts and labor warranty through ASUS. In addition, the Zero Bright Dot LCD Policy applies to the V6V, which is means the panel can be exchanged if a dead or stuck pixel is found within 30 days of purchase. An Asus carrying case, Asus sleeve case, and Logitech USB mouse are included accessories.
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