Toshiba M35-S320 Laptop Review - Tests - dBpowerAMP, Counter-Strike, 3DMark2001SE
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dBpowerAMP is a simple utility that converts sound files of various formats to new sound files of various formats at different bit rates. It's a good "real world" test of CPU power. If our synthetic results are correct, which I suspect they are, then... desktop > M35 > R505. This test measures the time it takes to re-encode a 6MB 192Kbps MP3, so lower time is better.
The desktop and M35 are 7 seconds apart whereas the M35 and R505 are 15 seconds apart. What this tells us is relation between processor speed and dBpowerAMP MP3 conversion is not linear. This is significant because it's evidence that as processors get faster and faster, the benefits we will see may not be getting greater at the same rate.
Our first gaming test is Counter-Strike 1.6. Counter-Strike is mod for a very old OpenGL game based off of Quake II called Half Life. The mod is still actively played today, which is why I decided to benchmark it. As laptops become more powerful, their portability makes them great for LAN parties.
The M35's 1.5GHz P4-M and Go5200 GPU nearly match the desktop's 3.06GHz P4 and GF3Ti200 GPU. This is a pretty good sign of the game's aging graphics engine. Still however, the M35 is no slouch when it comes to gaming. I was able to run UT2K4 at 800x600 with great frame rates. While running at the M35's native resolution of 1280x800 was possible, it was simply not smooth enough to enjoy UT2K4. (Counter-Strike worked perfectly fine at 1280x800 though!) The desktop couldn't run UT2K4 at 1280x1024 smoothly either. Meanwhile, the R505's Intel Extreme Graphics simply cannot handle gaming.
For reference, I've benchmarked a GeForce FX 5200 128MB in this desktop before. It scored in the 8200s, same as the GF3Ti200. The M35's 3DMark2001 score of 4832 shows the impact of both a slower processor and slower Go5200 GPU. It's unfortunate that in terms of gaming, the M35 is not a desktop replacement. Of course the NVIDIA Go5200 is still far better than Intel Extreme Graphics...
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