Compal NBLB2

Here, it says that PM55 in this Compal model doesn't support IGP. The B3 stepping update is to support new i7 and i5 CPUs.

http://ark.intel.com/chipset.aspx?familyID=42692

 

It's PM57 / H55 the one that has IGP.

 

hm.. so that means the guy at cizmo lies? he said u can swich graphics from bios

 

Can you please tell me if it has bios support fot the i5 integrated graphics?

thanks

 

Well, I guess. Unless it's something that we are not aware yet.

 

IDK if it has BIOS support but it has a PM55, so...

 

Unless they are having a newer model which uses one of the newer chipsets, there is no support for switchable graphics. On their website they write in the technical specs that the chipset is PM55.

This just reinforces my view of Cizmo and my support for Deviltech.

 

Blacky what's your opinion on Cizmo, I was planning to order from them.

 

I have tried to work before with them when I bought some Clevo laptops. I found that they have a hard time answering emails, they do not understand very clearly what the costumer wants and they tend to give slightly misleading information in order to sell their products which at that time were overpriced. They are not particular bad in this sense, because other EU Clevo resellers have shown similar attitudes. Maybe now they have changed their way of doing business, but IMO they are more interested in selling their products rather than satisfying the customer.

 

So far I have experienced that they answer emails very promptly. Thanks for the answer.

 

If you buy from them, let me know how much it cost in the end and how much were the postage costs.

 

Well right now they increased the price of W860CU substantially, probably due to new graphic cards in line. That was the model that I was planning to order. Before that, they were among the cheapest ones, now, they are in the top most expensive.

At one point they even offered me a 100 euros discount . I missed it, didn't check email.

 

The new 285M is actually a bit cheaper than the 280M. And the 5870 is supposedly cheaper than the 285M. So no... probably the prices will drop after a short while.

 

That's not the case with Cizmo. From Cizmo website...

 

Here is a link from US:
http://rjtech.com/shop/index.php?dispatch=categories.view&category_id=167

I've seen their website, that's why I don't recommend them.

 

I'm also thinking about buying a Compal NBLB2 (Fire DTX from deviltech.de)
anyone in here who has actually bought the machine and could share some experiences with me?
(notebookcheck had a pretty good review)

 

Likewise (except from a different retailer)



anyone actually bought one yet? any opinions?

 

Just bought one here...should be coming in next week. what kind of experience you want to share

 

Hi, I'm also thinking about getting the NBLB2, probably from xoticpc toward the end of May. I've read multiple reviews of the laptop online (including some foreign ones) and there seems to be some disagreement over the quality of the keyboard.

Your input on that and the overall build quality would be greatly appreciated.

 

I have to say, the Compal thread is one of the quietest on this forum. This makes me rather sad, since I will probably be getting this laptop in a month or so (after I know more about the G3 Intel SSDs).

In any case, I think the NBLB2 is really good value for its cost. I mean, 1920 x 1080 LED screen, new I5/I7 processor, ATI 5650 and 320 7200rpm HDD all for around $1100.

Plus, it's highly customizable, if you buy from resellers like xoticpc.

But really, the price is the only serious feature of this laptop, since the design is a bit uninspired and the GPU isn't top of the line, like in the Clevos/Asus/Alienwares. And also, a 1920 x 1080 screen is a bit over the top for a 15" laptop. I mean, it's doable, but not really necessary and some people will complain about not being able to see the text/icons too well.

I guess that's sorta the theme of this laptop--it doesn't stand out in any way.

 

do they offer Illuminated keyboard?


thanks

 

If anyone is interested iBuyPower sells a multi touch version of this model under the name Touch CZ-11 (they also have a non touch CZ-11. It's sold/reviewed elsewhere as the iBuyPower Armada MT20X):

iBUYPOWER Computer :: Battalion Touch CZ-11 Gaming Laptop

Just got mine yesterday with 8GB of memory, Intel based WiFi, Bluetooth, 640gb 5400rpm HDD, and i7 740m CPU.

First impressions:

It seems to handle Unreal 3 engine games just fine. I had to throttle down left4dead 2 to 720p res to get it to play smoothly. The left side top gets super hot when the GPU is stressed.

It's got a dedicated hardware button next to the touch pad to turn it off/on, useful when connect an external mouse is connected and don't want to the touch pad bumped.

I dislike the amount of pressure required to press on the touch pad button to get it to press, and the fact that even though it has left/right mouse buttoon press points, it's implemented via one big touchpad button.

It does not come with Firewire or ESATA, which is surprising omission on a modern laptop. Another weird design decision is that there are no ports on the back, all parts are on the sides.

Multitouch (in this case 2 touch points are recognized at a time) on Windows is mostly gimmicky. The capacitive touch works pretty well but I can count the touch software available for Windows on my fingers. I got the multi touch model since I do touch software (Kiosk) development.

The BIOS is the most basic BIOS I've ever seen. You can only set boot order and TPM options, that's it. You can't even switch between AHCI and IDE mode, luckily it's set to AHCI.

I'm taking a risk and also bought this yesterday:
Optical Bay Hard Drive Caddy (OBHD-SATA12-SATA-BU) Univ, 12.7mm [OBHD-SATA12-SATA-BU] - $44.75 : NewmodeUS, Hard Drive Caddys for Notebooks In the hopes I can take out my optical drive and swap it with a secondary hard disk drive. I'll report back when I get it.

Where did you guys see a 12-cell battery for this thing?

Update: Second drive works great in the caddy, info here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/compal/507584-howto-installing-second-hard-compal-nblb2.html

 

Just wanted to give people some idea of my experience with the Compal NBLB2, which I bought at the end of March 2010.

I have a badged version from UK retailer Mesh Computers. They badge it as the 'Mesh Edge DX'. I ordered a few optional extras from Mesh, and the as-delivered spec. of my laptop is as follows:

Mesh Edge DX with user-selected upgrades:

MESH Edge 15.6 - NBLB2120001
- Intel Core i7 720QM Quad Core Processor (1.6GHz, 6MB Cache, 2.5GT/s)
- Genuine Windows 7 64-bit Professional Edition - English [upg £ 50.00]
- 15.6" FULL HD LED Display (1920x1080)
- 1GB ATi Mobility Radeon HD5650 Graphics - DX11
- 4GB DDR3 1066MHz Memory (2x2GB)
- 320GB Serial ATA 7200RPM 2.5" Hard Drive [upg £ 20.00]
- DVD Super Format Dual Layer DVD Re-Writer
- Built in Bluetooth Technology
- Intel WiFi Link 5300 802.11n Wireless LAN [upg £ 10.00]
- Built-in Intel High Definition Audio, with 3D Effect & Full Duplex Speakers
- 2.0 Mega Pixel Built in Webcam
- Free Microsoft Works 8.5 + Limited Microsoft Office Trial
- BullGuard Internet Security 8.5 - 90 Day Trial - AntiVirus/Firewall/Backup/Spamfilter
- Biometric Fingerprint Reader
- Multi Format Memory Card Reader
- 1 Year Return to Base Warranty (UK Mainland Only)

I regret buying the 64-bit version of Windows 7 Professional: unlike the 32-bit version it does not have a driver for my Epson Stylus Photo 950 printer, and Windows Backup and Restore gave me a BSOD the first time I used it, and CHKDSK locked up the laptop to the extent that I had to boot the Windows installation disk and run a CHKDSK from there in order to rescue the installation. I should have just bought the 32-bit version of Windows Professional. Anyway, that's nothing to do with the laptop itself.

Actually, I dual-boot 64-bit Windows 7 and 64-bit Sabayon Linux, and Linux is my main OS (I virtually never boot into Windows). The laptop works very well indeed with this Linux distribution and overall I am very pleased with it. If I had to buy a new laptop today I would buy the same model.

The location of the VGA port and Ethernet port towards the front of the left side of the laptop is not ideal but I can live with it.

The 1920x1080 screen (one of my purchasing criteria) is excellent.

Another of my purchasing criteria was at least 4 USB ports, and again this laptop delivers that.

The sound quality is better than from my old Acer TravelMate 8215WLMi laptop, although the build quality of the Compal laptop is not as solid as the old Acer. Nevertheless it's not bad, although the Mesh Edge DX/Compal NBLB2 is not a good-looking laptop. But then I buy for features and performance, not looks.

The Webcam is much better than on my old Acer TravelMate 8215WLMi.

I have no complaints about the keyboard so far. The layout is fine and the keys have a good feel, travel and tactile response. To be fair, I should point out that I mostly use the laptop with an external USB keyboard.

The touch pad surface is flush with the rest of the laptop body, and this takes a bit of getting used to. With the correct configuration I find the touch pad perfectly usable albeit not the greatest touch pad I have used. The single bar for the left and right touch pad buttons is usable, although I would have preferred two buttons instead of one long one.

The laptop runs cooler than my Core 2 Duo Acer TravelMate 8215WLMi, especially when I am hitting it with some heavy compilation work. The OpenOffice suite used to take 6 hours plus to compile on my Acer, but takes 1 hour 20 minutes on the Mesh Edge DX/Compal NBLB2, so the Core i7 really makes a difference.

I hardly ever use the laptop with the battery, but if I recall correctly I get about 1.5 hours of use on battery after 6 -7 months of using the laptop, which is not great but then the battery is quite small.

The memory card slot is a 3-way slot. I would have liked a 5- or 6-way slot (it doesn't accept Olympus xD memory cards) but I can live with that.

Overall this laptop gets a thumbs up from me and it fits my needs very well.

 

I have the Xotic PC version of this laptop, the Force NBLB2. I had to RMA the first one for a screen issue but the second one has been working great for the last 3 months, knocking on wood.

I have an i7 740 with Windows 7 Pro x64 and overall the standard battery last me about 2.5 - 3 hours with the display set to a 75% brightness and the performance on balanced.

The screen is great and the colors look amazing. I have a friend who has a MBP and we compared the screens and we could not see any differences in image quality. Everything is sharp and crisp. The 1080 screen is a little tough on the eyes, I'm 46. But setting my display and browser to 120% magnification fixes that issue for me.

The laptop is fairly light and it's built well, no creaks at all. It looks great in person with the shinny piano black lid. Can't comment on the touch pad as I never used them. I like my wireless USB Logitech mouse better. Wireless work well, I have the intel 6300.

I really love this laptop. The only thing I hate is cleaning the smudges off the lid.

 

This has nothing to do with the laptop, but if you have the 64-bit Windows 7 Professional, the way to make it deal with ancient devices is to use XP Mode. I recently replaced a desktop that was connected to a 10 year old scanner and this refused to work with a 64-bit OS, but it worked fine in XP Mode.

Actually, that part does have to do with the laptop. I would be careful with that hard drive -- if CHKDSK and backup are giving you problems, the cause is extremely unlikely to be 64-bit Windows.

 

That was the first thing I tried for both the printer and scanner. Unfortunately Compatibility Mode does not work in either case. Fortunately, Google led me to a driver hacked from a different Epson model driver by another 64-bit Windows 7 user suffering the same problem, which at least enables me to print under Windows 7 albeit not check the amount of ink left in the printer cartridges. The scanner is completely unusable in Compatibility Mode. Fortunately both peripherals work perfectly with 64-bit Linux.

It's working fine and I'm sure the problem is not the HDD. This was a one-off occurrence and I suspect due to a bug in Windows 7 64-bit Backup and Restore, given that Google showed me other users experiencing the problem with Windows 7 Backup and Restore. When I ran CHKDSK there were no bad blocks, and that is still the case. The drive works perfectly in Linux, and has done so for 8 months now. Similarly, all HDD checks done in Linux show the drive is fine.

 

newbie here. Just got a newly built NBLB2 from CyberPowerPC the last few days. Its an xmas present for my WOW addicted wife
It came with Window 7 Home Premium and right out of the box the machine has been acting funny (locking up occasionally). But I figure I can always do an OS upgrade (I have a MS technet account) to Win 7 Pro if I need to. In reading a few of the posts above it looks like running in XP mode is the best. I've tried to install WOW using the client download but the installer starts (I can see it in the processes window) but it doesn't do anything. I also noticed that the installer is a 32 bit version - so I'm not sure if that means it won't run properly on Win 7 64? Any advise from you all out there would be appreciated.

One other thing - the mouse touch pad works - but it doesn't seem to be configureable. I'd like to see if I can enable doc scolling by using the right side of the touch pad but the app for the hw just thinks is a PS2 mouse. Have any of you out there experienced this? I've been looking around for a touch pad driver for NBLB2 but haven't found one yet.

thx

 

ok - figured it all out. I think the factory image on the HDD is bad. By cleanly reinstalling Win7 64 with the DVD provided I'm no longer getting Win7 strangeness. WOW installer is now happy.
Also found the Synaptics 64bit driver on the Compal site Welcome to Compal Driver Download Site!

 

I'm thinking about putting together a NBLB2 from a Barbones during the holidays. The reviews are positive although I'm not sure about the looks. The screen sounds great but I hope the rest of the chassis to look like a budget Toshiba L300.

How does this thing look in person.

 

ARom, I think it comes down to personal taste in the end. You can see plenty of photos of the laptop from all angles on the review site Notebookcheck.pl: Recenzja Compal NBLB2 (click on each photo to get an enlarged view) and decide whether it looks nice according to your taste. Personally I'm not so keen on the silver/grey upper body with wavy lines around the keyboard and touch pad, but it's not that obtrusive really. I use my laptop at the office and it doesn't embarrass me, let's put it that way. Some people like touch pads that are flush with the body (as is the case with this model), some don't. Again, it comes down to personal preference. I think the black lid looks good (mind you, I've skinned mine to protect it from scratches and to avoid finger prints, which show up quite easily on shiny black laptop lids).

 

Thanks, from this angle: http://www.notebookcheck.pl/uploads/pics/DSC09301.JPG

It looks pretty good.

 

Pictures don't do this laptop justice. In person it looks really great!!!!!

 

Somebody here got the knowledge and the time to mod the Insyde BIOS of the Compal NBLB2 to unlock advance features in the BIOS? Or maybe somebody already has done it?

 

Just bought a Compal NBLB2 barebone.

Specifications:

BB: NBLB2
CPU: i3 330M
RAM: 2x2GB Corsair DDR3-1333 CL9
HDD: WD 500GB Caviar Blue 8MB 5400RPM
Total: €500,77
Comparable system retail price: €1000.-

I think I did good

Anyway, system is going to be used mainly for studying, being able to watch movies and other graphical things mobile but in high detail and the occassional when-not-at-home game (got a desktop for that).

I first thought of building in a second HDD in the optical bay, but I find it ridiculous to pay about the HDD price just to be able to mount it in said bay.

If possible I'll be running Snow Leopard and Win 7 in dual boot, but I'll have to see how Snow works out on the i3 + HD5650.

If anyone has something important to say or just general input on the build I'm open for comments; hope you agree it's a good and cheap build for what I get.