FL90 - Personal Review

Here is my little FL90 review. It is not very detailed, but I thought id throw one up with images.


I ordered my IFL90 from PowerNotebooks.com on June 18th

Specifications: WXGA (1200x800) Glossy
T7300 (2.0GHz) Intel Core2Duo
(1) 2GB RAM
256MB 8600GT
120GB SATA II 3GB/s 7,200 RPM HD

I recieved my laptop on July 25th via UPS mail.

Initial Problem: When I opened the laptop, to my discovery I was sent a FL90 instead of the IFL90. There differences between the two are the FL90: Lacks a fingerprint reader, has different media buttons, and a slightly different case. I contacted Donald of PNB and he was aware and very apologetic about the issue. We agreed on compensation for the lacking feature. The wait is too long to exchange for a normal IFL90 for me to bare.

First Impressions: (NOTE: This is my first laptop)
I opened the laptop and was a bit suprised by the size of the screen, how big it was. The only other laptop ive payed attention to is my buddies 14" dell. I popped the battery in, and picked the laptop up. It is not heavy at all, I see no issues with portability. Overall it looks very nice in my opinion.

Build Quality:
The case all seems stable to me. I do not feel any keyboard flex, and im used to desktop keyboards.

Screen:
Very bright, I went on my desktop after and it looks so dim and dull in comparison. The viewing angles are also better than on my friend’s 14" dell laptop in my opinion from the sides. I have one dead pixel in the top left area, it does not bother me, can hardly notice unless I’m on white looking at that area. My friends did not say anything either.

Performance:
So far I have ran 3 different graphical intense programs - CS:S, F.E.A.R, and 3DMark06

CS:S
I have everything on high, and 4xMSAA (for some reason it wont let me take a screenshot)
I run about 120FPS when running alone, to 75-90 when in groups, and lowest of 58 when in intense combat.


F.E.A.R



The game runs very great in my opinion. Will be playing this more tomorrow hehe.

The battery does not seem to last as long as I’d have though, maybe im doing something wrong.



3DMark06
I scored a 3400 with some programs in the background. Not sure how much that affects it – thought id mention.



Conclusion: Overall I am happy with this notebook, despite the mixup and such. Would I do it over again with the wait, probably. So far I am very pleased with the gaming power.


Pictures below

















Steven

 

*drool*

Thanks for posting, Stevonio.

 

do you think you have ddr3?

or still ddr2?

 

Thanks much for that review.

 

lol! That's a VBI version didn't know you guys had VBI in the states - it seems compal finally decided to flood the market with VBIs too Cool! And also I've recently heard some guy mentioning how his VBI FL90 has a slot for the tv-tuner. Which is great.

 

Thanks for that review.

 

A question, how is the glossy screen for glare/reflections? Is it as bad as some people say they are?

 

Read the polish review thread posted here or http://www.notebookcheck.pl/Recenzja-Compal-FL90.4123.0.html here.

There is a bunch of information there regarding the screens, they did some well thorough tests.

 

Great review and good to hear you are enjoying your new machine. Pictures are making me drool already

Quick tip regarding the dead pixel... have you tried these simple methods on this website below to see if it helps you out.

http://www.wikihow.com/Fix-a-Stuck-Pixel-on-an-LCD-Monitor

 

From what I hear, Sager tests their notebook's LCDs before shipping, and have a 80% no-dead pixel rate, so I hope my Sager doesn't come with any dead pixels.

Other than that, great review and I know you're enjoying it!

 

I ran 2 dead pixel programs for 15 minutes each, and it seemed to alter it to a grey than just a black. Which is better I guess

Steven

 

That was the same problem I had, and I probably would have kept it, except that my screen had been damaged during shipping. Glad you got yours and that you could keep it.

Nice little review.

 

If someone could translate that, I'd be very grateful. All I really need to know is the battery life and FEAR FPS... And their system specs.

 

t7300, 2gb ram, 256mb 8600GT, turbo memory, 1280x900 screen

FEAR:

'Test of performance of computer has brought on it requiring firstpersonal following (step) result strzelance '

CPU min / GPU min - średnio: 311 fps
CPU med / GPU med - średnio: 30 fps
CPU max / GPU max - średnio: 25 fps

średnio=average, I think. (Middling on my translator)

Battery (six cell):

no load: 3:06
DVD: 1:39
Load: 1:03


(I don't speak Polish, I just looked for numbers, and looked up specific words... they may all be wrong )

 

Something cant be right, 311 FPS in FEAR, for ANY video card(s) is impossible, unless Clevo got themselves a time machine and built the 8600GT using technology from the future...

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=143157 Post number 6 and onward. I would have translated it but he beat me to it