Got the Compal JFL92 (BTO 15W26+)

My BTO 15W26+ SRR (Compal JFL92)





The company BTO is well known in Europe (Netherlands).
The company started in 2000 building notebooks on there own.
The assembly and repair center are all done by them.
The deliver notebooks by the term Build To Order in several configurations.
The configuration can be adjusted as you will like it.
For more information check the website http://www.bto.eu

My configuration:

BTO 15W26+
Intel Core 2 Duo T9500 (Penryn)
4GB DDR2 PC2-6400
160 GB HDD + Shock Protection
DVD Writer +/- DL
Nvidia 8600M GT 512MB
2.0M Webcam
Fingerprint Reader
TV-Tuner
BT
Wireless
Intel Turbo Memory module
Optical notebook mouse
Notebook sleeve
Remote for MCE and TV-Tuner.
Windows Vista Home Premium 64Bits OEM version.
Cyberlink DVD Suite
Driver and Software CD incl: MCE Encoder, Compal Smart Software.





First I already had the older BTO 15W25+ with the same configuration only the T7500 CPU and 2GB DDR2 PC2-5300.

The notebook looks the same and feels the same but after soms minutes and some tests I discover some new things.

The base is and feels sturdy.
The casing is black with the piano looks for the touch sensitive strip.
The 9 Cell battery sticks out.
The notebook is started the first thing i detected is the boot logo. (BTO)
I straight checked the BIOS detecting the notebook is using BIOS 1.16.
It seems to run fine with the Penryn CPU T9500, so it must be the new JFL92.
The only confirmation cam from Compal, the new IFL90 with the Penryn CPU and BIOS 1.16 or up is named JFL92.
Then i started to install Vista 64Bits Home Premium.
Everything is going smooth, straight after the installtion update's are reported so I installed them.
Then started to install the software first the driver like Intel Chipset, Intel Turbo Mmeory and the Intel Wireless Card.
The VGA driver isn't installed with an modded inf, windows update reported a new driver for the VGA version 167.59 installed this and it's working fine.
Then the TV-Tuner, BT, Realtek, Touchpad, Lan, Modem, Card Reader, Fingerprint Reader, WebCam, WOW Video & Audio,Smart Battery and the Wireless Selecter Switch.

Some software needs to be updated but this can be done by checking the BTO website, Compal webiste, the bizcom-us website and the marasst website.

The notebooks is running real smooth it takes 32 seconds to get windows loaded and everything is running then.
The services are up and the notebook is ready for use.
The first thing I checked is the performance index to see the number.



The WPI looks great, it is much faster then my older BTO15W25+ (Compal IFL90)

To test the performance for more details I run 3DMark06 in default settings.



And I run wPRIME to get the idea:



The CPU Fan is very quite even when running the benchmark it is still very quite.
The keyboard feels much better then the older BTO 15W25+.
It feels like the keys are using a different kind of mechanisme.
The touchpad is easy to use and simple but no disbale function is present meaning t needs to be disabled trough the device manager..
The Touch sensitive buttons are still working fine, pitty the default settings can not be changed.
The power button to adjust the charging for the battery together with the Smart Battery software is working fine.
The Power USB button is a good option for charging you mobile phone or other kind of device when you need.
The Card Reader is accepting MMC, MS, MS PRO, SD
The 15.4" WSXGA+ (1680x1050) with Matt Finished Screen is great, trying to bend the screen or push the screen isn't showing much ripple or backlight spots.
The overall performance is great, very sturdy and the notebook feels cool so no hot spots for you hands.
The HDD is running smooth and with the extra option of Shock Protection my data is safe when bumping or dropping the notebook.
The Nvidia 8600M GT delivers more then enough power to produce the graphics on the screen, running games like Gears of War, Crysis, Medal of Honor Airborne and World in Conflict are great.
Keep in mind the games are all played with the screen resolution set to 1280x1024.
The webcam works great but the software delivered with the cam isn't.
The sound is just enough for the notebook, to get the latest options and the best quality I downloaded the drivers from the realtek website.
The Compla software like Smart Face Tracking, Smart Meeting, Smart Battery and Smart Watch Dog are nice to have but not all are needed.


Conclusion:

The notebooks is the same as the BTO 15W25+ but with an new CPU and with more RAM it's being a beast.
I think the notebook is the best to get for a good price with the size of 15.4"
I decided to go for the matt screen, I don't like the get the reflection from things around me like sunlight, and reflection from lamps.
The Casing is smooth clean and direct, no extra stuff or trainge keys, buttons just the ones you will need I think.

Pros:
CPU Fan
Touch sesitive keys.
Screen resolution even with matt it still ooks sharp.
Heat production is low, the FAN is blowing for several seconds but not to much.
Fingerprint is offering to register username and password for websites.
Start time and shutdown time are below 20 sec.

Cons:
WOW Video isn't adjustable for user settings.
Touchpad cannot be disabled.
Webcam software isn't great, Windows software is giving much more quality.
TV-Tuner isn't getting the signal above 75% this is causing the image quality to be bad.

Well I hope this is just fine for you all, I enjoy to have this notebook and to get this power out of an portable device.

This power notebook is delivered by BTO Notebooks.



Thx to BTO for the fast delivery.
Ordered at 15:15 and got the notebook at 17:45 same day.
Service is great and they are ready to help you any time.

 

Congratulations, I'm anxious to see the results. The time delivery is exactly the same here in the US, but three weeks later

 

installing both machine's with a clean windows vista.
JFL92 is Vista Home Premium 64Bits 4GB
IFL90 is Vista Home Premium 32Bits 2GB

Benchmark and other results are posted later.
Including review about notebook looks, speed and other usefull stuff.

 

cool looking forward to this review... as i planned to buy to laptop as well...

 

Congrats.
Can you check audio recording, see if they have fixed this problem yet?
Thanks.

 

The built in microphones are a bummer.

But eh... The IFL90 is built with the little mic input right to the left.. So I just use a little dongle.

Works perfectly.

:]

thank god thats not in an awkward spot? Eh?

 

that isn't what we paid for.

 

Dont' start about things you haven't seen yet, wait for my review or details about the notebook.

 

Hi, are there any chances of getting some larger photos of this laptop? I look forward to your review.

 

Go here to find out; http://www.notebookreview.com/writeReview/

 

Correct busy with the review at this time.

 

Nice, it still comes with 8600gt?

 

review is send to NBR, still waiting for theme to get it online.

 

OEM Logo info for the Compal JFL92 (BTO 15W26+)

 

any news on when your review will be up?

 

NO, send the review doc to NBR but no reply yet.

If no reply comes about my review i will post one only just with a new topic.

 

My windows experience is 4.6 and I don't have the Penryn, nor "usable" 4GB RAM, nor 64 OS. I guess my T7700 is as good as Penryn!

 

Check the Windows performance index and make a screen shot, then post it we can compare the details en see the difference.

Looking forward to the screen shot.

 

How do you do that?

 

Use the small tool to make the screen shot in windows.
Something like snippingtool, this is default in Windows Vista i think.

 

or just use any decent image viewer + printscreen

 

Here is my screen;

 

Can you also make the screen shot for the detailed version with all the ratings like HDD, Graphics, Memory and other stuff.

 

Any news on the review? I'm dying to read it!

 

check the first page of this post, that's my review in short setup.

 

Great! Thanks for the review. I'm getting a JFL92 and hope it goes as smoothly as yours seems to have.

 

May be a missed it, did you say anything about temperature behavior, did you notice the CPU's temperature on idle, normally working and when playing games?

Did you compare weights? (versus IFL90) perhaps we can determine the thermal IC model by the weight difference I hope you are laughing!!!!!!

 

Here is the detailed screen.

 

I guess the main difference has to do with memory, albeit I have as much memory as you, Vista only recognizes 3G becuas the wonderful issue we all know well. Regarding the graphices data I may need to do some fine tune my nVidia card, any idea?

 

as you can see the Refresh of the mainboard and the adjusted hardware support for the Penryn is giving the system more speed.
The Nvidia card i am using is running with the defeault driver delivered by Microsoft trough the windows update version 167.59 32/64Bits.
You can also try to install Ntune from Nvidia, this might give you the option to OC.
Keep in mind OC your GPU is tricky because of the heat and this can result in the brake down of your GPU.
When OC your GPU don't set the core further then 675 and the memory above 475.
These settings are stable and are not giving errors or game crashes.

 

I'm not a good friend of OC, I prefer to leave things the way they come.

I'll try to update my video card driver first.

Sorry for the redundancy, what type of RAM you have?

Another worry I have, is concerning the real FSB speed, I heard that the Northbridge chipset is the bottleneck, now if you have a FL90 SRR, that's means that you are still limited.

 

2x2 GB DDR2 PC2-6400 800MHz set 5-5-5-14
Well the FSB is now running fine on 800MHz.
The only thing that's not running on full power is the memory controller this will stick at a speed of say 667MHz.

check picture:
But then again you can see the Penryn CPU is giving my memory a boost.

My older Compal IFL90 (BTO 15W25+) is using 2x1 GB DDR2 PC2-6400 800MHz memory and it gets the same index as your machine
When I installed memeory from OCZ performance for notebook 2x1 GB DDR2 PC2-5400 675MHz memory the index didn't changed.
Also no speed boost detected with older or newer mem.

 

Hi all, im planning to buy a BTO 15W26+ (at btonotebooks.nl)
specs:
15,4 inch WSXGA+ X-Black Glare LCD (res. 1680x1050)
Nvidia 8600M GT 512 Mb videokaart, DirectX 10
Intel® Core2Duo T8300 2.40GHz - 3 Mb (FSB-800MHz)
Intel® 965PM / ICH8-M
2Gb DDR2-800MHz (slot 1)
1Gb DDR2-800MHz (slot 2)
Intel® 1GB Turbo Memory (VISTA)
S-ATA: 120GB 7200 rpm (8Mb cache) Serial ATA
etc.

i've got a few questions:
- does the laptop has a spdif output?
- does the laptop has a video input? Some images told me so...
- is the cpu fan on all the time? or is it as quiet as for example a macbook?

If anyone could answer these questions i'd be very happy
especially the spdif output and the fan are important to me.
Thanks a lot!
Greets, Joeri

 

I don't think it has spdif.

It has a RF input for an external antenna and a S-Video port (you will need a TV tuner mini card to use these ports)

It also has a IEEE1394 port.

I don't have a JFL92, I have a IFL90, its predecessor, and my fan is very quite, and I have heard that the JFL92 is even more quite, and more so it heats much less when equipped with the Penryn CPU.

I don't know how quite is a macbook fan, sorry.

 

@Wirelessman.

Your correct, the new JFL92 is more quite then the older IFL90.

@joertem.

I send you an pm.

 

Oh, I didn't realize that Joertem is on your zone, that's great, I'm sure you can help him.

 

Indeed, he helped me a lot.
Actually i cheated a little, i filled in my location a day after posting the message, so you couldn't know
I'm sure now, going to buy it.
My thoughts were also on the 15w125+, but it's not a compal, and i heard some strange angry voices about the keyboard, so the 15w26+ it is.
(i like the tv tuner as well recording tv shows)
For the spdif im going to buy a little usb sound card (not more than 25 euro's, it's worth the laptop)
Thanks a lot all!

p.s. little question(last one): is a t9300 a lot better than a t8300?

 

@ wirelessman.
PM to joertem is more detailed about the questions and the information for the and about the company he is going to buy the BTO/Compal notebook form.

@joertem
Well again good luck, and I have the T9500.
The bigger the cache size, is nice when you running heavy apps, like video editing and running something like ACAD or benchmarking software.
Games are also requesting more and more power so the direct I don't know your budget but if you want my advise go for the T9300.

 

Thank you for the advice, and don't forget to keep me posted for May.

 

I will keep you posted, it's going to be great.

 

May be you will send me the thermsl sensor and a Penryn sample

 

well if i can do something I will but don't pin me to it.

 

I don't, just kidding.

 

you got me there, nice one.

 

But you did say "if I can do something".......

 

And what's the status bought the notebook already.
Let me know please

 

How come the T8300 has so litle cash (3MB)?

 

Waiting for my salary from februari(!), quite a lot (im 19 years old), so I need it
I'll send my boss an email, I want that laptop!
i'll keep you posted

 

Good, but if you wait a little bit longer you might as well get the nirvana platform one, which is the next generation, the current platform is fading away at a monstrous rate.

 

!!!!!!!!!!!nirvana platform!!!!!!!!!!!!!! what's that?