Preliminary Info on NEW Compal IFL90 / IFL91 / IFT01 / IFT00

is it a good idea to put Arctic Silver 5 in the notebook?
does it avoid the 3 Year Warranty?

 

If you have your reseller install it for you, of course not..

However, if you install it yourself and goof something up in the process, they may / may not warranty the repair.

If you are careful though, not a problem.

 

why do you say not to let the reseller install it?
does the artic silver have a big effect on the temp of the notebook?

 

It cools the CPU a few degrees C.
Tim

 

I didn't say to not let them install it.. I said that if the reseller installs it, your warranty won't be effected..

Most of the testing I've seen and done is 4-7 degree's Celsius ..

 

ah ok. perfect

 

any other reseller that accepts international credit cards?
how relieble is Xoticpc?

 

http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Xotic_PC
Tim

 

so the question will be how reliable is resellerratings.com?
I really don't want to get screwed, I'm really carefull

 

I dunno I just got it from this thread. http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=60041

They also have some ebay feedback. http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISA...&ftab=FeedbackAsBuyer&item=-1&de=off&items=-1

Justin from Xotic PC posts here on the forums and I am sure you could call him up if you have any questions.
Tim

 

Thanks Tim

Fore if you have any questions I can help with, feel free to email or call me

 

Does anyone have any idea when it will come to the U.S.?

 

The Compal IFL90 is available for Pre-Order. It will ship mid June.

Still no word on the Compal IFL00
Tim

 

I found some new pictures on this Marasst Inc. website.

IFT00
IFT00(MA)
IFL90
IFL90(MA)

I'm not entirely sure what the different MA is about.. Perhaps Compal is shipping a regular whitebook model that can be customized however and then also a strict Intel VBI model that conforms will all those necessary specifics. They have different chassis in the picture, anyway. I suppose you all should only pay attention to the regular model pictures

 

I think the (MA) stands for MAtte (or mat? I mean: "not shiny"). Although the IFT00 (MA) is white, it's also matte and the models without (MA) are shiny.

 

Hmm according to this the reason I noticed different images on the powernotebook.com page and the xoticpc.com page is because powernotebook.com has an image of the IFT-00 and xoticpc.com has an image of the IFL-90 (at least according) to the images above.

 

I believe the powernotebooks.com picture is inaccurate.

 

Does anyone know yet if the IFL90 is going to come with a 8600 GT or 8600GS? As much as they want for it I hope for their sake it's the GT version. Otherwise, I don't think it will do will vs the Asus G1S. If not, when is the first shippment due out so the world will find out?

 

Yes, we made the mistake of using the 00 pictures but that has now been corrected.

Thanks to those who pointed out our mistake so we could fix it

 

Justin: I've run through this thread, and I haven't seen any mention of whether or not the IFL90 is MXM-capable or not. Do you have that information available to you, or not? Cheers.

P.S.: Are you prepping your heatsinks and CPU/GPUs with Arcticlean before going with the AS5?

 

He's not only doing that, but he melts a genuine hunk of arctic ice on each heat sink during the burn-in, a christening if you will

 

I can't remember any tests of IFL90?

Therefor does I post this test from Norway even though you don't understand much of it. But you can understand the PCMark 05 tests and the battery test... I must say I like the battery life

But it's important to say that this is an preliminary test, and that of course because the final model does not yet exist.

Overall I can inform you about that the test is verry positive to the computer.

- Amund

 

Er. Water + Electronics = BAD JUJU.

I've just been in the habit of using ArctiClean on all thermal transfer surfaces to make sure they are CLEAN, seeing as how I was able to use it to *dissolve* a wax pad with it. Dissolve, I said. And with a delightful citrus-y scent, too. Soy-based solvents are a wonderful thing. Check the Arctic Silver website for more info.

Cheers.

 

Thanks Amundsf,

4 hours battery life not too shabby.

I'm surprised that the 7900gt in the Dell was that much better than the 8600M gt in the IFL90

 

I wish I could read Norwegian. I tried finding a converter but I didn't have any success.

One nice thing is that it did have the 512MB 8600gt. Lets hope they do the same in the US.
Tim

 

here you go http://www.tranexp.com:2000/InterTr...php?id=383858&type=text&text=&from=nor&to=eng

i think IFT00s 8600GT 256mb is just fine. cuz IFL90 got 512mB, but only 128bit, so in all it wont use all 512mB, thats just a marketing trick. and GPU procesor and memory are too slow too to handle all 512mB, so in my opinion extra 256mB is a waste of battery life.

btw for white IFT00, the design is awesome!

 

Thanks for the translation, but it was almost easier to read in Norwegian!

 

If anyone checks into this that can read Norwegian, could they translate the conclusion possibly? The cpu generated translation had "annoying" in that paragraph 2 or 3 times, so I'm interested to see what it was referring to.

 

its about led indicators, they dont like them cuz they blink no matter what you do indicating HDD or CPU load.

 

IFT00 with 8600M GT? that's awesome! where did you get that info from?

 

Thats in Europe, its up in the air as to whether the US gets the 00 or not from what's been posted.

 

I'm to rubbish in English to give a good translation my self/ it would be to much job.

But I'll ask if anyone would do it in a thread about IFL90 on an norwegian computer forum. You would just have to hope


Btw. "dinside.no", the page that the test is from is not the most serius test side in Norway. But pretty fare from just rubbish But don't trust them for 100%...

- Amund

 

Hello.


I'm translating the text now, half way done already.


Mks1001


Edit: I'll go to bed now, the clock is 2 am here...

 

If the IFT00 indeed looks like this and comes with a 8600M GT. Then I am not going to wait for the Asus A8js refresh .

 

You know you can custom paint any laptop white if you really wanted to... In fact I think xoticpc even offers such an option during configuration.

 

Thank you very much for working on it.
Tim

 

yep, their review is totaly rubbish. i didn't find any useful info on IFL90 only subjective opinion without any motivation.
"leds annoys cuz they blink" yeah, lets make a conclusion of that review: all lapies sux cuz they have leds. LOL

The only good thing was a graphic comparison and text is totaly useless, so, in my opinion, there is no point to translate it.

It's not comfird info, but we can expect 8600GT, cuz HGL30 had 7600GT.
some online shops offer IFT00 with 8600GT, but i guess all specs haven't been confirmed by compal yet. http://img389.imageshack.us/img389/2748/compalik4nh0.gif

personally i would even prefer IFT00 with 8600GS, that would save some battery time. Desktop 8600GT isn't capable to handle CMR DiRT, TDU on highest settings, so IFL90 even with 8600GT 512mB won't perform well on the newest games. my desktop computer with 7900GS makes only ~25fps on 1280x1024 ultra settings in DiRT demo and desktop 7900GS outperforms Go 8600GT about 2 times and even more on DX9.

 

Where did you buy an HGL30 with a 7600GT? I thought these had the same underclocked cards as the HEL80?

 

Translated from dinside data


Here is the translation of the Norwegian test. By the way, please don't judge my English to bad... I just hope you are able to read it



The new Centrino-platform gives us a new generation notebooks, and we got impressed by the Compal IFL90 – the new generation after the popular HEL80 – which soon will be in stores.

By Vegar Jansen (translated by MKS1001)
Friday 1. June 2007

The Taiwan PC-manufacturer Compal is interesting enough one of the world’s greatest, but at the same time rather unknown as they mainly make computer components for other brands (like for instance Dell).

Compal is however selling like some sort of semi-manufacture, which is computers getting put together in more domestic shops. If you have been watching the market perhaps you remember HEL80, a model sold, among others, by both PS Data and Multicom (Norwegian online stores).

In connection with the great change to Santa Rosa, Compal have made a new model, and then of course on the new Centrino-platform.

We have got to borrow an early version of the IFL90 (which is the new Compal's name) from Multicom, who would have it ready for delivery from mid June.



All photos: Per Ervland

IFL90 comes in black plastic and the design is rather uncomplicated.

Specifications:

* Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2,2 GHz
* 15,4" screen (1280 x 800 pixels)
* 2 GB DDR2-Ram (1024 + 1024 MB)
* 80 GB hard drive (5400 rpm)
* nVidia GeForce 8600M GT (512 MB memory)
* WLAN (a/b/g/n), gigabit LAN + modem
* 4 x USB, Bluetooth, FireWire
* 1 ExpressCard/54
* Memory card reader for SD, MMC, MS
* VGA and S-Video out, sound in, analog/digital sound out
* Fingerprint ready, 2.0 Mp webcam and integrated microphone
* Dimensions (B/D/H): 36,6 x 26,9 x 4,4 cm
* Weight about 3,0 kilo (6.6 lbs)

Over all, it's not very much we miss when we talk about specifications, because this computer has got a lot of muscles.

Remember that this computer can be configured. As you can change the processor, hard drive and RAM, it would be possible to get from about 10000 NOK. Our test computer would have costed about 13000 NOK with Windows Vista Home Premium installed.




A webcam with 2.0 megapixels is on the top of the screen.

The screen on our IFL90 is unfortunately - and luckily- not the same as it would be when Multicom releases it. We say unfortunately since that means we can't evaluate this part of the computer at this point of time. Still, we are happy to get another screen on the released computer than we got on our test computer.

As a matter of form: The 15,4-inches widescreen on our test machine consists of 1280 x 800 points, and doesn't impress. In spite of the contrast coating it seems a little pale and colorless. It is an exception at a special visual angle, but here we are talking about very few degrees –it’s not working well. We would like to see another screen on this computer, and we would get a screen when it’s out on the market, we are then talking about a matte screen with a resolution of 1680 x 1050 points.

Construction:

Now it is time for the rest of the machine. The lid’s/screen’s back is polished in black. Not as glossy as other “piano polish”-models we have been looking at, and because of that you don’t have to worry that much about getting fingerprints on it. The rest of the computer is made in matt plastic.

The computer itself seems solid enough, and the top is well hinged and properly adjusted. We could however wish for a greater stiffness in the chassis – at that point it is a little too easy to bend for our point, but this doesn’t have to be a problem.





The keyboard is nice to use, but it isn’t the best regarding noise. Especially on the left side. That the Fn-key should not be placed on the left side of the Ctrl-key we keep repeating in boredom.

An on/off-button and some shortcuts are located above the keyboard. On the left we have two buttons, one for supplying your USBs when the power is off, doesn’t give a lot of voltage, but it will do to charge a Creative Zen Stone but not a Vision:M. The other button is for some sort of smart charging, but we didn’t get it to work. We had several problems with different small things on the IFL90, but all of them seemed to be driver related. It is a reason it hasn’t been released yet.

IFL90s touchpad is very good, sensitive and in similarity to the widescreen. It doesn’t have dedicated scrolling fields, but it can be put to scroll both vertically and horizontally. The two buttons beneath the touchpad is not among the largest we have seen, but unquestionably one of the most sensitive.

Possible connections:

The computers connection ports are placed on the sides while we in the front have speakers and a little switch turning on/off Bluetooth and wlan. On the back we find the battery, room for a Kensington-lock and the place it releases the hot air.




On the left side it is a VGA and an S-Video out, GB LAN, modem, 2 USB-ports, FireWire, ExpressCard-slot, memory card reader and sound in/out.



On the right side is the DVD-room fitted, 2 x USB, antenna/S-Video in (extra) and power connection.

Performance and battery:

IFL90 is not the first Santa Rosa-machine we test, we were in fact quite early with a review of the TravelMate 6292 from Acer. That 12,1-inches impressed with good performance. When this new Compal could show off with the same processor we got high expectations.

New for us, in the other hand, is the graphic card. GeForce 8600M GT (exists in a GS-version too) from nVidia is the first DX10 compatible graphics card for notebooks, and we were of course exited to see if the graphic performance is as good as rest of the computer.

As comparative basis we use the already mentioned Acer TravelMate 6292, and in addition to that we compare with the Dell XPS M1710. The Dell is an extreme 17-inch laptop we tested a year ago, which at that time costed about 27.000 NOK. How would IFL90, with a price twice as low, manage when we compare pure strength?

Performance in PCMark05:




The higher the score the better.

Intel’s new Centrino-platform continuous to impress us. Overall the Dell is ahead, but this is mainly because of the graphics card, which was the king a year ago. When we are looking at graphics we can see that the Acer is far behind, but this only has an integrated graphic solution. But its drivers weren’t ready yet when we tested it.

Overall we can see that the IFL90 makes a nice impression with very good performance totally.

Battery:




Battery time in minutes. Continuous work.

IFL90 has a large 9 cells battery which is protruding out of the back, that’s something we doesn’t like much, although many prefer that to extend battery life. In our usual test, this PC is impressing by keeping active 4 hours. Very good keeping in mind the processor performance and graphical solution.

If you now wonder if this notebook is very noisy because of the high performance we have some good news for you. During hard work the fan keeps up, but this isn’t too noisy. When the computer isn’t busy doing anything system demanding you mainly hear the hard drive. The fan is indeed speeding up sometimes even when it’s inactive, but the noise is kept to a minimum, in fact you have to put your ear onto the computer or be in a completely silent room for the noise to classify as a problem.
We are very happy with how low the noise is!

Evaluation and conclusion:

The Multicom Compal IFL90 will not get a grade this time. In addition to that the released computer will have another screen than the test computer, there are still some software and drivers missing. We are then instead waiting to get our hands on a ”done” computer before we pronounce our judgment.




We will then also be able to test "Turbo Memory", which is an optional part of the Santa Rosa-platform. Our test example got delivered without, but we will get this extra memory (not to mix with ReadyBoost) and see how much difference this does. Intel has told that this should help booth boot time and battery time.

Nevertheless has the IFL90 given us a good first impression. This notebook looks to be well equipped and only a few weak points. The only thing that really annoyed us was the status lights in front of the computer. These lamps lights up when the computer is switched on, charges and when the Wlan is on. You can’t see it on the pictures, but these three lamps are actually unpleasantly bright-when you watch movies or similar in dark rooms this is very irritating and you will have to cover them.

Overall we are looking forward to look at the “finished” IFL90 and other Santa Rosa-machines.


Summing up:

Good performance by both processor and graphic card, silent with good battery time. Our test machine is not a finished product, so the grade will have to wait.




Translated from dinside data

 

[appluading]..wow, very nice.

 

Thanks very much for the translation: I couldnt find anything to criticize with your english even if I wanted to.

 

A BIG thank you to mks1001!!!

That review was interesting. It gives me hope that the 512MB version is the gt and the 256MB version is the gs. Still have to wait and see but it seems likely.
Tim

 

Thanks for the translation, mks1001.

I can't believe they're getting this much out of the battery given the specs of the system.

 

Does anyone know how much of a difference it will make in battery time when comparing this screen, a WXGA one, with a WSXGA+ screen?

BTW: very good translation! very helpful.

 

The resolution is higher, which means greater detail in games, pictures, videos and stuff like that. The WSXGA+ requires you to order a 9 cell battery at the moment which sticks out of the back 3/4". Im currently looking for a 6 cell that fits flush and will work with this screen.

 

Ofcourse, but that's not the thing I am asking: I'm asking if anyone knows how big the difference will be in battery life when comparing a WXGA screen with a WSXGA+ screen, which is the other option when buying an IFL90.

 

For all the talk of Compal's great build, they talked about bending...

And I might be wrong here but shouldn't it have a res of 1680 x 1050 if it comes with an 8600GT 512?

 

No problem

I just wish this was a school task, maybe I could have gotten a 6 (A)

 

The 512mb model is the 1680x1050 screen, the 256mb is the WXGA

They also did say that the screen they had for the review would not be in the production model, correct?

 

Also, I think a lot of the speculation about the great build was based on the prior HEL80...there was no real reason to suggest that Compal would decrease their build quality for some reason...