My Official M860TU REVIEW!!!

Make sure it is set to do that in the power settings.

 

sorry, can you please dumb that down for me?
Edit: wait i think i get it - if your processor is weaker, you can set the voltage lower.. but from what flipfire said:

doesnt that mean if you undervolt this, you would inevitability lose the 100mhz?

 

100mhz shouldn't make any practical difference. Besides, it'll run even cooler.

 

Yes, normally if you close your screen it'll go to sleep which is fine, because it's more or less "off".

But if you disable that and close your screen but leave it running then heat builds up because most of the time there are air vents above the keyboard which closing the lid will then block.

For Toastyy,

Under-volting and down-clocking are mutually exclusive, you can do one without the other. So, for say the P9500, you can still run it at 2.53GHz and under-volt it.

But if you were running it in battery-mode, it would drop the multiplier to it's lowest setting and I don't know what it's lowest speed is but at that speed, you would be able to undervolt the CPU even further.

Detailed explanation you can ignore:
The CPU comes with a pre-defined table of voltages for different multiplier levels, I think that's what they call SpeedStep. But each voltage level is set slightly higher than necessary to make sure all the chips run stably (because voltage affects stability). But because every chip is different, some can run stably on less voltage than others, so the joy of under-volting comes with trying to find the lowest voltage your CPU can run on at different speeds without losing stability. That involves picking a voltage and speed and running CPU burn-in programs to stress the CPU. If it crashes it means the chip's not getting enough juice and you've gone too low.

I'm fairly sure the Undervolting Thread probably explains this better than I do...

 

I posted this in my review, but I thought to give it it's own thread to see what others have noticed.

There's another problem about the heat that I've noticed. I'm not sure if it has a negative outcome in the end, but the heat that we all have been mentioning on the right side of the palm rest is also putting some good heat on the display. After hing my lid closed for about 30 minutes, I opened it up, and the screen on the right top side is rather hot, the side that was above the right palm rest. The left side of the screen is cold. Has anyone else noticed this? And can this heat eventually cause display problems?

 

It's normal for the screen to get hot because heat will rise from the palm rest into the screen frame that's on top of it when it's closed.

Try not to close your laptop lid if it's still on, it's generally not advised.

Gophn come on back me up here.

 

ah, so to avoid losing that 100mhz i would just have to undervolt a bit less - as in dont sent the multiplier too low?

 

Oh sorry, I didn't see Flipfire's post.

In the case of RMClock I guess you would inevitably lose the 100MHz since 9.5 is the highest/default multiplier. This is only for maximum performance though. While it's nice to undervolt the highest speed just to reduce temperatures a little it's really the lower speeds where it matters the most since the majority of the time you're on battery you'll be running it slower anyway.

And in that case it wouldn't really matter if you lost 100MHz.

You could try Notebook Hardware Control, that's what I use and as far as I'm aware it doesn't have an issue with half multipliers. Then again my CPU only uses full multipliers. So I'm sorry I didn't understand this topic fully before I pitched in.

 

I would suggest to put your laptop to sleep when you close your lid.

 

thats fine, gavin, i appreciate the help. i thought that one of the reasons you'd undervolt was to keep the temps while under a load down. Flipfire told me that i can set the undervolt to deactivate while under ac power (so while it's disconnected i'll have better batt life and when it is connected i'll have a stronger processor) but wouldn't this defeat the purpose of undervolting, which is (in my understanding) lowering the temp?

 

Yes, I will back up both gavinh and youdontneedtoknow.

You should never close a laptop all the way when it is running because it does need to "breath", both in and out, through the keyboard. So either Suspend, Hibernate, or shut it down before closing the lid all the way, or just close the lid to about 45 degrees so that it can still breath.

 

^^ what they said.

Its simple Physics.

HEAT RISES.

so if you put anything in its way (like the LCD when you close the notebook), heat will rise and collect on that object rather than being dissipated in the air.

... so what was the point of this thread?

I know you might be a new notebook owner, but theres common sense.

I recommend to close this thread.

 

To discuss a new notebook (M860TO) I guess ?

 

So where do I set it to automatically go in to sleep mode when the lid closes?

 

in the Power Options.

I highly recommend to give a quick call or email to your vendor if you have any questions or concerns before making a thread... especially when its minor or common sense.

 

Go to CP then Power Settings, it says "choose what closing the lid does"

 

Lowering temperatures and enhancing battery life are both valid reasons for under-volting.

I guess it's up to you whether you'd sacrifice that 100MHz to reduce your CPU temperature.

I personally under-volt more for the battery-life than for temperature, and if your CPU wasn't overheating or anything then I wouldn't worry about doing it solely to lower temperatures. That is my opinion.

 

It doesn't enhance battery life because your CPU is already undervolted (usually to its lowest safe potential) on battery already. It only lowers temperatures when you are plugged in. Im not a huge fan of undervolting unless your CPU is experiencing drastic temperatures, it hardly does anything to cool the GPU down (maybe 1 degree celsius at best).

 

All voltage settings for different speeds are on the conservative side to ensure maximum stability. Read my Detailed explanation you can ignore.

So it's possible to drop the voltage even more when you're already running on battery mode.

Case in point: My M755 processor downclocks to 600MHz @ 0.988v (I think, someone can look this up if they want to). I under-volt it to 0.700v no problem. Unfortunately I can't go lower because that's the minimum allowed in NHC.

But every chip is different, so your mileage may vary.

 

looks like even you are becoming annoyed with the dozen a day mr60tu threads popping up.

 

This thread has been rearranged. Looks like a merger.

That annoys me almost as much as the endless repetition of threads because it's equally hard to keep track of things.

 

i will still probably make my own though, but just title is Kobalt Nexus review, as to keep it from being merged.

 

Steven, just wanted to clarify...I know you mentioned using 1440x900, 4x AA, all high as your game settings, but is that only for CoD4 or do those also apply to your Crysis video?

 

First, srry that the crysis video is blurry, you can thank the people at youtube for that, ad I played Crysis on just high settins, it was good, i raised them to very high, and it was ok. though it wasn't in intense moments.

 

Steven please upload some more to veoh.com they support very high resolution videos. Thank you

 

Of which game? Crysis? or cod4 single player or cod4 multiplayer?

 

Anything you like I just want to watch how the NP8660 perform.

 

well I played some cod4 multiplayer, and I used cod4 to recored it, now the demo is in a dm_1 File format, and I cant convert it. less you know of anything, I would watch it and re-record with fraps, but I've only got the free version, and not about to pay 40 bucks for the full. Unless you know another program likes fraps that records longer?

 

I want a longer video and a better quality one.

 

this one is about 14 minutes

 

You're awfully demanding, youdontneedtoknow. Aren't you getting your machine soon enough to spare him the time and effort of putting together a video you'll forget about as soon as you receive your unit?

 

The problem is that I don't have my laptop yet and I am already addicted to it...

 

Relax -- read a book, pick up a hobby (that isn't checking NBR.com), learn something new, watch TV, work out, etc.

Harder done than said, eh?

 

It is pretty hard to do... I made over 500 posts in two weeks. Though many of them are very short O_x

 

Pleeeeease get back to us with the battery life update. Thats the last part I need to know before I order.

 

holy ****

I and i thought i poster alot

Woooooooooooooooooooot 500 posts

 

Is that supposed to be a real life version of L?

 

Yes, Battery plz

 

I am so hungry and sleepy...

 

i'm really interested in seeing the powerbrick's fan.. can post a pic on that ? ty =D

oh, and gratz on yr machine

 

To clarify a few things:

Did you get the WSXGA+ (1680x1050) Glare Screen or
the WUXGA (1920x1200) Matt Screen? (Its not listed in your sig)

Is the palm rest heat noticable when your hand is elevated above it, or only when resting on the palm rest? On a related note is the hard drive continually being accessed when you notice the heat (perhaps related to Windows Superfetch and other early system use settings).

Where you using FRAPS to record the frame rates, or another application when your FPS took a dive in the game?

Could you clarify your description of heavy? Do you mean heavier than expected in general (when lifting up and down while open)? When carrying it in its bag? When moving around your room/house? All of the above?

 

He got WSXGA+. WUXGA models won't start shipping until next week.

 

Thanks for the update. Is there a way to turn off the 10% battery alert? I'd get some interesting looks if that were to happen in a meeting

If you get a chance, can you also please test the maximum battery life with power saver and minimum screen brightness.

 

^--^
Sure, you can turn off the audible alert in Control Panel>Power Options>Alarms and uncheck the boxes.

 

Review UPDATED 8/23/2008 @ 3:00 PM PST Updated Looks, Heat, monitor, dvd and battery, added Build.

Yes you can feel the heat when you elevate your hand over the palm rest.
as a matter of fact, i rest my right arm there while typing, and its starting to get to the point of uncomfortable burning. this could be anther issue that i don't know if I could deal with. I think I'm going to buy a temperature strip and see how high its actually getting on the outside.

I had fraps running in the bacground, but wasn't recording.

It's got some weight to it, not a real issue, not to hard to pack around in a back pack either, but though I'm not Mr hunk muscle man, I still got a little muscle, so 9 or 10 pounds isn't to bad for me.

 

Again, you are not supposed to rest your wrist while typing... htats bad ergonomics... and will leave ugly palm stains on your case.

When will people learn to type correctly.

 

drill some holes over the spot^_^

 

Perhaps I'm not, but I do, and even if I don't lay them on the palm rest, i still feel a good amount of heat coming up, right now my hdd is 55 degrees C, and maybe thats not real high, but when you've got 130 degrees F less than an inch from your wrist, and only separated by 1/16in of plastic, you start noticing a burning feeling.

 

i actually get the same thing on my acer aspire 5601 AWLM

It was my first modern computer so i thought the heat was always like that. I remember even the touch pad getting hot. maybe im used to it and wont care too much..... hopefully

 

Overall, do you like the NP8660?