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TEST RESULTS
System Power Draw
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Test Results: System Power
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Test State
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Asus EB1501
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Lenovo Q110
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Idle
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20W
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17W
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CPU Load
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27W
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20W
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CPU + GPU
Load
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39W
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31W
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The EB1501 uses only 3W more power when idle than the Lenovo Q110, but 7W
more on full CPU load, and 8W more when the GPU is added to the mix. This is
not surprising given the Eee Box has to power a second Atom processor core,
an extra stick of memory, WiFi adapter and optical drive. Still, its energy
demands are far lower than even a low-end mainstream desktop, which would be
lucky to idle at below 40W.
Video Playback - CPU vs. GPU
To see how much difference video hardware acceleration makes, we played our
test suite with hardware acceleration both on and off. Our H.264 and WMV-HD
clips were played in PowerDVD, so we simply ticked and unticked the video acceleration
option in the configuration menu. Our x264 clips were tested using CoreAVC to
decode them using CPU power alone, and then we configured it to use Nvidia's
CUDA technology to utilize the GPU. Our Flash test clip was played with Flash
10.0 which does not support GPU acceleration, and then with the 10.1 Beta version
which does.
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Test Results: Video Playback
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Test State
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GPU Accel.
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No GPU Accel.
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Avg.
CPU
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System Power
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Avg. CPU
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System Power
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Rush Hour
(1080p H.264)
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13%
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25W
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60%
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27W
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Coral Reef
(WMV-HD)
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29%
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27W
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33%
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27W
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Undead Battle
(720p x264)
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18%
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26W
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49%
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26W
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Spaceship
(1080p x264)
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18%
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28W
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65%
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28W
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Iron Man
(720p Flash)
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26%
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24W
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60%
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26W
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Grey boxes indicate test failure.
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Most of the clips, except for the WMV-HD video played smoothly using CPU power
alone, though with high CPU usage — above 60% in most cases. However, with
the GPU assisting, CPU utilization dipped below 30%, and H.264 and Flash playback
used slightly less power. Ultimately, GPU acceleration really wasn't needed
to play through most of our video test suite as a dual core Atom at 1.6GHz is
powerful enough on its own. However, taking advantage of ION's decoding capabilities
frees CPU resources for other tasks and ION gives you that all important HDMI
port, which Atom systems with Intel's antiquated GMA 950 graphics lack.
We should also note that according to Cyberlink's Blu-ray Advisor, the system
is fully capable of Blu-ray disc playback, only lacking an optical drive with
Blu-ray support.
Subjective Experience
The biggest peeve we have with complete systems is the amount of pre-installed
software. The EB1501 was not horrific bad in this regard, but they did take a good chunk of time to uninstall due to the relatively slow processor and hard drive. There are some useful but essential
things (especially for entry level users) like Flash Player, Adobe Reader, ArcSoft
TotalMedia Theater, and Microsoft Works. However, also present were some applications
we could definitely live without like Asus' WebStorage, Update, and Eee Manager
applications, as well as Adobe Air and trial versions of Microsoft Office and
worst of all, Trend Micro Internet Security. Like most security software, Trend
Micro gets in the way than it helps. For example it warned us of
"suspicious activity" when we tried to connect to a password-protected
router. If you follow all its advice, the only safe activity is playing Solitaire.
In general use, the system is reasonably snappy and we'd have no problem using
on a day-to-day basis. About the only complaint we had was the boot-up time,
even after we stripped most of the software off. It took about 63 seconds from
the time we pushed the power button to when the desktop appeared and the system
was responsive to our commands. By comparison, the mCubed
HFX Micro S13, which also sports a dual core Atom CPU and notebook hard
drive, booted into XP (albeit a lighter OS) in about 40 seconds.
The included keyboard, mouse and remote had pretty good range — we tested
them at 6 meters (20 feet) away and all three functioned without any problems
from that distance. The remote was directional, so it would only work
if pointed it within 30° to either side of the receiver. It was a relatively
simple, Media Center remote without any fancy bells and whistles. The mouse
had a comfortable, rounded shape, but if you have large hands, it is a
bit small. The keyboard had a nice feel and good, responsive keys,
but it was a little cramped and we had to arch our fingers more than usual to
type with speed. All three accessories use a pair of AA batteries, which are supplied.
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