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Performance
So how fast is a Core 2 Solo anyway? We benchmarked the EC1803h against a Dell
Vostro 1400 with a Core 2 Duo with the same clock speed (1.4GHz) and an Asus Eee PC 1005HA.
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Test Results: Benchmarks
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Test
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Vostro 1400 (XP)
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EC1803h (Vista)
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Asus 1005HA (XP)
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NOD32
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9:50
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11:14
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16:25
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WinRAR
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5:14
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5:38
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11:12
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iTunes
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7:36
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8:46
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21:17
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TMPGEnc
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11:46
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20:01
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27:22
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PCMark05
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2941
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2214
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1668
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3DMark05
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656
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979
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268
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3DMark06
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487
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603
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124
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In most of our timed benchmarks, the EC1803h trailed the Vostro by only a small
amount. Only video encoding with TMPGEnc was significantly slower, but then
again it is doubtful anyone would be using such a small device to encode video.
The 1005HA lagged far behind in all the tests — it would seem that a Core
2 Solo is much closer to a Core 2 Duo in terms of performance rather than an
Atom. The EC1803h beat the Vostro in 3DMark as it has a newer, faster IGP. The
Vostro is almost two years old and is equipped with X3100 graphics.
After removing all the pre-installed software that came with the system (a
slow process with a gratifying outcome), subjectively the overall responsiveness was surprisingly
good — the SU3500 processor acquits itself nicely. Booting up Vista and installing
programs were the only activities where it ran noticeably slower than a typical
dual core machine. Its performance was good enough that we didn't feel the immediate
need to to try XP or Windows 7. Compared to Atom-based netbooks, it feels turbocharged on many functions. We suppose over time, the operating system will
eventually get bogged down, but even so Windows 7 is only a couple of months
away, and the one good thing about the EC1803h shipping with Vista is that it
qualifies for a free Windows 7 upgrade.
Battery Life
To test battery life in a semi-realistic way, we recreated two common uses
for a device of this type: web surfing and movie watching. The screensaver,
critical and low battery actions were disabled, so the system would simply shut
down once the battery was exhausted.
For the web browsing test we loaded three websites into Firefox
on separate tabs: Google News, Yahoo News, and CNN International. Using the
ReloadEvery
add-on, we set each tab to do a staggered reload every minute. This is essentially
one page reload every 20 seconds. Bluetooth (if applicable) and WiFi were left
on for obvious reasons.
For video playback we used an XVID encoded AVI (1324kbps video, 448kbps AC3
audio) played with VLC Player and a x264 encoded MKV (720p, 7mbps video, 640kbps
AC3 audio) played with Media Player Classic Home Cinema (DXVA enabled). WiFi
and Bluetooth were disabled during video playback.
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Test Results: Battery Life
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Time
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Gateway EC1803h
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Asus 1005HA
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Web Browsing
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6:09
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8:18
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Xvid Playback
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4:24
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6:34
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x264 Playback
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3:31
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N/A
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Charge Time
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2:16
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2:03
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The EC1803h lasted about 6:09 during our web browsing test and 4:24 during
Xvid playback, about 2 hours and change less than the 1005HA. 6 hours is a lot
more than what a typical notebook delivers, and most netbooks aren't equipped
with a 5600mAH battery like the 1005HA.
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