Software and Performance
One of the advantages of purchasing a laptop from a system integrator such as Scan is that there's likely to be no bloatware.
True to form, our Graphite LG5 arrived looking very clean and tidy. There's no anti-virus as standard (which we prefer compared to the nag-ware you usually get), so we'd recommend users seek out their own solution, but all of the latest Windows updates are pre-applied.
NVIDIA Mobile GPU Specification |
||
|---|---|---|
| Model | GeForce GT 650M | GeForce GTX 660M |
| Architecture and Process | Kepler 28nm (2012) |
Kepler 28nm (2012) |
| Processors / TUs / ROPs | 384 / 32 / 16 |
384 / 32 / 16 |
| Core Clock (MHz) | 835+ |
835+ |
| Shader Clock (MHz) | 835+ |
835+ |
| Memory Configuration (MB) | 2,048 (DDR3) |
2,048 (GDDR5) |
| Memory Clock (MHz) | 1,800 |
4,000 |
| Memory Interface (bits) | 128 |
128 |
| Memory Bandwidth (GB/s) | 29 |
64 |
| TDP (Watts) | 45 |
50 |
We're all for getting rid of bloatware, but Scan's kept it too clean for our liking. There's no recovery partition - so users have no quick way of restoring a factory-fresh install of Windows 7 - and as mentioned in the previous section, we'd like to have seen the optional hotkey and trackpad software installed as standard; each provides additional functionality that could be valuable to the user.
But how does the laptop perform? And does the GeForce GT 650M provide enough oomph to power the latest games? We know that the NVIDIA GPU is based on the latest Kepler architecture, and perusing the specification table to the right suggest that that the GT 650M has a lot in common with its bigger brother, the GTX 660M.
Both GPUs have a near-identical make-up, including 384 processor cores, 32 texture units and 16 ROPs, but are differentiated through memory. The GT 650M featured in the Graphite LG5 makes do with slower DDR3 memory, taking the available memory bandwidth down to 29GB/s.
We don't see many 11.6in laptops as well equipped as this, so to find out how the Graphite LG5 compares, we're putting it up against a 13.3in Lenovo U310 Ultrabook and a 17.3in MSI GE70 gaming laptop.
The theory is that Scan should be able to offer the battery life and responsiveness of the Ultrabook, along with 3D performance that's almost on par with a larger gaming notebook.
Cinebench examines the multi-core capabilities of each system's CPU, so it's no surprise to see the quad-core Core i7 chip in the MSI GE70 leading the pack.
What's interesting is how Scan's 3XS Graphite LG5 compares to Lenovo's U310. The Scan laptop is using a 35W Core i5-3210M clocked at 2.5GHz (Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz) while the Lenovo system uses a low-power Core i5-3317U clocked at just 1.7GHz (up to 2.6GHz). Considering how closely the two compare in terms of multi-core performance, we'd like to see Scan offer a low-voltage 17W chip as an option.
Then again, the extra speed provided by Intel's 3.1GHz Turbo Boost, along with 8GB of RAM and a high-speed Corsair Force Series 3 SSD makes for a fast and fluid experience. The Scan machine shoots to the top of the PCMark 7 benchmark, and the synthetic results are backed up in use - the Graphite LG5 boots to the Windows 7 desktop in 18 seconds flat, and it feels responsive during everyday tasks.