Of course, what's a business notebook without solid performance? This post will discuss the Windows 7 and PASSMARK benchmark results.

The simplest benchmarks to use for comparison are the ones which everyone will have on their own system: the limited versions built in to Windows 7.

The Control Panel offers a "performance information and tools" option which gives the following numbers (all are on a scale ranging from 1 to 7.9)

Processor 6.9
RAM Memory 5.9
Graphics 4.9
Gaming Graphics 5.9
Primary Hard Disk 5.9

The difference between "graphics" and "gaming graphics" is that the latter includes the theoretical possibility of using system memory, while the former is limited only to the NVIDIA card.

I'll allow the reader to draw their own conclusions about those numbers. I'm satisfied, though in reality I could easily trounce this unit's performance with a relatively bargain priced desktop. Laptops are simply slow for the money, and it's important to remember that fact.

PASSMARK
I also ran the Passmark test, although I didn't have a CD handy to run the CD test.

As expected, the system posted fairly high results for the CPU test, with a CPU score of 3186.2.

The graphics performance, however, was atrocious, posting 291.1 and 276.0 for 2d and 3d graphics, respectively. The 3d graphics DIrectX test ran at under 3 FPS.

This is unfortunate, and suggests that the purportedly rebadged NVIDIA chip may be due for a replacement some time soon. Serious graphics users and gamers will probably want to look elsewhere.

This particular laptop was built with a 5400 RPM drive, far from the fastest one available. The disk benchmark of 526.0 reflects that fact, but could surely be increased by using a 7200 RPM disk or, better yet, a solid state drive.

(I don't use DVDs much, so my drive choice was planned. In a few months I plan to replace my system drive with a 40 or 80G solid state unit, put my DVD into a portable enclosure, and buy a new 7200 RPM drive to put in the Ultrabay. That should vastly increase my system performance.)

Finally, the DDR3 memory tested about as expected, with a benchmark of 1164.1.