Testbed and Methods

I tested the performance of the notebooks in their preinstalled operating systems: Microsoft Windows XP Professional (ASUS M5A) and Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition (Acer TravelMate 6003LCi). Before the tests I disabled the power-saving and network services, audio subsystems, antivirus software, and screensavers. The notebooks were tested at the maximum screen brightness settings and at the maximum resolution of the LCD matrixes.

I used two power modes in my tests. First, I selected the Always On power mode for the maximum performance and the shortest battery run-down time. Then, I switched to the Max Battery mode for the maximum battery run-down time.

Our tests:

1. Performance benchmarks: synthetic (SiSoftware Sandra 2004 and 2005, PCMark 2004), office and multimedia (Business Winstone 2004, Multimedia Content Creation Winstone 2004), games (3DMark 2001SE Pro and 2003 3.40, Quake 3, Unreal Tournament 2003)
2. Battery life tests (Battery Eater Pro 2.50)