Performance

The A8SC is a powerful laptop. It packs in a Core 2 Duo T7300 processor (clock speed of 2 GHz) 160 GB of HDD space and 2 GB of DDR 2 RAM. Its graphics is powered by the newly introduced Nvidia 8400m series which takes up 256 MB of system RAM (Turbocache). One interesting point to note here is though there is an Nvidia branded graphical chipset on this laptop; it is the entry level variant and not a very powerful performer.

To test the performance of the A8SC, we put it through several runs of PCMark 2005 and 3DMark 2006. The average PCMark score was around 4174. This is a very healthy and respectable score. It could easily have been 5000+, if the graphical core was a little more powerful. The 3DMark score reflected this fact with an average score of 900. Though the 8400 chipset is DX10 ready, it is not very powerful and offers little in the way of intensive gaming. Yes it will run WoW fine… just don’t try and run F.E.A.R on it.

In our second series of tests, we ran into a roadblock. We normally use either Mobile mark or Battery eater pro, to test the performance of the battery of a laptop. Both of these applications caused Windows Vista to lock up time after time. Ultimately we gave up using these programs and instead ran some real world tests. We watched movies, played an hr of WoW via Wi-Fi, did some intensive Excel calculations and listened to music. Each of the tests was run using with the laptops set in 3 diff modes. The first mode was a battery saver mode, the second one full performance and the 3rd a balance of both.

The results we got were less than spectacular. On the first 2 settings we achieved a normal battery life of around 1 hr 58 minutes. This is a good deal lesser than other laptops in this range that are able to deliver 3 hours easily. The result on the 3rd mode i.e. balanced was a bit better. It was able to deliver us nearly 2 ½ hrs of battery life. This result was a bit strange, as it behaved closer to what the battery saver mode is expected to do.

Conclusion

The A8SC at the end of the day is a mixed bag. It offers a very powerful processor system, excellent LCD and a good input system. However its price of Rs. 79,000, lack of a good touchpad and substandard graphical chipset causes its luster. At its cost there are better options available. We suggest you only look at this product… if you can get it cheaper.

Jayesh Mansukhani