Performance & Conclusion:

The W5Fe was introduced on the Core 2 Duo platform and with the recent launch of Santa Rosa, has now been updated. Our test piece came with a T5600 processor running at a clock speed of 1.83 GHz, 1 GB of DDR 2 667 RAM, a rather large 160 GB HDD, a 12.1 inch LCD panel we have already spoken of before and uses the Intel GMA 945 chipset with 256 MB of RAM. For testing the performance of the W5FE, we first ran the usual series of synthetic benchmarks such as PCMark 2005/ 3DMark 2006 and in our second round we used a combination of battery testing programs such as Battery Eater Pro 2.70 and real life tests. The results we got were as follows -

In our synthetic tests, PCMark gave an average score of 3370. This is a very good score; keeping in mind the processor used is an entry-level processor in the new Santa Rosa platform range. The score could have been easily better, had it not been for the aged Intel GMA 945 chip. This fact was adequately reflected in our 3DMark 2006 run which yielded a score of 211 on average. While this laptop will be a good machine to multi-task on don’t be expect to be gaming on it anytime soon. In our battery tests, we were severely disappointed. The W5Fe was barely able to deliver 3 hrs of battery life before it died on us. Using the intensive profile of battery eater pro was even worse - just 1 hr 35 minutes before the battery packed up.

It is still early for Windows Sideshow. While it does offer an intriguing option of user interaction, its uses need to expand. Apart from that the W5FE by itself, is a solid laptop with reasonable performance (keeping in mind that its based on the Centrino Duo platform) and a well designed body. Where this laptop does suffer however is its pricing of Rs. 94,500 and its mediocre battery life. We recommend that you buy this laptop only if you have the cash to burn... at its price levels there are far better products available.

Jayesh Mansukhani