Clevo notebooks ready to a go-go

TOOLING AROUND COMPUTEX, I had two laptops in tow. The first was my Lieberman Hollywood behemoth nicknamed 'Mongo', and I also carried an old PII 400 around if I needed battery life. This one is lovingly named 'Gelsinger', for no particular reason other than this. People thought I was crazy to do this, and I did little to dissuade them of the notion.

That said, I went and hunted down the newest flavor of Mongo at the Clevo booth. Most people do not realize that just about every laptop out there is made by a handful of companies. Mongo is originally a Clevo product, and Gelsinger is probably made by another one. Anyone know who made the Compaq Armada M700 line? Whatever the case, these firms are collectively known as ODMs (original design manufacturers), and they do a lot of the hard work to get you the products you use.

At the Clevo stand, they had three new models on dsiplay, two of the generation three Mongos, and a thin and light Centrino variant. The first of the big ones is the D470K, a full blown Athlon64 based model. It uses an A64 DTR chip, listed from 3000+ to 3700+ (Hmmmm....), and also takes the mobile 62w version from 2800+ to 3200+. If Mongo is any indication, go for the slower chips if you plan to use it under battery power.

The 470 has a 17-inch 16:9 screen in WXGA resolution, a Radeon mobility 9700, HD, CD/DVD, and a card reader. It also has GigE networking, 801.11g, bluetooth, and a modem for connectivity. If that isn't enough it has 5 speakers plus a sub-woofer, microphone and video camera. If all this leaves you cold, there is also a built in TV tuner, so it pretty much does everything.

Using one of these as my personal notebook for the last six plus months, I can say several things. First, they are really big, they won't fit in most bags, and are hard to use on an aeroplane, but this article is being written on Mongo on a plane that is mostly in the air still, so it is possible. This is not a problem with the notebook, it is just because the screen is so damn big, usually most consider this a good thing. I do.

Next is battery life. I turned the brightness down to type, and I have been working on this one for almost an hour and a half, typing and viewing pictures. From full, the battery is now at 13%, and your mileage will vary, a lot. Basically, when you buy a laptop with desktop components, it will suck the batteries. This is not a bad thing, just something to know about beforehand. It is also heavy, but neither kept me from working.

The Intel variant, the D870P, will take Northwoods or Prescotts from 2.40 to 3.20 Ghz, and sports and i865 chipset. The spec sheet lists higher speeds as coming soon. It is slightly different from the A64 model, first, it has a screen that is much higher contrast than the 840, and it shows with only a glance. The blacks are blacker, the colors more vibrant, and the viewing angle is far greater. It is a very nice screen. The 870 also is 'only' a 4 speaker model, but you can pick whether you want to have a TV tuner or a sub-woofer. I can tell you from experience, go with the sub. If you are dumb enough to order one with a Prescott, you can expect battery life less than what Mongo has.

No matter which way you go, the machines are a solid choice. They are big, fast, and fairly cheap. They are also solidly between the cost of a laptop and a similar desktop, and also hit the same point in functionality. I like it, although trans-Pacific commuters may prefer a longer battery life.

The last new model from Clevo was the M120W, a Pentium-M based model. It has a 12.1 inch screen, and supports all the 130nm PM chips, with support for the 90nm chips to follow. It has a single optical drive bay and no floppy, a common feature in this class of notebooks.

The M120W has the usual notebook multimedia features, 2 speakers, mic and an optional video camera. You can also get wireless modules or bluetooth should that be something that excites you. There is an optional 8-cell battery, and unlike the its larger brothers, the M120W should last across the pacific with the optional battery installed.

The thing about these notebooks are that you will never see them in the US under the Clevo name. They are sold as barebones notebooks, like a Shuttle box, to various Tier Two and Tier Three vendors. These people add on special hardware, new cases, or whatever, and sell them as their own. If you look closely, you can see who sells these products, just pick them up from the local guys if you want one. µ