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20. June 2004
NEW: ECS 556E (ATI-9700) PHOTOSESSION!
First of all, here is the link to AOpens product page: http://solution.aopen.com.tw/products/nb/1557G.htm
You may not use any of the following pictures without the permission of the author. Info: knoxere@hotmail.com
Here are my technical details:
AOpen 1557 Centrino barebook
1400x1050 SXGA+ screen
ATI RADEON 9600 (M10) 64mb
Intel P-M Banias 1.4Ghz
512mb PC2700 (333MHz) General SO-DIMM DDR
Hitatchi 5k80 60Gb 5400RPM 8mb cache harddrive
Intel Wireless LAN 2100 3B mini-pci
24x/8x/DVD/CD-R-RW optical drive
Laptop actual weight with everything installed: 2870 GRAMS
Powersupply with cables: 464 GRAMS
1557GLS Barebook price in N.KR today: 7434,- equals 1,066.23 USD
I bought this AOpen Barebook called 1557GLS, see the picture below for the complete box description.
The barebook came with battery, charger .. and, nothing else.When i opened the Barebook, this is what i saw:
I really got the chils when i saw the CPU/COOLER, how on earth does this work? I have buildt some computers over the years, but never with a microscope, all the parts are really tiny, and small small wires runs everywhere. Turns out thats this is pretty easy. The cooler fan sits with two screws and can easily be removed. The heatpipe itself sits with 4 screws with some suspension on them. That means that you pull the screws tight but there is no worries about crushing the core since the suspension are self adjusting.
What i was a bit suprised over whas the rather flimsy plastic running below the LCD screen. The plastic contains the CD-display, speakers and the on/off button. This must be removed in order to get access to the CPU socket, and indeed to fit the keyboard under it later on. Its a bit tight under the plastic. As you can see from the picture below, highlighted, it seems that the VGA signal cable to the LCD screen runs directly underneath the plastic there, and its a bit cramped, its a bit too tight. The plastich will later on bulge a bit when fitting the keyboard because of the thick cable.
After removing the fan / heatsink i just fitted the P-M 1.4Ghz CPU, no problems. Just used a screwdriver to but the CPU-socket lock into "locked" position.
Time to fit the Intel 2100 Wireless card. Really no big deal. Just click it in place and connect the two antenna wires. According to the support department there are no differences in black/grey attatching to + or - since the antennas just runds to the "left and right".
Time to finish up and mounting the keyboard. There are a flatwire underneath that slots into place. Just push the keyboard into place. Now comes a sticky problem; fitting the plastic with the LCD display.
IT JUST WONT SLOT INTO PLACE
... and, working on a small laptop like this i just couldnt bash the plastic with the rear of the crewdriver. Turned out to be the thick singnal cable for the display taking a bit too much space.
A good time of fiddling i got the thing into place. It just "clicks" into place. But i dont think its a 100%. When i press the plastic forwards and backwards across below the display it makes sqirky and clicky noises, dunno if the "factory" mounted notebooks makes this sounds.
Some word about the heatsink:
This was a nice thing indeed. It came prepped with some stock thermal pad, much similar to the one Intel uses on theire stock heatsink/fan boxed coolers. You can just see it on the picture below when im holding the heatsink. Should work pretty well.
Looks a bit like rubber...
Small stuff!
Time to install the CDR/DVD combo. Easy: just slot it in, and fasten with one screw.
The accsessory kit, Norwegian keyboard and the battery / charger
Installing the memory was a easy, just snap into place:
Installing the harddrive, peanuts, just fasten and stash into place:
Impressions:
Performance: 5/5
This laptop is really fast. I use it for video editing (DV) and its real snappy. General windows/office applications run really smooth, even at the lowest cpu speed (aprox 600Mhz). Games run real fast too! Prince of Persia and Need For Speed really rocks! MMC/SD/MS + Firewire + USB2 really rocks!
Portability: 5/5
Light, quick startup, bright screen, very good battry life (4h +) VERY little fan noise.
Build quality: 2.5/5
Really disapointing. A lot of things on this notebook are flimsy. The mouse buttons are annoying me, theyre not accurate. The speakers are real crap, the screen hinges are flimsy. The whole notebook got a real plastic feel, thin plastic feel. The good earphone connection and SDPIF are on the upside.
All inn all i really like this notebook. Its everything i ever wanted. Fast, good screen, good graphics, light, good battery, nice CPU, low or NO NOISE :-) I really think that laptops are the future. I can not imagine why in the future i will be buying a big-box-midi-tower stationary ever again.
I saved 15-20% building this laptop myself, and, it was quite easy. Everything slotted into place, and everything worked 100%. Only negative was how the keyboard is mounted, with the plastic strip ontop below the screen.
Benchmarks:
WinXP Pro
OMega 25.14
3DMark 01SE: 9320
3Dmark 03 : 2586
Auamark 3: 22.617
Sisoft Sandra benchmarks:
dhry 4382
whet 1945
sse 2488
multi 13265
float 14696
hd 19468kbs
ram int buff 2161
ram float buff 2183
