I agree that it's a bit ostentatious, but I actually like how it looks. Maybe it's the Ferrari fan in me, but still. Compared to the regular version of this chassis (1410 and 1810T), the Ferrari definitely has a lot more character, and personally I prefer it (I say this as the owner of a black AS1410.)
I had never thought that AMD has no asymmetric dual channel capability... Intel can run different sized memory sticks in dual channel, up to a limit obviously. And removing the HDMI port was really unwise. But I like the looks :D Could you pleease add Starcraft 2 to your tests? It very much is a game I would casually play on a laptop.
I sure hope that AMD's new 45nm platform has better power consumption :)
I'm always looking for a tiny gaming platform and this particular model (w/4GB RAM) always sticks out as a candidate due to its dual-core CPU and decent 3200 IGP... but your review has swayed me. The last thing I want is hot and loud. I'm just going to stick with my original thought and wait for 12.1-and-under Arrandales. If I can get one with a low-end Optimus part for cheap, I'll be a very happy consumer!
Hmmm, I guess you have to review what you're sent, but the Ferrari One really looks like it's the overpriced turd of the Congo platform. To quote your conclusion: "At $449, the Ferrari One would be decent and would at least merit consideration over the 1410 due to the dual-core processor and increased graphics performance. At $499, the proposition gets more questionable, and at anything above that, the math just doesn't add up." How about the MSi Wind U230? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8... Same size chassis, slightly bigger screen (12.1") and most importantly, a L335 processor, which runs at 1.6ghz, all for $490. add a 2nd 2gb of memory and you're good to go, or you could go for the Toshiba T115D, with a 1.5ghz x2 for $459.
Both of those are more powerful than the Acer (the U230 by a full 33%) and cheaper, and would probably be decent buys for someone looking to do casual gaming on the go. (WoW, SC2, etc. I even have BattleForge running pretty decently on my U230)
Why don't you review one of the _current_ AMD mobile thin-and-light platform based notebooks? Like eg. from Acer the Aspire 1551 (not on sale in the EU yet, but preorder)? Or the ones maniac5999 posted?
The current platform is based on the 45nm Athlon IIs and Turion IIs which have higher clock at same TDP, higher performance per clock and lower wattage when idle, because they are K10.5 based, not K8 like the Ferrari One's. And their graphics (Radeon HD 4225) are R700 based, not the aging RS780 which is on the level of what? R600? R500? Either way, one or two generations behind.
You could even have chosen a Ferrari One model with 2G or 4G of ram, so it ran 128bit wide. Can't even buy a 3G ram model in Europe, doesn't make sense anyway.
To be fair, there is only ONE Nile notebook on Newegg, and it's 13.3", not exactly netbook size, like the 12" ones I listed. Also, the 42xx is RV620 instead of RV610 for the 3200. The difference? Dx 10.1 and UVD2, which doesn't make a difference to most people. Also, the 4225 is clocked lower than the 3200, 4200 and 4250, which all have the same 40 shaders running at 500mhz.
Unfortunately, for all these reasons the only big difference between Congo and Nile looks like it's going to be in battery life. (which is much needed btw) There will be an IPC bump going from Athlon (K8) to Athlon II (K10.5), as well, judging from the benches, depending on the application it could be anywhere from 0-30%,which is nice as well, but if it's combined with a lesser IGP like the 4225, would ruin it's use as a nice little portable time waster.
(Looks like our last two posts were about the same time)
What bugs me most is that Anand's review the Ferrari One now instead of seven months ago, when it was released. The timing of this review at least smells a bit, wait a month and post reviews of Nile based AMD note/netbooks.
Also, AnandTech (and DailyTech) are the only sites I know that didn't write about AMDs Computex 2010 Fusion demos, at least I didn't see any RSS headlines.
Oh, and Athlon (and Turion) II X2 feature 2x "MByte L2 cache vs. half of that for their predecessors.
To add some infos: Athlon 64 X2 L310: 1.2 GHz, 13W TDP Athlon II X2 K325: 1.3 GHz, 12W TDP The identical Turion II X2s K625 and K665 run with 1.5 and 1.7 GHz respectively, on a 15W TDP.
Of cause AMDs 2010 mobile offerings don't shine, but they're better than 2009's of course. 2011 will be a lot more interesting on the AMD side because of the two upcoming fusion designs, assumingly both of which (Ontario high end and Llano low end) touching the upper netbook / cheap thin-and-light "CULV" segment.
FWIW, we received several AMD-based notebooks (including the Ferrari One) in late March. AMD sent them to us direct, as the OEMs just aren't interested in seeding reviewers as far as I can see. As noted in the conclusion, there are 45nm parts that look a lot more interesting, though given my testing of the Turion II M600 it won't make a massive difference in battery life. Also note that we're comparing the AMD "Congo" to the Intel "CULV"; the new competition is going to be "Nile" vs. Arrandale ULV. But in the end, we review what we get.
One point: in the graphs, I'd find it more informative if only machines were shown that are a bit more similar to the tested one. In many graphs the cheap-and-thin-and-light-class just vanishes because there are machines many times more powerful listed. In some, the numbers of the reviewed machine (and similar ones) are simply not readable, because the bars they are printed on are so short.
We didn't choose it specifically, we reviewed what AMD gave us (because it doesn't seem like any of the manufacturers want to give us any AMD based systems). AMD apparently thought the Ferrari One was a good representation of their current mobile platform? Otherwise I don't see why they would have sent it to us.
For the record, I did rerun some benches with dual channel 2x 2GB memory, and got insignificant differences in regular benchmarks and right around 1-2fps difference in most games. While that helps, it doesn't make anything really playable - whether you get 10.6 or 11.6 fps in Crysis, it's still a slideshow either way.
Why would you even review a netbook with a 65nm CPU with a 48Wh battery that sells for $600? Clearly the price is in the name and Acer is bat$%^t crazy on this one.
You still havent reviewed a sempron M100 ffs. With all these new AMD cpus coming out, why waste time on this?
I can only think of one reason for this FUD: to get people to ignore the V105 and others so they get as little attention as possible. People will see the upcoming reviews and they'll think "Hey I just read about AMD's new mobile processors. They still suck." Mission accomplished. How much does intel pay for this favor??
Short of going out and buying the laptops ourselves, getting anyone to send us AMD-based laptops has been difficult at best. And I fail to see how the M100 is going to impress. Single-core, 25W TDP isn't looking too promising. Based on the other AMD laptops we've looked at, those TDP numbers are realistic, so you're looking at a 2GHz part that consumes as much power as a mobile Core i3/i5.
What AMD can do right now on the mobile front is offer a less expensive (slightly) laptop with "good enough" performance. Unless the price is right, it's not a compelling argument, which is the case with the Ferrari One. I'm not sure what we're supposed to say here: AMD has laptops that underperform relative to Intel: Editors' Choice! If we did that, people would really lose faith. I think the bigger question is why you're so convinced AMD has a great mobile platform when all of our testing indicates that they don't.
I'll have an i3-330M vs. Athlon II M300 match up later this week or early next; we also have a Turion M600 review coming. Nothing I've seen with either of those AMD laptops makes me think AMD is the better buy on any laptop right now. They're merely an inexpensive alternative, and in some cases the difference is as little as $25.
We'll have an M600 laptop reviewed as well in the near future, which costs more and still doesn't close the performance gap. It's the lowest end i3 CPU against a reasonable counterpart. Of course the laptop you link has an MSRP of $600 but is on clearance (apparently) for $400. That's not a fair comparison either. Most M300 $400 M300 laptops are severely trimmed back (2GB RAM, 250GB HDD, HD 4100); the "normal" M300 cost more like $540: http://www.mwave.com/mwave/SKUSearch_v3.asp?px=FO&...
But you can pick your comparison:
i3-330M vs. M300: 330M is quite a bit faster, gets better battery life, but the M300 can be found a lot cheaper.
i3-330M vs. M600: M600 is nearly as fast, gets worse battery life, and costs more.
You make it sound as though I'm trying to handicap AMD, but I'm not. At least with the M300 it has a major selling point of costing less. The M600 laptops don't improve battery life but bump the price up almost $200 (only $50 relative to the normal M300 setups). At $400, that Newegg deal is an excellent value. At $500 or more suddenly it's not so interesting. As far as the i3-330M setup goes, it has a Blu-ray combo drive and sells for $550. Knock off at least $50 (more like $75) for that, and it's a $475 system otherwise... though no one seems to do that inexpensive of an i3 laptop. Frankly, $550 for a Blu-ray combo + i3-330M is another great deal.
I highly doubt that i3-330M notebooks will be priced similarly to M600 notebooks. It may look that way on paper, but I'm betting the M600 will be 25% cheaper. It doesnt make much sense to ignore discounts when the discounts are so widespread. Every time I do price checks, I have no trouble finding them.
At any rate, they're both too power hungry for my interests. I would be happy with an atom N475 that has an undervolted i3 gpu built into it. But Intel will not release a product like that because they know it will eat up their revenue. So the only hope is an AMD V105 or something along that line.
Note that the Gateway M600 unit at TigerDirect is "not available", so the cheapest available laptop I can find off hand with M600 is $600 with the CA Internet Security Suite. A few places (that I wouldn't immediately trust) look like M600 Gateway is available for $550.
I concur with the other comments about a late, late review of the Congo platform. It's been out a year, and the much improved replacement platform was announced last month. From the article, it seems that the author is ignorant of AMD's Congo platform and the AMD Nile platform. I've been searching for a review of AMD's Congo platform by Anandtech for some time now as I've been in the market for a 11.6 notebook. To get a review, this late, and especially a review of the L310 chip (the slowest by far dual core chip sold by AMD), is simply not helpful for the vast majority of buyers. The L310 is only available in what - this computer only? The MV-40 Neo single core (draws less power) and the L335 are much more widely used. The excuse? AMD and the manufactures didn't send us a sample? Really? Did you ask in the past year? Anandtech has had extensive CULV and Atom reviews in the same time. Did it never occur to compare the Congo platform? First, from a price comparison standpoint this is a terrible comparison. The Ferrari label obviously jacks up the price significantly over what would otherwise be an $299 netbook. The Thinkpad x100e (given away by Anandtech but never reviewed) is available with the faster L335 and L625 chips, with twice the build quality, for less than this dud costs. Second, the conclusions reached in the article don't match the performance graphs. It doesn't make sense. On general performance page, the author claims that Futuremark places this computer behind the 1201N (Atom and ION). Wrong. The AMD chipset beats the 1201 N in 5 out of 7 Futuremark tests that are on the page. In other words, the 1201 wins 2 out of 7. So how is it behind? Third, the gaming conclusions are equally skewed. The reviewer rightly points out that the AMD platform beats CULV and 4500 graphics and Atom. He then points out that it loses to the much higher priced solutions, and writes, "Atom with ION beats the L310 with HD 3200, and CULV with HD 4330 eclipses the ION laptops." Without pointing out that AMD Neo, single core Congo with HD4330 also eclipes the ION laptops in the same chart. The point is that the L310 chip competes with Atom on price (but of course not in the Ferrari model). It kills Atom in graphics, it has a faster processor, but loses in battery by a lot. This platform competes with Atom 10 inch netbooks. Finally, the conclusions reveals either a desire to skewer AMD or a lack of knowledge about AMD's Nile platform. Not once in the review is it mentioned that this is a year old platform, and the replacement platform has already been announced (with detailed % improvements). Instead, the author writes, "What's more, the new Arrandale CULV products should be showing up any time now, with improved CPU and GPU performance relative to the old Core 2 + 4500MHD, at a similar price point." No mention of AMD's nile platform that is already in preproduction models everywhere. Should a sentence also read, "The new Nile products show be showing up any time now, with improved CPU and GPU performance relative to the old Congo + 3200HD graphics, at a similiar price point." Why not? I will assume the best - that it is ignorance not malice behind the omission. Instead, we get this: "It's also possible that a 45nm version of the L310 (i.e. the K325) could make a better showing, but it will have difficulty surpassing the current CULV and upcoming i3/i5 ULV platforms." And what knowledge is this based upon? It will certainly be cheaper. Also not mentioned is that AMD has many more design wins with Nile than with Congo. I suspect with good reason. Also, the author fails to mention that after the Nile announcement and the design wins were announced, Intel made a 180 degree change and announced that they will now allow their more expensive platform in smaller (12 inch and below) form factors. This is a clear response to AMD's new design wins in that space. But don't just believe me. Here's what NVIDIA's CEO Huang said a few weeks ago here - http://blog.laptopmag.com/nvidia-ceo-netbooks-and-...
What’s your take on dual-core netbooks? Aren’t they overkill?
Here comes AMD with their 11.6-inch platform, which is kind of netbookish. So Intel is under an enormous amount of pressure to force Atom to go to dual-core. They kept that at single core for netbooks for the longest time, and now this AMD Nile is sweeping design wins everywhere. It’s put Intel on the defense. Now Intel has pre-announced that they will build a dual-core for Atom, and now the OEMs are putting Ion graphics on dual-core Atom so that they could present a better alternative to AMD.
But will dual-core Atom netbooks with Ion 2 will be affordable?
They will have to be competitive. They will have to be competitive because Intel has no choice but to be competitive. All of a sudden consumers’ expectations are starting to rise, and then all of a sudden competition comes in. Just look at what a netbook’s going to look like come next year. OEMs are going to have to start being creative or else the category will go out of business."
What part of these statements did you not understand?
"Short of going out and buying the laptops ourselves, getting anyone to send us AMD-based laptops has been difficult at best."
"We didn't choose it specifically, we reviewed what AMD gave us (because it doesn't seem like any of the manufacturers want to give us any AMD based systems). AMD apparently thought the Ferrari One was a good representation of their current mobile platform? Otherwise I don't see why they would have sent it to us."
If you want Anandtech to review different AMD laptops, you will need to: A) Convince AMD to send them more current laptops. or B) Go buy one that you want to have tested and send it to them.
The fact that AMD *doesn't* send them better models says a lot about AMD's opinion of their own products.
I've re-read the article and it points to Intel alternatives several times (i3 alone three times) in many different combinations (eg with ION), many of which being products not currently on the market, which is fine, but only ONCE points to an AMD alternative, and even with a big mistake in this short sentence:
"It's also possible that a 45nm version of the L310 (i.e. the K325)"
Well, the K325 is not a 45nm version, it's a K10.5 vs. a K8. It has better battery life expectation and a more power efficient chipset. Most annoying is that there are even two faster versions which are also not mentioned:
K625 and K665 which, vs. L310, bump up the speed from 1200 all the way up to 1700 MHz, yes, have a slightly higher TDP (15W vs 13W for the L310), but a way better idle efficiency, according to AMD. And double the cache of L310 (which is not listed on products.amd.com). And it uses faster DDR3 (and its low voltage variant) which is not directly coupled to the CPU speed.
Ignoring K625 an K665, because they're called "Turion" vs. "Athlon" is not valid when also mentioning CULV and i3.
So if we assume only 10% higher speed clock-for-clock, we end up with 56% higher raw speed and most likely better battery life.
Not worth mentioning that of course ;-/
Graphics will still be too slow for current games and more than fast enough for 3D desktops and stuff.
Erm, 1080p video was only tested with YouTube using flash? Funny.
WTF!? Anandtech site: "This comment is apparently spam and we do not allow spam comments." Let's try again... damn site keeps timing out. Did my account get banned??? Or is this yet another bug with the new site?
Anyway, I'm sick of the AMD apologists. 22% faster with Nile? 38% faster in 3DMark? Who cares? 38% faster than "slow as molasses" isn't fast. Intel's new i3/i5 IGP is over twice as fast as the previous IGP, which makes it about equal to Nile AFAICT. And 4 to 8 hours battery life, depending on if the manufacturer uses a 48Wh or a 95Wh battery, right? Unless that's eight hours surfing the Internet with a 63Wh battery, it's not enough.
Here's the real problem: everyone asks for a review of AMD's laptops. Finally they post a review, the numbers don't lie, and it's "OMG but the NEXT AMD laptops will be so much better!" The author mentions Bobcat, which is going to be FAR more interesting than Nile (if it can come out in early 2011 and not slip to late 2011). And while AMD may have given out details of the current platform a year ago, most of the laptops didn't show up until late 2009. It's maybe six months late by that metric, but if AMD shipped it to them in late March you should blame them and not Anandtech.
I had an AMD-based laptop at one point (dual-core Athlon QL-64), and it ran hot and got poor battery life. I read the review of it here and discovered their experience matched mine. It doesn't look like much has changed. They run a bit cooler now and get a bit better battery life, but five hours sitting idle with an 11.6" laptop is pathetic. And the stuff I've seen on the K335 is no better: 5 hours sitting idle.
As a review of the Ferrari One, this is spot on: overpriced and not worth getting. What's new with Ferrari? They say $450 is where this type of product should sit, and that seems about right to me.
It's that how Acer treats a supercar brand? When ASUS made Lamborghini notebook, at least the company makes sure it is one of the fastest computers in the class. Speaking of which, the latest ASUS-Lambo VX6 and VX7 had already been announced.[1] Even the old VX-5[2] ran circles around the CURRENT Acer Ferrari One.
Speaking of mocking Ferrari, it isn't first time Acer to do it either. The Acer TravelMate 8571 and Aspire 8940G already outspecd the Ferrari One. In the case of Travelmate, it is also marketed as Ultraportable like Ferrari. With Acer's marketing, how can Ferrari be taken seriously? Unfortunate for Ferrari, Acer continues the trend with cell phone[3] and LCD monitor[4] (at least Acer no longer sells Ferrari screens now).
I bought the ferrari one based on earlier reviews claiming good battery life and superior performance relative to otjher notebooks, it was a close call with the HP min311 but based on reviews the ferrari edged it.
What to say?
cons Battery life is very poor even when browsing on lowest brightness / power settings. Touchpad is too small and muti touch is difficult to pull off reliably. Lack of XGP graphic booster. It runs VERY hot. Takes about a week to charge when on, literally. onboard speakers are copmparablre to other netbooks - ie pretty dire.
pros Red lid is quite nice, personal choice I know. Screen is better than any other notebook i've used (mini311 etc) and resolution means you can have two windows opened useably. Basic tasks (browsing / Office) feel quite snappy. Will just run BFH at min settings playably........just. Keyboard is relativley good. Win 7. Will OC (gfx and cpu) for minimal performance gains on mains power.
Would I buy it again? Should you buy it? The answer is yes and no. I paid £300 for mine a few months ago at then at that price I would buy again even in hindsight. If I were to buy one today I wouldn't pay more than £250 for it, considering it's limitations.
And give off the vibe that they are a pompous prick. Seriously people bash the Mac line, but this takes the cake and all of the fancy lady drinks with it. I'm sure Enzo Ferrari is rolling in his grave because of all of these manufactures putting his beloved legacy on said products. I remember hearing that there was a Ferrari branded shoe, which I'm sure cost more than this computer.
Sounds like the graphics clock is low to help battery life, so anyone gaming on this machine overclocks the IGP. Can we have some overclocked game results please, I think it could totally change the feel of the article.
If someone could do a review on the laptop that I currently suspect is the best "bang for your buck" out there. It's made by compal, and available on Cyberpower.com who's machines you've reviewed before. If you'd like it configured like I did, which I think is the best bang for buck, do this: Go to the website. mouse over 15.6" Laptops and click on the $999 Xplorer X6-8500. It has a 1080p screen. (I'm not sure why the people who run this site do this, but even though the other configurations use the same chassis when personalized they come out to cost more than this one; annoying since it makes me configure all 3 or 4 machines built on the same base chassis to figure out which one is cheapest/best for me.) Then I configured it with the Core i7-620M CPU. (to get it over 1K so I can take advantage of the 5% off.) 4GB 0DDR3-1333, hopefully 7-7-7-21, probably not, but hopefully. ATI MR HD5650 1GB GDDR3 320GB 7200rpm HDD (I did this cause I'm gonna take that HDD out and use the Seagate Momentus XT 500GB, thanks for that review!!) Everything else on that page I left untouched. The only thing I did on page 2 was switch to Intel wifi with bluetooth; Though I'm curious if the MSI option is equal/better; 17 bucks isn't nothing. It has HDMI out and a fingerprint reader. This page says 3 USB ports, the specs sheet says 4USB ports; not sure which is true. (I do wish they were USB 3.0 ports, but I was hoping you guys would test some stuff and tell me if that even matters for use with an external hard drive, mechanical disk 7200rpm. Transferring large files like movies and games mostly.) On page 3 I select "none, format only" for the OS. And select "LCD perfect assurance" cause even 1 dead pixel is unacceptable to me. This brings the total to $1008.90 after 5% off, or $992.75 if you get the MSI network card. So yeah, I really hope you guys can get a hold of one of these for review; as a loner or given as a review unit or maybe someone will just buy one and review it cause it's really tempting me right now... like a lot! If you're review is good I'm gonna start saving up and hopefully be able to buy it around Christmas. Thanks guys! A loyal reader. - Brian
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taltamir - Tuesday, June 8, 2010 - link
Glossy red plastic with a giant logo in the middle...this is probably the ugliest looking laptop I have ever seen.
VivekGowri - Tuesday, June 8, 2010 - link
I agree that it's a bit ostentatious, but I actually like how it looks. Maybe it's the Ferrari fan in me, but still. Compared to the regular version of this chassis (1410 and 1810T), the Ferrari definitely has a lot more character, and personally I prefer it (I say this as the owner of a black AS1410.)Anubis - Tuesday, June 8, 2010 - link
its no more ugly then t white plastic laptops with a glowing fruit on themSouka - Tuesday, June 8, 2010 - link
+1 for Anubis :)LoneWolf15 - Wednesday, June 9, 2010 - link
Bashing Apple is like trying to teach a pig to sing.It's a waste of your time, and only annoys the pig.
Plus, other people who see you doing it will wonder why you tried in the first place.
KaarlisK - Tuesday, June 8, 2010 - link
I had never thought that AMD has no asymmetric dual channel capability... Intel can run different sized memory sticks in dual channel, up to a limit obviously.And removing the HDMI port was really unwise.
But I like the looks :D
Could you pleease add Starcraft 2 to your tests? It very much is a game I would casually play on a laptop.
I sure hope that AMD's new 45nm platform has better power consumption :)
DJMiggy - Tuesday, June 8, 2010 - link
Sure they can. They just need to go into the future and swipe the game so they can test it.therealnickdanger - Tuesday, June 8, 2010 - link
I'm always looking for a tiny gaming platform and this particular model (w/4GB RAM) always sticks out as a candidate due to its dual-core CPU and decent 3200 IGP... but your review has swayed me. The last thing I want is hot and loud. I'm just going to stick with my original thought and wait for 12.1-and-under Arrandales. If I can get one with a low-end Optimus part for cheap, I'll be a very happy consumer!classy - Tuesday, June 8, 2010 - link
I usually look at the weight of these new laptops. 3.3 lbs is still heavy.maniac5999 - Tuesday, June 8, 2010 - link
Hmmm, I guess you have to review what you're sent, but the Ferrari One really looks like it's the overpriced turd of the Congo platform.To quote your conclusion:
"At $449, the Ferrari One would be decent and would at least merit consideration over the 1410 due to the dual-core processor and increased graphics performance. At $499, the proposition gets more questionable, and at anything above that, the math just doesn't add up."
How about the MSi Wind U230? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8... Same size chassis, slightly bigger screen (12.1") and most importantly, a L335 processor, which runs at 1.6ghz, all for $490. add a 2nd 2gb of memory and you're good to go, or you could go for the Toshiba T115D, with a 1.5ghz x2 for $459.
Both of those are more powerful than the Acer (the U230 by a full 33%) and cheaper, and would probably be decent buys for someone looking to do casual gaming on the go. (WoW, SC2, etc. I even have BattleForge running pretty decently on my U230)
marraco - Tuesday, June 8, 2010 - link
Mock iZombies here:"My fruit is more expensive because is Ferrari, and your PC is a bug"
http://joehung.netfirms.com/bug_car.jpg
Edgar_Wibeau - Tuesday, June 8, 2010 - link
Previous year's product, previous year's platform.Why don't you review one of the _current_ AMD mobile thin-and-light platform based notebooks? Like eg. from Acer the Aspire 1551 (not on sale in the EU yet, but preorder)? Or the ones maniac5999 posted?
Here's a roadmap from 10/2009:
http://www.planet3dnow.de/photoplog/file.php?n=923...
Ferrari One is "Congo" based (the roadmap uses the funny name "2nd Gen UT" ), current is the "Nile" platform, introduced in May 2010.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_mobile_platform
The current platform is based on the 45nm Athlon IIs and Turion IIs which have higher clock at same TDP, higher performance per clock and lower wattage when idle, because they are K10.5 based, not K8 like the Ferrari One's. And their graphics (Radeon HD 4225) are R700 based, not the aging RS780 which is on the level of what? R600? R500? Either way, one or two generations behind.
You could even have chosen a Ferrari One model with 2G or 4G of ram, so it ran 128bit wide. Can't even buy a 3G ram model in Europe, doesn't make sense anyway.
I call this a biased review.
maniac5999 - Tuesday, June 8, 2010 - link
To be fair, there is only ONE Nile notebook on Newegg, and it's 13.3", not exactly netbook size, like the 12" ones I listed. Also, the 42xx is RV620 instead of RV610 for the 3200. The difference? Dx 10.1 and UVD2, which doesn't make a difference to most people. Also, the 4225 is clocked lower than the 3200, 4200 and 4250, which all have the same 40 shaders running at 500mhz.Unfortunately, for all these reasons the only big difference between Congo and Nile looks like it's going to be in battery life. (which is much needed btw) There will be an IPC bump going from Athlon (K8) to Athlon II (K10.5), as well, judging from the benches, depending on the application it could be anywhere from 0-30%,which is nice as well, but if it's combined with a lesser IGP like the 4225, would ruin it's use as a nice little portable time waster.
Edgar_Wibeau - Tuesday, June 8, 2010 - link
Your're probably right, maniac5999(Looks like our last two posts were about the same time)
What bugs me most is that Anand's review the Ferrari One now instead of seven months ago, when it was released. The timing of this review at least smells a bit, wait a month and post reviews of Nile based AMD note/netbooks.
Also, AnandTech (and DailyTech) are the only sites I know that didn't write about AMDs Computex 2010 Fusion demos, at least I didn't see any RSS headlines.
Oh, and Athlon (and Turion) II X2 feature 2x "MByte L2 cache vs. half of that for their predecessors.
To add some infos:
Athlon 64 X2 L310: 1.2 GHz, 13W TDP
Athlon II X2 K325: 1.3 GHz, 12W TDP
The identical Turion II X2s K625 and K665 run with 1.5 and 1.7 GHz respectively, on a 15W TDP.
Of cause AMDs 2010 mobile offerings don't shine, but they're better than 2009's of course. 2011 will be a lot more interesting on the AMD side because of the two upcoming fusion designs, assumingly both of which (Ontario high end and Llano low end) touching the upper netbook / cheap thin-and-light "CULV" segment.
JarredWalton - Tuesday, June 8, 2010 - link
FWIW, we received several AMD-based notebooks (including the Ferrari One) in late March. AMD sent them to us direct, as the OEMs just aren't interested in seeding reviewers as far as I can see. As noted in the conclusion, there are 45nm parts that look a lot more interesting, though given my testing of the Turion II M600 it won't make a massive difference in battery life. Also note that we're comparing the AMD "Congo" to the Intel "CULV"; the new competition is going to be "Nile" vs. Arrandale ULV. But in the end, we review what we get.Stay tuned for more laptop reviews this week....
Edgar_Wibeau - Tuesday, June 8, 2010 - link
Ok, thanks!One point: in the graphs, I'd find it more informative if only machines were shown that are a bit more similar to the tested one. In many graphs the cheap-and-thin-and-light-class just vanishes because there are machines many times more powerful listed. In some, the numbers of the reviewed machine (and similar ones) are simply not readable, because the bars they are printed on are so short.
VivekGowri - Tuesday, June 8, 2010 - link
We didn't choose it specifically, we reviewed what AMD gave us (because it doesn't seem like any of the manufacturers want to give us any AMD based systems). AMD apparently thought the Ferrari One was a good representation of their current mobile platform? Otherwise I don't see why they would have sent it to us.For the record, I did rerun some benches with dual channel 2x 2GB memory, and got insignificant differences in regular benchmarks and right around 1-2fps difference in most games. While that helps, it doesn't make anything really playable - whether you get 10.6 or 11.6 fps in Crysis, it's still a slideshow either way.
Edgar_Wibeau - Tuesday, June 8, 2010 - link
looks like I was wrong regarding Ferrari One's graphics, sorry. Same generation as current ist seems.T2k - Tuesday, June 8, 2010 - link
Ferrari One confirmed to be working with Fujitsu's older XGP unit: http://minigaming.wordpress.com/2010/02/09/acer-fe...T2k - Tuesday, June 8, 2010 - link
Prices can be found here: http://www.hardware.info/nl-NL/productdb/bGpka5iUm...Shadowmaster625 - Tuesday, June 8, 2010 - link
Why would you even review a netbook with a 65nm CPU with a 48Wh battery that sells for $600? Clearly the price is in the name and Acer is bat$%^t crazy on this one.You still havent reviewed a sempron M100 ffs. With all these new AMD cpus coming out, why waste time on this?
I can only think of one reason for this FUD: to get people to ignore the V105 and others so they get as little attention as possible. People will see the upcoming reviews and they'll think "Hey I just read about AMD's new mobile processors. They still suck." Mission accomplished. How much does intel pay for this favor??
JarredWalton - Tuesday, June 8, 2010 - link
Short of going out and buying the laptops ourselves, getting anyone to send us AMD-based laptops has been difficult at best. And I fail to see how the M100 is going to impress. Single-core, 25W TDP isn't looking too promising. Based on the other AMD laptops we've looked at, those TDP numbers are realistic, so you're looking at a 2GHz part that consumes as much power as a mobile Core i3/i5.What AMD can do right now on the mobile front is offer a less expensive (slightly) laptop with "good enough" performance. Unless the price is right, it's not a compelling argument, which is the case with the Ferrari One. I'm not sure what we're supposed to say here: AMD has laptops that underperform relative to Intel: Editors' Choice! If we did that, people would really lose faith. I think the bigger question is why you're so convinced AMD has a great mobile platform when all of our testing indicates that they don't.
I'll have an i3-330M vs. Athlon II M300 match up later this week or early next; we also have a Turion M600 review coming. Nothing I've seen with either of those AMD laptops makes me think AMD is the better buy on any laptop right now. They're merely an inexpensive alternative, and in some cases the difference is as little as $25.
Shadowmaster625 - Tuesday, June 8, 2010 - link
Oh that's great. Match up a $550 i3-330M against a $399 AMD M300 (http://bit.ly/cUdS7h). I cant wait.JarredWalton - Tuesday, June 8, 2010 - link
We'll have an M600 laptop reviewed as well in the near future, which costs more and still doesn't close the performance gap. It's the lowest end i3 CPU against a reasonable counterpart. Of course the laptop you link has an MSRP of $600 but is on clearance (apparently) for $400. That's not a fair comparison either. Most M300 $400 M300 laptops are severely trimmed back (2GB RAM, 250GB HDD, HD 4100); the "normal" M300 cost more like $540:http://www.mwave.com/mwave/SKUSearch_v3.asp?px=FO&...
But you can pick your comparison:
i3-330M vs. M300: 330M is quite a bit faster, gets better battery life, but the M300 can be found a lot cheaper.
i3-330M vs. M600: M600 is nearly as fast, gets worse battery life, and costs more.
You make it sound as though I'm trying to handicap AMD, but I'm not. At least with the M300 it has a major selling point of costing less. The M600 laptops don't improve battery life but bump the price up almost $200 (only $50 relative to the normal M300 setups). At $400, that Newegg deal is an excellent value. At $500 or more suddenly it's not so interesting. As far as the i3-330M setup goes, it has a Blu-ray combo drive and sells for $550. Knock off at least $50 (more like $75) for that, and it's a $475 system otherwise... though no one seems to do that inexpensive of an i3 laptop. Frankly, $550 for a Blu-ray combo + i3-330M is another great deal.
Shadowmaster625 - Wednesday, June 9, 2010 - link
I highly doubt that i3-330M notebooks will be priced similarly to M600 notebooks. It may look that way on paper, but I'm betting the M600 will be 25% cheaper. It doesnt make much sense to ignore discounts when the discounts are so widespread. Every time I do price checks, I have no trouble finding them.At any rate, they're both too power hungry for my interests. I would be happy with an atom N475 that has an undervolted i3 gpu built into it. But Intel will not release a product like that because they know it will eat up their revenue. So the only hope is an AMD V105 or something along that line.
JarredWalton - Wednesday, June 9, 2010 - link
i3-330M: http://www.google.com/products?q=i3-330m&oe=ut...Turion II M600: http://www.google.com/products?q=turion+m600&h...
Gateway NV5933u (i3-330M): http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Gateway+-+Laptop+with+...
Note that the Gateway M600 unit at TigerDirect is "not available", so the cheapest available laptop I can find off hand with M600 is $600 with the CA Internet Security Suite. A few places (that I wouldn't immediately trust) look like M600 Gateway is available for $550.
matt b - Tuesday, June 8, 2010 - link
I concur with the other comments about a late, late review of the Congo platform. It's been out a year, and the much improved replacement platform was announced last month. From the article, it seems that the author is ignorant of AMD's Congo platform and the AMD Nile platform. I've been searching for a review of AMD's Congo platform by Anandtech for some time now as I've been in the market for a 11.6 notebook. To get a review, this late, and especially a review of the L310 chip (the slowest by far dual core chip sold by AMD), is simply not helpful for the vast majority of buyers. The L310 is only available in what - this computer only? The MV-40 Neo single core (draws less power) and the L335 are much more widely used. The excuse? AMD and the manufactures didn't send us a sample? Really? Did you ask in the past year? Anandtech has had extensive CULV and Atom reviews in the same time. Did it never occur to compare the Congo platform?First, from a price comparison standpoint this is a terrible comparison. The Ferrari label obviously jacks up the price significantly over what would otherwise be an $299 netbook. The Thinkpad x100e (given away by Anandtech but never reviewed) is available with the faster L335 and L625 chips, with twice the build quality, for less than this dud costs.
Second, the conclusions reached in the article don't match the performance graphs. It doesn't make sense. On general performance page, the author claims that Futuremark places this computer behind the 1201N (Atom and ION). Wrong. The AMD chipset beats the 1201 N in 5 out of 7 Futuremark tests that are on the page. In other words, the 1201 wins 2 out of 7. So how is it behind?
Third, the gaming conclusions are equally skewed. The reviewer rightly points out that the AMD platform beats CULV and 4500 graphics and Atom. He then points out that it loses to the much higher priced solutions, and writes, "Atom with ION beats the L310 with HD 3200, and CULV with HD 4330 eclipses the ION laptops." Without pointing out that AMD Neo, single core Congo with HD4330 also eclipes the ION laptops in the same chart.
The point is that the L310 chip competes with Atom on price (but of course not in the Ferrari model). It kills Atom in graphics, it has a faster processor, but loses in battery by a lot. This platform competes with Atom 10 inch netbooks.
Finally, the conclusions reveals either a desire to skewer AMD or a lack of knowledge about AMD's Nile platform. Not once in the review is it mentioned that this is a year old platform, and the replacement platform has already been announced (with detailed % improvements). Instead, the author writes,
"What's more, the new Arrandale CULV products should be showing up any time now, with improved CPU and GPU performance relative to the old Core 2 + 4500MHD, at a similar price point."
No mention of AMD's nile platform that is already in preproduction models everywhere. Should a sentence also read, "The new Nile products show be showing up any time now, with improved CPU and GPU performance relative to the old Congo + 3200HD graphics, at a similiar price point." Why not? I will assume the best - that it is ignorance not malice behind the omission. Instead, we get this: "It's also possible that a 45nm version of the L310 (i.e. the K325) could make a better showing, but it will have difficulty surpassing the current CULV and upcoming i3/i5 ULV platforms." And what knowledge is this based upon? It will certainly be cheaper.
Also not mentioned is that AMD has many more design wins with Nile than with Congo. I suspect with good reason. Also, the author fails to mention that after the Nile announcement and the design wins were announced, Intel made a 180 degree change and announced that they will now allow their more expensive platform in smaller (12 inch and below) form factors. This is a clear response to AMD's new design wins in that space.
But don't just believe me. Here's what NVIDIA's CEO Huang said a few weeks ago here - http://blog.laptopmag.com/nvidia-ceo-netbooks-and-...
What’s your take on dual-core netbooks? Aren’t they overkill?
Here comes AMD with their 11.6-inch platform, which is kind of netbookish. So Intel is under an enormous amount of pressure to force Atom to go to dual-core. They kept that at single core for netbooks for the longest time, and now this AMD Nile is sweeping design wins everywhere. It’s put Intel on the defense. Now Intel has pre-announced that they will build a dual-core for Atom, and now the OEMs are putting Ion graphics on dual-core Atom so that they could present a better alternative to AMD.
But will dual-core Atom netbooks with Ion 2 will be affordable?
They will have to be competitive. They will have to be competitive because Intel has no choice but to be competitive. All of a sudden consumers’ expectations are starting to rise, and then all of a sudden competition comes in. Just look at what a netbook’s going to look like come next year. OEMs are going to have to start being creative or else the category will go out of business."
Regards,
Matt B.
ggathagan - Wednesday, June 9, 2010 - link
What part of these statements did you not understand?"Short of going out and buying the laptops ourselves, getting anyone to send us AMD-based laptops has been difficult at best."
"We didn't choose it specifically, we reviewed what AMD gave us (because it doesn't seem like any of the manufacturers want to give us any AMD based systems). AMD apparently thought the Ferrari One was a good representation of their current mobile platform? Otherwise I don't see why they would have sent it to us."
If you want Anandtech to review different AMD laptops, you will need to:
A) Convince AMD to send them more current laptops.
or
B) Go buy one that you want to have tested and send it to them.
The fact that AMD *doesn't* send them better models says a lot about AMD's opinion of their own products.
Edgar_Wibeau - Wednesday, June 9, 2010 - link
I've re-read the article and it points to Intel alternatives several times (i3 alone three times) in many different combinations (eg with ION), many of which being products not currently on the market, which is fine, but only ONCE points to an AMD alternative, and even with a big mistake in this short sentence:"It's also possible that a 45nm version of the L310 (i.e. the K325)"
Well, the K325 is not a 45nm version, it's a K10.5 vs. a K8. It has better battery life expectation and a more power efficient chipset. Most annoying is that there are even two faster versions which are also not mentioned:
http://products.amd.com/en-us/NotebookCPUSideBySid...
K625 and K665 which, vs. L310, bump up the speed from 1200 all the way up to 1700 MHz, yes, have a slightly higher TDP (15W vs 13W for the L310), but a way better idle efficiency, according to AMD. And double the cache of L310 (which is not listed on products.amd.com). And it uses faster DDR3 (and its low voltage variant) which is not directly coupled to the CPU speed.
Ignoring K625 an K665, because they're called "Turion" vs. "Athlon" is not valid when also mentioning CULV and i3.
So if we assume only 10% higher speed clock-for-clock, we end up with 56% higher raw speed and most likely better battery life.
Not worth mentioning that of course ;-/
Graphics will still be too slow for current games and more than fast enough for 3D desktops and stuff.
Erm, 1080p video was only tested with YouTube using flash? Funny.
Edgar_Wibeau - Wednesday, June 9, 2010 - link
Got a permanent error regarding L2-cache size, same for all AMD CPUs mentioned by me. sorry.whatthehey - Wednesday, June 9, 2010 - link
WTF!? Anandtech site: "This comment is apparently spam and we do not allow spam comments." Let's try again... damn site keeps timing out. Did my account get banned??? Or is this yet another bug with the new site?Anyway, I'm sick of the AMD apologists. 22% faster with Nile? 38% faster in 3DMark? Who cares? 38% faster than "slow as molasses" isn't fast. Intel's new i3/i5 IGP is over twice as fast as the previous IGP, which makes it about equal to Nile AFAICT. And 4 to 8 hours battery life, depending on if the manufacturer uses a 48Wh or a 95Wh battery, right? Unless that's eight hours surfing the Internet with a 63Wh battery, it's not enough.
Here's the real problem: everyone asks for a review of AMD's laptops. Finally they post a review, the numbers don't lie, and it's "OMG but the NEXT AMD laptops will be so much better!" The author mentions Bobcat, which is going to be FAR more interesting than Nile (if it can come out in early 2011 and not slip to late 2011). And while AMD may have given out details of the current platform a year ago, most of the laptops didn't show up until late 2009. It's maybe six months late by that metric, but if AMD shipped it to them in late March you should blame them and not Anandtech.
I had an AMD-based laptop at one point (dual-core Athlon QL-64), and it ran hot and got poor battery life. I read the review of it here and discovered their experience matched mine. It doesn't look like much has changed. They run a bit cooler now and get a bit better battery life, but five hours sitting idle with an 11.6" laptop is pathetic. And the stuff I've seen on the K335 is no better: 5 hours sitting idle.
As a review of the Ferrari One, this is spot on: overpriced and not worth getting. What's new with Ferrari? They say $450 is where this type of product should sit, and that seems about right to me.
BlendMe - Wednesday, June 9, 2010 - link
Wow...Cheap, slow and outdated hardware.
Not very Ferrari like.
rennya - Wednesday, June 9, 2010 - link
As of 9 June 2010:-F1 standing:-
1 McLaren-Mercedes 172pts
2 RBR-Renault 171pts
3 Ferrari 146pts
====
I'll say very Ferrari-like.
quanta - Wednesday, June 9, 2010 - link
It's that how Acer treats a supercar brand? When ASUS made Lamborghini notebook, at least the company makes sure it is one of the fastest computers in the class. Speaking of which, the latest ASUS-Lambo VX6 and VX7 had already been announced.[1] Even the old VX-5[2] ran circles around the CURRENT Acer Ferrari One.Speaking of mocking Ferrari, it isn't first time Acer to do it either. The Acer TravelMate 8571 and Aspire 8940G already outspecd the Ferrari One. In the case of Travelmate, it is also marketed as Ultraportable like Ferrari. With Acer's marketing, how can Ferrari be taken seriously? Unfortunate for Ferrari, Acer continues the trend with cell phone[3] and LCD monitor[4] (at least Acer no longer sells Ferrari screens now).
[1] http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/01/asus-lamborghin...
[2] http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=SGVGxYEAKu15...
[3] http://mobile.acer.com/en/phones/liquidFerrari/?ut...
[4] http://support.acer.com/us/en/acerpanam/monitor/00...
craigl - Monday, June 14, 2010 - link
A good honest review, fair play to Anandtech.I bought the ferrari one based on earlier reviews claiming good battery life and superior performance relative to otjher notebooks, it was a close call with the HP min311 but based on reviews the ferrari edged it.
What to say?
cons
Battery life is very poor even when browsing on lowest brightness / power settings.
Touchpad is too small and muti touch is difficult to pull off reliably.
Lack of XGP graphic booster.
It runs VERY hot.
Takes about a week to charge when on, literally.
onboard speakers are copmparablre to other netbooks - ie pretty dire.
pros
Red lid is quite nice, personal choice I know.
Screen is better than any other notebook i've used (mini311 etc) and resolution means you can have two windows opened useably.
Basic tasks (browsing / Office) feel quite snappy.
Will just run BFH at min settings playably........just.
Keyboard is relativley good.
Win 7.
Will OC (gfx and cpu) for minimal performance gains on mains power.
Would I buy it again? Should you buy it? The answer is yes and no. I paid £300 for mine a few months ago at then at that price I would buy again even in hindsight. If I were to buy one today I wouldn't pay more than £250 for it, considering it's limitations.
paihuaizhe - Sunday, June 20, 2010 - link
(nike-alliance).(com)=>is a leading worldwide wholesaler company (or u can sayorganization)
xXxVladxXx - Tuesday, June 22, 2010 - link
And give off the vibe that they are a pompous prick. Seriously people bash the Mac line, but this takes the cake and all of the fancy lady drinks with it. I'm sure Enzo Ferrari is rolling in his grave because of all of these manufactures putting his beloved legacy on said products. I remember hearing that there was a Ferrari branded shoe, which I'm sure cost more than this computer.CrankUpThePowerIgor - Tuesday, June 22, 2010 - link
Sounds like the graphics clock is low to help battery life, so anyone gaming on this machine overclocks the IGP. Can we have some overclocked game results please, I think it could totally change the feel of the article.After all, who want a de-tuned Ferrari eh? ;)
Hrel - Thursday, June 24, 2010 - link
If someone could do a review on the laptop that I currently suspect is the best "bang for your buck" out there. It's made by compal, and available on Cyberpower.com who's machines you've reviewed before. If you'd like it configured like I did, which I think is the best bang for buck, do this: Go to the website. mouse over 15.6" Laptops and click on the $999 Xplorer X6-8500. It has a 1080p screen. (I'm not sure why the people who run this site do this, but even though the other configurations use the same chassis when personalized they come out to cost more than this one; annoying since it makes me configure all 3 or 4 machines built on the same base chassis to figure out which one is cheapest/best for me.) Then I configured it with the Core i7-620M CPU. (to get it over 1K so I can take advantage of the 5% off.) 4GB 0DDR3-1333, hopefully 7-7-7-21, probably not, but hopefully. ATI MR HD5650 1GB GDDR3 320GB 7200rpm HDD (I did this cause I'm gonna take that HDD out and use the Seagate Momentus XT 500GB, thanks for that review!!) Everything else on that page I left untouched. The only thing I did on page 2 was switch to Intel wifi with bluetooth; Though I'm curious if the MSI option is equal/better; 17 bucks isn't nothing. It has HDMI out and a fingerprint reader. This page says 3 USB ports, the specs sheet says 4USB ports; not sure which is true. (I do wish they were USB 3.0 ports, but I was hoping you guys would test some stuff and tell me if that even matters for use with an external hard drive, mechanical disk 7200rpm. Transferring large files like movies and games mostly.) On page 3 I select "none, format only" for the OS. And select "LCD perfect assurance" cause even 1 dead pixel is unacceptable to me. This brings the total to $1008.90 after 5% off, or $992.75 if you get the MSI network card. So yeah, I really hope you guys can get a hold of one of these for review; as a loner or given as a review unit or maybe someone will just buy one and review it cause it's really tempting me right now... like a lot! If you're review is good I'm gonna start saving up and hopefully be able to buy it around Christmas. Thanks guys! A loyal reader. - Brian