AYUMU... NEO Empriva 630nvp2 (HGL30)

NEO Empriva 630nvp2
Quick Specs:
Intel® Core™2 Duo T5500
1.66 GHz, 2Mb, 667MHz
Intel® 945PM chipset
1.0Gb DDR2-667MHz
80Gb SATA Fujitsu MHW2080BH
SlimType DVD Dual
14in. Wide (WXGA) / 1.3MP camera
nVidia GeForce Go 7600* - dedicated 256MB VRAM
Intel® PRO Wireless 3945ABG / 56Kb
Finger Print Scanner
SD/MMC/Stick Reader
Windows Vista™ Home Premium

What Vista has to say:
I was sort of proud that I'm buying from a local brand. I was then a bit surprised that this NEO is a rebranded COMPAL lappy. It is also known as internationally as HGL30 and marked like this:

The mix of specs and features is pretty good. To test it out, the first thing I did was set it up to dual boot Vista and XP using this guide. I plan to use Vista as a test platform and XP as my staple development comfort zone.

Pushing things a bit, I installed the last game that I liked: Need for Speed Most Wanted. Playing it at highest quality settings was astounding for me, because my desktop pc (Rebirth) had to scrimp on the quality a bit. I also used this opportunity to train the battery, played NFSMW on just batteries (only above an hour), recharged to 100% when it got low, then repeated the process.



Likes:

• Core 2 Duo allows it to run a virus scan without pulling other activities down.
• The HD is SATA and 5400rpm. There are tons of perf gains from those.
  
• The finger print scanner saves me the trouble of entering my long password.
• The display is hinged at only 2 small areas, but the friction/force required to tilt it is very reassuring. (I'll forever be scarred by HP Omnibook 6100's terrifyingly brittle hinges)
• Camera seems like a good one.
  

Dislikes:

• The DVD drive feels like the slowest point in the lot. Poor reaction time.
  
• Onboard speaker output is weak and sounds like crap.
• TFT is normal, meaning at an angle vertically, viewability sucks.
• Although the processor is supposedly geared for lower temps, other parts of the system aren't. Which is fine by me, power has its trade-offs.
• Haven't throughly tested the mic, but it has been weak so far.
  

Over all... I love this! It is going to be crucial in the path that recently, I have been really considering.