Legit Processor Reviews
ASUS K42F Notebook w/ Intel Core i5 540M Arrandale CPU Review
| Manufacturer: | Intel |
| Product: | ASUS K42F-B1 14 |
| Date: | Sun, Jan 03, 2010 - 11:00 PM |
| Written By: | Nathan Kirsch - |
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2010 Intel HD Graphics
Intel claims that the all new 2010 Intel Core processors with Intel HD Graphics deliver a responsive Windows 7 experience with no discrete graphics required. Intel has done this by improving the video and 3D engine for smooth HD video playback and mainstream 3D gaming without the need for add-in video cards or decoders. Intel HD Graphics also features dynamic frequency, which allows the processor to automatically distribute performance between the processor and Intel integrated graphics based on application needs.
Intel HD Graphics provides a suite of video processing, 3D, and software technologies designed to improve image quality and performance, including hardware-accelerated decode for Blu-ray dual-stream picture-in-picture and 3D support for Microsoft DirectX 10 and OpenGL 2.1. Supports full functionality of the Microsoft Windows 7 operating system and display connectivity options, including HDMI and DisplayPort. Enables professional-grade audio capabilities with support for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio multi-channel bitstreaming.
Intel graphics are known to be bad at enthusiast game titles, but performance has been getting better and Intel touts that this series of graphics will be able to play both casual and mainstream games. This is a big deal as this means an Arrandale notebook like the ASUS K42F will be able to play the majority of game titles that a normal consumer would ever play.
Intel provided this list of game titles that are playable on Intel HD graphics. The game title we tested was Spore which wasn't on the list of supported titles, but still managed to do well as you will see later on in the benchmarking.
One of the other cool features of the Intel HD graphics is that it will upscale a DVD through Windows Media Player with post processors on the chip itself. This is an added little bonus and will look great on notebooks even though the screen resolution on the notebook we are testing today is only 1366x768.
One of the new features of the Intel HD Graphics with the Arrandale series of processors is a brand new graphics user interface that is easy to use. Here under Display you can adjust things like the rotation, scaling, refresh rate and of course, the resolution.
The 3D settings tab is pretty bare, but you can enable custom settings to disable Vertical Sync and change things like texture quality and Anisotropic Filtering (AF). The new GUI looks great and is very simple to use.
Next Page - The ASUS K42F 14-inch Notebook
| Review Index |
|
Page 1 - Core i5 540M and ASUS K42F
Page 2 - 2010 Intel HD Graphics Page 3 - The ASUS K42F 14-inch Notebook Page 4 - Test Setup Page 5 - Core i5 540M CPU-Z Page 6 - SiSoftware Sandra 2010c Page 7 - x264 HD Encoding Page 8 - Sony Vegas 9.0C Pro Page 9 - POV-Ray 3.7 Beta 34 Page 10 - Cinebench R10 Page 11 - PCMark Vantage Page 12 - 3DMark Vantage Page 13 - Spore - Game Testing Page 14 - Blu-ray Video Playback Page 15 - Power Consumption Page 16 - Battery Life Benchmark Page 17 - Final Thoughts and Conclusions |
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