Configuration

First, we want to discuss the configuration of the OpenBook 15590JL since it largely determines the consumer qualities of the product. So, the AOpen OpenBook 1559-JL is a two-spindle high-performance notebook. The configuration is up to that targeting: the barebone has the most advanced mobile chipset from Intel inside. The i915PM is a notebook analog of the desktop i915P chipset and supports such hot technologies as dual-channel DDR2 SDRAM and PCI Express bus. Unlike the i925GM, this chipset doesn’t have an integrated graphics core and is intended for working with an external graphics card attached via PCI Express x16.

The OpenBook 1559-JL comes with a preinstalled graphics card of the MXM format. It is NVIDIA GeForce Go 6600 with 128 megabytes of onboard memory.

This is a rather high-performing solution by today’s standards. It is comparable to ordinary mid-range graphics cards. Like “desktop?GeForce 6600 cards, the GeForce Go 6600 has 8 pixel and 3 vertex pipelines, a 128-bit memory interface, and resides on the PCI Express x16 bus. The frequencies of the card installed in the OpenBook 1559-JL are 300MHz core and 600MHz memory. Thus, the performance of the GeForce Go 6600 is similar to that of ordinary GeForce 6600 graphics cards, but the mobile version has a lower memory clock rate. The GeForce Go 6600, however, boasts low heat dissipation, no more than 18 watts. Besides that, the unique feature of the mobile solution is PowerMizer technology which can reduce the power consumption of the graphics card if its processing capacity is not fully used. And still, the GeForce Go 6600 requires active cooling: there’s a copper cooler with a heat pipe for that purpose in the OpenBook 1559-JL.

We should also note that besides supporting DirectX 9.0 and Shader Model 3.0, the GeForce Go 6600 processor features PureVideo technology that unloads the CPU when decoding DVD video.

Overall, the graphics subsystem of the OpenBook 1559-JL is quite powerful, delivering the performance of desktop midrange graphics subsystems. Of course, a computer with such a graphics card should have a powerful central processor, too. The OpenBook 1559-JL supports any Socket 479 processor, including the latest Pentium M models with the 533MHz FSB.