Polywell Poly 500 AS5
Déjà vu! The Polywell Computers Poly 500 AS5, similar to
FutureTech's FutureMate FM9720T that the Windows NT Magazine Lab
reviewed on page 54, provides all the features you need for running Windows NT
4.0: a 166MHz Pentium; 32MB of memory; a 1GB hard drive; an active-matrix
display capable of resolutions up to 800*600*256 colors; two PC Card slots; a
modular expansion bay for the CD-ROM, 3.5" floppy drive, or optional extra
battery; and a Touchpad for mouse functions. The Poly 500 AS5 has good stereo
sound, includes headphone, microphone, lineout, and video-in jacks, and offers
standard infrared, PS/2-style keyboard/mouse, VGA, printer, serial, and docking
station ports.
NT 4.0 installed easily on the Poly 500 AS5, although I experienced the
same problems locating the video and sound drivers that I did with the
FutureMate FM9720T. When you install new drivers, NT often asks you to reboot
the system; when I tried to reboot, the Poly 500 AS5 hung and beeped until I
shut down the system manually.
After about two days of operation, the cooling fan quit working. (The
system shut off after running for an hour or two; then it started shutting off
after running only a few minutes.) Polywell shipped us another fan, which fixed
the system. (I had difficulty getting technical support because the company is
open only during certain hours and its Web page didn't offer any technical
support for this system.) After re-installing NT, the system performed well.
The Poly 500 AS5's SYSmark/32 score is 101. It is just slightly lower than
the 200MHz FutureTech FutureMate FM9720T's 104.
If you need an inexpensive, usable laptop with all the features, consider
the Polywell. If you need on-the-spot support and don't mind paying for it, look
at some of the other systems that we reviewed in this roundup.
—Dean Porter
Texas Instruments TravelMate 6050NT
The first feature that impressed me about the Texas Instruments TravelMate
6050NT is that it comes with NT 4.0 pre-installed. Not many of the laptops that
the Windows NT Magazine Lab reviewed did.
This notebook comes with a 150MHz Pentium CPU, 32MB of Enhanced Data Output
(EDO) RAM (our system had 40MB of EDO RAM), a 2.1GB hard disk, a 12.1" Thin
Film Transistor (TFT) SuperVGA (800*600*65,536 colors) active-matrix display, a
16-bit sound card (compatible with Sound Blaster Pro 16) with Spatializer 3D
Stereo sound capabilities, embedded stereo speakers and microphone, a 10X
CD-ROM, and a 1.44MB floppy drive.
The TravelMate's brown-gray color makes this system stand out in the sea of
gray and beige notebooks in the market. The case is easy to open via a single
push-button latch in the middle.
This system has a push-button battery level indicator. It works whether the
system is on or off. The printer, serial, VGA and docking station ports are
beneath a push-button hide-away door on the rear of the system.
The mouse is a TrackPoint. It has a big oval left mouse button and a small
rectangular right mouse button.
This system has one of the better keyboard layouts of all the laptops: The
cursor control and Microsoft Windows control keys feel different to the touch
from the rest of the keyboard. The Back Space, Tab, Shift, and Enter keys are
big and easy to find.
You can control the brightness and sound levels via the function key (FN)
combined with the Up, Down, Pg Up, Pg Dn, and End keys. You can put the system
into suspend or standby mode (the suspend/resume functions worked under NT, but
messed up the mouse cursor after resuming) and toggle the display between
internal and external by combining the FN key with some of the top-row function
keys.
Texas Instruments preloads some useful software utilities such as the NT
Service Pack 1 Update, Microsoft Internet Explorer, ESS AudioRack, Watergate
PC-Doctor, Extraordinary Things software backup utility, TI Setup/configuration
utility, and the TravelMate Online Manual. Texas Instruments includes its
wAlarms, wBattery, and wDates utilities, which monitor battery levels.
With everything preloaded, the TravelMate was easy to set up and use.
However, some of the preloaded software caused problems.
The system initially scored lowest on the SYSmark/32 tests. But after I
talked to Texas Instruments and turned off BatteryPro NT, the TravelMate
finished in sixth place with a score of 92.
This system comes with a good warranty and technical support system. The
price ($4678) is a little on the high side, but it's not out of line for a
high-end system. The extra features, system performance, and preloaded NT 4.0
make this system worth looking at.
—Dean Porter