AMD and Intel Mobile Rematch: Gateway NV5933u vs. Acer 5542

Mobile Platform Wrap-Up… Mostly

The old adage says that the more things change, the more they stay the same. This time, that's not entirely accurate. Intel's improvements in IGP performance and drivers have been a long time coming, but hopefully the days of GMA series parts are finally behind us and the future CPU + GPU integration can proceed without any substantial hiccups. As for AMD, the M300 doesn't improve on the old QL-64 a whole lot, but it is generally a faster platform and the price is hard to beat, coming in at just $100 more than Atom-based netbooks.

Perhaps the biggest surprise is that battery life on both platforms failed to improve, and in fact it got quite a bit worse on our Intel platform. Given the increase in CPU performance and the relative youthfulness of the platforms, we might have been asking too much. However, we suspect other manufacturers can surpass what Acer and Gateway managed with the 5542 and NV59. Neither laptop has had a recent BIOS/firmware update, and with no clear power management utility to disable extra hardware we're left with mediocre battery life at best.

Outside of the platform comparisons, we also have to ask the question of whether either laptop is worth consideration. Here things are a bit easier, as pricing tends to take the foreground of such discussions. The Gateway NV59 series definitely has a lot going for it, provided you're okay with the keyboard layout. Currently available in four colors, the red NV5933u we looked at costs $50 less than the other models, selling at Best Buy for $549 (plus tax). I actually like the red exterior, and while the keyboard won't win any awards it works well enough for general use. Performance is also good, and anyone looking for a basic Blu-ray enabled laptop will be quite happy with the NV59 series.

In contrast, the Acer 5542 is a bit hard to recommend given current $499 online price at Amazon. Build quality is similar to the NV59, and I actually prefer the keyboard layout, but it's not enough for me to give up performance and battery life at essentially the same price (once we account for the Blu-ray drive on the NV59). This isn't a knock against AMD laptops in general, but if they can't deliver clearly superior battery life and performance, they need to be priced a lot lower. For those looking to buy a last generation AMD Tigris laptop, we turn once more to Gateway and Best Buy. The NV5378u is identical in features and design to the NV5933u, but it's midnight blue in color instead of cherry red. What's more, the price of $429 (plus tax) makes it far easier to recommend. You can often find other M300 laptops priced at close to $400 on sale, and those should offer the same general experience as the 5542.

Right now, the bottom line is that the least expensive Intel i-Series laptops cost around 30% more than the least expensive AMD II Series laptops. They're also about 30% faster in general applications, and they deliver better battery life, but none of the entry-level laptops are truly impressive in every area. You can choose between the AMD laptops, or get a CULV laptop with good battery life but lower performance, or spend more for an Intel i-Series laptop. You can also look for laptops with better features, or add a discrete graphics chip, etc.

In this era of "fast enough" laptops and netbooks, there's a lot to be said for getting a basic laptop that does what you need for the lowest possible price. Tons of Atom-based netbooks deliver great battery life with poor performance, but if you only need basic computing or you want the smallest possible laptop, they're still a worthwhile product. Spend a bit more money on an AMD M300 laptop and suddenly performance triples, opening up a range of other applications. HD and Internet video in particular work far, far better on the 5542 and NV59, so if you're a YouTube junky we really have concerns with the basic Pine Trail platform—you need ION or some other chip to make video useful. Of course, at the same time you're giving up size, battery life, and money.

As usual, then, it comes down to choice. Netbooks have their place, and so do these entry-level laptops. I'm more inclined to go with CULV for roughly the same price as the 5542/NV59 in order to get good battery life while keeping the ability to decode H.264 videos, at the cost of low-end gaming performance; if I need more than that, the ASUS U30Jc is the next rung up the performance and battery life ladder, though it's comes at a substantially higher price. Either way, it still comes down to personal preference in most cases. And for those interested in a broader view of the mobile market, we'll have some mobile buyer's guide updates in the next couple of weeks that will provide just that.

Looking to the near future, we'll have some of the latest and greatest Danube and Nile AMD laptops with K, N and P series processors. We're particularly interested in seeing what the quad-core Phenom II parts can do, as we've never tested an AMD notebook with more than two cores, but we also hope to see improved battery life and performance on the dual-core parts. The Phenom II P920 is rated at just 25W TDP, compared to 35W for many of the higher clocked dual-core processors, so certainly the results of our application testing aren't the final say for AMD laptops just yet. Intel i3/i5 is faster than dual-core AMD, yes; that was pretty much a given. The question is whether AMD's laptop partners can provide a compelling alternative at a competitive price. It's more than just being faster, or providing better battery life; it's not just about being less expensive either. What's important is putting together an entire package that's worth the price of admission. Interested in seeing the next part of this rematch? So are we, so stay tuned….