In addition to PCMark05, we ran our usual SCC benchmark using The Gimp's Gaussian Blur filter on a big image. The 4211 yielded a time of around 7.1s, neck-and-neck with the AA1 and a couple of seconds faster than the Eee PC 901's best speed setting.
Gimp Test Results
Time in Seconds
Shorter bars are better
Like the 901, the 4211 has a battery boost mode too. Press Fn+F10 and it underclocks the CPU to 800MHz, the better to eke out the battery's charge. You can see the performance to battery life balances these settings provide in the charts.
Battery Test Results
Time in Minutes
Longer bars are better
Note that the Wind used had a six-cell battery - the Advent tested had a three-cell power pack.
All these tests were conducted with Wi-Fi on, the screen set to maximum brightness and the sound at 50 per cent. We played a standard definition H.264 file using the VLC media player until the battery died. For more casual use, we reckon you can add an hour or so onto our timings.
Note that the 4211's 800MHz mode also drops the screen brightness considerably, but we turned the backlight back up for our test. The results show that the slower clock speed didn't make much difference to the battery life. Which goes to show how much more the screen and drive contribute to a laptop's overall power consumption.
Keeping the screen dimmed as per the power-saving setting saw the battery life rise to 108 minutes. Better, but not fantastic.
COMMENTS
Re. warranty
No intention about it. Perhaps I wasn't clear enough, UK law provides a much higher level of protection than a warranty so, whilst you might have good reason to be concerned about PC World's service, at least you can reject goods which a warranty will not allow you to do.
In most case a buyer is advised to take a warranty issue up with the seller because of this.
Re. warranty
I think you are intentionally missing the point there. The quality of service is entirely different. Even if it doesn't change your legal protection you are getting a different product entirely. Who is to say that PC World even match the terms of the manufacturers warranty, there is often a difference between what a manufacturer has to offer under law and what they offer in reality.
With manufacturer support, at least for the Aspire One you can deal direct with Acer who actually know what they are doing, the device is collected, repaired and returned to your door pretty quickly. PC World support - well I shouldn't need to tell anyone here just how bad that can be. It's got to be even worse for those with linux versions who have to deal with the "Tech Guys".
Re. warranty
Under UK law your contract is with the vendor anyway. i.e PC World, whether or not it has a manufacturer's warranty. Your rights are unaffected and you are still afforded the same level of protection.
Warranty - Why PC World can offer it cheaper!
As someone who bought an Aspire One from PC World discovered, they have bought the warranty/support from the manufacturer. If it goes wrong then you are not covered by a manufacturer warranty and instead have to use PC World's "TechGuys" service.
So if it goes wrong you are basically screwed. With that crucial detail in mind, paying £20 extra to purchase elsewhere is a bargin!
This point needs to be covered in the review and potentially in a separate article as a warning to buyers. Those who bought Acer Aspire One's from PC World were at no point told that warranty obligations were not with Acer (who have been highly praised by users with fauly Ones) but with PC World who have a horrendous track record on support.
Looks like PCWB are for real
It looks like PCWB are for real - they hve shipped it. Should hopefully arrive tommorrow morning.
