Teco Adventurer Notebook
Sydney Morning Herald
Monday September 1, 1997
A 200MHz Pentium MMX notebook? Considering that Intel hasn't officially announced a 200MHz processor designed for portables, we were certainly surprised to see this unit from Teco. What it's done is use the desktop version of the MMX processor to create a machine aimed at the mobile business user who needs grunt galore for presentations, number-crunching and any heavy-duty application.
In the past I've found Teco notebooks somewhat questionable as far as their design and performance. This unit looks surprisingly stylish, although the speaker grill has a rather low-class look about it.
The large 13.3 inch active matrix screen runs up to a resolution of 1024 x 768 with 16-bit colour, so in this regard it matches Gateway 2000 Solo 9100 - my current benchmark for "bang for buck" notebooks - in size, although not performance. Some of the slower speed is due to the Chips & Technologies 65550 HiQV32 32-bit graphics controller. Even so, the screen looked quite respectable with even colour and good contrast. For general-purpose multimedia presentations, the screen size and audio capabilities are excellent.
In fact, we were somewhat surprised by the quality of the screen. With an even colour-match right across the screen, the Adventurer makes up for what have been some fairly poor screens used in Teco notebooks in the past. The only problem we noticed with our test unit was a dead pixel in the top-left corner.
Under the bonnet, the Teco unit comes with what appears to be plenty of muscle: a 200MHz Pentium MMX processor, 32Mb of RAM and a sizable 2.4Gb hard disk drive. You also get a steady-performing 10X speed CD-ROM drive. Our tests indicate a fast Pentium with MMX and 32Mb of RAM to be the reasonable minimum for running Windows 95, and 2.4Gb is quite generous, so on paper the Adventurer passes muster.
However, when we benchtested the unit, it turned in results slower than Digital's HiNote VP 575, which relies on a more humble 166MHz Pentium MMX with 16Mb of RAM. Given the Adventurer's meatier spec sheet you would certainly expect a much higher level of performance - especially for the $8,699 price tag.
During the test period, another practical issue was raised. Teco's use of a CPU designed for the desktop means it has had to use a fair-sized fan to keep the processor comfortable. This fan is on the bottom of the case. Because you need to have a good airflow to keep the CPU cool, you'll need to be working on a flat surface to allow the notebook legs to raise the machine high enough to get air flowing. That in turn pretty much rules out placing this laptop on your lap. Back on the desktop, it wouldn't take much for some small object to poke its way through the grill and damage the fan.
The Adventurer isn't the only notebook to include a cooling fan. Most Toshibas do so, but place the fan on the rear panel. This definitely makes more sense. The fan is also fairly loud and seems to run continuously once the notebook has been on for a few minutes. The noise will either not worry you or drive you to distraction. We suggest you hear it running first before you think about purchasing this unit.
Using a power-hungry desktop chip in a notebook shortens battery life on the road. Don't expect the Adventurer's Lithium Ion cell to last longer than 90 minutes at best. And if you give it a real workout with no power management enabled, you'll be lucky to make it past one hour.
While the speaker grill design looks very chunky, the sound is quite clear with reasonable volume. You also get the usual audio ports for using external inputs and speakers.
One of the better features is the inclusion of video input, allowing you to capture video signals. This is still a rare treat, even on high-end notebooks. Because of the design and the use of a desktop processor, we don't expect this unit to be easily upgradable to the new higher-speed Tillamook processor when it's released shortly.
Bundled software included Windows 95 and Lotus SmartSuite 97, which are preinstalled and also supplied on CD. The warranty is two years on the notebook, one year on the screen and battery.
BOTTOM LINE: The Teco Adventurer unit has plenty of potential but falls short of the mark in performance. The ticket price of $8,999 is a pretty big ask, particularly when you consider a unit such as Gateway 2000's Solo 9100 has more RAM and delivers superior performance (with longer battery life) while costing $800 less. Either way, that fan is a real worry.
From: Teco (02) 9725 4423
Internet: www.teco.com.au
Price: $8,999
© 1997 Sydney Morning Herald