MaximumPC 2004 04

APRIL 2004 MAXIMUMPC 55

ABS Mayhem G1

ABS presents a solid performer for

a remarkably low price

When we think of PC notebooks, we
think of Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and
Toshiba—not ABS. Short for “Always
Better Service,” the company, previously

known for its powerful, budget-priced

desktop systems, appears to be taking a

similarly frugal tack with its notebooks.

The Mayhem G1 is the least expensive

notebook in this roundup, and amazingly,

it’s not the slowest, thanks to the 128MB

Mobility Radeon 9600 graphics. The fat-

tened-up Radeon feeds the Mayhem G1

enough juice to turn in decent gaming

performance. In apps, unfortunately, it’s

a different story. Here the single

memory channel SiS chipset drags

down performance enough to

place the G1 behind the Toshiba

Satellite, which uses the same

clocked processor, hard drive,

and 1GB of RAM.

ABS could stand to improve on

the G1’s silver paint job, which

looked a little cheap and frayed.

We’d also like to see a faster DVD

burner. Much like the burner in

the Toshiba Satellite, the G1’s 1x

DVD-R/RW drive is nearly useless.

We’re not even sure you could

burn a DVD-R at 1x while running

off the battery because it probably

wouldn’t last long enough.

Speaking of battery life, we didn’t

expect stellar or even good battery per-

formance from any of the notebooks we

reviewed—it’s the price you pay for this

much power—but it’s worth noting that

only Sharp’s 3D Actius exhibited worse

battery life than the G1, which could only

play about 1:20 minutes of our DVD movie

before giving up the ghost.

If this showdown were based on a price-

to-performance ratio, the Mayhem G1

would win. However, it’s not—it’s based

on power. And frankly, the Mayhem G1

doesn’t have what it takes to successfully

take on Alienware, Voodoo, or Dell. But

then again, it is far more affordable.

If this were a bang-for-the-buck contest,

the Mayhem G1 would win.

Flying the AMD flag, Voodoo’s Envy uses an

Athlon 64 3400+ CPU to satisfying effect.

Voodoo Envy M:855

This fiery redhead performs solidly

but gets caught mid-pack

Voodoo’s sexy red notebook packs the
only non-Intel silicon in this roundup,
and after testing the Envy M:855 we’re
suitably impressed with its “inexpensive”
Athlon part (which we first saw in a
Vicious PC desktop system last month).
Armed with a 2.2GHz Athlon 64 3400+,
the Envy turns in competitive numbers.
In our Photoshop test, the Voodoo was sec-
ond only to Dell’s butt-kicking XPS laptop
(page 57) and even defeated the XPS in
the math-intensive Mathematica. The situ-
ation flips when it comes to Premiere Pro ,
however, where the Envy placed dead
last—even behind the Sharp Actius RD3D,
which limped to the finish line wheezing
and spitting transistors.
Though the Envy did well during per-
formance testing, Voodoo finds itself in
a tough position competitively. With its
overclocked Mobility Radeon 9600 part,
the Envy suffers in comparison to others in
this roundup. It just doesn’t have the power

to pull ahead of the Area 51M’s 128MB

GeForce FX Go 5700 in some tests, and

loses to the XPS’ Radeon 9700 in others.

It doesn’t often happen that Voodoo—a

company that prides itself on power and

speed—is outgunned, but that’s exactly

what’s happening here.

As was the case with four other

notebooks in this roundup, the Envy is

equipped with a pokey 1x DVD-R/RW

drive, and with that we take umbrage.

Simply put: It’s way too slow for 2004.

Fortunately for Voodoo, there’s one par-

ticularly bright spot: The Envy M:855

turned in the longest battery life of all six

notebooks. In fact, it was the only one

we tested to break the two hour mark.

We were alarmed by the Envy’s inferior

audio —it was the worst of all the note-

books tested. We thought it might be just

our unit, but two units being reviewed by

our sister magazines exhibited the same

problem. Voodoo claims it’s a glitch that

affects only early samples and has since

been corrected.

Combined with its above-average appli-

cation and gaming performance and its

svelte formfactor, however, this is still a

solid choice for the anti-Intel crowd.

Killer price and fair performance.

HAVOK

GAMBIT

Could benefit from using dual-channel memory.

$2,100, http://www.buyabs.com

MAXIMUMPC VERDICT 8

Great battery life—and it’s sporting 64-bit

computing.

LOVE

HATE

Gimpy 1x DVD-R/RW drive and last-gen graphics

card sully an otherwise attractive product.

$3,400, http://www.voodoopc.com

MAXIMUMPC VERDICT 8

Flying the AMD flag, Voodoo’s Envy uses an