Review 2.0 - Zenith Director Plus Ultra Laptop

[abhisheksohal]

Finally after a long long long (it was really long believe me!! ) wait..i got my hands on this amazing and superbly priced Zenith Director Plus Ultra laptop. Got it for Rs. 42640 inc. of taxes etc.!! A pretty good deal...if u see the performance and features..
The config. is:
Intel Core 2 Duo P8400(2.26 ghz,3 mb cache, 1066 Mhz fSB)
4gb DDR2 800 Mhz RAM
320 gb sata 2 hd
nVidia Geforce 9600M GS with 512 MB Vram
2 Mp camera
HDMI port
E-sata port
Dual layer dvd writer
etc. etc.
I'll be writing about the different aspects of the laptop..though I havent fully done any benchmark tests except 3dmark 06 or any other..i'll update them as I try new things on it ..but for the time being..lets start :
Pics:














Build Quality:
The Build Quality is quite good..I mean no less than HP or Dell! The body is also metallic and glossy...but one con is that your fingerprints really stay on the body! Another one is related to the dvd drive...well its material is kinda ok..plasticky and luks a little cheap..but anyways..it does the job.....

Features:
This laptop has got top class features...a latest C2D processor -P8400! ..4 gb DDR 2 RAM..and this isnt the usual 667 mhz ram! I was surprised to find out that on the backside of the laptop..it was mentioned that it is 800mhz ram! Boy was I happy!
And the best one that catches everyones eye is the Nvidia Geforce 9600M GS 512 MB graphics! Other features include a 320 gb Sata 2 hardisk...an e-sata/Usb combo port..so its effectively got 3 usb ports..Also has an HDMI port, a port replicator,memory card reader etc. The webcam is 2 Mp..havent played around with it much though

Performance:
Ok now..this is going to be a really long section..
I've installed Windows 7 64-bit build 7000...
I wont be able to provide any benchmarks etc. as of now..and would request you all to guide me how to go about doing that..only benchmark i did was with 3dmark06..it gave 4360 marks for the GPU! that was at 1280x800 resln.
Will update with more benchmarks though...
Now come the games i've tried on it
1. Burnout paradise- Highest settings..1280x800..8x antialising..giving around 24-25 fps..get more fps if anti aliasing is brought down to 2x or 4x..

2. Crysis- All high settings! but at 960x600 and it runs at 23 fps average..resln. is low though...havent tried any mixed settings or custom resolutions as of now..but will try soon..

3. Prince of Persia- This is the latest one..runs at highest settings again! 1280x800..evrything on high! and at 30 fps average!

4. Cod:World at war - Running at Highest settings again! 1280x800..and evrything on Extra..gives 24-30 fps..so runs absolutely smooth! Id like to mention here that i wasnt getting that much fps previously..when i had 185.20 drivers..but now with 185.66 drivers..the performance has increased! I am using the modded drivers from www.laptopvideo2go.com

5. Far Cry 2- It runs at 1280x760 at a mix of high-very high settings..giving more than 20 fps..so again runs quite smooth!

6. GTA 4: Finally coming to GTA 4.. .. Well i've installed all the latest patches..that is uptill 1.0.3.0 .I had run the benchmark test..here are the results..i had tried many diff. settings and diff. reslns.

Statistics
Average FPS: 20.93
Duration: 37.13 sec
CPU Usage: 99%
System memory usage: 59%
Video memory usage: 80%
Graphics Settings
Video Mode: 1280 x 720 (60 Hz)
Texture Quality: Medium
Texture Filter Quality: High
View Distance: 23
Detail Distance: 27
Hardware
Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate
Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate
Video Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GS
Video Driver version: 185.66
Audio Adapter: Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU P8400 @ 2.26GHz
When there is daytime in the game..the fps is quite good..b/w 19-25 ... but at night time..it sometimes goes down to 15-16...but this is when i keep resolution at 1280x720 or 1280x800..when at 1024x768..it runs smooth even in night time..but the sharpness in the game graphics goes down so id like to keep it at 1280x760

7.Godfather II: Installed it today..and again as usual its running at high settings! at 1280x800 (only shadows at medium)

More games are waiting to be installed.. The partition i had kept for games is almost full now.. (only 15 gb left)

Battery Life:
I havent got the chance to check this.. ..coz every time i turn it on..its for gaming.. but will check the battery life when I take the laptop to my programming lab in college..

Temperatures:
Id like to clear first that evry gaming laptop will always produce quite some heat when under load..The normal GPU temp. (idle) is around 50 C.. and when under load it goes to around 70 C..not more than that..so its quite safe and under control...
The palmrest and trackpad area gets only a little warm even when gaming or any other cpu intensive work..but the air vents do become hot...There is one vent at the back and one adjacent to it..on the side..but the thing is that its not exactly on the side..its a little bit towards the base of the laptop..so the heat escaping does not quite get out fast out and so it gets a little hot there..But other regions of the laptop are quite under control ...and i havent quite felt the need to use a cooling pad till now..

Sound:
The speakers of the laptop arent that good but I keep my own speaker system plugged in..so its not much of a problem..Volume is ok..neither very low nor very loud... Quality is also decent.. And previuosly I had been using a lenovo thinkpad laptop..and it had intel sound.. this one has Realtek audio..and i've noticed some better sound quality(if u plug in speakers that is ) .. But as there are no shortcut keys ,one has to always press the Function keys to change the vol. levels..Same goes for many other functions like turning on Wifi ,Bluetooth etc.

Well thats it for now..but stay tuned..im gonna try more things ..and u can temme wateva u want me to try..but but but..i wont be able to install Linux or any other OS on it! Coz i dont really want to format my hd or mess up with something like that..coz theres already loads i've put into this laptop already..

My final verdict: I love this lappy! For 42k this one is a must must buy!
Performance is totally awesome!! and y friends really envy me now..
Id give it 9/10

[comp@ddict]

If there would have been an option for customisation, with this:-

C2D P8600 2.4GHz
nVidia 9800MGT 512MB GDDR3

THe performance would increase two fold, but for about 8-10k more price. In short, this is amazing. Wow, and nice review.

[Silicon Chip]

Hey the lappy wud burn if you put 9800M.

Zenith cant accomodate a heatsink for 9800M GT.

BTW, sorry for ditching you guys, bt when I got to knw that sumbody was here to review so I didnt buy it
Coz
Jus on 6 April MSI got the GT725 with HD 4850 (10k 3dmark06) in Mumbai.
Regional Manager called me up and asked if I was interested and I was of course so I got it as a gift from MSI.

Hey jus joking, it was for 87k.
I'll be posting the benchmarks.

[comp@ddict]

We get to see the first of the mobile HD4800 series on this forum.^^^^^^^^^^^^

[threeonethree]

nice review..

by the way you dont have to repartition the hard disk for testing linux.. get a linux live cd like ubuntu or sabayon dvd in last months digit.. boot it and just check if all the hardware is detected and the sound /video etc works.. these days linux comes on live cd/dvds and it will just boot from the cd/dvds without making any changes to your harddisk when you are done..

[izzikio_rage]

congratulations dude......will be waiting for more reviews.....try out 3D mark vantage (was in the digit dvd a few months back ).

[ambar.hitman]

I am still skeptical about service of Zenith. But ur review tempts me to buy it. Still TATA has launched almost similarly configured laptops at Croma for 42,999. But both feature 9600 m GS, which is inferior to 9600m GT. So is there any lappy with 9600m GT within 45k?

[Silicon Chip]

Nah cheapest comes at 65k.
HP and MSI.

Croma has given contract to Zenith.
Guys plz do nt buy it.
The laptop has a life of one year due to excessive heat.

[desiibond]

^^what about buying the lappie with cooler?

[abhisheksohal]

Well the laptop does produce a little beat of heat when gaming or under load but not otherwise..and its a little hot only from the vents at the back and side..but then any gaming lappy would produce heat!! Any computer would produce heat when put to stress! so its supposed to be let out from somewhere! Even the dell xps series laptops get hot! so do other gaming laptops! And the max temp. that the laptop goes to under full stress is around 70 C which is quite bearable by its parts! I havent had any problem of the laptop shutting down or anything realated to overheating! And if one buys a laptop cooler then it'll run quite cool actually..
I havent found the need to buy one though..

[Silicon Chip]

My gpu tops at 86 and cpu at 65-70 bt mine got dual vents.
Was busy these days, wud post a review by today evening with GTA IV and Crysis Warhead.

[MetalheadGautham]

Did anyone check specs of 9600GS Mobile on Wikipedia ?

9600M GS

* 064A/8 core (G96.
* 32 Stream Processors.
* 430 MHz core clock.
* 1075 MHz shader clock.
* 800/1600 MHz memory clock (effective).
* Up to 1024 MB memory.
* 128-bit memory interface.
* 12.8 GB/s (with DDR2 type) or 25.6 GB/s (with GDDR3 type) memory bandwidth.
* 6.8 billion texels/s texture fill rate.
* 103 GigaFLOPS.


Thats weaker than a desktop 9500GS, or 8600GT 256MB DDR2

GeForce 9500 GS

* 65 nm G96 GPU
* 32 Stream Processors.
* 8 Raster Operations (ROP) units
* 550 MHz Core, with a 1375 MHz unified shader clock.
* 8.8 billion texels/s Fillrate.
* 512MB 1000MHz DDR2 memory with a 128-bit memory bus.
* 16.0 GB/s memory bandwidth.
* Supports DirectX 10, Shader Model 4.0, OpenGL 2.1, and PCI-Express 2.0
* Possibly 3rd-generation PureVideo 3 technology, due to the G96 core.

[Silicon Chip]

I told that this lappy SUCKS ! !

You knw what Zenith called me for checking whether I was buying it or nt.
I told them I bought MSI GT725, the line went blank then they hung up.

I was laughing like hell!

[Plasma_Snake]

Well I too was initially inclined towards the Zenith one but later after having detailed and deep consultancy session with my parents(and a healthy budget boost ) I got a Dell Studio 15.
The GPU in this one is ATI 4570 with dedicated 512MB GDDR3 RAM!

[ambar.hitman]

^Can u post Benchmarks of ATI 4570 after u buy that laptop?

[Plasma_Snake]

I got my laptop on 18th and currently busy on it with my project. As it is on Linux so when I make a shift to Windows, will definitely post the benches.

[Silicon Chip]

GDDR3 bt 128 bit bus.
Should be around HD4650(desktop).
I dont like dell-they are unjust to Indians.

[abhisheksohal]

@Silly Cone
DUDE!! What the heck do u mean by saying that this lappy sucks!!!???!!
People dont have big budgets like u!! I've been teling u that for so long!! Cant u get that into ur brain!?!?! Its not that I have the laptop that is why im defending it out of the way..i just wanna say that people buy mercs and bmws..obviously a maruti car wont stand anywhere near it!! Does that mean that people shouldnt buy a maruti!?!?! haha!! Grow up man!! In 42k..can u just let us know about any other laptop wid as good config. as this one!!??!! Im 200% sure there isnt any for that price in the indian market..
and
@ plasma_snake
Yaar when i had called the dell guys around a month or more back..they had told me that its not got ddr3 ram..its ddr2..plz confirm..and post the gpuz screenie if possible...

[Silicon Chip]

Ya it is GDDR3 for Dell and DDR2 for Zenith.
GDDR3>DDR3>GDDR2>DDR2.

And till budget is concerned,
Money is the easiest thing to earn.

And even dell is no cheap it even costs 50-60k.
Better go for sumthing MSI GX400/GX620(65/75k)

Dont go ATi especially in low cards, DRIVERS SUCK! !

[MetalheadGautham]

BTW, I didn't mean this lappy sucks. I just said 9600GS laptop edition is NOT like 9600GT desktop edition. Its closer to the old 8600GT, but thats still good for gaming @ WXGA (1280x800).

[Faun]

Cool collection of reference books

Resnik Halliday

[prakash.gourav]

yeah studio 15 has got GDDR3....
@abhisheksohal can you please tell, whether we have to add the cpu score in 3dmark06?
Or have you posted the SM2.0 + SM 3.0 score..?
Eagerly waiting for your reply....

[prakash.gourav]

The studio 15 has got a score 4200+ of 3dmarko6...


@abhisheksohal
dude with such a 3dmark score, i wont say my laptop to be a gaming laptop... So should u..

[Silicon Chip]

Yeah i get 10k+ on 3DMark06.

Nw ppl agree with me that Zenith sells ****.

[comp@ddict]

9600M GS

* 064A/8 core (G96.
* 32 Stream Processors.
* 430 MHz core clock.
* 1075 MHz shader clock.
* 800/1600 MHz memory clock (effective).
* Up to 1024 MB memory.
* 128-bit memory interface.
* 12.8 GB/s (with DDR2 type) or 25.6 GB/s (with GDDR3 type) memory bandwidth.
* 6.8 billion texels/s texture fill rate.
* 103 GigaFLOPS.

A desktop 9500GT 512MB GDDR3 will match it in performance(the GDDR3 one)

[izzikio_rage]

At the end of the day I think it comes down to game fps....can anyone try out crysis on the studio 15 and on the zenith? then post the fps that the game shows during the training level or something ..(just to keep things even) ....