Hands-On: Fujitsu-Siemens AMILO SA3650 With GraphicBooster

The world of notebooks is currently in a state of schizophrenia. On the one hand, you have huge desktop replacements with 17” screens, packed to the gills with the latest hardware to run the latest games and multimedia applications. Powerful machines and certainly a neater form factor than a big desktop, but not exactly the most portable machines in the world, as we discovered with the Toshiba Qosimo G40 we reviewed a few months ago.

Then, on the other hand, 2008 saw an explosion in “netbooks” – tiny, low powered, lightweight devices with 10” screens or smaller – ideal for working and intenet-browsing whilst on the road. Tremendously portable, but you’re not going to be able to knock out a quick game of Crysis with one.

So, at both ends of the spectrum, many needs are catered for but you’re going to end up having to compromise on a few things. It’s annoying, sometimes, you just want a really portable notebook to do the basics, but from time to time, you need a bit of extra grunt – particularly when it comes to multimedia and gaming.

Well, Fujitsu-Siemens and ATI think they may just have the answer. They’ve sent us the Amilo SA3650 Notebook With GraphicBooster to take a look at. Your first question is the same one I had – what’s a GraphicBooster?

Well, faced with the dilemma outlined above, ATI have spent the last two years working on a new external graphics platform called ATI XGP. So rather than try to pack in a high powered graphics card into a notebook (with the associated chassis size, power, heat and battery life issues that  causes) you can now have a small external box (which FSC call the “GraphicBooster”) that simply plugs into the notebook when you need it.

So, that means small and light notebook with good battery life and a major graphics boost when I need it? Sounds very cool indeed…

The Amilo SA3650 is the first notebook in the world with the new ATI XGP technology, so let’s take a look at what it’s got to offer.

The Amilo SA 3650 is a well-featured 13.3” notebook – here’s the tale of the tape:

What’s in the Box?

The SA 3650 is well packaged in an FSC branded box containing everything you need to get started with the notebook.

In box, you’ll find:

• Amilo SA 3650 Notebook
• Amilo GraphicBooster
• 2 x power cables
• 1 x External PCI Express Cable
• Notebook Case
• Manuals

First Looks

The Amilo SA 3650 looks great – a pearlescent white and black finish and a reasonably sturdy build gives you a notebook that’s shouts Germanic quality in both look and feel.

When you open up the notebook, you see that the display is actually a 4:3 panel rather than 16:9.

The GraphicBooster

The Amilo GraphicBooster is a small external device which has been neatly designed to tie-in with the design of the notebook, sharing it’s pearlescent and black design. The device itself is no bigger than a network hub or small router and is enabled with 2 USB ports (for attaching external devices such as TV Tuners and optical drives), one combination USB/eSATA port plus DVI and HDMI connectors to hook the unit up to external displays, power socket and desk lock.

The GraphicsBooster is attached to the notebook via a new external connector – the External PCI Express® 2.0 Connector – this basically resembles a wide HDMI socket, and can shift data at 4 GBytes a second.

Using the Amilo SA 3650

The first thing I noticed about the Amilo notebook (after the fact that I’d been sent a German language version of Windows Vista) was the quality of the screen – the display was bright and looked great. A lot better than the display I’m currently using  to write this review (bah!).

The notebook has a few neat tricks up its sleeve including three glowing red touch- sensitive buttons above the keyboard which activate a Silent Mode (reducing fan noise and CPU/Graphics performance), open up your media player and eject a CD/DVD (the low profile DVD drive is slot loading).

FSC, like many OEMs nowadays package up their notebooks with a host on unwanted software trials and other “added value” items, so you’ll need to spend some time up front uninstalling these if you want to run a clean system.

Otherwise, the notebook performs well in day to day use – I found the keyboard a little strange as the keys are set flush to the height of the track-pad and as such, I felt as if I really had to push down to get them to work. This is more about me being used to slightly raised keys than an issue with the keyboard itself, though – I’m sure I’d get used to it over time.

In terms of connectivity, a fast (draft-n) wireless connection, Ethernet, Express Card, mini-Firewire and a 15 in 1 card reader will keep you well connected, although only having the one USB port is an annoyance. Whilst the GraphicBooster provides two more, you do sometimes need to plug more than one device into your notebook when you’re on the road.

For storage, however, you’re very well catered for with a 320Gb hard drive which will give you more than enough space for docs, music and videos at home or on the move and if you’re a DVD fan, the slot loading drive provides a very neat solution.

Using the GraphicsBooster

The ATI XGP platform is designed to be hot-pluggable, so whenever you need to use the GraphicsBooster, you simply plug it into the notebook and, like a USB device, the computer detects it and loads its drivers. No reboot is required.

When you want to disconnect the device, you do have to use the “Remove device” icon in the system tray before disconnecting the cable. Apparently, ATI are working on ways to allow cable disconnection without this step.

Whilst the GraphicBooster does give the Amilo a huge, well, graphics boost as intended, it also unlocks a few additional capabilities for the device, including the ability to run multiple displays, and, with two USB ports on board, the opportunity to use  a number of other external devices with the notebook, which is really handy.

The GraphicBooster we used came with ATI’s Radeon HD 3870 graphics processor, which gives a significant boost compared to the notebook’s on board Radeon HD 3200 chip.

In use, the GraphicBooster can support up to 3 external displays, plus the internal TFT screen – so you can run a mighty 4 displays all together from one notebook. Depending on how you connect those displays, your maximum resolution will be limited:

• Internal laptop screen: 1280 x 800
• DVI (Connected to Notebook): 1920 x 1200
• DVI (Connected to GraphicBooster):  1560 x 1900
• HDMI (Connected to GraphicBooster): 2560 x 1900

Once screens are connected to the GraphicBooster they have to be configured via ATI’s Catalyst Control Center (which I found rather interesting trying to achieve in German). As this is brand new technology there are a few limitations and hoops you have to jump through to get things going around extending and reconfiguring the displays (all of which are expected to be resolved in future driver updates). I won’t go into the details, but there are still a few issues to work out with configuring the XGP platform.

One pretty huge limitation of the XGP platform currently however is that you cannot currently achieve the maximum 3D performance of the hardware on the notebook’s internal display – you have to connect an external display to the box. Apparently this is due to be resolved with a driver update in January to enable a new “CrossDisplay” mode which will allow the GraphicBooster to perform whatever 3D rendering is required and send the data back to the notebook for display on its internal screen.

So in short, using the GraphicBooster right now with its full potential is limited to using the notebook as a desktop replacement and plugging it into an external display. Let’s hope those driver updates come soon, as it’s currently pretty painful working with the new platform.  

It’s worth mentioning that ATI are working on additional applications for the XGP platform, integrating a wide range of additional technologies including storage, optical drives (CD/DVD/Blu-ray), TV Tuners and other PCIe and USB devices. Whilst the Amilo SA 3650 is a notebook device with a high-end graphics solution, you can see how an XGP-enabled TV Tuner could be used in a home server to enable TV recording and storage without the need to upgrade the server hardware, or to easily enable any TV to be connected to your home network – certainly it’s an exciting technology with lots of potential in the digital home. We’re looking forward to seeing how the technology matures and new applications unveiled.

Summary

The Amilo SA3650 is a fine notebook for day to day use, with good looks, a great screen and a reasonable build quality for its price point. Packaged with the Amilo GraphicBooster, it takes on a new role as a well performing desktop replacement, and as long as you’re happy working with an external screen and a few configuration hassles, you have a very flexible home and portable solution in one device.

With regard to the GraphicBooster, it’s a fantastic idea, particularly for hardcore gamers looking for strong and portable performance. It’s execution is greatly compromised by the need to use an external display for full performance, along with a relatively painful configuration process, but as these issues are worked out in future driver updates, the XGP Platform will become a viable and attractive option for users looking for a small, light but powerful notebook solution.

Going forward, I’m eager to see how the platform’s potential evolves beyond graphics into extended multimedia applications. An an enabler of modular multimedia solutions – enclosed TV Tuner farms, optical drives etc for networked devices and home servers, the XGP platform may have a lot more to offer than improving your frames per second.

More Info: Fujistu-Siemens