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2 – Benchmarks
Now some 3D graphics performance tests. I used the latest iteration of GpuTest (v0.6.0) to benchmark the NP740. GpuTest is handy because you can quickly bench a GPU, it’s cross-platform (Win/Linux/OSX) and it offers several tests: fur rendering (FurMark), tessellation (TessMark), geometry instancing, and pure processing power with 100% pixel shader tests (PixMark).
I also added in the test a desktop GeForce GTX 660 and the MacBook Pro Retina Mid 2012 with the GeForce GT 650.
The 3D tests have been done with sector plugged (not on the battery) to have the maximum performance. When running only with the battery, the GPUs run at lower clock speed (the Radeon HD 8570M and the HD Graphics 4000).
FurMark test
| 1024×640 windowed | 1920×1080 fullscreen | |
| Intel HD 4000 | 442 points (7FPS) | 180 points (2FPS) |
| Radeon HD 8570M | 556 points (9FPS) | 339 points (5FPS) |
| GeForce GT 650M | 2089 points (34FPS) | 787 points (13FPS) |
| GeForce GTX 660 | 4807 points (80FPS) | 2425 points (40FPS) |
TessMark X16 test
| 1024×640 windowed | 1920×1080 fullscreen | |
| Intel HD 4000 | 4255 points (70FPS) | 2394 points (39FPS) |
| Radeon HD 8570M | 11776 points (196FPS) | 5683 points (94FPS) |
| GeForce GT 650M | 16250 points (270FPS) | 7361 points (122FPS) |
| GeForce GTX 660 | 63871 points (1064FPS) | 38052 points (635FPS) |
PixMark Volplosion test
| 1024×640 windowed | 1920×1080 fullscreen | |
| Intel HD 4000 | 561 points (9FPS) | 182 points (3FPS) |
| Radeon HD 8570M | 677 points (11FPS) | 218 points (3FPS) |
| GeForce GT 650M | 1273 points (21FPS) | 364 points (6FPS) |
| GeForce GTX 660 | 4303 points (71FPS) | 1375 points (22FPS) |
Here is a test of the SSD unit with CrystalDiskMark. Detail on the SSD are provided by CrystalDiskInfo:
The SSD of the NP740UE3 is fast in reading (480MB/sec) but the writing speed is low (130MB/sec). For the sake of comparison, here is the same test with Samsung’s SSD 840 PRO 256GB (one of the the SSDs of my dev PC):
There is SSD and SSD… 😉
A quick productivity test: the zip compression time of a 1.8GB folder containing 6200 files. On Windows, I used WinRAR, on OS X, I used the built-in ZIP utility:
| Samsung NP740UE3 | MacBook Pro Mid 2012 | JeGX’s dev PC |
| 1 min 48 sec | 1 min 18 sec | 1 min 35 sec |
Other tests that are missing in this review and that I should do: the battery and the WIFI. But I’m sure you will find them in other reviews on the Net. A quick search on google tells me you can work and play videos for around 5 hours (using the Intel HD 4000 GPU).
Quick conclusion: I’m really satisfied by this ultrabook because I can do everything I need: development (GLSL Hacker, FurMark, etc), testing a hybrid system with Intel GPU + AMD GPU, testing and shortly integrating the touch screen support in GLSL Hacker, surfing on the Net.
The Radeon HD 8570M is not a powerful GPU (casual gaming) but all I need is a Radeon GPU to test my OpenGL code. So it’s perfect for me.
I forgot: music. The sound is good, even very good (JBL speakers). But this appreciation is highly subjective. I can’t tell you if I prefer the sound of the MacBook Pro or the NP740UE3 one…
More information and complete specifications of the NP740U3E (ATIV Book 7) can be found HERE.
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WOW I like how its BIOS looks, my desktop motherboard Biostar TZ77B has UEFI BIOS too but it looks not so good and I can’t use mouse :’\
Too bad it uses last gen Intel chip otherwise I might have considered.