3D laptops: Asus G74sx vs. Toshiba Qosmio X775

We test these two high-end laptops to see how they work in all dimensions.

Contributing Writer, Computerworld |

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How we tested

3D computer technology is still new, so I adapted and enlarged my typical testing routine. On top of using each system for several weeks, watching 3D movies, playing 3D games and looking at 3D images, I used each for more mundane tasks like sending and receiving emails, writing memos, updating a Web site and editing video.

I started by measuring, weighing and examining each system and trying out each major feature. I also tried (unsuccessfully) to fit each onto a mockup of a typical airplane seat-back table tray and into a standard Brookhaven notebook bag, and carried each on a day trip out of my office.

I connected each wirelessly to my office network as well as public hotspots and a mobile hotspot.

While each system was running full blast, I found its hotspot and measured the temperature with an Extech Pocket IR non-contact thermometer.

I tested the performance of each system with an array of standard benchmarks. First, I looked at overall performance with PassMark's PerformanceTest 7.0 benchmark test. This suite of tests exercises every major system component, from the processor, memory and hard drive to the graphics. It then compiles the results into a single score that represents the system's performance potential. I ran the software three times and averaged the results.

I also ran CineBench version 11.5, a suite of benchmarks for graphics and processor performance. The software renders several photorealistic scenes that stress the processor and graphics chip by manipulating up to a million polygons. It reports scores for processor and graphics performance; I averaged the results of three runs.

To gauge the 3D abilities of each system, I put the glasses on and watched portions of three different 3D movies, played Portal2 and viewed a dozen 3D still images. Then I loaded Instant Effect's FXD 3D media player and interacted with 3D models by moving and rotating them. I finished by watching a 3D business presentation supplied by Instant Effects.

I also ran Auran's Trainz Simulator, a 2D railroad simulation package that is particularly resource intensive. I looked for jerkiness, shimmering, differing shadowing, levels of detail and items that were left out. Each system ran the simulation of the Canadian National Railway (CNR) Transcontinential route for a full day without a train wreck.

Finally, with a USB drive containing six HD videos connected to the system, I set Windows Media player to shuffle through all the videos while PassMark's BatteryMon charted the battery's capacity. I reported the average of three runs.

The basics of 3D

3D is based on the slightly differing views of the world that we get from our left and right eyes. Because we see the world from two slightly different angles, the brain's visual cortex creates perspective by integrating these images. The result is the 3D landscape we live and interact in.

The two notebooks reviewed here use a technology called frame sequential stereoscopic 3D that mimics the way we see 3D by sending individual images to each eye. Their Nvidia graphics systems create and display a stream of images that alternate between right and left frames that are intended for viewing by the right and left eyes.

This is where the funky black plastic glasses come in. Frame sequential 3D uses what are called active shutter glasses, which have a pair of lenses made out of small LCD panels. As the images switch from one meant for the right eye to one meant for the left eye, the lenses alternate between being opaque and transparent so that only one eye sees the scene -- 120 times a second. An infrared emitter on the system sends out a synchronization signal to the glasses to make sure it all works properly.

(Incidentally, these are not the same as the glasses you're given in movie theaters, which use lenses that work with images that are polarized by 90 degrees; each eye only gets the image that is correctly polarized for that eye.)

The result is that the brain is tricked into constructing a 3D world around this two-fold visual input. How well it works depends on the 3D movie or game as much as on the system it is played on. Without the glasses to get the correct frames to the correct eyes frame sequential 3D images onscreen look like a confusing double image.

If the glasses are a deal-breaker for you, by the end of the year, there may be a new generation of 3D systems that don't require the glasses. Some initial tries can be found in HTC's EVO 3D smartphone and Nintendo's 3DS game machine. Toshiba is also working on a glasses-free 3D laptop.

Brian Nadel is a frequent contributor to Computerworld and the former editor in chief of Mobile Computing & Communications magazine.

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