- Large High Performance Hard Drive
- Fast Dual Core Processor
- High Resolution Display
- Fairly Weak 3D Graphics
- Lacks FireWire Port
- Relatively Expensive
- Intel Core 2 Duo T9400 Dual Core Processor
- 4GB PC2-6400 DDR2 Memory
- 320GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive
- 8x DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Burner
- 15.4\" WSXGA (1680x1050) Display with 2.0 Megapixel Webcam
- NVIDIA GeForce 9300M GS Graphics
- v.92 56Kbps Modem, Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11a/b/g Wireless
- Three USB 2.0, eSATA, HDMI, ExpressCard/54, 7-in-1 Card Reader
- 14” x 10.1” x 1.4” @ 6.5 lbs.
- Vista Home Premium
11/18/08 - Polywell's PolyNote 516NE offers some outstanding performance in a 15.4-inch notebook thanks to the use of a high end Intel Core 2 Duo T9400. This processor offers a much higher clock speed and cache than the more common P8400 used in this market segment. The downside is that it does tend to consume more power reducing the battery life somewhat. The 4GB of DDR2 memory allows it to run the Vista operating system very smoothly, but it would have been nice to see them use DDR3 memory for added performance.
Storage is surprisingly fast and spacious in the PolyNote 516NE. This is thanks to the large 320GB hard drive that spins at the fast 7200rpm rate compared to more traditional 5400rpm rates. This combined with the processor let's the PolyNote 516NE post some incredible performance numbers. It's too bad that the company known for its wide range of customization option limits the system to only using a dual layer DVD burner. This system could really benefit from a Blu-ray drive option.
Speaking of graphics, the display panel for the PolyNote 516NE uses a higher resolution 1680x1050 15.4-inch panel. This gives it a larger graphical workspace than many other laptops with the same screen size. It is a bit disappointing to see Polywell team this highly detailed panel with a fairly anemic GeForce 9300M GS graphics processor. While this does support accelerated 3D graphics, its performance is very limited and won't allow many 3D games to run at the full panel resolution. Once again, Polywell does not have any upgrade options for the graphics.
One other surprisingly aspect of the PolyNote 516NE is the lack of a FireWire port. While the port isn't that common, someone looking for a high performance system such as this for video editing will be very disappointed.
