The NEC Powermate P5000 is another not-your-average-PC we tested this month. Unlike the living room VAIO, the Powermate P5000 is destined for a more up close and personal usage model. This could be in the bedroom (on your bedside table), in the study or even the kitchen. The main selling point of the Powermate P5000 is its lack of messy cables; all it needs is a single power cable. In countries like Japan where space in the home (or the lack thereof) is a major issue, PCs like the Powermate P5000 make good sense. Users can just unplug it and move it to another location within the home.
Like many other portable devices, one of the most important factors is the processing capability; in other words, performance. In the quest to make products smaller and more portable, sacrifices are inevitable. The Powermate P5000 is equipped with an AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-52 processor which runs at a clock speed of 1.6GHz. This model is the slowest of the AMD Turion 64 X2 family of CPUs. It has a 512MB L2 cache on each core and runs on a Thermal Design Power of around 31 watts. The motherboard uses the ATI RS690MC chipset which supports DDR2 memory and has an integrated video chipset (among other things). The Radeon X1200 integrated GPU can use up to 1GB of main memory but provides pretty much entry-level performance. The Powermate P5000 comes with 1GB of DDR2-667MHz memory which can be expanded up to 4GB via two SODIMM slots which are easily accessible. The hard disk is a 200GB 5400RPM SATA drive which isn’t particularly roomy, but should suffice. Unlike most notebooks however, there’s no easy access to the hard disk so users will have to make do with that 200GB.
The P5000’s dual backlit display measures 17.1 inches and has a native resolution of 1,440 by 900 pixels. Although not capable of Full HD (1080p), this PC isn’t meant primarily for entertainment anyway, so that’s fine. The display is bright, with good contrast levels. An up/down jog dial on the right side controls the brightness; pressing it turns off the display but leaves the unit running. The keyboard and mouse are wireless units which can be used up to a distance of around 10 metres. Even though there is already a pointing device (the mouse), they keyboard also has a joystick-like device on the top right corner of the keyboard and the button on the top left. This presumably comes in handy when you’re seated on the couch without any surfaces on which to use the mouse. There is also a button to start the media centre interface so this could be a couch potato’s dream machine (pity the screen’s a tad small). The keyboard’s keys are like those typically found on notebook PCs, but key travel is better on the P5000’s. There are a total of 16 easy access keys on top on the keyboard, mostly for multimedia playback. The mouse has an optical sensor and uses two AA batteries.
In terms of connectivity, the Powermate P5000 has a total of four USB ports. Its keyboard and mouse are wireless, so users shouldn’t be running out of USB ports anytime soon. There’s a FireWire port, as well as a PC Card slot on the left side. A card reader and two audio jacks share the same surface. On the opposite side, there’s a slot loading DVD-writer; no next-gen optical drive though. The rear panel also has a port for Gigabit Ethernet, for those whose homes lack a wireless access point. Speaking of Wi-Fi, there’s also a switch here to turn it on or off. The Powermate P5000’s design is quite radical, with a large handle on top of the unit. A plastic ‘third leg’ extends backwards and props the unit up. The angle is adjustable (slightly), but users cannot place the P5000 on a surface above their eye level as the slight tilt and reflective display will make it less than optimal for viewing.
When we put the Powermate P5000 through our benchmarks, we obtained rather dismal scores. The AMD Turion 64 X2 CPU obtained 3,192 points which is just above Intel’s Ultra Low Voltage parts. Don’t expect to do serious work on the P5000; even video compression or conversion will be sluggish. The memory score of 2,748 is typical of AMD-based mobile platform systems and again sits low on the performance table. The Radeon X1200 integrated graphics produced a score of 1,232 points which is below a GMA X3100, but better than a GMA 950. Lastly, the 3,622 points for the hard disk is rather average.
For most users, the Powermate P500 probably won’t make sense. However, if you need a portable media centre PC around the house, this might be just the right device for you.
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