MSI GT60-2OK 3K Mobile Workstation Review

Powermark Battery Performance

The purpose of the workloads is to simulate realistic usage scenarios of portable computing devices. Short test scenarios are looped until the per-iteration run time (five minutes by default) is reached or the battery charge end condition is met. The workloads selected for the benchmark are run in order, each workload once per iteration. Iterations are run until the battery charge has dropped to the desired level or the benchmark is cancelled. Once the battery charge end condition has been met Powermark generates a result based on the time elapsed and battery charge consumed by the workloads. In order to maintain the specified workload weighting the results of the final iteration (during which the battery charge fell to the desired level) is ignored.

Web browsing

The web browsing workload opens Internet Explorer and serves content from a local custom-made web server. The content is a modified version of Peacekeeper 1.0 Community site test. The computational load is mostly JavaScript based and performs following tasks:

• Encryption
• XML parsing
• Data filtering
• String sorting
• Window scrolling
• Word processing workload

The word processing workload is a text editor look-a-like application. It is implemented using RichTextBox control in Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF). Typing in the editor is simulated and throttled to match typing speed of a user. The workload content is based on a Wikipedia article on batteries.

Video playback

The video workload simulates watching movies on a portable device.

Clip details:

• Codec: H.264
• Duration: 8:43
• Resolution: 1280 x 720
• Frame rate: 25 frames per second
• Bitrate: approx. 5000 kbps.

Gaming

The gaming workload renders a DirectX 9 Shader Model 2.0 scene to simulate the graphics workload of a mainstream game. The scene features cascaded shadow maps and high-resolution shadow mapped point lights.

Balanced Workload

Productivity Workload

Entertainment Workload

Taking in to account the massive size of the AC adaptor and then looking at the size of the battery, it is safe to say that a period of use is not going to be likely without plugging the system in to the mains. Within a productivity environment, where the discrete graphics card is typically sitting idle we do get around two hours more battery life, whilst heavy use will see the battery running flat after just two hours of mild-the medium use. In a heavy use situation (such as rendering) this time can be reduced again by another 25%.