Sunday March 21, 2010 6:58 PM AEST

Pioneer DreamBook D90

  • Email a Friend
  • Print Page
Pioneer DreamBook D90
 
60
---
By Josh Collins
Nov 14, 2007
Tags: Pioneer | DreamBook | D90

Pioneer offers a giant of a laptop system, for only the giantest of laps.

It’s important to get something out of the way from the get go, the Pioneer is excessive. There is no two ways about it.

Featuring not a mobile processor, but rather a desktop processor forced into a mobile environment, it’s a freakin’ 2.66GHz quad core. Perhaps someone in the engineering department didn’t get the memo as to what a laptop traditionally is.

Leading on from that thought, the D90 can no longer be looked upon as a laptop; for starters your lap aches within minutes of having such a heavy beast resting there, and not to mention the warm fuzzy burning sensation. The unit weighs 10kg! On the flip side, this system is clearly a portable desktop replacement solution.

Keeping with the trend of excessive configurations, the D90 features three 200GB hard disks in a RAID 5 array, contributing a performance boost whilst assuring data redundancy – this is what we call RAID done right.

The battery life, as you could only expect from a ‘laptop’ such as this is, well, non-existent compared with the general laptop concept. Adding to this, the power brick that accompanies this laptop is just that – a brick. So with a leg-cooking, hefty ‘laptop’ we hoped for the sake of this system that it could perform admirably.

Thrown through a myriad of tests, we found the system to be an effective desktop replacement. The only real area of worry was the 3D benchmark results; however we’ve been told that a new revision is on its way that utilises the NVIDIA 8700 series mobile graphics processor.

All testing done and the immobility of the system experienced, we were left wondering as to why we wouldn’t just get a high spec Shuttle system to do the same job.

The concept of portability is both the D90’s strength and weakness, in the end though for the most hardcore LAN gamers we’d suggest a Shuttle system instead.



 
Product Info
Specs:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700, 2GB PC2-5300 memory, NVIDIA 7950GTX Go, 17” WUXGA screen, 3x Hitachi 200GB 7,200rpm 2.5” hard disks in RAID 5, Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate
Supplier:
Price when reviewed:
AUD$5504
price check*
No results found for Pioneer DreamBook D90, gaming laptop, gaming notebook, desktop replacement.

Compare prices on similar products at staticice.com.au
*Products and prices sourced from staticICE and are in no way associated with Atomic MPC Powered by
 
Want to check out the first Australian review of Final Fantasy XIII? We got in this month's Atomic!

Plus HD projectors, Napoleon: Total War, Intel's new six-core processor, PC upgrading guide, and a whole lot more.

ON SALE NOW!
Comments

Be the first to comment on this article.
Thoughts on this article? Add a comment below.
Login or register to submit a comment.
 
 
Atomic Magazine

Issue: 111 | April, 2010

Atomic is a magazine aimed squarely at computer enthusiasts, gamers, and serious PC upgraders.

Every month we bring you the latest reviews of new technology and PC components, in depth features on everything from overclocking to console hacking, and gaming previews and interviews.
 
Latest Comments
"Send your good taste to celebration by delivering our mouthwatering cakes to Dehradun and exotic ..."
by rony24 | Mar 20, 2010 4:56 PM
 
"So. Much. Awesome."
by The Manta | Mar 20, 2010 4:23 PM
 
"@sirtrancealot, BF started on the PC and BC1 only on Consoles was a kick to the PC gamers ..."
by NRUFrost | Mar 20, 2010 8:14 AM
 
"RAGE!!!"
by Hawkeye | Mar 20, 2010 1:24 AM
 
"alex - bugger all. 78mg of caffeine. About the same as a cup of instant coffee. Taurine, Gurana ..."
by tantryl | Mar 20, 2010 12:51 AM
 
1) Nokia E7147 plans 33%
2) Apple iPhone 3GS 32GB36 plans 33%
3) Apple iPhone 8GB43 plans 22%
4) HTC Magic5 plans 33%
5) Nokia N9740 plans 33%
1) iiNet32 plans 100%
2) Optus41 plans 14%
3) Vodafone7 plans 5%
4) Telstra BigPond30 plans 1%
5) Dodo34 plans 6%

Mobiles | Broadband | Credit Cards

Haymarket - Atomic MPC
Latest User Reviews
Logitech MX518 Gaming-Grade Optical Mouse
90%
Good shape, design and Ergonomics
 
Coolermaster HAF 922
100%
A case to make a statment and give your pc the Heavy Hardcore Grunt it needs.
 
Coolermaster Excalibur
50%
Atomic is under attack
 
XFX 9300 Motherboard
40%
HUGE letdown
 
CM Storm Sentinel gaming mouse
90%
Sexy and instant geek respect.