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HTC Shift - A Paradigm Shift

By Seow Tein Hee - 18 Apr 2008

Performance Benchmarks

Performance Benchmarks

In terms of specifications, the Shift is powered by an Intel A110 800MHz processor, whilst its graphics is supported by Intel's GMA 950. While we do understand the need for HTC to include Windows Vista Business on the Shift to keep it competitive with current technology, the inclusion of the resource heavy operating system tends to negatively affect its performance. To confirm for ourselves, we took the Shift on a little benchmark test with PCMark05 and did a quick comparison between the HP 2133 Mini-Note and the Shift.

UMPC Comparison Table
Specifications/Notebook HTC Shift HP 2133 Mini-Note PC
Processor
  • Intel A110 (aka Stealey) 
    • 800MHz, 2MB L2 cache
  • Qualcomm MSM7500  for SnapVUE (Windows Mobile
    • 400MHz
VIA C7-M ULV Processor (1.60GHz) with 128KB L2 cache
Chipset Intel 945/GU Express VIA CN896 Northbridge and VT8237S Southbridge
Memory 1 x 1GB DDR2 2 x 1GB DDR2
Video Intel GMA 950 VIA Chrome 9 Graphics

Surprisingly, the Shift outperformed the Mini-Note on the CPU index. This could be a one-off oddity, as the Shift does support two main processors, the Intel A110 800MHz processor and a secondary Qualcomm MSM7500 400MHz for the SnapVUE interface. The Mini-Note however had a higher score due to its 7200RPM hard drive. Overall, the Mini-Note emerged with a slight advantage over the Shift, which can be attributed to the Mini-Note's larger memory cache and superior hard drive.

Taking a notch further, we did a graphics benchmark test with 3DMark06, pitting the Mini-Note versus the Shift and were surprised by the results. The Shift narrowly beat the Mini-Note here, and as a follow-up to this, we decided to employ a similar, unofficial test done on the Mini-Note - running World of Warcraft on the Shift. The results definitely matched our 3DMark06 test, with frame rates in World of Warcraft being slightly better for the Shift compared to the Mini-Note at similar game locations and conditions. Intel is obviously winning the battle of the integrated graphics here.

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