Cracking open the NoteMagix C90 Ultra notebook

Velocity Micro

Velocity Micro has been around for a long time, at least in terms of online computer retailers. But this is the first product I have tried from this company.

Careful packing

The notebook is packed to reduce the possibility of damage, which is always a good idea.

Two pieces

One thing about a notebook you notice when you have to unpack things as often as I do -- there is not much to it.

Premium swag

Custom PC retailers like to pack goodies in with their products. Our C90 Ultra came with a T-shirt and a plastic folder with our documentation.

Shiny cover

Retailers are big on glossy black these days. The glossy always looks great out of the box, but it doesn't take long for the fingerprints to accumulate.

Documentation

The documentation that came with our notebook is rather sparse. But there were some important instructions to follow if our notebook arrived damaged. Lucky for us, there was not a problem there.

The lid

The lid on the C90 Ultra has no clasps. The top just opens without any buttons to push. I often complain about how difficult it can be to open a notebook in tight spaces when there is a clasp -- never realized someone was listening.

LCD

Notebook computers, especially ones designed with gaming in mind, have excellent LCD screens. The C90 Ultra is no exception.

Turbo Engine

The C90 Ultra from Velocity Micro has a large appendage on the back labeled Turbo Engine. When we crack the notebook open you'll see what is inside.

USB Ports

The C90 Ultra has ports and connections galore. There are two USB connections located on the back.

Plugs and plugs

The left hand side of this notebook has a plethora of connections.

A closer look

Taking a closer look at this left side you can see ports and connections for:

• Modem
• Ethernet
• VGA
• S-Video
• HDMI
• E-SATA
• Microphone
• Headphone
• Firewire
• PCMCIA 8-in-1 reader
• MCX Connector
• USB port

Bluetooth

Bluetooth and WiFi are built-in.

Asus

The Velocity Micro C90 Ultra is basically a re-branded Asus C90S, with a few enhancements and some extended support.

Booting

The C90 Ultra ships with Windows Vista.

Success

The notebook looks great. Although the screen is only 15 inches, the resolution is 1680 X 1050. The LCD is crisp and the colors are rich and bright -- definitely a winner in that department.

You also might notice that the C90 Ultra includes a built-in fingerprint reader for additional security.

Easy access

The Asus C90S is known for its easy upgrades, so it comes as no surprise that opening the notebook up to get access to the goodness inside is relatively simple.

To get to inside, just remove the battery and four screws. The back cover slides right off.

Battery

The battery is relatively small and the most you will get out of it is two hours with all of the power conservation settings on. Under high performance conditions, the battery life is less than an hour.

Inside at last

The general layout of the C90 Ultra screams efficiency and heat disposition.

Corsair RAM

Our test unit contained 2GB of Corsair RAM. I believe 2GB should be the standard amount of RAM for any PC running Windows Vista.

RAM up close

Corsair makes some of the best RAM around -- Velocity Micro made a good choice here.

GPU

Underneath this extensive heatsink system is a graphics processor. This unit is equipped with an NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 512MB of video memory.

CPU

The CPU, also housed under an extensive heat exchange system, is an Intel Core 2 Duo 6700 running at 2.66MHz.

It's hot in there

Both the GPU and CPU generate plenty of heat which is drawn off by the copper to the radiator fins.

Radiator

The fins draw away the heat and dissipate it outside the case.

Fans

The dissipation of heat is accelerated as necessary by this bank of four fans. Remember the Turbo Engine from before -- well this is what that appendage contained.

These fans kick in as needed, so when you push the notebook hard the noise can be a little distracting.

Hard drive

Our test unit C90 Ultra came with 200GB hard drive spinning at 7200 rpm. The drive is very quiet -- only the Turbo Engine fans can be heard when running at full capacity.

Heat exchange

As you can imagine, when the fans are all cranking, the heat pulled out of the notebook is quite noticeable. However, in a stroke of design genius, the C90 Ultra's Turbo Engine throws most of the heat out the back and away from your lap. I was able to set this notebook on my lap and use it comfortably even though the fans were all on.

C90 Ultra

According to the manual for the Asus C90S, you can easily upgrade the RAM, CPU and GPU. Of course, our test unit arrived pretty much maxed out already.

The Velocity Micro C90 Ultra is a fine notebook computer for not only gaming but for almost any other PC activity. It is an excellent choice for a general purpose PC notebook. Velocity Micro is selling the basic version for $1495, but you can get one similar to our test unit for a little over $1700. That's a lot of bang for the buck.