Taking first place overall, the MegaBook M510C had a bit of a mixed run to the final score tally, managing only fifth place in PCMark04 then unanimously taking out first place with a score nearly breaking 10,000 3DMarks, impressive for a notebook, let alone one under $2500.
It features a large uncramped keyboard in the usual notebook layout, no half size number keys or difficult to press backspace keys here. Perfect for anyone who operates a standard desktop keyboard and switches frequently between the two. The unit also has a large responsive touchpad and two clickable buttons for left and right mousing, while the wrist guard is large and you can rest without discomfort. The display is a large 15in TFT which is bright and easy to read. Running from batteries you can manually adjust brightness to conserve battery, while the machine will give you a real-time approximation of remaining battery time based on your current settings. The MegaBook features an ATI Mobility RADEON 9600 graphics adaptor with 64MB of dedicated video memory, more than enough to play back DVDs on the supplied combo drive or play games with very reasonable results.
Scoring well above average in each of our calculated scores, despite its less than impressive placing in PCMark04, it managed to sit 29 percent above our 100 score average, with slightly lower feature and value scores still above the median.
The M510C's Mobility RADON 9600, although only 64MB, managed to put both Digital Star's 128MB 9600 and Protac's identical memory 9700 to shame, making it ideal for occasional gaming with reasonable frame rates.
When it came to testing the battery capabilities, the unit maintained a full productivity workload for over four hours, edging much closer to five hours from full charge. Identical to the Viewmaster Portiva NVP05, only the Dell, Targa and ASUS units outperformed it and this was by half an hour at most. Not a huge variance. Not the smallest unit, it is still very portable for its size and weighs in just shy of 3kg. If you're after a budget notebook with plenty of grunt and battery life, definitely give this one a look in.