[dave1701]

I have heard it mentioned many times on this forum that the playbook has really good hardware. What about the hardware is great? The cpu? The ram?

[guerllamo7]

The Playbook as 1Ghz of RAM, it has 1080p HD cameras (both, not just main), it has dual front facing speakers that are awesome.
To me the sum of the parts is also important, though that is not really hardware. The Playbook is a multi-tasking power house.
In terms of durability and feel, which I think are part of hardware, the Playbook is well built and you can feel it right away. I've had mine since day one and it is still as beautiful and solid as it was then. It does not overheat, it does not have a cheap metalic feel, it does not feel like cheap plastic, or like some component is going to fall off.
You have one. How does it feel to you?
I would say Playbook buyers got a good value. This PB launched around the iPad2 and the specs are far better. The iPad3 is much closer to it in specs, some better some not as good but all in all both tablets are nice. A big difference is the price.
I would guess that some android that has been released in the last few weeks (they seem to come out every other week) may have better specs.
The advantages for the PB are the way it works with BB phones and the price. At 199.00 you can't go wrong.

[Fmar]

Correcting the previous post a bit.

1gig RAM
1Ghz dual-core ARM produced processor

Personally it counts for nothing when there is nothing to perform on the PB IMHO.

[Marty_LK]

Lets not forget the Wolfson audio chip, which makes the Playbook a high-end MP3/PMP.

[DAnklaud]

1 Ghz dual core SOC arm9 OMAP 4430 with Elpida B8064B2PB-8D-F 1GB of DDR2 600Mhz on top of cpu ( have to be pryed apart to see ) ,1024�600 WSVGA, 7-inch display and 3D graphics acceleration, Dual HD Cameras (3MP and 5MP in the front and back, respectively), SanDisk SDIN5C2-16/32/64G 16/32/64 GB NAND Flash, Texas Instruments WL1283 GPS/WLAN/Bluetooth/FM , TriQuint Semiconductor TQP6M9002 802.11a/b/g/n + BT front-end module,Wolfson WM8994E audio codec, Bosch Sensortec BMA150 Digital 3-axis accelerometer, Invensense MPU-3050 3 axis gyroscope, 20 watt-hour battery, which is a bit smaller than the iPad 2's 25 watt-hour and the Xoom's 24 watt-hour battery. Even though the battery in the PlayBook has a smaller capacity, the battery life is comparable to the iPad 2 and Xoom

I'm A Big techno junki, love electronics... just love'em
"What about the hardware is great? The cpu? The ram?"=== it stomps the competition(what the OS software lacks keeps this from being recognized )

[kennyliu]

The TI OMAP is probably one of the best SoCs in its generation.

But what makes the PB great IMO is the screen brightness, contrast (clarity). Of course, 1280x800 would be sweet.

The speakers are also great and the two HD cameras (although the FFC is absolutely useless for most people).

It also has a huge battery(s), which with further power optimization should give us a much longer battery life.

[Marty_LK]

1 Ghz dual core SOC arm9 OMAP 4430 with Elpida B8064B2PB-8D-F 1GB of DDR2 600Mhz on top of cpu ( have to be pryed apart to see ) ,1024�600 WSVGA, 7-inch display and 3D graphics acceleration, Dual HD Cameras (3MP and 5MP in the front and back, respectively), SanDisk SDIN5C2-16/32/64G 16/32/64 GB NAND Flash, Texas Instruments WL1283 GPS/WLAN/Bluetooth/FM , TriQuint Semiconductor TQP6M9002 802.11a/b/g/n + BT front-end module,Wolfson WM8994E audio codec, Bosch Sensortec BMA150 Digital 3-axis accelerometer, Invensense MPU-3050 3 axis gyroscope, 20 watt-hour battery, which is a bit smaller than the iPad 2's 25 watt-hour and the Xoom's 24 watt-hour battery. Even though the battery in the PlayBook has a smaller capacity, the battery life is comparable to the iPad 2 and Xoom

I'm A Big techno junki, love electronics... just love'em
"What about the hardware is great? The cpu? The ram?"=== it stomps the competition(what the OS software lacks keeps this from being recognized )

And a person can have all that over-the-top tech for under $300! Try getting that in a high-end MP3/PMP. You'd pay 3 times as much...even though there isn't an MP3/PMP with all that goodness. But even the ones that exist have nowhere near all that goodness and are twice the cost.

[dave1701]

I agree the speakers are great. I was surprised to see that the Ipad only has 512mb of RAM. I mean, Windows XP would probably run great looking at those specs.

Tell me more about this sound card. Are you saying the playbook has a nicer sound card than my PC and my zune?

[kennyliu]

I agree the speakers are great. I was surprised to see that the Ipad only has 512mb of RAM. I mean, Windows XP would probably run great looking at those specs.

You really can't compare hardware using RAM as a reference. Platforms have different RAM usage. 512mb may be more than enough for a platform, whereas 1gb may not for the other.

[Marty_LK]

I agree the speakers are great. I was surprised to see that the Ipad only has 512mb of RAM. I mean, Windows XP would probably run great looking at those specs.

Tell me more about this sound card. Are you saying the playbook has a nicer sound card than my PC and my zune?

Here are a couple links that might help you familiarize yourself with Wolfson:

Wolfson Microelectronics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Wolfson releases an audio system-on-chip for high-end smartphones - The Inquirer

[Vindicators]

Lets not forget the Wolfson audio chip, which makes the Playbook a high-end MP3/PMP.

Wolfson are normal in mp3 world, even iPod touch gen 1 used it. And Samsung Galaxy Tab line using the exactly Wolfson WM8994E like the Playbook.

High-end MP3? Start with Hifiman MP3 or at least combo iPod/iPhone > LOD > DAC/AMP.

[dave1701]

Is the processor comparable to that of the Ipad 2? I know they are the same frequency but do they perform similarly? Catches?

[kennyliu]

Is the processor comparable to that of the Ipad 2? I know they are the same frequency but do they perform similarly? Catches?

They are COMPARABLE, but A5 has a better GPU and somewhat better benchmarks if I remember right. Looking at other SoCs in the same gen, Exynos is also a leader in performance.

[oilgeo10]

1 Ghz dual core SOC arm9 OMAP 4430 with Elpida B8064B2PB-8D-F 1GB of DDR2 600Mhz on top of cpu ( have to be pryed apart to see ) ,1024�600 WSVGA, 7-inch display and 3D graphics acceleration, Dual HD Cameras (3MP and 5MP in the front and back, respectively), SanDisk SDIN5C2-16/32/64G 16/32/64 GB NAND Flash, Texas Instruments WL1283 GPS/WLAN/Bluetooth/FM , TriQuint Semiconductor TQP6M9002 802.11a/b/g/n + BT front-end module,Wolfson WM8994E audio codec, Bosch Sensortec BMA150 Digital 3-axis accelerometer, Invensense MPU-3050 3 axis gyroscope, 20 watt-hour battery, which is a bit smaller than the iPad 2's 25 watt-hour and the Xoom's 24 watt-hour battery. Even though the battery in the PlayBook has a smaller capacity, the battery life is comparable to the iPad 2 and Xoom

I'm A Big techno junki, love electronics... just love'em
"What about the hardware is great? The cpu? The ram?"=== it stomps the competition(what the OS software lacks keeps this from being recognized )

I've opened one up, and not being a pc expert, was surprised to see a seemingly small circuit board (to me) with all those components mentioned above on it somewhere. With all that we see on the outside, of the UI being so good, swipe gestures and HD video, that it is all done and managed by a such a board is impressive.

BTW, would you know the specific name part for the micro usb port? I need to replace it on the PB that I have opened up.

[Marty_LK]

Wolfson are normal in mp3 world, even iPod touch gen 1 used it. And Samsung Galaxy Tab line using the exactly Wolfson WM8994E like the Playbook.

High-end MP3? Start with Hifiman MP3 or at least combo iPod/iPhone > LOD > DAC/AMP.

Just doing my part to help people realize the Playbook is a superb system. To get anything as good as a Playbook, one would need spend much more than the cost of the Playbook. The audio quality is real and determinable when anyone plugs in a set of high-end IEMs. I have all the IEMs I listed and can confirm the sound quality.

[JamesDax3]

I have heard it mentioned many times on this forum that the playbook has really good hardware. What about the hardware is great? The cpu? The ram?

The Playbook HAD great hardware when it was released last year. It's still good hardware today, but hardly great. As for the overall build of the device it really is very nice indeed. It's cameras, however, could probably still be called great even by todays standards.

[Vindicators]

Is the processor comparable to that of the Ipad 2? I know they are the same frequency but do they perform similarly? Catches?

The CPU are the same cortex A9 dual-core 1Ghz, but PowerVR SGX543MP2 has about 4x performance of SGX540 in TI Omap 4430.

So overall, you can say that the A5 SoC destroy every other SoC in its generation.

A quad-core A9 CPU SoC like the Terga 3 has better CPU performance but GPU still weaker compared to A5 GPU and it also just has 32-bits memory interface compared to 64-bits of other A9 SoC (128-bits in case of the new A5X)

[Zildjian71]

IMHO I love tech specs but the overall experience is everything...I'm listening to a wma lossless rip of Blood Sweat and Tears while writing this doing CB, email and downloading Frisbees Forever all at the same time. And as far as the OS lacking...this UI is only the second generation user interface on top of a world class bullet proof OS.

[kennyliu]

The Playbook HAD great hardware when it was released last year. It's still good hardware today, but hardly great. As for the overall build of the device it really is very nice indeed. It's cameras, however, could probably still be called great even by todays standards.

I would argue about the cameras. They are nothing more than an EDOF camera with basic lens system, focal length, no AF, bad low light sensitivity.

[DAnklaud]

The one thing all have forgotten here is nearly all system use single channel Ram , while the OMAP 4430 uses dual 64 bit channels -was a deciding factor for me- this and some other stuff makes the PB a worthy opponent still to this day (not THE best , but very worthy)

[Vindicators]

Just doing my part to help people realize the Playbook is a superb system. To get anything as good as a Playbook, one would need spend much more than the cost of the Playbook. The audio quality is real and determinable when anyone plugs in a set of high-end IEMs. I have all the IEMs I listed and can confirm the sound quality.

Like I said, that Wolfson chipset is pretty normal, not only in MP3 player market, but even in tablet market, a ton of other tablets used Wolfson DAC.

And what is the point of compared a huge 7" tablet to a tiny MP3 player? I bought a Cowon D2 few years ago with wolfson dac, SD slot, tiny profile, very long battery life, .... just for 150$ (my combo at that time is Cowon D2 > Pico > Westone 3).

The one thing all have forgotten here is nearly all system use single channel Ram , while the OMAP 4430 uses dual 64 bit channels -was a deciding factor for me- this and some other stuff makes the PB a worthy opponent still to this day (not THE best , but very worthy)

In all of other A9 CPU SoC, only Tegra line uses 32bit single channel.

[Marty_LK]

Like I said, that Wolfson chipset is pretty normal, not only in MP3 player market, but even in tablet market, a ton of other tablets used Wolfson DAC.

And what is the point of compared a huge 7" tablet to a tiny MP3 player? I bought a Cowon D2 few years ago with wolfson dac, SD slot, tiny profile, very long battery life, .... just for 150$ (my combo at that time is Cowon D2 > Pico > Westone 3).

Sorry if you don't understand the difference between the D2, which I also have (with D2+ firmware), and the Playbook. Consider the choices:

D2 with tiny screen and horrible UI, but superb SQ for $150 to $200

Playbook with nice screen and over-the-top hardware with outstanding UI and superb SQ for $200

Who would choose the former when they could have the latter?

[smartie88]

I think the only thing matters is overall customer experience.

[Vindicators]

I still don't get it.
If I want to buy a decent MP3 player, why would I choose a 7" tablet instead of a much smaller dedicated player with a SD card slot.

Now, if I want to buy a tablet, then like I said before, nothing super or high-end about that Wolfson DAC, it is used in a wide-range of tablet devices. In fact, if you are considered to go "high-end" audio with a tablet (lol) then you shouldn't care about internal DAC.

[Marty_LK]

I still don't get it.
If I want to buy a decent MP3 player, why would I choose a 7" tablet instead of a much smaller dedicated player with a SD card slot.

Now, if I want to buy a tablet, then like I said before, nothing super or high-end about that Wolfson DAC, it is used in a wide-range of tablet devices. In fact, if you are considered to go "high-end" audio with a tablet (lol) then you shouldn't care about internal DAC.

For you, maybe you wouldn't. choose the Playbook over a small MP3 player. And the Wolfson chip isn't used in the majority of tablets. In fact, I know of only the earlier Galaxy Tabs that used it. The iPad doesn't use it and any MP3 player that has been reviewed with superb SQ have used the Wolfson chip. You will be hard pressed to find a decent sounding MP3 that doesn't use the Wolfson chip. And the *majority* of MP3 players on the market don't use the Wolfson chip. The ones that do have superior SQ.

I don't intend to get into an argument with you over this...I hate them...can't type fast enough to keep up with my thoughts and therefor can't properly express my meanings through type...so I will leave this post as the last I respond to in this thread.