Shootout: 26 : Notebooks for Professionals

Aser Aspire 3810T



This notebook is part of the new Acer Timeline series that have been

designed to give battery backup of more than 8 hrs. In fact 3810T was able to

give a battery backup of almost 10 hrs which is high by any standard. Credit for

such a long battery backup time should be given to two major design changes in

this notebook: First is the LED backlit screen that adds to brightness and at

the same time reduces power consumption. This screen also gives a viewing angle

of almost 180 degrees. The second is that the processor, 3810T is powered with,

Intel's Core 2 Solo SU3500, is an ultra low voltage processor. This notebook

comes with an ultra thin shape with thickness of less than 1 inch and a weight

of 2 Kg, making it ideal for professionals on field. Other features that will

catch your eye in this notebook include sleek aluminum cover, tactile keyboard

and touchpad, with a keypress lock that can be handy while you are typing. This

notebook performs at par with the others in this category. In fact it turned out

to be the best performing laptop despite the fact that it has a Core 2 Solo

processor. And when we add up ponts for performance, price and features this one

came out to be the best. Only thing this device misses out on is the absence of

an optical drive. When compared to other notebooks this is the only one without

an optical drive. It is best for people who need performance of a notebook at

the price of a netbook.

Below Rs 40k

Asus F82Q



F82Q sports very plain but bulky look with a glossy finish lid. This, though

makes it look professional but at the same time attracts lot of dirt and

fingerprints. With a weight slightly



less than 3 Kg, limits its usage for people who are always on the move.

While working on it, the 14 inch HD screen was bright and watching a 1080p

movie was a pleasure. Keyboard rebounds in F82Q feels counterproductive making

the good key placement null.



The touchpad lags and the keys feel imprecise which makes the input devices seem
sub par. On the performance front, it works very well for office productivity

applications but is not suited for 3D applications or games, as there is no

inbuilt graphics card.

The most interesting thing is inclusion of SRS Altec Lansing speakers and

their placement in the front end of the laptop. Even when kept on a lap, the

sound never felt muffled. Other worth noticing features in this notebook include

1 HDMI port and 3 USB ports.

Overall, a good laptop with average battery backup that can not only perform

but also can make occasional movie watching or music listening a pleasure.

HP Pavilion DV2 1003ax



Besides its smart and compact looks, the other thing that makes this

notebook different from others is an AMD processor. DV2 1003ax comes with Athlon

Neo Processor MV-40 @ 1.60GHz.

Though pitched as an entertainment notebook, this one with its features,

price, and weight of around 2 Kg make it a good choice for official use.

Another added feature is good battery backup of around 3 hrs, thanks to the

screen size of 12.1 inches which is bakclit by LEDs unlike the traditional CCFL displays

which are still predominant in notebooks.

Keypad and touchpad of DV2 are quite a pleasure to work with and like Acer

Aspire 3901T, this one also comes with touchpad lock.

Other noticeable features of this notebook, other than its sleek design

include ATI MOBILITY RADEON HD 3410 graphics and an external optical drive.

Though feature rich, this one when pitched against all the Intel powered

notebooks fails to impress and its overall performance was the lowest in its

category. Overall, a good notebook for frequent travelers due to its lightweight

and slim form factor. We did miss having a built-in DVD writer though.

Lenovo ThinkPad SL500



The SL series of notebooks from Lenovo are meant for small businesses. The

one we received, SL500, comes packed with a lot of features, is low priced, but

comes in a bulky design. With a weight of around 3 Kg, this is not for frequent

travelers. To keep the price of this machine low, both RAM and HDD capacity have

been scaled down.

These are on the lower side when compared to all other notebooks we received

in this shootout. SL500, like other ThinkPads, comes with an Active Protection

System, and Rescue and Recover button. While the former helps protect the hard

drive with the help of rubber isolators and the rubber cage, it is a single

button recovery feature.

The Active Protection system uses accelerometer to monitor movement of the

system and stop the drive and help protect against damage in the event of fall

or jerks.

The key pad and touch pad were typical 'ThinkPad' and very comfortable to

work with. Moving to performance, this one disappointed us probably due to

lesser RAM.

This machine with a 15 inch display can be a good option for regular office

use and if you want better specs, go for SL300 or SL400, the other members from

the SL series.

MSI PR420



Another MSI laptop from the Professional (PR) series, the PR420 is a step up

from the PR201. Strangely, the build quality is still disappointing with the

sides generating a creaking sound when little pressure is applied.

The laptop includes the same ports as those in PR201 with the addition of an

eSATA port. This makes it easy for users to connect a SATA drive externally

without the need for an hard disk casing.

But strangely it has one USB port lesser than the other as well as has a low

1.3MP webcam. The screen size is a good 14 inches, but the keyboard layout seems

a little cramped.



We felt that the keyboard layout could have been slightly better with a num pad,
and programmable keys on the top instead of on the side as they currently are.

This laptop also came with the lowest HDD capacity of 120 GB. While the

laptop scored average on features, it was the second best performer, with the

best one being the winner, Acer



Aspire 3810T. It scored well in 3DMark and PCMark. Battery backup was average at
around three hours.

The battery life is average with some 15 inch laptops performing better than

it.

Sony Vaio VGN-NW13GH



As expected from Sony laptops, this one also comes with superior build

quality. VGN-NW13GH has an excellent matte finish with an earthy brown color

making it very appealing. The 15.5 inch screen is vibrant although a tad too

bright but it works well. The keyboard however suffers from having too much gap

between the keys which makes typing a bit tedious even with the key placement

being quite optimal. The touchpad has a good feel with tactile keys. Above the

keyboard, there are 3 quick keys for a web browser, toggling sound and display

which work without any delay but the Vaio could have benefited from more quick

keys . It has a respectable number of ports with FireWire (400) but an eSATA

port is noticeably missing. This performs very well in everyday work and

productivity but suffers in 3D applications because of the strange choice of a

Dual-Core processor and absent dedicated graphics probably done to keep price

low.

However, it has among the best viewing experiences out of all laptops.

Watching HD or listening to music on it was enjoyable thanks to the wide screen

and powerful speakers. The inclusion of Vista Basic is a big negative as most

laptops now-a-days come with a minimum of Vista Home Premium. Changing the

processor and adding a dedicated graphics card will surely elevate NW13GH to a

higher level along with a few changes to keyboard as well.

Zenith Admirale



This one looks strikingly similar to other Zenith notebooks we received in

this comparative review, but for Director you have to pay Rs 1500 more. This one

also comes with glossy finish attracting lot of finger expressions. This

notebook being most economical make it a perfect choice for professionals who

want notebook instead of netbook at low price.

While compared with Director, difference came out to be in screen size and

presence of graphics card. Admirale comes without any graphics card and comes

with a screen size of 14.1 inch. Though priced low, this one comes with all the

necessary features required by any kind of user.

This includes integrated webcam, comfortable keys, and all important I/O

ports. In fact, Admirale came with eSATA port which was missing in lot of other

notebooks. Moving from looks to performance, this one is not a high performing

device but when we add up price, performance, and features, this notebook is

comparable to other notebooks in its category.

All in all, this notebook could be a good deal when compared to netbooks on

performance front, but portability would be an issue.

Zenith Director Plus-C



Right out of the box, the Zenith Director is a fingerprint magnet having a

plastic glossy finish yet solid build quality, although the black color makes

fingerprints even more apparent. While screen is serviceable, the keyboard

placing leaves a lot to be desired and the touchpad feels resistive along with

the keys being very hard.

The Director has one of the strangest configurations available. While it

includes a very capable Geforce 9600GS, the rest of the machine is highly

underpowered with the processor being Dual-Core and having only 1GB RAM. There

is an impressive number of ports available including a port replicator as well

as an express slot located just above the card slot. Interestingly, it has the

highest graphic capability being second only to the MacBook 15 Pro and its

overall performance was also very good.

The power consumption during load was the highest owing to the powerful

graphics card.

On the other hand, its battery life was lowest out of all the laptops we

reviewed at 1hr 23 minutes.

It would have been great if, along with a good graphics card it had a good

processor and enough RAM.

40k to 50k : MSI EX460



Among the eight different series of notebooks, this MSI notebook falls under

entertainment series. Being built to support your entertainment needs, this one

comes with ATI RADEON HD4330 graphics, 14 inch HD screen, and integrated 1.3

megapixel camera. This one is the third MSI notebook in this category with price

exactly same as that of VR602. Though both VR602 and EX460 are priced exactly

the same, this one comes with 2 GB RAM and 320 GB HDD space, both the values are

double than VR602. Although pitched in entertainment series with compact looks,

this machine looks quite professional, both keypad and touchpad are comfortable

to work with. One feature that stands out in this notebook is screen lock that

was missing in most other notebooks. EX460 is winner in its category and scores

more than other three in performance and price thanks to high performing

graphics card and comparatively low price. One question that crossed our mind

while comparing VR602 with EX460 is that, though priced equally there is huge

performance difference plus EX460 is more compact making it better than VR602.

All in all, this machine can not only entertain you it can also handle your work

load without any difficulty though battery backup of around 2 hrs is a bit

disappointing.

MSI PR201



The PR series of laptops from MSI are mainstream business laptops and they

stick to the basics and do not concentrate on multimedia. The PR201 features a

glossy finish and both the sides contain most of the basic ports, though

FireWire and eSATA are not present. For security, a fingerprint scanner is

present. The 12 inch WXGA serves well for business purposes along with the

full-size keyboard. It does not have a num pad which is acceptable given its

size. There are 2 quick access buttons which can be configured along with a

third for wireless/bluetooth. The touchpad is placed in a good position

providing ample wrist space for typing. While it feels smooth and responsive,

the keys are a bit small and the fingerprint scanner was accidentally activated

while typing.

The 2MP webcam and the noise cancelling speakers are praise-worthy and give

good performance. As expected, it performed well in handling productivity

applications. However, it took a beating in the 3D tests which was expected

since this laptop is solely geared for the business category. The speakers are

not loud enough so external headphones are recommended. Being a pure business

laptop, it is winning primarily due to its great battery backup and its light

weight.

Acer Gateway ID58



The midnight blue colored ID58 has been designed with help from an Italian

car design firm which shows up remarkably well. This is backed by an equally

impressive build quality that made it shine distinctly in our shootout. The 16:9

display along with the curved speaker grill give it an aesthetically appealing

look which rivals that of MacBooks. It also has a slot loading DVD player but

with a better eject key. The keyboard felt like a desktop keyboard with a

separate numeric pad, making typing a lot more comfortable. The capacitive touch

keys on the keyboard are feather touch and very responsive while the touchpad

itself is quite responsive. You might occasionally need a mouse as the keys on

the touchpad seem a bit hard to press. It was the only laptop with a webcam

shutter. The ID58 performs very well in the PCMark doing basic productivity

tasks with ease. However, it gave an average performance in 3DMark because of

the weak GeForce G105M . Sound quality is very clear and loud enough and the

16:9 display makes it perfect for viewing movies. The backup software was fast

and accurate although there was little difference in battery backup with the

'Powersave' solution provided. The battery life was normal at 2 hours and 36

mins but the laptop was quite heavy at 3 Kg. Overall, an almost perfect laptop

for those who need a powerful laptop for light 3D applications.

MSI VR602



The value series from VR602 is designed for users who require basic

functionality. The matte finish gives it a no nonsense look which is refreshing

since most laptops nowadays are glossy. The screen is serviceable and MSI has

included a full-size keyboard. At the same time it feels strange with many keys

having odd sizes, although the keypad is comfortable to use. The touchpad is

smooth and the keys have the right feel.

One more feature of this notebook is screen lock which is missing from most

other notebooks we received. There are 4 USB ports available though there is no

HDMI port which could have been handy. The configuration is very baffling

especially since it has just 1GB RAM making it akin to netbooks plus hardware

used is quite outdated.

The old hardware ensured that it performed average in the 3D and productivity

tests. Battery life is again low when compared to other notebooks in this

category. It barely managed 1 ½ hours which is quite low.

The power consumption is again high which raises a few questions and prevents

us from recommending it to professionals looking for high performing and energy

efficient notebooks.

50k to 75k : Apple MacBook 13



This MacBook is the only one with a white polycarbonate finish, as well as

the only Apple laptop in the category. It uses magnets instead of a physical

latch to close the lid and this works quite well. The build quality of the

MacBook is fine, though it can not compare to the solid feel of the aluminum

MacBook Pros. Lifting the lid reveals a light gray keyboard with flat keys

having round edges and offers a much firmer typing experience. The touchpad

includes a single raised mouse button that works fairly well but in Windows OS

right clicking is a minor irritation. However, the multi-touch interface

compliments the overall experience. The sound of speakers is quite clear,

considering they are located on the edges. The CCFL display is bright but the

glossy screen might result in more glare in some environments. Noticeably, there

is a DVI/VGA output that requires an adapter sold separately, Firewire 400 and a

slot loading DVD burner, in addition to the usual ports and connections.

Overall, the MacBook offers decent value for money. In this category, it won due

to its great performance and a very competitive price. However, it did not come

with a 2 year warranty which is there with the MSI GX620. So, if the MacBook Pro

is out of your budget but you still want to get a 'MacBook' then the standard

white MacBook is your best bet.

HCL Leaptop Z39



When you first see this 'leaptop' , you get feelings of bulkiness and style

thanks to the designer lid. It comes with a black glossy finish which means a

lot of finger print impressions on lid and palm rest. The keyboard and touch pad

of this machine are quite comfortable, with right sized keys placed optimally.

Z39 is packed with all necessary ports including an eSATA. In its category, Z39

wins on both price and features but loses out on overall performance. The few

features that make this notebook unique are a 500 GB HDD space and a staggering

8 GB RAM which is double than that offered by other high end machines. An ironic

point about this notebook is that the Z39 shipped for our shootout comes with

Windows Vista Business 32-bit that can utilize only 4 GB RAM instead of 8 GB.

Other feature worth mentioning about this leaptop is HCL's EC2 (Embedded

Continuity and Control) technology that can recover your lost data in less than

60 seconds. Here, a component is embedded inside hardware that automatically

stores and replicates the image of a file system at regular intervals. Overall,

this machine is packed with features and is also competitively priced making it

a good choice for professionals.

You should either get a discount on this by asking for lesser RAM (4GB) or

you should ask for an OS upgrade to 64-bit when buying.

MSI GX620



The GX620 comes from the MSI Gaming series. Covered with a black aluminum

top cover and striking red sides, it immediately distinguishes itself from the

crowd. The laptop is on the heavier side and has above average build quality.

One of the few laptops to come with a matte screen, it works extremely well in

all environments. The most often used keys in games, the W,S,A and D keys have

been colored red, thus clearly highlighting them from others. The touchpad is

smooth and responsive with the keys having a natural feel. An interesting design

choice is the integration of 6 speakers surrounding a touch panel which includes

playback and mode switching while towards the right there are communication and

webcam hotkeys. The Eco button gives 5 modes for gaming, presentation, movie,

office and turbo battery (power saving). The Turbo button shall overclock the

processor but not the graphics card. The GX620 includes all ports including

eSATA and FireWire (mini). The laptop performed much better in 3D performance

rather than in productivity applications. However, it is still an all rounder

with the configuration and unique features setting it apart from other brands.

Battery life, being under 2 hours is decent given the heavy duty configuration.

Overall, the GX620 has well rounded features but loses out on ergonomics. This

machine can be considered if you are a gamer or a developer.

Above 90k : Apple MacBook Pro 15



The MacBook Pro 15 gets some minor component upgrades while retaining the

same aluminum chasis as before. Now that 13 and 15 inch models have the same

basic features and looks, including the integrated GeForce 9400 graphics, an SD

card slot and FireWire 800, the main points of differentiation are minor CPU

speed boosts, a bigger screen and the availability of a separate discrete GPU (GeForce

9600GT) that can be turned off if needed to improve battery life, being quite an

interesting addition. The graphic card switch can be done by selecting the high

performance or battery life option although the switch could have been more

seamless. The keyboard and trackpad is the same as the Pro 13 but the reflective

display makes us wish for the matte screen from the Pro 17. Apple has finally

included the SD card slot but at the cost of excluding the express card reader

now limited to the Pro 17. It has the maximum weight and the lowest battery life

among the MacBooks but battery life is comparable to other 15 inch laptops. The

solid configuration makes it the top performer in both 3D and PCMark so it is

great for basic as well as 3D intensive applications. The MacBook 15 is meant

for users wanting both style and performance but at a price at which there are

many more laptops available with the same or in some cases even better

configurations. However, the power and appeal of MacBook Pro can not be ignored.

Apple MacBook Pro 13



Apple has made a smart decision to produce the MacBook Pro by refining and

adding many required features in this 13 inch notebook category. The aluminum

finish feels good and when you first see this laptop, the LED will strike you in

your face with its brightness, with the black bezel serving to accentuate its

looks. The backlit keyboard is sure to please many and the trackpad featured

with this laptop is quite different from the 'vanilla' MacBook (other non-MacBook

Pro unit received for this shootout) as the entire surface is flat and the

bottom part produces satisfying clicks. The ports are the same as the vanilla

MacBook with the addition of an SD card reader and FireWire 800 which is sure to

please many. The MacBook Pro 13 shares the same GeForce 9400 integrated graphic

card solution as the vanilla MacBook making it a capable laptop for both work

and entertainment. It is adequate enough for users wanting to play games

occasionally at a lower resolution. It is significantly faster than the vanilla

MacBook although the price premium is debatable. The battery life is the best

amongst all MacBooks, topping 4 hours in BatteryMark as well as being the

lightest among them. One feature common to all Macs is the high power

consumption during idle, load and standby states, making them power guzzlers.

Overall, the Pro is at a very interesting position, giving users much needed

variety.

ASUS U6V Bamboo



The ASUS U6V Bamboo has the tag line 'Inspired by Nature, Designed for

Style.' The exterior bamboo finish gives an ethnic look as it has thin layer of

bamboo pasted on top. The feel is the same from inside as compared to other

laptops, the Bamboo touchpad being an exception. The keyboard works well and

placement is natural although these are not backlit as the MacBook Pro 13. While

the feel of the touchpad is nice, the keys are hard and uncomfortable requiring

considerable effort to press. The Bamboo has more than enough ports with the

addition of eSATA in a 12-inch form factor. Strangely enough the power

consumption is high considering that the hardware used (the GeForce 9300M) is

entry level. This makes the Bamboo adequate only for basic productivity

applications. The security applications work well and face recognition

accurately distinguishes faces but the biometric sensor requires a finger to be

pressed quite hard. Another useful feature for security is the TPM (Trusted

Platform Module) chip, which when combined with an encryption software such as

BitLocker, gives you high level of data security. But the OS shipped is Vista

Home Premium that doesn't support BitLocker (Bitlocker only works with Vista

Ultimate or Business edition). And as you can not use the benefits of TPM out of

the box, you have to acquire either a third party encryption tool which supports

TPM or have to upgrade your OS.

Below Rs 25k : Zenith Business Z-Book



With a designer glossy black lid Z-book has a distinguishing look. This

netbook comes with a price tag of Rs 16,500 which is the lowest among all the

netbooks we received. This low price is at par with lot of cell phones available

in market today. Despite being priced low, Z-book performs well thanks to the

typical INTEL ATOM CPU N270 @ 1.60GHZ processor. This combination of price and

performance plus expandability of RAM makes this netbook winner in its category.

Keys of this netbook are smaller in size which makes typing bit difficult but

touch pad is quite good to work with. As connectivity options, this netbook

comes with integrated 10/100 LAN and 802.11g wireless card which is a bit

disappointing though support for Bluetooth version 2.1 is a relief.

Other feature present in Z-book which is not typical is 10.2 inch screen

instead of 10.1 inch present in most of other netbooks. When plugged in this

netbook consumes least power but at the same time this Z-book showed

disappointing battery backup results limiting its usage while on move. If money

is the biggest constraint, then this economical netbook can be best choice

amongst, but one has to manage with very low battery backup.

Acer Aspire One D250



The new Aspire D250 improves over the D150 by cutting down on weight and

being thinner. The finish is glossy. The screen hinge combined with the glossy

10.1-inch screen surrounded by shiny black plastic makes the netbook look good

but a tad casual.This 10.1 inch screen is LED lit making display pleasure to

work with even in bright light.

The view is sharp while the text and icons are crisp. The keyboard is a bit

cramped even with some keys being full size. The touchpad might be tiny and

inset but the rocker button is very responsive.

The speakers are weak, so headphone is a must though it is true for most

netbooks. The usual array of ports is available but there is 802.11n and the

Webcam is only 0.3 MP. The Ethernet used in this netbook is not Gigabit which is

a bit disappointing.

HD or fullscreen media viewing however will be slow. The battery life was

second highest for normal usage but expect it to be lower during media playback.

The Aspire netbook features a good harmony of style and substance.

To know the most important feature of this netbook, you just have to flip it,

at the bottom one can see three expansion slots including one to expand RAM.

Asus Eee PC 1005HA



This Asus netbook comes in a seashell design and is a member of Eee PC

family. The unit we received in our shootout came with glossy black cover and

INTEL ATOM CPU N270 @ 1.60GHZ. Among the three netbooks of Eee PC series we

received, this one is the least expensive and performs at par with other. In

fact 1005HA scores highest features but misses out because of price and

performance in its category.

Moving towards feel and usage, 1005HA comes with nice keyboard with optimal

sized keys and effective multi gesture touch pad. For connectivity, this one is

packed with Gigabit Ethernet card along with 802.11n based wireless connectivity

standard, plus Bluetooth version 2.1 for local data transfer. At a weight of

just 1.35 Kg, this one is second to 1008HA when compared with the other netbooks.

Expandability of RAM is possible with model which is a great relief from box

like body of Intex. Battery backup of 1005HA was surprisingly low in our tests.

Other noticeable feature in this netbook is LED lit screen which looks bright

and is pleasure to work with.

All in all, if you are looking for good performing and economical Eee PC go

for this one but you have to compromise on battery backup.

Intex N101-WC1100



The newly launched netbook from Intex puts the wrong foot forward right from

the start. One can get these netbooks in two different lid colors black and

designer red, but for designer red the one we received one has to pay Rs. 500

extra.

Keeping design aside which is literally like a book, the poor build quality

is apparent as soon as the lid is opened with usage of low quality plastic. The

keyboard is not tactile.

The strange decision to leave empty space above the laptop makes the touchpad

experience suffer and placing the keys on the opposite sides instead of the

bottom restricts mouse movement.

The inclusion of 802.11b/g wireless and megabit Ethernet port makes the

connectivity of the netbook suffer.

Also, when idle the netbook continued to heat up which means keeping it on

lap for long time is not advisable. It handled browsing and word processing

decently but multitasking



further increased the temperature.

The alarming power consumption rivals laptops and the battery backup is not

good for a netbook. Other factors that add to already poorly built and

performing netbook is no expandability of



RAM and absence of operating system.

Above 25k : Asus Eee PC 1101HA



First thing that will catch your eye when you see this netbook is its

slightly bigger size. This Eee PC comes with a LED lit 11.6 inches screen which

makes better display of text and image, far better than the usual 10.1 inch

screen present in most of the netbooks. But this adds few grams to its weight.

The netbook that we received is a glossy black seashell design which seems to be

typical of all Eee PCs.

In its category, this Eee PC scored heavily on feature front making it a

winner over 1008HA. The netbook similar to other two netbooks from Asus comes

with multi gesture touch pad along with ergonomic keyboard making typing quite

comfortable. 1101HA is powered with INTEL ATOM CPU Z520 @ 1.33GHz and not N280,

like in most of the netbooks. Despite having 11.6 inch, this netbook was able to

give a battery backup of around 9 hrs which is the highest among all notebooks

we received making it a brilliant choice for professionals who are on the move.

1101HA comes with Gigabit Ethernet card, 802.11n compatible wireless card along

with Bluetooth version 2.1 for enhanced local data transfer rate. Although its

CPU performance was lowest, this netbook could be great chose given its screen

size, expandability options and battery backup.

ASUS Eee PC 1008HA



With a glossy white body this one stands out in its looks. Among all

netbooks we received for this comparative review, this one is of least weight at

1.25 Kg. Besides having good keypad and multi gesture touch pad, this notebook

stands out from others with lid covered ports giving it a neat look.

In fact two VGA port is shipped as dongle that is hidden beneath this netbook

which is a smart design choice. In its category, though this one scores higher

in performance than the other Eee PC, but misses out on features.

In our performance test, this one gave best results. Priced at around 27k,

this is the most expensive netbook we received.

Other noticeable feature in this notebook is its processor, 1008HA is powered

with INTEL ATOM CPU N280 @ 1.66GHZ instead of N270 as in most other netbooks.

For connectivity, this one comes with Gigabit Ethernet card, 802.11n

compatible wireless card and Bluetooth version 2.1.

One thing this netbook misses out is in expandability of RAM. Flipping around

this notebook did not show any RAM expansion slots.

With a battery backup of around 5 hrs, this netbook is sure to attract many,

by both performance and looks although priced quite high.

Special Tablets : Connoi CCTS NB60



Even thought of a tablet with a price tag of Rs 25k was difficult last year,

but now we have an Atom-based tablet with performance that is at par with

netbooks we received in this shootout. Connoi's CCTS NB60 is being promoted as a

Convertible Classmate PC and this name guides the juvenile looks of this device,

that might not go well with everyone. The unit we received looked more like a

portable DVD player with blue and white color and a carry handle. Classmate PC

is packed with touch-screen capability and using it was easy. However, the keys

are small in size when compared to other netbooks, making typing on it a bit

difficult. School kids might think otherwise given their tiny fingers! Other

features include a 180-degree rotating web cam, optimally placed speakers and

three indicators on cover indicating WiFi connectivity, battery life and On/Off

status. A point where Classmate PC has missed out is the HDD capacity, CCTS NB60

comes with 60 GB of disk drive which is clearly behind times. Another source of

discomfort is the screen size of 8.9 inches which is smaller than an average

screen size of 10 inches in other netbooks. When we checked the performance of

this unit it came out trumps and for the likely audience of school kids, it can

be considered optimal. At this price and performance, one can even use this

device as a netbook with touch-screen capability, making its usage even more

versatile.

Panasonic ToughBook CF-19



Previously meant for use in extreme conditions, Panasonic has expanded its

range to cover a wider market. The Toughbook CF-19 “fully ruggedized” model can

withstand the toughest vibrations, spills, drops, extreme temperature and other

rough handling. All the ports are protected behind hinged plastic doors.

The clamp is multipurpose and can clamp the screen in both tablet or notebook

mode. The handy nylon carrying strap strangely feels a bit light. The 10.4-inch

screen on the CF-19 may be small by current notebook standards but is typical

for rugged toughbooks. The screen supports XGA resolution which makes picture

look quite sharp but the text appears a bit small. The display works well in

sunlight although there is noticeable loss in quality when used in tablet mode.

The touchscreen worked well with both stylus and finger. However, the onscreen

keyboard was quite uncomfortable to use. Being a small notebook, the keyboard is

quite small although typing is manageable but touchpad was disappointing when

compared to conventional notebooks/netbooks with lag and hard buttons. It

includes all required ports and with addition of a port replicator, one can

satisfy all requirements of additional ports. Battery life is quite impressive

at 7:38 hours.

While it involves making some compromises, the Toughbook CF-19 is a sturdy

solution for workers who need both a touchscreen and endurance.

Next :

Choosing

the Best OS for a Netbook