BenQ Joybook 8100

SPECIFICATIONS:
1.5GHz Pentium M; 512MB PC2700 RAM; 60GB hard disk; QSI SDW-041 DVD writer; 64MB ATi Mobility Radeon 9600 graphics; 15.4in 1,280 x 800 TFT; V.90 modem; 10/100 Ethernet; 802.11b WLAN; 4 x USB 2; 2 x four-pin FireWire; VGA; parallel; S-Video out; Optical S/PDFIF out; Type II PC Card slot; Windows XP Professional; 1yr C&R plus 1yr RTB warranty. Dimensions: 354 x 260 x 34mm (WDH). Weight: 3kg. Part number: 98.K1801.UO3.



BenQ is keen to emphasise the idea of entertainment with its notebook series, as the name Joybook implies. Not content with a widescreen TFT to showcase DVD movies, it also includes an infrared remote control for controlling playback and the QMedia Center - BenQ's alternative to Microsoft's Media Center.

The infrared remote lets you switch between the various modes - such as Movies, Pictures and Music - while sitting away from the notebook, and it even stores away snugly into the single Type II PC Card slot.

The Joybook is speedy when it comes to games, thanks to ATi's Mobility Radeon 9600 graphics, which pushed it to 9,361 in 3DMark2001 SE. It's quick for general use too, with a 1.5GHz Pentium M and 512MB of RAM inside. Its overall score of 1.57 in our 2D benchmarks is a fair reflection of its ability.

We like the TFT as well, with impressive viewing angles and a good enough response time to cope with games and movies. It's also brightly lit. The main area on which the screen could be criticised is the 1,280 x 800 resolution,

which isn't quite enough to view two windows side by side.

If the main use of your notebook is word processing, you probably won't fall in love with the Joybook's keyboard. It may be solid, but the keys don't have a very convincing feel when pressed down, while the Enter key is only single height. Still, all the other buttons are easy to hit, and the touchpad sensibly mimics the widescreen aspect of the screen.

BenQ hasn't made portability a priority: the 3kg weight and 34mm height make life on the road that much more unwieldy. Battery life is reasonable, though, lasting three hours, 53 minutes under light use. This gives a certain amount of leeway when it comes to using wireless on the move, and as with all Centrino notebooks 802.11b is integrated.

Other wireless technology comes in the form of infrared rather than Bluetooth, but we can't really fault the Joybook when it comes to expansion: there's a grand total of four USB 2 ports located at its rear, along with a parallel port, S-Video out, VGA out, modem and 10/100 Ethernet, plus an Optical S/PDIF output. BenQ rounds things off with two four-pin FireWire ports and a single Type II PC Card slot.

We were pleased to see a DVD writer here too. It's capable of writing DVD+R and DVD+RW discs at 4x: expect to wait around three minutes to burn 1GB of data. A 60GB hard disk means that you shouldn't run out of space in a hurry.

The trouble for BenQ is that this Joybook doesn't offer any outstanding features that are worth the asking price - especially when Dell is offering the 510m for £898 (exc VAT) once you take delivery into consideration.



By Tim Danton
www.pcpro.co.uk