Reviewed : 7 Atom-based Computers

Saturday, November 01, 2008

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Acer Aspire One
With an 8.9” display and a weight of only 1Kg, the Aspire one was for sure the smallest and lightest of the lot we received. However, if you ask us about its usability, we shall say: it leaves alot to be desired.

In pure mathematical terms, the Aspire One has a display that is only an inch smaller than others but practically it's a hundred times more difficult to use. A reduced inch in screen size makes it extremely hard for one to read the screen. Moreover, it also takes off an inch from your keyboard and mouse pad space. But as if this was not enough, adding to ones nightmare, the mouse pad buttons have been placed in a unique way that dampens the user experience.

Quick Specs Specs: Intel Atom N270 @ 1.60GHz, 1GB RAM, 120GB HDD, 1.06 Kgs, webcam, 8.1” display. Price: Rs 21,999 (1year warranty) Contact: Acer India, Bangalore, Tel: 25219520 Email: Rajesh_Aiyar@acer.co.in

Though not the best choice when it comes to usability, the Aspire One did manage to perform decently. Thanks to the smaller display the battery lasted for 2 hours and 35 minutes after a full charge which is the second highest amongst all devices tested.

Overall, the Aspire One is extremely portable but lacks Bluetooth connectivity and is not very easy to use.

Asus EeePC 1000H
Our winner of this shootout, the Asus EeePC is a perfect blend of performance and features. When we specifically talk of performance, we primarily differentiate all devices on the basis of their battery life, as all of them are running on the same platform. A bigger battery (6 cells) acts as the key catalyst in letting the EeePC secure the pole position. After full charge, it managed to last for 4 hours! Better than a majority of mainstream laptops!

Quick Specs Specs: Intel Atom N270 @ 1.60GHz, 1GB RAM, 160GB, Webcam, Bluetooth, 1.35Kgs, 10” display. Price: Rs 26,490 (1 year warranty) Contact: ASUS Technology, Mumbai Tel: 67668800 Email: media_india@asus.com Website: www.asus.in

We can safely say that for netbooks, ease of use is extremely important. With intelligently spaced keys and a big enough touchpad on the EeePC, don't be surprised if you completely forget that you're NOT working on a conventional laptop. There are also four one-touch keys on top of the keypad, out of which two have pre-assigned functions (screen on-off and resolution options) while the other two are for the user to customize.

Another feature that could have been incorporated to make it look better would have been a matte' finish, as the glossy body makes it a fingerprint magnet. Overall, the netbook is recommended for people travelling a lot as it has excellent battery backup and is pretty comfy to use.

LG X110
The second position on the podium was shared by Lenovo S10 and the X110 from LG. Apart from their positions, in the final result sheet, what these two also shared were a few similarities; like a neat design, good usability and a battery life that is slightly more than 2 hours. To be precise, 2 hours 3 minutes for this one.

Quick Specs Specs: Intel Atom N270 @1.60GHZ, 160GB, 1GB RAM, webcam, Bluetooth, 1.2 Kg, 10” display Price: Yet to be launched (Rs 27,000 expected) Contact: LG Electronics, Greater Noida Tel: 2560900 Email: salvi@lgindia.com Website: www.lgindia.com

We shall define the appearance of this LG netbook as Stunning! The matte' finish grey interior and clear white keys, laid intelligently with adequate spacing and enough space to rest your palm, definitely add on to the beautiful design. In fact, the keys on this one are so big that we couldn't resist comparing them with that of the regular keyboard of a desktop. As expected, they are almost as big as those on the regular ones, making typing for longer durations extremely convenient on the X110.

The build quality of this netbook is extremely good and like others it is also feather light, weighing only 1.2 Kgs. Available in different colors, the X110 has a 160 GB HDD for storing invaluable data and has all the basic stuff such as three USB 2.0 ports for plugging more devices, a webcam and a card reader.

Lenovo S10
While deciding the winner of this shootout, there was a tie between the LG X110 and the S10 and it's no rocket science to point out why. The primary reason was more than obvious when we juxtaposed the two.

The way both of them have been designed, speaks volumes of the artistry involved. A design that is high on ergo is a must have for these products. The fact that apart from their computational prowess, they also make a strong lifestyle statement is what sets them apart from others. They are just so breathtakingly beautiful!

Coming back to the S10, the sleek design performed reasonably in the performance and life test benchmarks, as it managed to stay alive for 2 hours and 14 minutes. The device is also quite easy to use with intelligently placed keys with sufficient spacing.

Like what a netbook is supposed to be, the S10 is quite light, compact and competitively priced. Surprisingly, it is the cheapest 10” netbook and the second cheapest of them all keeping in mind that Lenovo products are usually at the higher side the price list. The S10 has two USB ports as compared to three on others.

Overall, the S10 is a perfect match of style and substance.

MSI Wind
This much awaited shootout created a lot of buzz in our office as people from other departments were regularly visiting our Lab to see these new set of computers based on Intel's latest offering in action. After scrutinizing MSI Wind, what bothered us the most was, even though it is priced similar to the Lenovo S10 and the Asus EeePC, the Wind neither has an outstanding battery backup nor is it high on features. Here we discuss it in detail.

Quick Specs Specs: Intel Atom N270 @ 1.60GHz, 80GB HDD, 1GB RAM, webcam, card reader, Bluetooth, 1.15Kg, 10” display. Price: Rs 25,000 (1 year warranty) Contact: MSI, Delhi Tel: 41758808 Email: marketing@msi-in.com Website: www.msi-india.com

Like all other systems, this one is also powered by the same processing platform, the Intel Atom N270 @ 1.60 GHz with 1GB RAM. When we checked for its battery backup, it lasted about 2 hrs and 22 minutes, which is not extraordinary. It has the standard set of features including: the usual number of USB ports, Bluetooth, a card reader and a webcam. In fact a major negative with this device is its 80 GB HDD as compared to 160 GB HDDs on the other three and is not as attractive looking either. Therefore, we feel that the Wind is a bit overpriced.

As for its ergo, the keys are of standard size and are pretty comfortable to use but it can take a while to get used to the tiny touchpad. Overall, it performs decently but lacks HDD capacity.

Asus EeeBox
How many times have you pointed to a device and asked others to tell you what it is and what it does? This is what happened to us when we took the Eeebox out of its packing and stared at its CPU box.

Quick Specs Specs: Intel Atom N270 @ 1.60GHz, 1GB RAM, 80GB, 1.28Kgs, 4 USB 2.0, DVI, S/PDIF out, Wi-Fi. Price: Rs 16,490 (2 year warranty) Contact: ASUS Technology, Mumbai. Tel: 67668800 Email: media_india@asus.com Website: www.asus.in

Well the device weighs only 1.28 Kgs, is approx an inch wide and when put on its stand, stands only 8.5” tall. Frankly speaking, it doesn't look like a conventional CPU. The closest one could guess about its identity was that of it being a Wi-Fi router.

The small size is a result of it running on a DC supply (a laptop like adaptor) and the absence of an optical drive slot. The device comes equipped with Wi-Fi and an additional S/PDIF out jack for analog or digital audio transfer.

The device has a sleek design coupled with features like a card reader, DVI out, Wi-Fi and digital audio out, but misses out on a DVD drive. Its performance was similar to that of other nettops and the power consumed turned out to be the average of that consumed by other nettops and netbooks, at only 14 watts.

Overall, a very slick and portable design but sadly, you'll have to do without a built in optical drive.

MSI Atom Desktop
Unlike the sleeker Asus EeeBox, the Atom powered desktop from MSI is a bit bigger and heavier and looks like a VCR from the previous century. Weighing around 3.6 Kg, we doubt if like the EeeBox, the best way to carry it is in a backpack!

Quick Specs Specs: Intel Atom N270 @ 1.60GHz, 1GB RAM, 160GB HDD, 6 USB 2.0 ports, DVD drive, Price: Rs 15000 (1 year warranty) Contact: MSI, Delhi Tel: 41758808 Email: marketing@msi-in.com Website: www.msi-india.com

However, a big size also has its own share of advantages. In this case, a bigger cooling system that keeps heating related performance issues at bay and an onboard DVD drive. Other reasons why size doesn't play against this product are: most importantly in desktop computing size doesn't matter much and secondly, it is still less than half the size of your regular PC.

As for a nettop, battery life is out of picture, so we ran the benchmark to check the performance. It scored the highest points in this and thanks to the new processor design, was quite low on power consumption as well, which was on an average 23 watts. Another interesting feature is that the nettop is powered by a DC adaptor.

Also, along with a DVD drive and a bigger HDD, it also has a card reader and six USB 2.0 ports as compared to 4 on the Asus. However, it misses on Wi-Fi and DVI out.

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