NEC's Long-Lasting Laptop

The new Versa UltraLite notebook from NEC weighs a scant 3 pounds, has a crisp, easy-to-read screen, and claims to provide up to 5 hours of battery life on a single charge. The notebook also comes equipped with a 20GB hard drive, 128MB of RAM, and Windows 2000. So, you're thinking, what's the catch?

There are a few gotchas. If long battery life is what you prize the most, however, our examination showed that this $2499 notebook's performance is good, though not quite as good as the up-to-5-hour figure claimed. In our tests, the notebook's battery lasted 3 hours, 9 minutes when the system was set at full performance and 4 hours, 7 minutes with automatic power saving enabled.

And don't be put off by the notebook's seemingly piddling PC WorldBench 2000 score of 85. The UltraLite uses a Transmeta Crusoe 600-MHz TM5600 CPU (as well as lithium ion and lithium polymer batteries) to achieve its longer battery life. Unlike PCs using Pentium III chips with SpeedStep technology--which lowers CPU performance to a single preset speed, such as from 750 MHz to 550 MHz--the Crusoe dynamically adjusts processor speed according to the function the PC is currently performing.

The result of this power-saving maneuver is slower performance--significantly lower numbers when compared with the PC WorldBench 2000 scores (140 to 160) commanded by Pentium-based competitors that we have tested.

One thing I did find off-putting about the shipping unit I tested was its keyboard: It had little give and was poorly laid out. The Backspace key was located directly above the Enter key, and the Ctrl key was tiny, whereas the infrequently used Windows key was full size. While the modem port is integrated, the ethernet and external monitor ports are located on included (but inconvenient-to-use) dongles. And since this notebook has only an integrated monaural speaker, you'll need headphones to listen to CDs on the 10X-24X CD-ROM drive.

Despite all those shortcomings, the Versa UltraLite's petite size and weight, 10.4-inch active-matrix XGA (1024-by-768-inch) screen, significant battery life, and reasonable power for business applications make this notebook worth a look by any mobile professional.

SUMMARY

Versa UltraLite Anyone who values extremely long battery life and light weight in a notebook will find this a good choice. $2499 NEC www.neccomp.com