Chem USA ChemBook 2300

WHAT'S HOT: The silver-and-white ChemBook 2300 is quick, light, and cheap. Its price of $1394 (at press time) is easily the lowest we've seen for a Pentium M-based notebook. Equipped with a 1.4-GHz processor, the 2300 earned an outstanding PC WorldBench 4 score of 120 (only slightly slower than more-expensive notebooks with Intel's 1.6-GHz Pentium M), and it lasted almost 5 hours on one battery charge. (For even longer battery life, you can carry two batteries at once by swapping out the removable DVD-ROM/CD-RW combination drive for a secondary $150 power pack.)

The 2300 is easy to carry, weighing in at only 5.3 pounds (not counting the power adapter). It sports four USB 2.0 ports--twice as many as most notebooks--and it's equipped with an Intel Pro/Wireless 2100 802.11b wireless adapter.

WHAT'S NOT: Carry your headphones. The sound from the stereo speakers, tucked beneath the notebook's beveled sides, is too low for listening to music CDs or watching DVD movies.

WHAT ELSE: For using the 2300 as a desktop replacement, Chem USA offers two docking station options: a model that attaches to the notebook's docking port ($120) and a USB model ($110). However, the only additional port they add is a PS/2 connection for older mice and keyboards.

All of the 2300's user-replaceable components are easy to remove. The 2300 has two slots for memory--one beneath a large removable bottom panel that also covers the processor and a fan, and the other under the keyboard. According to Chem USA, systems ordered with one 512MB module (as ours was) come with the keyboard slot filled and the bottom slot open for easier upgrades, but our notebook was configured the opposite way. Reaching the slot beneath the keyboard is a bit of a pain, requiring that you force off a panel, remove two screws beneath it, peel back the keyboard, and then remove a metal cover.

The 2300's keys wobble a bit, but they are well sized and have an intuitive layout. On the other hand, the 2300's four quick-launch buttons have a less than ideal design. Mounted flush with the case and the same color, they were difficult to make out at first. They can't be reprogrammed, either. Still, they serve as useful shortcuts to your default e-mail client and Web browser, and to a touchpad-disabling function (so you don't accidentally reposition the cursor while typing). A fourth shortcut pops up a SpeedStep power settings menu for manually choosing screen brightness and speed when the notebook is on battery power. The utility proved handy once we installed it (our review unit didn't come with it preinstalled).

The 2300's printed manual is fairly detailed, but it is missing an index, which makes finding information harder than it should be.

UPSHOT: Combining a bargain price with fine performance, low weight, and long battery life, the ChemBook 2300 is well suited as a small-business notebook for the road.