BenQ Joybook 6000

What comes to your mind the moment anyone utters the word "laptop"? Small, sleek, lightweight, portable, and to be precise, a compact device. Well, unfortunately, these are some of the aspects, most laptop manufacturers have forgotten. When they make laptops more powerful, they overlook the weight and the battery life. When, they make them light weight, features - at times even the basic ones - go for a toss. And at times in some of the cheap laptops, all of the things mentioned above are lost. So, has the real meaning of the word laptop changed for good? Luckily, there are few manufacturers, one of them being BenQ, that remind us of how laptops really should be. Small, lightweight, sleek and also at the same time, uncompromising on performance and battery life.

Now, the market trend is shifting from just normal looking gadgets to the more fashionable variety. One such example is the Apple iPod. Even though there were portable audio players from other companies earlier than iPod, the Apple gadget became popular mainly due to its sleek exterior. It seems like BenQ is looking to adapt the same policy for its line of products. BenQ, formerly a part of Acer, has earned a reputation for its input devices and optical storage products. They are also into other categories such as LCD screens, MP3 Players and now also into the laptop market. They have a series of laptops ranging from workstation based laptops to super light weight variants. 

The BenQ Joybook 6000 laptop captured the attention of everyone in office from the moment it arrived. All the guys were drooling over its sleek looks and light weight. Weighing just 1.6kg, it is the second lightest laptop, I have worked on. The lightest one I have used is a certain Sony which was around 1.2 KGs. Sporting a silver and blue finish, this laptop takes a different route from the normal black or the silver finish. The finishing inside the laptop is neat too with the edges having a sparkling black touch. At first, it seemed too flashy but after a while, when you get used to it, it really looks cool.

While, the looks kept on dazzling us, the configuration of the laptop wasn't too bad. At the heart of the laptop is an Intel Centrino 1.5GHz Mobile Processor with 1MB of L2 cache. It runs on an 855GME chipset which also has the Intel Extreme Graphics 2 chip. The rest of the system configuration includes 256 MB PC 2700 DDR RAM and 40 GB HDD (4200 RPM with a 2MB Buffer). On the sound front, it has the AC97 Audio Controller. It has a 12.1" wide screen 16:9 aspect ratio WXGA LCD screen. For other tech specs, check the list below:

I/O Ports: VGA Synchronized output x 1, Audio line-out jack x 1, MIC in jack x 1

Expansion Ports: USB 2.0 port x 2, FireWire (IEEE1394) port x 1, Type II PCMCIA slot x 1, 3-in-1 memory card reader SD/MMC/MS

Communication: Intel(R) PRO/100 VE Network Connection, Intel(R) PRO/Wireless, 56K V.92 modem (RJ-11 connector), Built-in InfraRed Port

One important thing to note is that there is no optical drive built into the laptop. An external optical drive is bundled which connects to the USB port and is an 8X/24X combo drive. The dimensions of the laptop have been stated as 320 (L) x 218 (W) x 23(H) mm. You can really say this laptop is the size of a note book. The ports have been covered very nicely with flip covers, which can be opened very easily.

The most talked thing about this laptop is the screen. BenQ claims to use a special type of screen rather than normal TFT screen. It supposedly has better brightness and sharpness. Well, it was certainly one of the best screens around in a sub 100K laptop. I have seen as good screens and a little better too, but those laptop models cost 200K plus.

The screen is attached with the help of two hinges rather than having the whole screen assembly attached to the body of the laptop. Hence the laptop screen supports a 180 degree tilt, ensuring you that don't snap the screen out of its hinges accidentally.

As I said earlier, the laptop comes with an external combo drive. This optical drive is powered by the USB connection itself. Well, this option of having an external optical drive has its own pros and cons.

The laptop comes with a suite of its own media centre program called Q Media. The program can be used to hotkey a program and even synchronize your data with your cell phone. But, it took me a while getting used to the program.





Performance

Obviously, the first thing we tested was the battery life. The Laptop sports a 4 pack Li-Ion battery. During the test, the battery used to last only 2 hours and 10 minutes max with 100% CPU utilization all the time. It lasts for up to three hours of normal use at average CPU. But anything more than that was very difficult. But even three hours for a laptop is considered as good battery life.

Now, the regular benchmarks. 

As seen from 3DMark 2001, it can play few light games. It is clearly not meant for playing hardcore games. The results in rests of the benchmarks are pretty impressive and very much up to the mark. Obviously, it is not a killer performance machine, but is very decent and can be used for every day computing such as word processing, surfing internet and even multimedia functions such as watching DVD movies. To be precise, almost everything other than heavy duty gaming and graphics work.

Conclusion

First, I will directly come to the price. This laptop costs around Rs 89,900 /-, which is really expensive for a Laptop with these technical specifications. Even, considering the sleek looks and the light weight, the cost is bit too steep. But the consolation can be found in the 2 extra years of warranty that it offers. Yes, this laptop comes with a 3-year warranty, the 1st year warranty being valid internationally and the remaining 2 years only in India which doesn't seem like a problem. So is this a good buy? Yes and no. If you are one of those searching for a 3S laptop (sleek, sexy and sophisticated), the BenQ Joybook 6000 is a decent choice. But if you care only about the specifications, stay away from it.

Test Unit sourced from: BenQ India, Mumbai.