What's hot: E350 AMD Dual-Core, excellent video playback, portable, stylish and sturdy, very good keyboard.
What’s not:Bad screen, no CD / DVD (but no netbook comes with one) relatively expensive.
Everyone loves a netbook. It is light. Its battery lasts long. And more importantly, it's cheap. But the problem is that once people begin to use a netbook, as it often leaves much to be desired.
The problem with most netbooks is their equipment. Almost all netbooks are equipped with Intel Atom, a tiny processor that is frugal in its power, but is just as stingy in terms of performance. Although most netbooks good work for web browsing, when it comes to playing videos, and even relatively high-resolution or multi-tasking, they huff and puff, leaving users to deal with a failure or performance jerky.
Meet the Atom killer
Intel Atom has been a great piece of engineering. But the problem with this processor was the graphics chip paired with her. Traditionally, graphics chips have been the Achilles heel of Intel. It was no different with the Atom netbooks. But despite shockingly bad chips GMA 3100, later, GMA 3150, Atom has proved a resounding success because there was no competition.
AMD, Intel's only competitor in the market traditional PC, finally got out with his low-power processor this January. "Fusion, this processor is a new type of chip with integrated graphics part. Netbooks with Fusion - mostly E350 dual-core, but other variants exist - began to appear on the market. We take a look at a netbook for example.
The perfect netbook?
When Hewlett Packard Pavilion DM1Z announced, on paper it looked like the perfect netbook. Equipped E350 - a dual core processor with pretty decent HD 6310 graphics core - 2 GB of RAM, a promise of more than nine hours of battery life and a slightly larger screen at 11.6 inches, DM1Z is designed to take on the best Atom netbooks.
From the looks of it, DM1Z is a cross between several traditional netbooks (10.1 inches) and 13.3-inch laptops. Portability and usability, 11.6 inches works very well. The netbook is fairly lightweight - 1.6 kg - to be carried in a backpack. The big advantage over traditional netbooks also means that on DM1Z you spend less time looking for keys and typing on the more real.
For a change, HP has used slightly different design from that of traditional phones. He borrowed some ideas and MacBook instead of putting the screws and vents under the belly of the netbook, tried to give him a look unibody. It is all plastic and it has several parts instead of a single block of aluminum, but the construction feels solid. Another welcome change is the lack of shiny plastic.
E350 is a refreshing change from Atom. Processor performance is in line with the Atom processor, but the top in graphics and video playback, E350 is miles ahead. DM1Z played all kinds of HD video - including 1080p and high speed broadband - with ease. All this performance is available at no additional charge to the battery life of portable computers. At full load DM1Z was good for more than six to seven hours of outdoor use, bring it in line with what most netbooks offer.
The fusion experiment will not be specific to netbooks made by HP. This is the material that is the real star and if you try a YB Sony or Lenovo netbooks X120e, you're likely to get more performance or less the same.
So, is it the perfect netbook? Well, no. But that's fine. The only thing that holds the screen DM1Z is below average. The colors and brightness are consistent with what you get on a cheap netbook, but viewing angles are shockingly bad. Poor screens have been the hallmark of cheap laptops or netbooks. So there are not many surprises here. But given how good DM1Z performs on other aspects, we had high hopes on the screen too.
Bottom lineNetbooks are hot two years ago. Now, even when the tablets have stolen much of their mojo, netbooks continue to be relevant for countries like India where many people are still looking to get their first laptop - for the cheapest possible . DM1Z or netbooks like can cost a few thousand rupees more than running Atom, but they represent great value for money because of their functionality for people who want a laptop. For those who do not mind the extra weight, notebook entry level for around Rs 27,000 is still the best bet.
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