Working outdoors? This is the only solution!
Written: Jun 25 '03
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Pros: Lightweight. VGA/Firewire/USB/CardBus/CompactFlash interfaces. Excellent for outdoor usage. Video/photo editing on the go!
Cons: Display washed out indoors. Keyboard layout a little weird. So-so battery life. No WiFi.
The Bottom Line: Do you work outdoors? Or wish you could? This laptop will let you compute in full daylight.
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| joechiu's Full Review: NEC Versa E120 DayLite PIII933/256/20/24X/56K/NIC/... |
Over the years, I've had to work on computers in an outdoor setting on numerous occasions. One of the most frustrating things about working outdoors is the inability to see the computer display unless you put a shroud over the display and your head. On a hot day, that gets mighty uncomfortable!
The NEC Versa E120 is a godsend for computers users who need to work outdoors under full day light.
In recent times, I've spent days on hot rooftops trying to install and configure communication gear with a regular laptop. It was very difficult to read the display -- the sunlight would wash out everything. Putting a shround over my head and the display, on the other hand, was a bit cumbersome while trying to stay atop a sloped roof.
Fed up with that, I got the E120. I should have done that from day one. The 10.4" display is extremely readable under full daylight. In fact, the more ambient light, the more vibrant the display.
The reason why this DayLite display works better is because it is "trans-reflective" -- the light from the outside is reflected by the inner layers of the display -- so more outside light there is, more light is reflected back out to the viewer's eyes. With a conventional LCD, the backlight is the only source of light that is directed to the viewer's eyes -- when outdoors, that weak backlight can't compete with the abundance of outdoor light.
The laptop is lightweight. It weighs 3 pounds, which makes it very easy to carry around in one hand.
The keyboard is pretty good for regular typing, but I am unhappy that I have to use Fn key combinations to do PageUp/PageDown, Home and End. A few keys are also placed a little funny (like the tilde key which I still tend to hit often by mistake).
The glidepad works very well. It comes with a left and right mouse button, plus a "slider" control that acts as the middle wheel on a regular mouse. (You can even push down on the slider like you would the middle wheel.)
The CompactFlash slot on the left makes it easy to pop the memory card out of my digital camera and pop it right into the laptop and start downloading. No fumbling with any CF-adapters.
Working with a miniDV camera is easy, too, with the built-in Firewire port. You can use the Windows Movie Maker (that comes with Windows XP) or even install Adobe Premiere and get really productive!
The laptop comes with a USB CDROM drive, but no floppy drive. (But with the CompactFlash slot, why bother? You can find small CompactFlash cards for really cheap.)
The battery life is okay. It gets about 1.8 hours, which seems to be a typical standard battery life for light laptops. There is an optional extender battery (which I don't have) which supposedly gives up to 8 hours of total battery life.
The biggest feature of this laptop is also it's most obvious weakness. For outdoor use, the display is absolutely fantastic. But because it is optimized for transreflective use, the backlighting of the display is rather weak compared to a regular display, and this design compromise shows up indoors. Even at the brightest backlight setting, the E120 display looks dim and washed out compared to a normal laptop. After a few weeks of indoor use, however, I've gotten used to the limited contrast.
The rest of the laptop compares similarly to other ultra-light laptops. (In many ways, it reminds me of the Sony 505-series laptops.) The Mobile Pentium III processor is not the blazing fast processor available in high-end laptops, but is fast enough for most daily tasks.
If you're always using the laptop indoors, you probably should skip this one. But if you've found yourself working outdoors more than a few times, or if you're hankering for a laptop that you can take outdoors (writing while hiking, anyone?), this laptop is the laptop you need!
The unit comes with 20 GB HDD, 256 MB RAM, 1 FireWire port, 3 USB ports, 1 VGA port, 1 CompactFlash slot, 1 CardBus/PCMCIA slot, 1 RJ45 FastEthernet port, 1 56K Modem port. It comes with Windows XP professional.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 999
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Pentium III
Processor speed: 701-800
Screen Size: 10 inches
RAM: 256
Hard Drive (GB): 13-20
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Epinions.com ID:
joechiu
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Location: Los Angeles, California
Reviews written: 8
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
Average working Joe... And an internet shopping junkie.
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