Looking at the variety of netbooks today, it's clear that there's little to differentiate one from the other, especially in terms of hardware and performance. The trend of offering "-better usability and larger form factor Is noticeable. Following this trend is the Benq Joybook Lite U121 Eco which has the standard net book hardware, but with a much more convenient form factor and classier looks.

Its hardware configuration, form factor and performance are almost identical to the Acer Aspire One 751H, which is mainly due to the common hardware involved. This one too is based on a rather older Intel Atom processor, the Z520 which is clocked at 1.33 GHz, has 1 GB RAM and a 160 GB hard drive. Also, the 11.6-inch screen and its native resolution, 1366 x 768 are the same. The U121 Eco has all the features that are expected from a good netbook, such as a 1.3 megapixel webcam, three USB and a VGA port, audio jacks, a Kensington lock slot and a memory card reader.

Connectivity is offered via 10/100 Ethernet, Wi-Fi big and Bluetooth. Finally, this netbook ships with Windows XP pre-installed and the package includes a sleeve for the unit.

Its design is straightforward, yet elegant. What's uncommon about it is that the screen folds out 180 degrees, an attribute usually seen in laptops.

In fact, this one looks more like a mini office laptop, thanks to the form factor and color scheme. The dark-grey bezel has a matt finish and the screen frame is glossy. As far as the build quality is concerned, it is one of the best we've seen. While the keyboard - which is much better than that of a standard netbook-is really comfortable, the touch pad needs to be a lot bigger.

Performance-wise, though this netbook is weaker in comparison to those powered by the Atom N270 and 280 processors, for mainstream office applications, this netbook will certainly be enough.

Name: benq-joybook-lite-u121.jpg Views: 98 Size: 35.1 KB