Built from sturdy ABS plastic, Pioneer's solid-bodied D400S notebook tips the scales at 4.1kg with AC adaptor. Given its intended use, this should present no problem.
The D400S packs the usual gear, and offers well-thought out front-mounted FireWire along with 802.11b on/off controls for the optional WLAN device. We were surprised the right-hand side of the chassis contained absolutely no connectivity options – a shame given the inclusion of only a single PCMCIA port. Three USB ports are present – two rear-mounted and one on the left-hand side.
The keyboard is comfortable and has generous spacing, so there's no cramping here. Inclusion of a DVD-ROM/CD-RW "quiet" combo drive made for almost noise-free usage and format flexibility, a pleasant surprise given the price tag.
Pioneer's addition of a desktop P4 is not uncommon in the budget notebook range; although it does affect battery life, with MobileMark2002 reporting just 135 minutes of usage time.
The 2.53GHz desktop processor pushed SYSmark2002, returning an overall result of 201 marks – reasonable for a notebook of this calibre. Unfortunately the SiS M650 video chip is rather lacking, returning only 1,259 marks in 3DMark2001SE Pro. This just reinforces the fact that this is a productivity machine.
All in all, the D400S is a great unit for users after a workhorse. The notebook can take the day-to-day bumps and scratches, and comes with a three-year labour warranty. Although the battery life is a little on the lean side, the list of features and low price tag wins big points. Bang for buck, this is a great notebook for the frequently desk-bound office or student user, packing quite a punch in the feature department, but not too hard on the hip pocket.