Not all multimedia notebooks have to weigh in around the $5000 mark. Digital Star’s 15.4in widescreen PowerNote Z71V offers very good value for money for a laptop sporting a 2GHz Pentium M, 1GB of RAM and a 128MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 6600 graphics chip. It scored 1691 and 3968 in our 3DMark05 and PCMark04 benchmarks respectively. This should satisfy most 2D application requirements and still let you play the latest games (albeit at reduced settings). Performance is further helped by the speedy 60GB 7200rpm hard disk.
Digital Star hasn’t been stingy on the features either, throwing in XP Pro, a dual layer 8x DVD burner, memory card reader (SD/MMC and MS), FireWire, and a PC Card Express expansion slot. The latter is the new PCMCIA standard which will enable users to move modules between desktop and notebook computers (see www.expresscard.org). The touchpad is responsive and offers vertical scroll. Four of the generous five USB ports are on the back.
The multimedia buttons on the front are a nice touch, it’s just a shame there isn’t an external volume control. Our main gripe is with the styling as it looks like a run of the mill corporate notebook – though some may find this disguise desirable. At 2.9kg, it’s moderately portable.
The 1680 x 1050 display looks good and offers mid-range response times and colour reproduction. The built-in stereo speakers are functional, but not the stuff of audiophiles.
The bundled software includes Nero 6 and CyberLink’s MediaShow SE 2 and PowerDirector SE 3. Had it made last month’s PC Authority multi-media round up the PowerNote Z71 would have placed second for best value behind the Acer Aspire 1692 WLMi. All in all it’s more than enough to satisfy the average user for mundane tasks like everyday work, but also for watching the odd DVD or game-playing session. If you don’t need gaming see the Optima in this issue and save $700. But the Digital Star will doubtless tempt many.