Everex StepNote XT5000T

The Everex StepNote XT5000T is designed for budget-conscious buyers who want a big screen and not much more. You don't get top-shelf components or a lot of multimedia extras, but considering it costs $899 in a sea of $2,000-and-up fish, some might be eager to overlook its faults.

The black-on-black lid (with a chrome accent strip) gives this machine a rather generic look, and the one-third silver/two-thirds black keyboard deck is not the pinnacle of ergonomics. In fact, the keyboard layout is unacceptable for a machine this size. While the letter keys are full-sized and comfortable, some ancillary keys-including oft-used Enter, Shift, and the period key-are shrunken to accommodate a dedicated number pad (that you'll probably never use). Also, the plastic chrome mouse buttons felt cheap and were very loud.

Another cost-saver comes in the LCD panel: The 17-inch widescreen is bright enough, but the resolution (1440 x 900 pixels) is low for this class. Still, text in applications was crisp and legible, and DVD playback looked fine. Since there is no high-def optical drive option (a dual-layer multi-format DVD burner is standard), you probably won't miss the HD screen. On the plus side, the deck-mounted speakers delivered decent sound quality, and you get a 100GB hard drive.

The XT5000T's selection of ports is fairly basic; a 4-in-1 memory card reader, three USB ports, FireWire, an ExpressCard slot, and S-video and DVI-I connectors for outputting the video signal to a TV or bigger LCD. Everex also includes four application-launch keys below the screen and a volume dial on the front edge. Aside from the features found in Windows Vista Home Premium, the only software included is CyberLink's DVD Suite.

As for performance, the 1.66-GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 CPU is fine for typical chores but couldn't keep pace with the Intel Core 2 Duo machines here, posting a score of 3,411 on PCMark05, the lowest of the group. The 256MB Nvidia GeForce Go 7600 GPU is good enough for casual gamers and plenty powerful for Vista's Aero interface, but the machine posted a merely okay score of 7,009 on 3DMark03. F.E.A.R. scores were good, but not great, at 41 fps on autodetect. Wireless throughput was slightly below average for this class at 10.9 Mbps at 15 feet, and 7.1 Mbps at 50 feet, as was the XT5000T's battery life of 1 hour and 18 minutes.

All told, the StepNote XT5000T doesn't have the flash or power of the other entries here. But considering you can get two-or three or four-of them for the money you'd spend on one of the others, buyers with modest needs and budgets might not mind.

Specifications:

RAM Included:  1GB

RAM Upgradable To:  4GB

Hard Drive Size:  100GB

Hard Drive Speed:  5,400rpm

Optical Drive Type:  DVD±RW Dual Layer

Optical Drive Speed:  8X

Display Size (inches):  17

Native Resolution:  1440x900

Graphics Card:  Nvidia GeForce Go 7600

Video Memory:  256MB

Wi-Fi:  802.11b/g

Operating System:  MS Windows Vista Home Premium

Ports (excluding USB):  DVI; Ethernet; Firewire; Headphone; Microphone; Modem; S-Video

USB Ports:  3

Card Slot(s):  4-1 card reader; ExpressCard

Warranty/Support:  One-year parts and labor/one-year toll-free 24/7

Size:  15.7 x 11.8 x 1.6

Weight:  8.5