BenQ Joybook Lite U101 Review

Another laptop manufacturer has jumped in the netbook fray, this time around, the newest entrant in the blossoming netbook market is BenQ. BenQ has come out with the new BenQ Joybook Lite U101 to compete with the biggies like Asus, MSI, Samsung and Dell. The Joybook Lite U101 sports nothing new – just the same old hardware specs as the many other notebooks – Intel Atom N270, 10.1 inch display, 1.5 GB RAM, 160 GB SATA HDD etc. But what makes it different is its design. In this review, we check out the BenQ Joybook Lite and check out whether it is a better choice than the other netbooks flooding the market.

BenQ Joybook Lite U101 Specs:

Dimensions: 10.2 x 7.4 x 1.3 inches
Weight: 2.6 pounds
Processor: 1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270
RAM: 1.5 GB DDR 2 RAM
Hard Drive: 160 GB SATA HDD, 5400 RPM
Display: 10 inch display, 1024 x 576 pixels
Graphics: Intel GMA 950
Wireless: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth v 2.0
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Home
Ports: 3 USB ports, Ethernet, Headphone, Microphone, VGA out, 4-1 card reader

Design and Build Quality:

The BenQ Joybook Lite U101 has a nice, almost cute design which will definitely appeal to kids. Personally, I didn’t like it much, but then looks are subjective. If you plan to buy it, do have a nice look at it before. The body composed mostly of plastic and metal seems very durable and sturdy. The Joybook Lite U101 has dimensions of 10.2 x 7.4 x 1.3 inches. These are pretty much the same in all netbooks. It weighs around 2.6 pounds which again is more or less near the average. It has a nice collection of expansion ports – 3 USB ports, Ethernet, Headphone, Microphone, VGA out and a 4-1 card reader.

Display and Speakers:

The BenQ Joybook Lite U101 sports a 10.1 inch TFT LCD display just like most other netbooks, but it has a resolution of 1024 x 576 pixels as opposed to 1024 x 600 pixels which is the netbook standard. This reduces the screen space slightly but shouldn’t be much of a problem. You will need to scroll more when reading documents or browsing web pages. The display itself is very nice and has nice brightness and good contrast. The viewing angles are decently wide, both horizontal and vertical and the legibility under direct light is also pretty decent. Just above the display is a 1.3 MP webcam which performs nicely. The image quality is good enough for video conferencing.

The Joybook Lite U101 has speakers located at the front. The speakers are loud enough and have nice audio quality. Though we would recommend good earphones, as always, if you are looking for a good sound experience. For a casual movie or video, the built in speakers will suffice.

Keyboard and Touchpad:

The BenQ Joybook Lite U101 sports a nice, spacious keyboard which is about 9/10th the size of standard full sized laptop keyboards. It is slightly smaller than the best netbook keyboards – like that of the MSI Wind and the Samsung NC10 but that shouldn’t be a problem for most users. The key spacing and travel is excellent and the keyboard is ideal for touch typing, it requires a bit of practice though. Most of the keys are in the standard layout, just resized to fit the smaller space. The positioning is also standard so new users shouldn’t take long to adapt to the keyboard. The keys also offer good feedback.

Just below the keyboard, the touchpad is located at the center. It is nice and responsive. The sensitivity levels are just perfect. The touchpad surface is smooth and allows for better and faster navigation, while still offering a good grip. Below the touchpad is the single touchbar which allows you to left or right click depending on where you click it. It is nice but I would still prefer the 2 mouse button layout.

Performance:

The BenQ Joybook Lite U101 has pretty much the same hardware specs as any other netbook currently available – the ubiquitous Intel Atom N270 at 1.6 GHz, 1.5 GB DDR 2 RAM, a 160 GB SATA HDD at 5400 RPM etc. The graphics department is handled by the ever reliable Intel GMA 950. While it sucks when it comes to graphic performance, the power efficiency and low cost make it an ideal candidate for netbooks. The overall configuration is capable of running Windows XP with multitasking a few apps. It can also play older games at low settings. It is perfect for office work and light multimedia playback. The hard drive is a 5400 RPM one and offers decent data read / write speeds. Overall, good performance, almost the same as most other netbooks in this range. So if you want to choose between different netbooks, you should look at the other aspects instead of just performance.

Battery and Other Features:

The BenQ Joybook Lite U101 is powered by a standard 3 cell battery, which has a rated battery life of about 3 hrs but in reality it can manage just about 2 hrs 50 mins with moderate usage. With extreme power saving – like lowering the display brightness, lowering the system sound volume, switching off Wi-Fi when not in use, decreasing the default time before an idle system goes to sleep / standby etc, you can stretch the battery life to about 3 hrs. You can upgrade to the 6 cell battery if you want for a small fee. That is expected to juice your Joybook Lite for atleast 5 hrs 20 mins.

The BenQ Joybook Lite U101 also comes with Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g and Bluetooth v2.0. It misses out on draft-n. The Wi-Fi reception is pretty nice and the data speeds fast. It is pretty taxing on the battery though.

Pros:

Nice Design
Good Build Quality
Great Speakers

Cons:

Low Battery Life
Nothing new, really!

Final Words:

The BenQ Joybook Lite U101 is a nice little netbook with a nice design, good build quality, display and speakers. However it offers nothing new from the scores of other netbooks in the market these days, atleast in terms of hardware specs. I would rather go with a better netbook like the Samsung NC10 or the MSI Wind as they are priced almost in the same range.

Our Rating: 3 / 5.