Voodoo Envy 133 Review

The Voodoo Envy 133 is the latest entrant to the high end ultraportable market. It competes head on with the likes of the Apple Macbook Air and the Lenovo X300. It features a refreshingly new super stylish design and a very compact form factor. It is much better than the Macbook Air where features are concerned and compares with the Lenovo X300. It is super fast yet highly power efficient thanks to the SSD drive and the low voltage processor it has, and runs very cool. It excels in almost every department but loses out in some cases like battery life. It also features a new Instant On OS - a modified version of Splashtop using which you can access the internet, make skype calls, open photos and videos etc instantly without booting into your primary OS. In this review, we check out the Voodoo Envy 133 and its features.

Voodoo Envy 133 Specifications:

• Dimensions: 12.7 x 9.0 x 0.7 inches
• Weight: 3.4 pounds
• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo SP7700 clocked at 1.8 GHz
• RAM: 2 GB DDR2
• Hard Drive: 64 GB SSD Drive
• Optical Drive: DVD ± RW 8X
• Display Size: 13.3″ (1280 x 800 pixels)
• Integrated Graphics: Intel GMA X3100 384 MB shared memory
• Wireless: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/g/n, Bluetooth 2.0
• Operating System: MS Windows Vista Home Premium
• Ports: USB 2.0, Ethernet, HDMI, Headphone, Microphone, eSATA, ExpressCard

Design and Display:

The Voodoo Envy 133 features a super stylish design which is truly innovative. It has a glossy exterior and has a slightly boxy feel with smooth edges. With dimensions of 12.7 x 9.0 x 0.7 inches, it is very compact and also very light at just 3.4 pounds. It is slightly heavier than the Macbook Air but with the extra features, the extra weight seems worth it. Also 0.4 pounds isn’t much of a addition. The Voodoo Envy 133 has a very light chassis made of carbon fiber which imparts a very sturdy and tough build quality to it. Add the SSD to it, and it should easily withstand some serious bumps. It has a very lean and mean look about it. The Macbook Air and the Voodoo Envy 133 both have radically different designs but both are beautiful in their own way. I would prefer the Voodoo Envy 133 though. You can get a custom finish on the Envy 133 is you don’t like the default Black Weave pattern, though that is very costly at about $500 - $600. All in all, a very cool and stylish design with great looks and superb build quality all in a compact and portable form factor.

It sports a 13.3″ glossy screen with a native resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels. The display is brilliant with superb brightness and contrast. It produces vibrant images with rich color reproduction. It has nice viewing angles both horizontal and vertical. The screen is ideal for movies and other multimedia playback. Above the screen is a ambient light sensor which automatically adjusts the display brightness depending on the ambient light and a 1.3 MP webcam which has above average capture quality. There is nothing to complain about atleast in the display department.

Keyboard, Touchpad and Speakers:

The Envy 133 sports a nice, slightly compact keyboard with nice key spacing. Some of the keys have had to be reduced in size which results in a cramped feeling. The keys offer nice tactile feedback. The keyboard also has backlighting which makes it easy to use in dark environments and at nights. You can get used to the Envy 133 keyboard in just a couple of hours - a relatively small learning curve.

The touchpad is placed just below the keyboard and totally blends in with the metallic glossy design. It is however a bit too large compared to the keyboard which looks awkward. It is sensitive and responsive and even supports Synaptics new Multi Touch technology which let you use swipes and pinches and other Multi Touch gestures. It has a long touchpad button below the touchpad which serves as both the left and right button. The buttons feel good to press, the only problem with the touchpad is the rather large size.

The Envy 133 has two Dolby SOund Room certified speakers which offer a superb sonic experience. The sound is clear with nice quality and good volume. This coupled with the screen makes for a really good movie watching experience. It is easily audible even in a large room.

OS and Performance:

The Envy 133 comes bundled with Windows Vista Home Premium but the real revelation is the built in Splashtop Linux OS. It made quite a splash a few weeks back and now we know why. You can instantly access the Splashtop OS in just about 10 seconds after booting. You can surf the web, access your movies and multimedia files, make calls via Skype and perform other basic tasks directly through Splashtop. It also has a complete IM client supporting MSN, Yahoo, GMail and AIM protocols.

Windows Vista boot in about 1.5 minutes and is quite snappy and fast on the 64 GB SSD. The Envy 133 is powered by the Intel Core 2 Duo SP7700 clocked at 1.8 GHz which performs quite well. It is bundled with 2 GB DDR2 RAM which is enough for most tasks. It can easily handle 4-5 applications with minimal lag. It has the Intel X3100 GMA integrated graphics which are enough for normal multimedia playback and soome basic gaming. The Envy 133 runs quite cool even under load.

Other Features:

The Envy Voodoo 133 sports a nice collection of ports - one USB, Ethernet, HDMI out, Headphone, Mic and eSATA as well as an Expresscard slot. It comes with a bundled eSATA external slot loading DVD drive and a DVI to VGA converter. It also comes with a power adapter which has built in ethernet capabilities.

It also has Wi-Fi 802.11 a/g/n and Bluetooth 2.0 support. The Wi-Fi reception is nice and offers good speeds and range over wireless connections. It has rather mediocre battery life and lasts just about 2 hrs and 30 minutes on a single charge. This is one of the main weaknesses of the Envy 133. You can extend battery life by switching off Wi-Fi, lowering display brightness and can drag it to a maximum of 2 hrs, 50 minutes. A more powerful battery would be appreciated.

Pros:

• Nice Design
• Superb Build Quality
• Splashtop Linux
• Great Display and Speakers

Cons:

• Mediocre Battery Life
• No Centrino 2

Conclusion:

The Voodoo Envy 133 is a very nice alternative to the Macbook Air and is much better than it in tems of features. It is also a bit on the expensive side but many people would fall for its killer looks anyways.

Our Rating: 4 / 5.