Product Reviews

The Scandinavians might be better known for their exports of flat-packed furniture and stunning leggy blondes, but now we can add something else to to their list of talents - building laptops to order. Zepto is a new face to Computer Buyer's review pages and the first thing to land in our offices was the Znote 2425W laptop.

First impressions are good, but while the Znote's case feels well-built, we didn't like the rattly, bouncy keyboard. Also, the looks won't appeal to everyone: the lid is covered in stainless steel and the keyboard surround is a mixture of stainless steel and copper - a highly unusual sight.

Pick your own

On Zepto's website is a configuration tool, which allows you to choose the processor, memory, hard disk, warranty and even whether to have an operating system or not. It means the specifications of the 2425W on test here are simply what Zepto decided would offer the best combination of power and value. If you want to opt for a bigger hard disk or go for a faster processor, you can.

You can also choose from any of the new Core 2 Duo processors (bear in mind that a top of the range T7600 will put a £317 larger dent in your wallet than the specification tested here!). The Core 2 Duo T5600 installed is the second from the bottom of Intel's Core 2 range. Even though each of the T5600's two cores runs at a fairly modest 1.83GHz, however, it still scored a speedy 135% in our 2D benchmarks.

Zepto has

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made even more of the Core 2's efficient reserves of power by installing a chunky 9-cell battery. Under light use, it lasted almost 4 hours and even when faced with our DVD run-down test, it lasted a massive 3 hours and 20 minutes. The downside to the Zepto's stamina is that the high-capacity battery leaves it a little on the heavy side - at 3.2kg you certainly won't forget it's in your bag.

With such impressive battery life, you'd hope that the Zepto has been built with roaming in mind, and while the onboard Wi-Fi is handy for taking advantage of wireless hotspots, its standard issue for most, if not all, laptops these days. Bluetooth is more of a rarity though and is a welcome addition for synchronising with a mobile phone or PDA. It's a shame that there are only three USB2 ports, though.

Super size me

There's plenty of storage too and thanks to the DVD writer, you can archive files taking up valuable hard disk space, while the front-mounted card reader lets you easily upload photos from SD cards and Memory Sticks. The 80GB hard disk isn't huge by today's standards, but if you need more you can upgrade it to 120GB for an extra £33.

Gamers will be pleased to see that there's a GeForce Go 7600 graphics card. It's not the most powerful we've seen in a laptop, but will allow you to play even demanding games at the 15.4in screen's native resolution of 1280 x 800. The wide screen has a glossy coating that gives colours a real punch, and it's also crisp and bright. In our Call of Duty test it scored 47%, which is good enough for playing even fairly demanding games as long as you don't go crazy with the detail settings.

The 2425W only comes with a one-year warranty, but you can double this for £40. Simply downgrading from the installed Windows XP Professional to XP Home will save £33 which you can put towards the longer warranty. At this price the Zepto offers a good combination of performance, battery life and features - being able to tailor the Znote to your exact needs is the tasty cherry on top.