Labs£300 laptops
Like it or loathe it, the Hi-Grade's light red paint job catches the eye. Look deeper, though, and it's clear Hi-Grade has put plenty of thought into what constitutes a good budget laptop. That said, the Notino is a bit on the plasticky side. There's nothing wrong with the firm, sturdy base, but the lid has a bit too much give in it for our liking, and even light prods warped the screen. Should you decide to take the Hi-Grade on your travels, twin catches keep the lid firmly closed and its 2.7kg weight won't prove too much. But its lightness on the shoulder is matched by a scarcity of features: three USB ports, VGA,
The wedge design of the W5700R's chassis leaves the keyboard tilting naturally towards the typing position and, despite a slightly squidgy feel, it's sensibly laid out and not unpleasant to type on. The trackpad buttons are less impressive; press them and they rock noticeably from side to side, occasionally making a nasty click as they go. The core specification is solid. The Intel T2130 processor isn't one of the latest Core 2 Duos, but its twin cores and 1.86GHz clock speed are nippy enough. Only the 1GB of memory holds it back, with a score of 0.69 in our benchmarks. While most 15.4in laptops feature a 1,280 x 800 native resolution, the Hi-Grade ups that to 1,440 x 900. It makes all the difference, giving lots more desktop to work with than other laptops here. Quality is good, too, with the matte panel keeping reflections to a minimum, and providing good contrast and realistic skin tones in all our test images. The Hi-Grade isn't a bad laptop, although its looks will divide opinion. But set it against Dell's Inspiron 1525 or Fujitsu Siemens' Amilo Pi 2515, and the gap in quality is simply too great. |
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