NEC Versa S9100 review

There's little reason to spend over a grand on a laptop these days. With the likes of Dell's Inspiron 1525 providing an impressive package for less than £500, laptop manufacturers are having to try harder and harder to justify breaking the £1,000 barrier.

The recent trend of thin, light, sexy ultraportables seems to be all the justification most manufacturers need, and although the sector is already crowded with impressive products such as Toshiba's Portégé R500, Sony's VGN-TZ31MN and Lenovo's ThinkPad X300, NEC has now decided to join the premium featherweight fray.

The NEC Versa S9100 certainly has the figure for it: its dimensions are compact, if not as impressively svelte as Sony's VGN-TZ31MN, but it tips the scales at 1.26kg compared with the Sony's porkier 1.48kg. Only Toshiba's waif-like R500 manages to sneak closer to the 1kg mark than this.

The figures don't quite tell the whole story however. We first encountered the S9100 in a meeting in a local Starbucks, and just picking it up was almost enough to make us choke on our frappé. Like Lenovo's Thinkpad X300, the Versa S9100 is a little more sensibly sized than many ultraportables, but its 1.26kg weight feels impossibly light. It wasn't until we pressed the On button and Vista Business fired into life that we believed its chassis actually concealed the working innards of a laptop.

That chassis isn't anywhere near as striking as some of its rivals, though. Finished in black from top to toe, it certainly doesn't draw attention to itself like the striking white Sony VGN-TZ31MN. There's also little getting away from the fact that it's easier to equate a solid, weighty object with quality, and the NEC's light weight means that, initially at least, it does feel a touch cheap. Other ultraportables such as Toshiba's Portege R500 or Sony's VGN-TZ31MN also suffer from plasticky build quality, but both of those make up for any physical defects by virtue of attractive design.

What the NEC lacks in looks, however, it makes up for with surprising sturdiness. Curiously, the UK press release makes no mention of the Versa S9100's Toughbook-rivalling aspirations, but a quick Google hunt reveals quite a few websites and blogs touting the S9100's crush resistance. While the lid of your average Panasonic Toughbook can, it's claimed, withstand 100kgs per square foot, NEC's barely-there laptop can take 300kg. As the only one in the country though, we weren't too confident about hopping aboard with our Size 14 shoes and, more crucially, our 16-and-a-half-stone 'physique'.

It's not too difficult to believe, however. Grab the S9100's lid between two hands and though it exhibits a fair amount of flex, apart from a very slight rippling on the display, it remained relatively unperturbed by the abuse. And no matter how hard we prodded the display's glossy rear, there was no sign of show-through on the display at all. Apart from a little give in the lid's centre, it certainly seems to offer impressive levels of protection.

Disappointingly, it doesn't match the Toughbook's spill-proof keyboard or drop resistance, however. Accidentally stand or sit on it and you might just be ok, but tip your coffee over the S9100, or knock it from a desk, and you'll be staring at a hefty repair bill.

The 12.1 inches of glossy LED-backlit display this toughness is protecting isn't the most impressive we've seen, however, and for this price we'd expect a little more. The native resolution of 1,280 x 800 pixels is partnered with ample brightness, but there is a little backlight leakage at the top and bottom. Colours weren't a forte either, with skintones taking on a slightly greenish hue; a trait which is exacerbated if you choose to dim the backlight.