You look at the 1.8 kg NEC Versa TXi and think 'What's the catch?' This slim, two-spindle notebook wins kudos for its forward-thinking design, minimal weight, and gorgeous appearance. But something has to give inside this dainty box, and that is battery life (and, to a lesser extent, overall performance). Nonetheless, most travelling businesspersons will care more about weight and usability. And in these areas, the Versa excels.
Take one look at the Versa, and you'll fall in love. Few notebook systems look as good as the Apple PowerBook G4 Titanium, but on the PC platform the Versa comes close. A matte-silver finish and simple lines give this notebook a futuristic but elegant look. The design's simplicity extends to its features, as the Versa eschews most legacy ports in favour of cutting-edge connectivity. You'll find an IEEE-1394 (FireWire) port, a space-saving proprietary printer connector, a mini-TV-out port, and three USB ports. The headphone jack doubles as an S/PDIF digital audio port.
Who bothers with a floppy drive these days? No self-respecting technophile, that's for sure. That's why our Versa shipped with a hot-swappable 8X DVD-ROM drive in its single multimedia bay and an external floppy drive that you can connect via USB (for emergencies, of course). A built-in modem and Ethernet port come standard, as do dual, stacked PC Card slots. NEC has even included some infrastructure for Bluetooth capability, once it becomes available. However there's no docking station option.
1%
8%
