By Darius Chang, CNET Asia
11/07/2007
URL: http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/notebooks/0,39050488,40626262p,00.htm

Despite barely tipping the S$2,000 price point, we are glad to see that the JoyBook S41 does not skimp on build quality despite its high-end specifications. Based on the Santa Rosa chipset, it is possibly the smallest notebook to offer the powerful Nvidia GeForce 8600M GS graphics card. Though some may appreciate its minimalist design, we felt that it could have offered better value if more dedicated controls grace its facade.

	The plastic polka dot-theme design is not for everyone. (Click for larger image)

Design
Aesthetics is a personal thing, but we really have a love-hate relationship with the JoyBook S41. On one hand, the exterior looks like a cheap plasticky affair made worse by a polka-dot texturing of the top cover (though we must admit that the material is low maintenance as it does not pick up dirt or finger oils). But flip open the display and the sleek minimalist interior almost makes up for the previous faux pax.

The S41 weighs a reasonable 2.05kg with a volume of 337 x 248 x 38.7mm. The JoyBook is rather thick compared to other 14.1-inch models like the LG R405 and ThinkPad R61, both of which also hold discrete graphics cards. However, if you need a powerful gaming machine which does not weigh you down, there is no equivalent to the JoyBook S41.

The keyboard borders and palm rest is molded from dark silver metal, with the circumference of the power button lit with a nice blue glow. The Webcam which sits above is the display flushed with the mirror-finished border. The touchpad is also worthy of mention. The black surface has a slightly rough texture, giving a nice feedback while navigating. There is a single button bar below, similar to those found on Mac notebooks but slimmer. However, unlike Macs, the button allows for both right and left-click functionality. The flushed touchpad may be a beauty, but for those who use their thumbs for a quick click may find themselves hitting the navigation pad instead.

The rear is reserved for the battery and Kensington lock only, with connectivity ports flanking both sides of the JoyBook. The fact that the microphone and dual headphone jacks (one of which is S/PDIF-compatible) are located on the front is a mixed bag. It may prevent wire tangles when typing on the notebook, but looks a little unsightly if you intend to hook up the S41 to an external display for movie viewing. We lament the lack of dedicated multimedia controls, forcing us to use the two-button press system for changing volume, screen brightness, etc.

The dark grey metallic palm rest gives the JoyBook a touch of class. (Click for larger image)

Features
The S$2,099 JoyBook S41 offers a generous array of connectivity options on the fastest Centrino platform to date. Its strength lies in the Nvidia GeForce 8600M GS graphics processor running under its 14.1-inch chassis. On the multimedia front, it loses to the Lenovo Y410 which has an integrated subwoofer and dedicated multimedia controls, and neither is it a security fort like the ThinkPad T61.

According to BenQ, the 14.1-inch LCD has the world's fastest response time (for a notebook display) of 16ms. This means that the individual pixels takes 16ms to change colors. However, for gaming and fast-moving animation this may not be fast enough, as a response time of under 12ms is ideal to prevent image ghosting. Fortunately, you can hook up the JoyBook to external displays via the VGA or HDMI output. The widescreen uses transflective technology with a maximum resolution of 1,280 x 800 pixels.

Did you know? LCD ghosting effects occurs when the LCD pixels are unable to switch on and off fast enough for the video, hence creating a fuzzy image especially for fast moving graphics.

Those who depend on network connectivity to get their work done will appreciate the blazing fast Gigabit Ethernet port and Draft-N Wi-Fi radio built into the JoyBook. A modem is present as well as the ubiquitous Bluetooth. However, some Asia-Pacific countries might not have units with integrated Bluetooth radios and users will have to fork out a little extra for an adapter.

You can link external devices to the generous four USB 2.0 ports, mini-FireWire or ExpressCard/54 slot. A five-in-one memory card reader is compatible with SD/MMC, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro and xD-Picture cards. There is a 1.3-megapixel Webcam sitting above the display for video conferencing but, unlike HP Pavilion's dual-array mics straddling the lens, there is only a single microphone on the palm rest. This may reduce the audio pickup for those who like to multitask talking and typing.

	For a portable 14.1-inch notebook, the JoyBook S41 holds a high-end Nvidia GPU. (Click for larger image)

Despite its powerful visual performance, the sound quality from its stereo speakers is rather weak and tinny. The SRS TruSurround XT audio enhancement is best felt through good quality headphones. Fortunately, an S/PDIF jack is available for digital link to an external audio setup.

The full-sized keyboard makes good room of available space to provide keys of adequate size and travel. Like most notebooks, optical storage is handled by the Super Multi DVD writer drive, which can handle almost all flavors of CD, CDRW, DVD and DVD-RW in existence. The drive is integrated into the unit so you can't upgrade to a HD-DVD or Blu-ray format in the future.

Performance And Battery Life
Our review unit of the JoyBook S41 holds a Core 2 Duo T7100 1.8GHz processor with 1GB of system RAM and 100GB harddisk. We couldn't run MobileMark on the installed Windows Vista Home Premium Edition as yet (or any other flavor of Vista for that matter), though the 64-bit capable platform performed smoothly through productivity and multimedia applications. But where it really shined was during our 3DMark06 gaming test. The Nvidia GeForce 8600M GS graphics card (GPU) has 1GB of TurboCache memory, which takes system RAM to supplement its dedicated video memory during heavy computing load. The high-end DirectX 10-compatible GPU blazed through the benchmark with an impressive score of 2,743. This puts it in the same gaming performance league as larger 15.4-inch machines like the Asus Lamborghini VX2 and Acer Aspire 5920G. It should have no problems running the latest or even upcoming games, though realistically you should still settle for gaming desktops if you expect high frame rates at exceptional resolutions.

FutureMark 3DMark06 performance rating (longer bars indicate better performance)

BenQ JoyBook S41 (Core 2 Duo T7100 processor 1.8GHz; 1GB RAM; Nvidia GeForce 8600M GS) 2,743 Acer Aspire 5920G (Core 2 Duo T7300 processor 2.0GHz; 2GB RAM; Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT) 3,288 Asus Lamborghini VX2 (Core 2 Duo T7400 processor 2.16GHz; 2GB RAM; Nvidia 512MB GeForce Go 7700) 2,356

We played the DVD movie Frequency at half screen brightness with the volume turned up. Considering the power drain of its GPU and optical drive, it gave up only after 2 hours of movie screening. BenQ claims an uptime of 2 hours 30 minutes based on its battery benchmark test. If you use the JoyBook just for word processing and occasional Wi-Fi, you should expect a similar runtime.

Service And Support
The JoyBook comes with a one-year local warranty. At BenQ support Web site, laptop owners can download the latest drivers and software updates as well as register for the warranty online. In the event of a hardware failure, the laptop has to be sent to the service center for diagnosis or repair. Telephone support is available. Unfortunately, there is no online database or FAQ to assist users for common issues, though there is an online email form which can be used for this purpose.