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Zepto of Denmark is best known for producing affordable high performance notebooks in the 15.4 and 14.1” form factors, especially the latter as few offer such gaming performance in such a small package. Following on from earlier models, specifically the 6214 with the Geforce go 7600, the 6224W jumps on the latest bandwagons of including Intel’s Santa Rosa processor platform and the latest Nvidia 8000 series graphics cards, famously compatible with DirectX 10. Choices are limited, it’s an 8600M GT or nothing, but few gamers will complain about this.
What consumers might complain about is the rather limited choice of possible configurations. Processors are limited to a 1.8GHz Celeron-M 540, 1.5GHz Core 2 Duo T5250 with 667MHz FSB and just two of the new 800MHz FSB Core 2 Duo T7000 range, the T7100 and T7300 at 1.8 and 2GHz respectively. That said, RAM choice fares much better and the user can choose one, two or four gigabytes in either 667MHz or 800MHz RAM (not available as 4GB). Hard disks range from 80GB to 250GB, 5400rpm and 7200rpm and a rather pointless 32GB SSD option, although it’s good to see it offered even if few will choose it. Batteries are limited to a 6-cell for now, unlike the previous model which could be equipped with a 12-cell, but other options like optical drives and wireless offer the user much to think about.
Zepto notebooks don’t necessarily come with an operating system installed, which is a great option for those of us with a spare XP key sitting unused. Fortunately, unlike many of the new models, Zepto offers the 6224W with Windows XP, which would suggest XP support is still available for those who don’t want to make the switch to Vista yet. How well the new hardware features will work under windows XP is yet to be found out.
System Specs
Build and Design
The initial impression that is given by the 6224W is that of a classy, sleek and uncomplicated design. While it’s not the best looking notebook on the market it’s certainly no pig. The mix of straight lines, flat surfaces and matte and shiny plastic make it feel uncluttered and unimposing.
The screen may not be to everyone’s taste. It’s mounted high up in the lid with the speakers underneath. I find this gives the notebook a feel of being unbalanced. A more centrally mounted screen could reduce the footprint of the notebook but this might create issues with fitting all this hardware into such a small space. It certainly feels smaller and lighter than 15” laptops, the surprisingly thin chassis doing itself no favors with some rather gargantuan rear feet, making it appear much thicker than is the case. In fact, the chassis is barely thicker than the DVD re-writer at the sides. Build seems of good quality at first but the base of the laptop does succumb to some overall flex when twisted which is a feature more indicative of budget machines. The DVD drive is not flush with the side of the machine and sits slightly in from the top edge of the base. This coupled with a fiddly DVD drive eject button means that one usually has to peer to the side of the laptop when opening the DVD rather than doing it by touch as on most other machines. This also makes it awkward to close the drive without slamming it shut.
The Zepto is designed with a mind for having very few external working parts that can go wrong. Is this just fluidity of design or a pointer towards uncompetitive build quality? As a mobile gaming solution this appears to be a good choice, but for mobility in general the laptop seems slightly lacking against competitors with a large footprint for a 14” machine and a heavy weight. The gaming prowess unfortunately adds to the weight, which is similar to that of a 15” machine. |
