Novatech Xplora E16 Home Laptop Video Review

[aruffell]

Just thought i would update everyone with a review that i did for the Novatech Xplora E16 home laptop.

Thought i would spam the link on here and get people's feelings and opinions on the review, and im sure Charmaine at Novatech would love to hear what you all think of the product in question.

Here is the link and enjoy watching the video review:

http://www.eteknix.com/reviews/novatech-xplora-e16-home-laptop-video-review/

Andy

[NeilX90]

Hi Andy,

Just watched your review and I think you were spot on the money with your conclusions. However, can I suggest that the video doesn't really target either the PC-enthusiast who knows what the transfer rates of HDs/bandwith of RAM mean or the person who just wants to know what the screen is like when used in daylight ? Ok... so the HD transfers this amount of data per second... how does that compare to similarly priced laptops from Dell or Asus ?

It's also a strange of mix of techy benchmarks and 'you plug your laptop into the mains here' comments. The E16 is aimed at the bottom end of the laptop market so why not show it running Photoshop, maybe rendering in 3d Max, or tell us how long it takes to export a 30 minute video in Media Maker ? For the same audience, perhaps they'd like to know *why* an AMD processor is used instead of a Core 2. We both know why, but Joe Bloggs who just wants a good, value-for-money, machine won't.

Overall, though, I can't argue with your conclusions. For the same money as some of these top-end netbooks, you could have an E16 which is far superior in terms of performance. Also bear in mind that (unless I am horribly mistaken on this particular model), Novatech don't actually manufacture the laptops; they import chassis from well-known chassis producers such as Clevo and Uniwill, and then outfit them according to price. You may well see the same basic machine with a different badge on it in the market.

Having never done an official review of a product, I appreciate it's easy to criticise, but from a buyer's point of view I would liked to have seen more 'focus' on a particular market. Either review it for the layman or the enthusiast - it's difficult to do both together.

That said, I am buying one for my parents for Christmas. It's perfect for them. Photos, video editing, internet. You also forgot to mention the enormous 'support team' here on the forums and the excellent customer service from the company itself - you will find the odd thread-of-winge but it is always addressed by Nova staff.

That is why my £300 is going to Nova and not to Dell or any of the other mass-market producers.

[henz]

I also watched your review and enjoyed it although I have to say I agree with NeilX90's comments about the mix of techy and non-techny aspects - As a professional reviewer myself I would air on the techy side because the "non-techy" people who don't understand the facts and figures tend to be more impressed by them, especially when comparing them to alternative computers of a similar price.

I am in fact in the process writing a review of the X16 - the E16's more powerful brother which uses an almost identical chassis (although without the rubber gromits!).