My experience so far with Zepto 6625

Introduction
I am writing my experience as regards the Zepto 6625, I've had this laptop for about 9 months now and has used it as a destop replacement. The intention of this pot is to give a relatively detailed description of the machine.

Keyboard and Touchpad
I found the keyboard relatvely comfortable , al though i must say it is not one of the best components of this machine. Many reviews argue that the keyboard is way too flimsy and has a poor build quality. In my opinion it has a nice feeling although i agree that sometimes it feels a bit too flexible. I have used a lot the integrated keyboard and find it quite comfartable when using it for extended time.

The touchpad area is not in any way detached from the palmrest (and the rest of the laptop). A negative aspect of this physical factor is that many times one would hit the touchpad accidently...this can be very annoying until one gets used to it. However on the bright side the touchpad comes with a very good software.

Overall Rating of Keyoard and touchpad - 6.5/10


Screen and Grapics Card
One of the very very positive things which are integrated in this machine are the glossy screen and the graphics card (Nvidia 8600M GT). As regards to the screen it has a maximum resolution of 1680 x 1080 which is excellent for a laptop. The graphic card is also very reliable (being Nvidia), altough inevitabely under heavy use it tends to caus the laptop to heat up. I must underline that i have NEVER HAD OVERHEATING ISSUES. However strongly suggest to provide active cooling (by means of cooling pads ) when using tha machine in warm environments (~above 28 degrees Celcius).

Overall Rating of Screen and Graphics Card - 9/10


Connectivity
The Zepto 6625 comes with various connections which are :
1. 2 + 2 Usb 2.0
2. 5 in 1 Media Card Reader
3. Express card Slot
4. Gigabyte Ethernet
5. Modem
6. Firewire
7. Microphone and Headphone Jack
8. VGA output - unfortunatly not DVI
9. S Video Out
10. Integrated Microphone

This machine has also built in Bluetooth, A/B/G/N Wifi and Infra Red
As one may see the machine provides all necessary connections one might need.
The machine also has a DVD RW drive (not slot in)

Overall Rating for Connectivity - 8/10


Multimedia
The machine has a 1.3 Mega pixel camera, which is lauched from the area just above the keyboard. There is also a shortcut button to access the mail (launches Microsoft Outlook), and also another button used to lauch the default Internet Browser. The buttons labelled P1 and P2, may be set by the user. I found the latter to be very very handy especcially whenever i need to access repeatedly certain folders or applications, these shortcut buttons are configured by the user.

Just below, the keybard there are 5 buttons which work perfectly with Windows media player, these are also very practical since one can toggle from one song to another witout having maximise the Windows Media Player window.

The machine also comes with built in stereo speakers , which produce a very loud (and i mean it) an clear sound, which is a very good aspect when considering their size.


Ovrall Rating - 7.5/10

Mobility
Fact : This machine weighs 2.7 kgs.
This is not the most mobile laptop that there is out there on the market and if you are seeking a laptop that is very thin, not bulky and highly mobile, than think again.

Although it is not ultra portable it is a very good choice for that user who wants to carry a high performance machine every now and then. In fact i use it a lot on campus, so it is not that bad after all.

Overall Rating - Mobility 6/10

Battery Life
After 9 months , this machine charges to full in about 2 hours.Battery life is mostly affected by factors.
1. Screen Brightness
2. Wireless (wether it is turned on or off)

With wireless on the system only gives about 1.1 hrs at most but with wireless off it gives 2 hours. These spans were recoreded when using a 6 cell battery. This is one of those aspects which need an improvement of the machine. However as rgaards to consumption, i must point out that the processor of my machine is a 65 nm , now that the 45 nm are more common on the market the battery life is certainly prolonged. I strongly suggenst potntial buyers to opt for the 45 nm chips.

Overall Rating - Battery life 5.5/10

Conclusion
In one sentence this machine is most suitable for that person which wants to reach a compromise between mobility and performance. It is especially suited for those persons who want a high performance machine but do not want a desktop computer, but something smaller and with the possibilty to carry it around.

 

Have you had any hardware problems? As there seems to be a lot of problems with Inventec machines?

 

Well not really the only moinor issue that i had was a broken cursor key, as for the rest of the hardware i 've had no problems at all.

 

The wireless seems to make a big difference to the power consumption. Do you close the web browser when you turn the wireless off? I have found that Flash content can cause a lot of CPU activity (and hence reduced battery time) even if you are not looking at the web page. I use Firefox + Flashblock to stop this.

John

 

Well no ...but i will try that and see if it affects. So you are saying that if I turn off the wireless and do NOT clos firefox it will still consume some battery ?

 

Yes, cutting the internet connection but leaving Firefox running (if there is Flash content) will definitely consume power. It may also consume significant power without Flash (I haven't checked).

The easy way to find out is add the CPU Time column to Task Manager and then see how much this cumulative time increases under different operating conditions. My Firefox (30+ tabs open) is using about 5% of the total CPU time, and that's with Flash blocked.

John

 

Well It was good that we got a positive thread too here, and not only problems

(I also own the 6625, and very happy so far)

 

Well I agree with you Sprint , but on the other hand it is quite natural for problems to emerge in a forum.

I wish to see more unboxings and video reviews on Youtube !!!!