X-bit labs

14" Widescreen: Most Optimal Solution? 10 Contemporary Notebooks Roundup (page 15)

Category: Mobile

by Vasily Melnik

[ 06/07/2006 | 10:56 PM ]

On the notebook’s back panel there is a battery, video output, modem and LAN sockets, and a power adapter connector.

So, they placed at the back everything that indeed should be there but nothing else (like USB ports). The remaining connectors are located on the notebook’s sides. Two USB ports at a long enough distance from each other are on the left panel next to a D-Sub connector for an external monitor, a FireWire port and a set of audio connectors:

And this is the right panel:

Besides the DVD-burner, traditional for systems of this level, there is one USB port and an ExpressCard/34 slot like in the LW40. You should be aware that manufacturers of PC peripherals aren’t very eager to produce expansion cards for this progressive slot, but there are a lot of notebooks on the market that have both ExpressCard and PCMCIA slots.

The pearl-white keyboard has a standard layout:

LG traditionally combines Delete and Insert in one button. Otherwise, everything’s ordinary. The arrow keys are separate from the rest of the keyboard:

A row of text navigation buttons is on the right:

They also serve as display brightness controls. The touchpad matches the overall design concept of this notebook:

It is almost invisible. The sensitive area is only half a millimeter below the level of the case, the buttons aren’t conspicuous against the background.