HardwareZone has reviewed an unusual notebook. This mobile PC is powered by Transmeta Efficeon TM-8600 microprocessor clocked at 1.00GHz with 1MB of L2 cache supported by 1024MB of DDR memory. See what alternative there is to the Intel's Centrino brand in the value segment of the mobile PC market.

?As for the ECS532 notebook, it demonstrated low power consumption with decent performance as proven in our suite of benchmarks. Office applications ran well and with its discrete XGI Volari-XP5 video controller, the notebook could even satisfy the light appetite of occasional gamers. Available for less than S$1,400 (depending on configurations), the notebook's lack of Bluetooth, Infrared and PCMCIA slots can easily be forgiven. As bare to the bone it may be, the unit does not shortchange in the usual set of connectivity ports. Potential owners of the ECS 532 will get four high-speed USB 2.0 ports, two video output ports, a parallel printer port, Gigabit LAN and 802.11b/g WiFi. In addition to these, the notebook still boasts of a generous 15-inch LCD screen and a Combo drive. Together with the video output options and S/PDIF audio, the ECS 532 is an extremely affordable entertainment deck to own.?concludes the article.

• HardwareZone: ECS 532 15-inch Notebook (Transmeta Efficeon)