Want to buy a laptop? - This Winbook has been a workhorse!
Written: Apr 18 '01 (Updated Apr 18 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Very solid and rugged
Cons: It is obsolete already!
The Bottom Line: It is obsolete now, but this Winbook just keeps on truckin'. I would highly recommend the Winbook line of laptop computers.
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| rbinck's Full Review: Winbook XL2 366 |
Winbook XL2
A friend of mine had bought a Winbook XL2 and after giving me a run through of all of its features, I was sold. I travel between Texas and Hawaii and needed a laptop computer that was powerful enough to do all of my computing and had a large and bright display so I wouldn’t have to buy an external monitor to be able to use it.
Basic Specifications
The model selected came with a 366 MHz Pentium II ™ processor, 64mb of ram, and a 4 GB hard drive. Disk drive features include a DVD/CD-ROM drive, a LS120 combination 1.44MB floppy and 120MB Superdisk™ drive that is compatible with the 120MB media. This is very handy for storage of JPEG files from a digital camera. I have a Kodak 2 Megapixel digital camera and the files can be quite large and the 120MB media can hold about 150 of the highest resolution pictures.
Obsolete
The XL2 is pretty well obsolete now and I had some question whether this epinion was worth writing. Then the thought occurred to me that some people would be interested in how the Winbook computers have worked out for a user over several years. Well, that is not possible in reading an epinion on the latest and greatest model because the new computers haven’t been around that long. So the only way for anyone to know how a manufacturer’s product holds up over time is to have an epinion on an obsolete model available, so here goes.
Screen
This is the best part of the Winbook XL2 in my opinion. It is a 14-inch TFT ultra bright LCD display that I can use even in daylight. The brightness allows me to use the Winbook just like a desktop and since it has a DVD drive included, I can watch a movie of my choosing on the airplane rides. There is a little dithering noise on some movies, but overall it is very watchable. The color is true to life and there doesn’t seem to have any problem with fast action showing trailing ghosts like some other LCD screens I’ve seen.
Connections for External Equipment
Like most laptop computers the Winbook XL2 has connections for external equipment. If you wish to use a CRT type monitor there is a VGA connection on the rear. You may also connect a PS2 keyboard, serial mouse, parallel printer and a USB device on the rear also. I use the USB to connect my digital camera to retrieve the snapshots I have taken. Any other USB device may also be connected to the USB port.
Also on the rear are connections for connecting a TV or VCR. Here you have two choices depending on the type connection you have on the external video equipment. The two video connections are S-video and composite video. The S-video is preferred if your TV will accept it as the quality of the picture will be better than the composite video. I find the S-video to work out very well for me to use the computer as a DVD player.
The audio connections are on the right side and include the audio output that can either drive a set of headphones, or be connected into your audio input for watching movies. A line input jack is also provided for hooking up something like a tape player and an external microphone jack is provided should you wish to use one in lieu of the internal microphone. We use dialpad.com for making long distant phone calls and using the headphones with the internal microphone works out very well, although some times the other person could hear the internal fan when it would come on. This may be a use for an external microphone or a headset.
On the left side of the computer is a 56k telephone modem connection. Also on each side there is a PCMCIA card slot allowing a total of two PCMCIA cards to be connected to the computer. I use one of these with a network card to connect to my desktop for printer use and transferring files. Other features include an infrared bus on the right hand side and a bus expansion port in the rear.
Other features
For on the go computing there is a touch pad mouse and a joystick mouse. The touch pad is what I use and after a little practice it becomes very natural and easy to operate. Below the touch pad there are the two left and right mouse pushbuttons. The touch pad is located in such a manner that you have to reach over the touch pad to get to the keyboard. As such it is easy to accidentally touch the pad and cause an unwanted mouse click to occur. This takes quite a bit of getting used to, but even this is mastered after a while.
Reliability
I use my Winbook everyday and have for better than two years now and it has performed flawlessly. The Winbook people have integrated the ATI display, the sound equipment, and the disk drives in a manner where there is never any problems and /or crashes due to driver incompatibility. This is one great thing about the use of a laptop over a desktop. All of the devices are tested as a unit and seems to be more bullet proof.
Uses
I have used my Winbook for all manner of uses. I use the Windows 98™ operating system and application software includes Quicken™, QuickBooks™, MGI Photosuite™, Microsoft Word™, Microsoft Excel™, Microsoft Access™, MusicMatch Jukebox™, Microsoft Explorer™, Microsoft Outlook™, and Microsoft PowerPoint™.
Music
I use my Winbook to store .mp3 files from my music library on my desktop back in Texas. When I go to Hawaii, I will load my favorites onto my Winbook and in addition to a great computer I have a great jukebox. With the use of a cassette tape adapter plugged into the headphone jack and an AC power inverter, I can take my Winbook on cross-country trips to provide tunes all the way. With the aid of CD’s burned by my desktop, all 9000 tunes are available.
Pictures
As I mentioned before I use the Winbook to offload my digital camera. With the aid of software, I can resize photos and upload them onto the Internet so that family and friends can keep track of our travels. Using the LS120 Superdisk™ allows me to offload the hard drive of my Winbook with each disk holding about 150 photographs at the maximum resolution of my camera. Using the s-video connected to my big screen TV, I load up MGI Photosuite™ slide show and we all sit back and watch the pictures. Now the quality of the picture on the TV is not like it is on a high resolution CRT monitor, but it is as good as my video recorder. I haven’t done it yet, but I’m sure I could feed the video into my VHS recorder and make a tape to send to someone to view on their VCR. I could even narrate the show!
Battery Life
The Winbook uses a LION (lithium Ion) smart battery that is very good about not taking a memory like some of the earlier laptops did in the past. I still find that to get maximum battery life the batteries need to be cycled like earlier units, but the degradation is much less if you don’t cycle them than the earlier laptop batteries. I can usually get about two hours or so on a full charge, which is enough to watch a movie on a trip, so not too shabby. I did get a second battery, but have rarely had to use it.
Summary
If the new models work as well and last like my XL2 unit has, I would say you can not go wrong with a Winbook. The XL models have been discontinued and the new models are the Z1, X1, Si and the J1. No matter which model you buy you will be getting a rugged, top-notch unit that should provide you with many trouble free years of Mobil computing. Mobil computing with the power of a desktop.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 2499
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Epinions.com ID:
rbinck
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 - Top 500 |
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Member: Richard Binckley
Location: Houston, Texas
Reviews written: 125
Trusted by: 26 members
About Me:
Retired A/V professional, likes Hawaii and Classic Cars
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