Hidden Gem
Written: Nov 24 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Small & light, gorgeous display, good battery life (with power management)
Cons: Minor finish problems, keyboard smaller than normal, extended battery covers network port, only one PC Card slot
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| mwmayo's Full Review: Sharp Actius A250 (PCA250) PC Notebook |
I bought this notebook for Law School, not expecting it to turn heads like some sports car! Still, besides its stylish design and smaller-than-a-piece-of-paper size and <3 pounds weight, this baby is a workhorse. At the time, the choices were between this, an overpriced Sony, a Toshiba, and the Dell Lattitude LS... now more companies seem to be jumping into this market segment... but the Actius remains the hidden gem.
True it makes some trade-offs for its small & light form factor, it also packs in the features. A Pentium II processor, amazing 11" crisp, bright active matrix display; built in 10-baseT networking (Ethernet), a PC Card slot (PCMCIA), sound in/out, two USB ports, IR data port (compatible with HP printers, and anything else supporting IR standards), VGA video out, and a built-in fax/modem. The included external floppy drive (uses a proprietary connector not to take up any of the other ports) includes legacy serial, parallel, and PS/2-style keyboard/mouse ports. There is also an extended battery that latches on the back of the system to more than double battery life. And the included AC adapter is the smallest, lightest I've seen.
About those trade-offs... most are minor. There is only one PC Card (PCMCIA) slot, but with advance planning you can work around this with the two USB ports (e.g., get a USB CD-ROM drive and use the PC Card slot for wireless networking)... also, the slot only works with Type I and Type II cards (which are most), not the double-thick Type III cards. There's no built-in CD or DVD drive, but personally I prefer using an external when needed.
In one of two bona-fide design glitches, the extended battery covers the VGA video out port and--more annoyingly--the Ethernet port. Though when I think about it, few people would need both at the same time (if you're plugging into a network, odds are there's a power outlet around, too)... I still wish they mounted it on the bottom. The other, more serious, glitch is cosmetic: after about one year, I noticed my thumb had worn through the silver finish in the middle of the left button below the trackpad, leaving a dull grey plastic. (I'm not sure if this has happened to other people, but it's a demoralizing and makes it look like you live on your computer...) I can't fully blame Sharp, the trackpad does let you "click" by tapping on the pad. I guess I'm just old fashioned! (The right button is still the nice silver color.)
Key size (the size of the keyboard) may be an issue for some people. Be sure to test-drive the keyboard before purchasing. While much better than most of the competition I tested (Sharp used some trick to make the keyboard feel larger, let them explain it!), my touch-typing definitely takes some adjustment if I am switching between the Actius and a standard-size keyboard. Nothing traumatic, but I've written some pretty garbled e-mails without looking...
All-in-all, a great value... it literally hides in a backpack or briefcase (PORT makes a neoprene wetsuit-type cover that's perfect for protecting it in these cases); and two years later, I'm still hearing "Is that a computer?" when I open it up. Sharp's continued to update the Actius, but new or used, this notebook's a winner.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
mwmayo
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Reviews written: 4
Trusted by: 0 members
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