Bigger screen or higher specs?

Darius Chang | Jul 30, 2008

A recent NEC launch turned out to be a head scratcher. No, it's not because the Japanese maker has so many products as to confound our minds (there were a total of two products showcased). Nor was the underlying technology so far ahead into the future that only Isaac Asimov could understand.

12.1-inch NEC Versa S5600.

13.3-inch NEC Versa S3500.

What really made our heads spin was that while the NEC Versa S5600 has a 12.1-inch display and the Versa S3500 sports a 13.3-inch one, both have exactly the same chassis, weight and starting price.

Though the press release stated that the former targets business professionals and the latter goes for mainstream road warriors (NEC's words, not ours), we doubted anyone in their right minds would intentionally select the smaller display. After much questioning it turned out that:

The press release had the wrong information, and that the 13.3-inch S3500 weighs 100g more than the 12.1-inch model.

The stated battery life is the same for both models, but in reality, NEC admitted that the S3500's uptime is a little shorter.

Though both have the same starting price, the Versa S5600 will be configured with more powerful components to hit the top-end market, while the S3500 will seek the value crowd with low- to midrange hardware.

Lesson to be learned: The press release tells only part of the story, the other part still requires a lot of diligence seeking out the real facts.

Filed under: Notebooks
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