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The Versa S5600 is said to be an Excellent Mobile Communicator with the
combination of Design, Concept and Performance. Having said that, I was
not blown away by NEC’s latest offering but it will definitely appeal
to those who need a portable business laptop with low power consumption.
Classy or Boring Design?
Not well known for style, NEC gave the S5600 a very plain look. Even though they said it is a classy design, I have to say that it is an extremely boring looking notebook, perfect for those who don’t like being the centre of attention. Enji-designer red is the colour chosen to grace the notebook which chassis was made of durable magnesium alloy. The keyboard had a nice layout with good spacing in between each key. The touchpad also had a reasonably good responsive touch.
Weighing in at 1.9kg with the 4-cell battery, the 303 x 210 x 30mm notebook has a 12.1 inch TFT Colour LCD with Super Shine View technology. I found that the S5600 had pretty good viewing angles, which means that you didn’t have to be directly in front of the screen to have a good view. The built-in mic array and 2.0 megapixel webcam were situated on the top of the screen. Buttons were placed strategically with WiFi, P1 and P2 buttons on top beside the power button. P1 was to activate turbo battery mode where one press will start conserving battery power. Press it again and the notebook goes back to the original settings. P2 on the other hand was to activate the CyberLink YouCam.
Performance
The Versa S5600 comes powered by an Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 @2.40 GHz processor. It had 2 GB of SO-DIMM DDR2 RAM which could be expanded up to 4GB. Included in the notebook was a genuine Windows Vista Business but you also have a choice for Vista Home Premium and Vista Home Basic. As far as performance went, the S5600 did rather well with little lag and handling multitasking with ease.
Don’t expect much graphic performance from the S5600 as being a business minded notebook it isn’t really setup for high graphics. You can play some games on it but he Mobile Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X4500 HD is setup more for media playing and some basic graphics. A Realtek sound chip was included as well and the speakers located above the keyboard. Sound quality is what you’d expect out of a notebook of the S5600 class passable but not great, so be prepared to invest in some headphones.
Battery
This is probably the best feature of the S5600 with both 4-cell and 8-cell batteries provided. The 4-cell battery is said to be able to achieve 2 hours and 50 minutes of usage. I kept applications to a minimum and a non stop usage of 2 and a half hours was managed. With the 8-cell battery, 5 hours of juice can be squeezed from it. Under heavy usage, it can last for approximately 4 hours and a half. A power outlet is definitely not needed everywhere you go if you opt for the 8-cell.
Other Facts
NEC had the sense to put in 3 USB slots which is definitely a much needed boost since most notebooks nowadays only have two. Heat was not a big issue with the S5600. I was able to leave it on my lap without having to put a pillow in between. Most of the heat was taken out by the fan so the vents are of course the warmest.
Verdict
The NEC S5600 looks like it is primarily set up to be a business machine though dressed up more to attract the general consumer as well. NEC does have a lot to prove in the current local notebook market and the S5600 is a good step in that direction. So if you’re looking for a relatively good looking notebook for business, the NEC S5600 might strike you as something to consider.
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