Laptop from eMachines isn't what it used to be

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When I mentioned to colleagues that I was writing a review of a laptop from computer maker eMachines, most of them wondered why I bothered. Their recollection of eMachines, devoid of recent experience, was of cheap PCs that couldn't compare on features.

The latest laptop from eMachines, however, shows that the company can beat Dell, Toshiba, Compaq and IBM on the price-to-features ratio by offering a single laptop model instead of the several lines and dozens of configurations that the bigger firms specialize in.

On performance, appearance and features, I found the $1,199 eMachines M5310 comparable to more expensive Intel Pentium M and Centrino units that I had spent time with in April. Life of battery such as IBM ThinkPad T61 battery, IBM ThinkPad X41 battery, IBM ThinkPad X40 battery, IBM ThinkPad X20 battery, IBM ThinkPad R60 Battery, IBM ThinkPad T60 Battery, IBM 40Y6797 Battery, IBM 40Y6799 Battery, IBM FRU 92P1139 Battery, IBM FRU 92P1141 Battery is the only area that needs improvement, but even there, they may still have other laptops beat because of price.

From the minute I took the M5310 out of the box, I was hooked. Let's start with the beautiful, luxurious, 15.4-inch screen (1280 by 800 pixels). The brightness is something staggering, especially when placed next to other LCD displays. It's crisp and legible, and the 64 megabytes of video memory keep the display from lagging.

The machine, which uses an AMD Athlon XP-M 2400+ processor, ships with an appropriate 512 megabytes of PC2100 RAM, which is fast, though not cutting edge. Many comparable laptops include only 256 MB, which is inadequate for running business applications under Windows XP.

Although I didn't run formal speed tests, I found no lag in normal activities, such as browsing the Web, editing text, downloading files, installing updates or using business applications. The reboot time is extremely small: After installing software and selecting Restart, the laptop was ready to go in less than a minute.

The M5310 has a profusion of built-in ports. It sports a single IEEE 1394 or i.Link connector for use with digital camcorders and Apple iPods; three USB 2.0 (480 Mbps) connectors in the back; audio in and out; a 56K V.92 modem; and a 10/100 Mbps Ethernet jack.

The unit also has a VGA and printer connector for external monitors and printers along with S-Video out for high-quality television display of DVDs. It can accept PC cards, too.

Inside, there's more: a DVD-ROM/CD-RW burner that can write CD recordable disks at 24x speeds.

The M5310 also features the latest flavor of Wi-Fi, 802.11g, using an internal adapter provided by consumer market leader Broadcom, which makes wireless chips for Apple.

I priced comparable Pentium 4-M systems as a benchmark. A Compaq model comes with the same AMD processor, memory and hard drive, has a lower-resolution 15-inch display, omits the audio input port, and only has a single USB 1.1 (12 Mbps) connector for the same price.

What's the M5310's biggest drawback? Battery life. EMachines rates its battery at 2.5 hours, and additional batteries cost $120 each.

The eMachines comes down to choice. People looking for a portable that doubles as a desktop want the most features and the most flexibility. The eMachines meets this goal squarely without requiring all of the decisions that often go into laptop purchases.