Laptop (short) review - LG LS70 3JJE 1.8Ghz

I bought my laptop 16 months ago. It's the LG LS70 3JJE to which I increased the memory.

Specification

CPU: Intel® Pentium® M 1.86GHz (750) ,533MHz FSB, 2MB L2

Memory: 1024MB DDR2 533MHz (Dual channel) - 2048MB (increased from the standard 512MB)

Screen: 15 " XGA (1024x768), High Brightness: 200nit

Graphics card: ATI Radeon X600 64MB

Hard drive: Fujitsu 60GB (SATA) 5400 RPS

DVD-R/RW: DVD-R/RW Super Multi support most burning formats

Wireless: Intel® PRO/Wireless 2200BG (802.11b/g)

Modem: 56Kbps

Network card: 10/100/1000 on board

Card reader: MMC, Secure Digital

PCMCIA: Express Card/54, PCMCIA Type II

Audio: High Definition Audio (24 bit)

Connectors: S-Video,RJ-45, RJ-11, VGA, USB 2.0x4, MIC-IN, IrDA, S/PDIF, IEEE1394,PARALLEL

General impression

This laptop is a charm. Its specification is comparable to the IBM T42 and at a significantly lower price it gives it a pretty good fight. It's fast, excellent screen, all necessary add-ons are build-in, smooth install. I'm really happy with this buy. The only thing I would have done otherwise, on hindsight, is buy it with 2GB memory instead of 1GB.

Pros

• Fast - the CPU is one of the fastest in the pre-dual-core era, fast memory access, etc.
• Excellent graphics (card and monitor)
• Smooth installation - the CD that comes with it includes Windows XP Pro and has everything you need in it. I installed it from scratch with it, and it was really easy - no need for any other external disk.
• Every possible connector, including FireWire, 4xUSB 2 ports and SD card reader, all of which have been very useful to me.
• Not too heavy, if you consider the size of the screen (and the alternatives)
• In Israel it's sold with 3 years warranty (1 international). I didn't need it, but it's important to know you have it (and worth another 100-200$)
• If it matters to you (it doesn't to me) - it has a cool look. Many people at the university started asking me questions about it only because it looks neat.

Cons

• Expensive - although you're given excellent value for your money, it's still not a cheap deal, even today. So if you don't need all these specs, you can certainly find something that will suit your needs at much cheaper.
• Heat - It heats up pretty fast, and when it does, it's really hot. It does cool down very fast, once you turn it off, but still. Working with it on your knees, especially on a hot summer day, it totally out of the question.
• Hard drive is too small. A laptop like this is aimed at the enthusiast, who certainly need much more disk space than the poor 60GB.
• Graphics card does not provide 24bit colors (16 or 32, but no 24). My home monitor is a Samsung SyncMaster 910v, which has the best output when given 24bit colors. I know this sounds weird, but that's the way it is - when I checked with my old PC, when the graphics was configured at 24 bits the output was better than with 32 bits. Not the end of the world, just annoying.
• Sound is rather weak and not very rich. Buy some good external speakers and you'll be fine.

All'n'all, it's a really good machine, that even managed to surpass my already high expectations. I'm pretty sure that next time I buy a laptop, LG will be on the top of my potential brands!