ViewSonic ViewBook VNB120

ViewSonic may be a name more readily associated with monitors rather than laptops, but the ViewBook VNB120 is the latest in its line of low-cost ultraportables — it announced its first netbook, the VieBook (no, not a typo), at last year’s CES.

The ViewBook VNB120 is the smallest and cheapest model in a range of four portables that ViewSonic announced just before Xmas. It’s a 12.1” ULV laptop with a 1.2GHz dual-core Celeron processor — hardly a powerhouse then, but at around £469, the VNB120 is temptingly priced.

The ViewBook VNB120 is available in two colours — black and the white we reviewed. We liked the look of the white model — it’s pure white, rather than some variant shade, and the matte texture used for much of the case goes well with the glossy lid. It’s a slim netbook and, at 1.52kg, not too heavy, but while there’s little else that’s remarkable about its looks, there are a couple of design foibles worth mentioning.

The first is that when closed, the front edge of the lid presses down on the trackpad button and will click it with just a little pressure. This isn’t a problem per se, since it won’t bring Windows out of Sleep mode, but it does sound like something expensive is breaking the first time it happens.

The other minor problem is with the battery. The large 48Wh pack protrudes from the ViewBook VNB120’s underside and tilts the keyboard at a comfortable angle for typing, but its smooth finish provides no purchase for prising it out. Trickier still is that the two spring-loaded battery catches at either side need to be held open at the same time to release the battery and in the absence of a third hand, the option is to up-end the netbook and shake it. Not a problem if you never remove the battery of course, but a bit of pain if you plan to carry a spare.

The inside of the ViewBook VNB120 is as white as the outside, with the exception of a couple of silver flourishes. One is the metal-covered hinge running below the screen that also houses the speaker. Its ‘holey’ finish reminded us of the foil on an electric razor — it looks a lot nicer than it sounds, honest. The other is a circular silver power button with a crescent-shaped white LED on one side — a refreshing change from ubiquitous blue.

The chassis needed to accommodate a 12.1” screen means that there’s plenty of room for a full-size keyboard and ViewSonic has opted for a traditional key design (no low-profile layout here) that nonetheless shrinks a few punctuation keys to fit everything in. It’s rock-solid across its entire width though, and very pleasant to type on, so no complaints here.

ViewSonic hasn’t resisted the vogue for a trackpad that’s a seamless part of the laptop’s palm-rest, but the ViewBook VNB120’s matte finish means that there are none of the sticky finger problems that plague models made from shinier plastic. The pad supports multi-touch gestures and, although a bit on the small side, it works well — it could do with more than just a faint ridge along two sides to mark out the touch-sensitive area, though, not too mention a fatter button.

If you find 1366 x 768 resolutions a bit hard on the eyes with small screens (the Samsung X120 crams it into its 11.6” display, for example), the ViewBook’s pairing of a 12.1” screen and 1280 x 800 resolution should prove more comfortable. The matte finish means that there are no glare problems, and the display is both and clear. Again, no complaints.

We’ve already suggested that the Intel Celeron SU2300 processor inside the ViewBook VBN120 is no powerhouse — it’s a ULV chip that’s clocked at 1.2GHz — and this is borne out in our tests. It feels nippy enough when using applications, but it’s a bit too sluggish for much more than typical productivity stuff and lacks the grunt to play HD YouTube videos at a watchable frame-rate (although this may be addressed by Flash 10.1 — it uses the Intel GMA HD4500M graphics chipset to accurate video).

Battery life isn’t bad though, and the ViewBook VNB120 managed just over two and a half hours in BatteryEater Classic, and a very credible five and a half hours in BatteryEater Reader — which is just as well given the rigmarole involved in swapping batteries…

The ViewBook doesn’t appear to be available online anywhere at the time of writing, but ViewSonic quotes a price of £469 inc VAT.