Everex StepNote XT5000T desktop replacement laptop runs Vista for $800

The Everex XT5000T is the first laptop you should consider if you are on a budget and are looking for a desktop replacement laptop but don’t want to break the bank. You don’t get the most powerful hardware, or long battery life but what you do get more than makes up for the shortcomings.

Notebook Review says this is the same laptop as the Fujitsu Amilo XA 1526 which is sold in Europe; the Everex was adapted for the US market and is made by Fujitsu so this isn?t really some off-brand product as some might have thought.

It comes with a 17″ DiamondBright “glossy” display with a resolution of 1440 x 900 and a dedicated Geforce Go 7600 graphics card with 256MB of DDR2 memory which is rare for a laptop in this price range. It will play most games at decent but not maxed settings.

The XT5000T also has several features that are uncommon on laptops. There are two hard drive bays though one is occupied by the 100GB drive it ships with, you can add more storage just by installing a second hard drive.

Some users may find the standard 1GB of memory rather limiting since it does ship with Vista Premium edition but that’s okay because there is an additional (unoccupied) memory slot just waiting for an upgrade. With 1GB sticks now running around $40 or less, how can you afford not to upgrade? Provided you can install it yourself, that is. It supports a maximum of 4GB (Vista will only recognize 3GB).

As stated earlier, the processor isn’t the best, being a Turion 64×2 TL-50 at 1.66GHz, it will get you through most tasks just fine but processor intensive applications are best left to faster Turions or Intel Core 2 Duo processors.

The optical drive is an 8x DVD+RW dual layer drive, pretty standard these days. Other features include: three USB ports, a DVI/TV out port, Mic in, headphone in, IrDA, a modem, a standard LAN port, an Express Card54 slot, FireWire port and 4-in-1 media card reader.

Also, there is only 802.11b/g WiFi support where more expensive laptops will include support for “a” and “n” networks as well.

All desktop replacement laptops tend to be on the heavy side and this one comes in just under 9lbs with the battery installed. Be prepared to add in the weight of the adapter as well because battery life was relatively short at just less than two hours. There is a switch on the laptop for “low power mode” this cuts both processor cores to 800MHz and cuts the wattage by half, power going to the graphics card is reduced as well so if you are just reading email or browsing the web, this mode will eke out a few more minutes of battery life.

Some have said the laptop isn’t very stylish and the keyboard is a little awkward in the US version but it doesn’t look that bad. Considering what you’re getting for $800, complaining about the keyboard and style, isn’t so much of a big deal, buy this laptop and you’ll be able to splurge on accessories (or not, depending on what you need).

The Everex XT5000T is available from Newegg for $800 not including shipping or applicable taxes.

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