Intro
The Panasonic R6 subnotebook computer can be purchased from Japan, through a japanese importer. I recommend http://www.pricejapan.com/, because they are the cheapest.
The computer is very light and very small. It has a 10" screen, however the colours and sharpness is superb. The computer weighs 930 grams or 2.08lbs. The dimensions of the computer are 229 x 187 x 29.4 mm or 9.01 x 7.36 x 1.15 inches.
Specs
It has a Centrino Core 2 Duo U7500 1.06GHz processor, L2 Cache of 2MB, 1.0GB DDR2 SDRAM (max of 2.0GB), 80GB (uATA) harddrive (max HDD is 160GB), 128MB shared video memory, 10.4" XGA TFT screen with native resolution of 1024 x 768. The external resolution supports up to 1600 x 1200.
The battery life is stated as a standard 8 hours, however, it's actual runtime is only 4 hours. I am yet to understand this contradiction.
Some other very nifty features of this subnotebook computer is its "toughness." In the Panasonic labs, the computer withstood a weight of 100kg placed on top of it. It also survived a 76cm or 29.92inch drop, also in the Panasonic labs.
The AC Adapter only weighs 155g, and is very small, about the same size as that for most digital cameras today.
The Panasonic R6 comes in a variety of colours, including silver, grey, orange, teal, pink, red, dark grey. and black.
Additional batteries can be purchased for the Panasonic R6 at about $250USD. However, I recommend buying an external battery pack instead, because it is usually about half the price, and will last twice as long (see my review of the BatteryGeek BG 15-21-130 here).
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Problems
Some problems that I have faced with this computer is overheating. The computer is very quiet because there is no internal cooling fan. This is good because the computer is functionally silent as long as you are not demanding much from the processor. Once you start performing more demanding tasks such as playing audio and/or video, the computer quickly gets very hot (almost unbearable to the touch). This is indeed a problem, because I have found that when the computer is that hot, it slows down in function drastically, and even hangs or freezes. I personally alleviate this problem by having a large room fan blow air directly onto the computer, and this seems to cool down the computer noticably. When the computer is cool, I hardly experience any lag or hanging.
Some problems that I have faced with this computer is overheating. The computer is very quiet because there is no internal cooling fan. This is good because the computer is functionally silent as long as you are not demanding much from the processor. Once you start performing more demanding tasks such as playing audio and/or video, the computer quickly gets very hot (almost unbearable to the touch). This is indeed a problem, because I have found that when the computer is that hot, it slows down in function drastically, and even hangs or freezes. I personally alleviate this problem by having a large room fan blow air directly onto the computer, and this seems to cool down the computer noticably. When the computer is cool, I hardly experience any lag or hanging.
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Conclusion
Despite the overheating of the computer, I would still recommend it for anyone who needs a lightweight, small, powerful, and extremely portable computer. The computer would usually overheat after extended use, perhaps 40min to an hour of performing processor demanding tasks. And although it may get hot, it doesn't always freeze, however, it does slow down in performance speed.
If you are a college or university student, or a worker who mainly does document processing and using the internet for research, this computer will not give you any problems. If you are planning to use this computer for video editing, watching movies, photo editing, etc. for extended periods of time, you should consider the fact that your productivity while performing these tasks may decrease as the computer raises in temperature. Also, bear in mind that the overheating of the computer is mainly centraized around the top-left side of the keyboard, where the processor is located directly beneath.
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Price: $1380USD (http://www.pricejapan.com/)
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1 comment:
The Panasonic R7 is now out. It has a U7600 1.2GHz processor, supports 2GB Max RAM, supports max HDD of 250GB, and has 224MB of video memory (shared).
The Panasonic R7 can be purchased from www.dynamism.com, www.geekstuff4u.com, and conics.net.
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