A fantastic specification notebook with all the trimmings you’d expect to find on more expensive notebooks, the Joybook 8100-V13 has a 15.4in widescreen WXGA with native 1280 x 800 resolution. With ATI’s Mobility RADEON 9600 graphics, boasting 64MB dedicated video memory, it’s great for DVD playback or gaming — the unit returned 9,502 marks under 3DMark01SE Pro, more than enough to provide comfortable gameplay with a decent number of fps even in recent games. BenQ has gone as far as to include not just a DVD-ROM for DVD movie playback, but an optical DVD writer, capable of 2-speed DVD+R media writing, ideal for both business archiving or for personal backup.

The Joybook 8100-v13 also comes supplied with a remote control, which works in conjunction with the pre-installed Q-Media centre software to allow you to control your DVD playback remotely. What sort of DVD experience would be complete without the full surround sound experience? BenQ has that covered, with an optical Toslink output socket located on the rear of the unit, letting you run audio to an existing home theatre set up. Front mounted infrared, audio controls and speakers meant everything was readily accessible, although lap bound use may result in muffled sound with speakers covered by clothing.

As the unit is a part of the Centrino platform, it also includes an Intel 802.11b wireless module and the 855 series chipset, validated for use with Centrino hotspots around the country. At nearly three kilos, it’s not the lightest notebook, but for a widescreen model like this it’s well balanced. However, it may not appeal to road warriors, who might prefer something smaller and lighter such as the Fujitsu Lifebook P5020 (Issue 78, page 56)

For users who would like to restore their system to its former glory, BenQ includes a set of recovery CDs – it’s as simple as putting the discs in and restarting the system. Although both the Toshiba and Sony recovery process in our Labs this month restores drivers as well as operating system, the Joybook 8100-V13 restores only the OS, the drivers then need to be re-added manually from the second CD. A fantastic notebook with plenty to brag about, it’s attractive, functional and a real speed demon — definitely worth checking out for anyone in the market for a new entertainment ‘book.