Starbook 750

CTS Magazine (July '03)

Iridium is a name that should ring bells loudly with anyone that uses or sells laptops. The vendor is capable of meeting the requirements of the most demanding of customers, offering a range of products that are truly designed for a multimedia age. One colleague who went on holiday to Europe recently spoke of his ability to take a laptop with him as a portable entertainment centre, enabling the kids to watch a DVD on the long journey and listen to music in the mobile home. All of that could be done on a laptop that took up barely any room in the boot of a car. My colleague is not alone in finding out how useful laptops can be, and the figures of mobile sales back up gut feelings that this is a technology in demand. There are two things that are really helping to drive up the sales of laptops – Centrino and wireless networking – and both are available now, not just hype.Needless to say, the Starbook S750 comes with Centrino under the hood. The other headline features include 512Mb and 60Gb of memory, a 14in screen and a combi-drive that is both a CDRW and a DVD ROM. The inclusion of Windows XP Pro indicates that this is a device very much aimed at the serious user who wants to be able to take advantage of the power and storage on offer.

Sleek and compact

The design of the laptop deserves a special mention. If you have ever seen an Iridium laptop then you will be familiar with the sleek silver casing that includes a well thought out design of ports, buttons and keyboard. Apart from the port there is nothing else on the back and all the bits and bobs are scattered neatly down the sides and across the front. The keyboard has a nice touch with the numerical pad on the right hand side highlighted in yellow and accessible through the simple pressing of a key.

Laptops from Iridium have been praised before and the company, a division of the Rock Group, has been around for ten years so there need not be too many fears about the brand and reputation. Apart from laptops the company also produces high-quality projectors and has gained some notable reviews in that market. Taking the same approach to the technology, users looking for a stable vendor need not look any further.

On the move

Laptops provide the workhorse platform for the masses of on-the-road sales staff and employees that take work home with them. For those people that rely on mobile technology surely it is a good idea to buy something that is enjoyable to use as well as powerful? I think the S750 is just that and therefore have no hesitation recommending it. This laptop competes with rival products in terms of specifications and design, but where it can move ahead is in the race to provide an enjoyable mobile experience.