Heavy hitters such as Acer, Dell, and Lenovo are entering the mini-notebook space in droves, but a lightbulb manufacturer? Sylvania, manufacturer of electrical equipment, has ambitiously slapped its brand on an 8.9-inch mini-notebook (also known as the Amtek Elego) made by a company called Digital Gadgets. The tiny keyboard on the $399 Sylvania g Netbook Meso will be a dealbreaker for some, but solid performance from its Intel Atom processor and revamped Ubuntu Netbook Remix operating system somewhat redeem it.
Small, Flavorless Design
The soft pink Sylvania g Netbook Meso (also available in black, white, and yellow) looks good from afar, but up close it might have been just slapped together. Sporting a boxy look and plastic chassis, the g Meso resembles a portable DVD player more than it does a notebook. Also, some of the system’s parts don’t match: The light gray keyboard on our pink unit didn’t match the rest of the matte white interior; the black-on-black keyboard and deck for the black system looked better. Nevertheless, the build quality felt solid overall.
The size and weight of the g Meso is standard fare for an 8.9-inch system. At 9.2 x 6.9 x 1.3 inches and just 2.6 pounds, it weighs the same as the Eee PC 901 and is similar in size to the HP Mini-Note 2133. It is, however, a bit thicker and heavier than the Acer Aspire one. With a travel weight of 3 pounds with its AC adapter, the system felt almost nonexistent when we tossed it into a shoulder bag.
The g Meso is well equipped with ports; three USB ports and VGA, Ethernet, headphone, and microphone jacks surround the system. An SD Card reader is on the right side.
Decent Screen, Tinny Audio
The 8.9-inch, 1024 x 600-pixel resolution matte screen provides enough space to fit windows to size and looked sharp from a variety of angles when we watched an episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia on Hulu.com, but colors were still somewhat muted. Horizontal viewing angles were better than those on the Aspire one, and vertically tilting the screen caused only a bit of glare. Above the display is a 0.3-megapixel webcam that served up disappointingly muted images when videoconferencing with a friend over Skype. Video quality improved significantly when we tilted the screen down, away from the light.
Unlike most other netbooks, the g Meso’s speakers are positioned below the screen on the bottom bezel. Though this placement is better than burying the speakers on the bottom of the system, they add significant height to the system’s lid when it’s open. The speakers were loud but produced predictably tinny audio.
Cramped Keyboard, Loud Mouse Buttons
The keyboard on the g Meso is disappointing and similar to that of the original ASUS Eee PC 701 or the Everex CloudBook. Actually, it’s worse. The layout is not meant for touch typists (for those, we recommend the Acer Aspire one and the HP 2133 Mini-Note); our hands were cramped, and we frequently made typos, especially because the system lacks a right Shift key. Additionally, the system has an unnecessary row of Function keys, which if removed would have allowed for larger keys. On the plus side, the keys provided decent feedback with little flex.
The touchpad is decently sized and offered a nice, textured feel as we navigated around the desktop. Unlike the rock-hard buttons on the Eee PC 1000 and 901, the two mouse buttons, located below the touchpad, were easy to click but annoyingly loud.
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