Everex StepNote LM7WE

If a tight budget has you thinking you’ll need to muddle through another six months before you can spring for a new laptop with a large widescreen display, meet the Everex StepNote LM7WE. For less than $600, you get a decent machine featuring a bright 15.4-inch screen and a processor good enough for everyday tasks like Web surfing and e-mail. There aren’t a lot of frills, but for the price you’ll hear no complaints from us. Well, maybe a few.
 
The black chassis with silver accents looks sharp, and under the lid you’ll find a minimalist black-and-silver design. At 14 x 10.5 x 1.3 inches, the unit is large but surprisingly light for its size at only 5.9 pounds. The widescreen allows for an expansive keyboard, and the StepNote has a quiet, comfortable layout—for the most part. The letter keys are full-sized, but the peripheral keys (Backspace, Home, Function, and so on) are truncated, and the Enter key is small and oddly shaped. The mouse buttons for the touchpad are a bit stiff but work fine.
 
The 15.4-inch matte widescreen delivered a bright, sharp image. The WXGA (1290 x 800) native resolution delivers a good balance of readability and onscreen real estate. Vertical viewing-angle performance is poor, however, showing washed-out colors if you aren’t viewing the display head on. Side-to-side viewing angles are fine. When watching DVDs, the StepNote provided vibrant colors but also noticeable blurring on motion scenes—a drawback typical of low-end systems. Another sign of cut corners: The deck-mounted speakers don’t deliver much volume and sound tinny.
 
Given the price, we were pleasantly surprised to see a dual-layer DVD burner, which is great for backing up lots of data. Too bad the StepNote doesn’t have a FireWire port, which many digital camcorders require to import footage for making home movies. Also absent is a memory card reader, so you’ll either have to use your camera’s USB cable or a USB- or PC Card-based reader. The 5,400-rpm 60GB hard drive is on a par with others in this price class.
 
The StepNote is no speed demon, but the 1.5-GHz Intel Celeron M 370 processor’s score of 184 on MobileMark 2005 is more than respectable for a budget machine. Still, we suggest upgrading from the standard 512MB of RAM to 1GB ($59.98), especially for those who’ll want to be able to run Windows Vista. Forget about 3D gaming, as the integrated S3 graphics engine barely registered on our 3DMark03 tests. Wireless throughput was also lower than we’re used to seeing, but not alarmingly so.
 
The standard three-cell battery, as expected, is a bit anemic, delivering around two hours of runtime per charge. If the machine will see road use, consider upgrading to the six-cell battery ($69.98), which should give you at least another hour of life and add 4.8 ounces to the weight.
 
There isn’t a lot of third-party software included with the StepNote: CyberLink CD/DVD playback and creation software and Norton Internet Security start and end the list. You do get 24/7 technical support, which comes with a one-year warranty.
 
It’s not a multimedia machine by any stretch, but if you’re on a very tight budget and want a large widescreen and good-enough productivity performance, the Everex StepNote LM7WE might be just the ticket.

 

Editors’ Note: By the time you read this, the tested configuration may no longer be available, but you will be able to get a system with a faster Intel Celeron 390 processor and a standard six-cell battery for the same price.