ViewSonic VPC100 review

We'll give props to ViewSonic for outfitting the VPC100 with half-decent wireless features. They're nothing amazing, but it's worth applauding the integrated 802.11b/g wireless adaptor and the Gigabit Ethernet interface card tucked round the rear. They mean, in layman's terms, that you can surf the Internet with or without cables.

Software is pretty thin on ground with the VPC100. It comes with a copy of Windows XP Home Edition.

Netbook performance
Anyone who's ever used a netbook will be perfectly at home with the VPC100. It's slow, but it's perfectly adequate for everyday tasks like surfing the Internet, looking at pictures, watching the odd standard-definition video and so on. It won't run 3D games and will baulk at hardcore video-editing tasks. Its PCMark05 benchmark score of 1,583 isn't very high, but you get what you pay for.

Conclusion
The ViewSonic VPC100 has a larger display than most nettops, but that's about it. It doesn't have a touch-sensitive panel, and doesn't do much else to stand out from the crowd. Buy one if you need a cheap second PC. Otherwise, look elsewhere.

Edited by Charles Kloet