JVC InterLink MP-XP7310 subnotebook

The keyboard is small (as you'd expect on a unit of this size) and has 16mm key travel. You'll likely spend some time adjusting to the small keyboard, but it is touch typeable. Since this is a Japanese model, the keys are masked with both English and Kanji characters. The English letters are actually larger than the Kanji characters and are easy to see. All letters are where you'd expect them to be, but most punctuation are not in the standard US location. If you're a touch typist, this will slow you down. The keyboard has a full row of function keys, and a dedicated number row. The shift, backspace, delete, space, tab and caps lock keys are all in the standard US layout location. Since this unit is so small there isn't room for a trackpad, so instead it has an eraser stick pointing device. The IBM TrackPoint pointing stick lives between the g,h,b and n keys, while the three mouse buttons (left click, right click and scroll) are below the keyboard in the wrist rest area.

Horsepower

Ultra-light subnotebooks are not speed demons compared to their full-sized notebook brethren. High speed, state of the art processors don't jibe well with "miniaturization" because of heat dissipation issues. The cost of high-end processors is also a concern, since you're already paying extra for that small size. That said, the Intel Ultra Low Voltage Mobile Pentium M processor running at 1GHz is plenty fast for even demanding applications. The Intel Centrino technology improves speed while keeping power requirements low. What is Centrino? It's Intel's name for their new notebook architecture released this year which combines their new Pentium M processor, 855 chipset and the Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 WiFi 802.11 network interface. The Pentium M is supposed to be significantly faster than mobile Pentium 4 processors, yet it uses very little power. The M was designed from the ground up as a mobile processor where low power, heat dissipation and excellent speed performance were the goals, rather than being a shrunk down desktop processor. Centrino definitely hit the mark, and represents a very exciting technology.

The JVC comes with 256 megs of RAM and runs Windows XP Professional Edition (US English). That's the minimum amount of RAM you'd want to run XP, and I do suggest upgrading the memory to 512 megs. The memory expansion slot lives underneath the unit, under a round door held in place by three screws. There's one 256 meg 266 MHz DDR micro DIMM slot and the manual states that the InterLink supports a maximum of 512 megs of RAM.

The InterLink 7310 comes with a 40 meg hard drive. This is likely one of those cool new Toshiba 1.8" PCMCIA form factor hard drives, and it's permanently installed.

Screen, Sound and Battery Life

The JVC has an 8.9" wide screen display running at 1024 x 768 pixels. It's an excellent display that's very sharp and colorful. While things appear smaller on screen than they would on a full sized notebook display, I found it reasonably easy to read text, but your eyes may tire after extended periods of time. If you want a B5 or smaller notebook, that's the price you'll pay, as there's no way to fit a larger LCD in a model this size. The JVC can support an external monitor at a maximum of 2048 x 1536 pixels resolution.

The display is driven by an Intel 855GM integrated graphics chipset (a part of the Centrino package) with 64 megs of RAM that's shared with system RAM. That's the same processor that's used on the Sony VAIO TR2A and other Centrino machines, but I was surprised that games which ran on the TR2A didn't run on the JVC (Age of Empires II, Rise of Nations). I did however, get Max Payne to run after updating the Intel video drivers from version 1 to version 2 (these drivers are available on Intel's web site).

Two speakers run along the wrist rest area and provide stereo sound. The sound is decent for built-in speakers. Of course, for serious multimedia, you'll want to use the stereo headphone jack rather than the built-in speakers. The JVC also has a mic port if you wish to record meetings or use the unit for web conferencing. The unit uses a SoundMAX integrated digital audio controller made by Analog Devices.

The JVC InterLink has an interesting battery system. The internal battery seems to be permanently installed. This is a very small capacity battery, and will probably last you one hour. A 2200 mA external battery is included with the unit, and this clips onto the rear edge just behind the internal battery, extending run times to about 2.5 to 3 hours. JVC also makes an extended external battery that will probably last you 5 or more hours on a charge.