BenQ spreads joy to the United States
BenQ Joybook 7000 series
The product: BenQ is probably best known for its generally excellent computer displays. The past couple years has seen the company branching out in the States, adding digital cameras and MP3 players to the mix. At CES 2005, the company ponied up a full line of sleekly designed notebooks for release in the coming year, including the thin-and-light Joybook 7000 series. As expected, the best part about this 4.5-pound laptop is its WXGA 14.1-inch wide-screen LCD with a brightness of 200 nits. (Yes, that's a good number--a fact that the BenQ representative we spoke with had no problem mentioning several times during the conversation.) Overall, though, the attractive and svelte laptop has more to offer than just a pretty face:

• Built-in DVD burner
• Up to 100GB hard drive
• 802.11b/g wireless LAN and Bluetooth
• ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 with 64MB VRAM *Pentium M processor (730 and higher)

The price: Pricing is still to be determined, but we expect the series to be competiviely priced with products from similar second- and third-tier vendors.

The prospects: While we definitely agree that BenQ's LCD technologies belong in notebooks, we're not sure whether notebooks belong in BenQ's lineup. If the pricing is right, however, the Joybook 7000 series could turn out to be a hit for the company.

By Joshua Goldman, staff editor, Computer Shopper