LG LW70 widescreen notebook

Upside

LG's focused on entertainment with its new series of LW notebooks, with the 17" LW70 leading the charge. Despite the large 17" Fine-Bright WXGA screen, the LW70 is surprisingly compact and light, measuring 392x276x30.6mm and weighing 3.1 kgs. In fact, if it weren't for the size of the screen, the LW70 could be almost portable.

If a notebook's widescreen then you know it's meant for watching movies, and the LW70 is no exception. As with many notebooks in this class, the LW70 features an Instant-On function which allows you to play DVDs and CDs without booting up into Windows, plus it features a multimedia remote control that slots into the unit's chassis when not in use. The LW70 has a built-in subwoofer, and can output to a full 5.1 Dolby Surround thanks to its digital audio output.

When you want to work, the LW70 provides enough grunt to handle most work apps. Under the hood is an Intel Pentium M 740 processor, 512MB RAM as standard, a 64MB ATI Mobility Radeon X600 card and a 100GB hard drive. A DVD/CD combo drive comes as standard, but can be upgraded to a DVD writer. The LW70 has 802.11b/g built-in for wireless, but also features an infrared port, four USB 2.0 slots, S-Video out, headphone out, and a four-in-one memory card slot (SD/MMC/Memory Stick/Memory Stick Pro). And since this notebook is so wide, LG has managed to squeeze in a full numeric keypad next to the standard QWERTY keyboard, making input into spreadsheets a little bit easier.

Downside

It may be thin and light, but the LW70 is still quite wide, meaning it's not really a laptop for road warriors. As it is, it's more of a desktop replacement that can take on plenty of multimedia tasks, so don't expect to be able to easily lug the LW70 around to meetings around town.

Outlook

At AU$3999, LG's placed the LW70 at an attractive price point for those looking for a notebook with strong multimedia capabilities but can't quite afford to shell out for a powerhouse like the Toshiba Qosmio. It's quite petite considering its screen size, and should find plenty of fans among the style conscious. We'll bring you more information on the LW70 with a full review soon.