Viewsonic VPC100

The appeal of a laptop’s space saving design is surely one of the main reasons why mobile computers are now outselling their bulkier, deskbound cousins. However, for those of us who are eager to reclaim some space in the home or office, but don’t need the portability of a mobile computer, an all-in-one computer could be the answer.

Desktop manufacturers are now taking advantage of some of the technology that enables all the high-tech components to be squeezed into the small form factor of a laptop. This is enabling them to produce some powerful, yet stylish computers that effectively look like a regular LCD monitor.

Viewsonic’s VPC100 is one such device, and at its heart sits a 1.6GHz Intel N270 Atom, a processor primarily designed for mobile devices. The Atom is matched with 1GB of DDR2 SDRAM and a 2.5-inch 160GB SATA hard drive – a configuration of mobile-sized technology that provides the VPC100 with plenty of power to run the pre-installed Windows XP Home operating system.

Thanks to the miniaturisation of the components it’s no surprise to discover that the whole computer looks no bigger than any other 19-inch widescreen display currently on the market. Sure, the bezel below the 1,366 x 768 resolution screen is fairly chunky, but with an overall screen depth of 35mm, the VPC100 will easily fit into a space currently occupied by a computer monitor.

Dual wired and wireless options provide all the scope you could require to get this computer networked; if you don’t have access to an 802.11 b/g wireless connection you can always install a standard Ethernet cable to take advantage of the gigabit network adapter.

The device features a 4-in-one card reader, single layer CD/DVD-RW combo drive, and it’s good to see that the standard PS2 keyboard and mouse connectivity has endured alongside the four USB sockets. As you’d expect to find with any deskbound computer system, Viewsonic has included a basic, but functional, keyboard and optical wheel mouse for data input.

The 19 volt power supply and any external peripherals connect discreetly into the rear of the VPC100 and if you add a wireless keyboard and mouse, as I did during testing, you’ll find your work area devoid of wires.

Built in peripherals, like the 1.2-megapixel webcam and microphone are hard to find and do not spoil the overall look of the device – and you really have to look hard to find the power button hidden within the slim, silver trim that slices horizontally across the shiny, black frontage.

Now back to the screen – I must admit I wasn’t wowed by the look of the Windows desktop produced by the Intel 945 GSE graphics subsystem. I’ll put that down to the fact that I’ve seen too many 1,080 resolution screens of late, and while the colours were nice and the image vibrant, the 1,366 x 768 image somehow seemed average. However, we cannot forget that this device has been manufactured by Viewsonic, and true to form, when given a high-definition MPEG4 video file the quality of the monitor shone through. The high-definition video file really did look sharp and defined, and not once did the processor fail to provide a smooth stream of video. Another pleasant surprise were the built in 3-watt speakers – they easily sounded better than I expected, certainly of a higher quality than any speakers you will find in a similarly priced notebook.

Overall, the VPC100 isn’t going to win any awards for being the fastest PC currently on the market, but if you’re after a computer that is discreet and can adequately perform some everyday tasks like email or web-browsing, this computer could be for you.