'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean?
ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing.
When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers.
ZDNET's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form.
Optima Prolite K Series
Optima Prolite K Series
pros and cons
Not to say the Prolite K series is unattractive, but we suspect Optima won't be receiving any design awards for this notebook. It has a sliver finish, not by any means as sleek as Apple's 12" Powerbook G4, and the modern touches pretty much end there.
Smaller than Optima's more professional looking 15" Centoris G series, the Prolite K Series measures 215 x 297 x 34-42mm -- higher at the back due to elevation boosters. It is reasonably thick compared to other compact laptops but keeps its weight down to a light 1.9kg (which includes the optical drive and battery).
The Prolite K's keyboard looks a tad dated with its beige colouring but the touchpad redeems the notebook somewhat in terms of style. Most touchpads found on notebooks have a definable border, but the K Series lower half is all silver, with the touchpad area blending into its surroundings with only a slight depression revealing its whereabouts. It might visually be more appealing but it is at the expense of practicality to use.
Powering the Prolite is an Intel Pentium M processor running at 1.5GHz, sporting a 1MB cache and a 400MHz front side bus. There is 512MB of RAM onboard that supports up to 1GB of memory expansion. The K Series has a 12.1-inch widescreen LCD capable of displaying resolutions up to 1280 x 800. Video is handled by Intel's integrated Extreme Graphics 2 which shares up to 64MB of system memory.
The standard Prolite K Series comes with an internal DVD/CDRW combo drive and costs AU$2,999. A version featuring a DVD burner that supports +RW, -RW and RAM formats retails for AU$3,499. Our review model came with a 60GB hard disk and Optima offers 30/40/80GB alternatives.
For connectivity, audio outputs and a Firewire (IEEE 1394) port are conveniently located at the front of the Prolite near the palm rest. There are two USB ports, VGA out for an external monitor, S-Video, LAN and modem ports. Below the PC card slot is a CompactFlash card reader that is handy to have if your digital camera uses the CF format, but we would have preferred a multi-card reader, like the one found on the Asus W1N and Acer's TravelMate 8005LMi.
As a Centrino certified notebook, the K Series has an Intel Pro/Wireless 2200 adapter providing integrated 802.11b and 802.11g wireless connectivity. The b standard allows wireless data transfers at speeds up to 11 megabits per second, while the g standard enables up to 54mbps.
Running Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition, Optima bundles a Cyberlink suite consisting of PowerDVD, PowerDirector, Power2Go, PowerProducer, Media@Show, and DVD Solution. Microsoft Works and Encarta 2004 are also included.
Top ZDNET Reviews
The Optima Prolite X scored 170 in Bapco's MobileMark 2002 productivity test, which lasted only 146 minutes. During the less-intensive reader test, the notebook's battery lasted a total of 171 minutes. A disappointing result considering Optima's Centoris notebook has a 15" screen and lasted almost 5 hours in our tests.
Optima provides a standard one-year warranty with the notebook.
Optima Prolite K Series
Company:
Price: AU$2,999 with DVD/CDRW Combo drive; $3,499 with DVD burner.
Phone: 1300 132 237