2. Case And Connections

Slim but unimpressive: The LW60's plastic case would make more sense on a budget notebook.

As the saying goes, first impressions mean a lot. Unfortunately, that's not an entirely positive experience with the LG LW60 Express notebook - the case looks cheap, not chic. The vendor should have used stronger, stiffer materials in its construction, to reduce the flimsy, overly flexible nature of the display enclosure that makes up the top half of the case. In addition, the upper and lower halves of the clamshell bottom half on our test unit didn't mate up precisely, so we could feel a small but noticeable edge between its black upper and silver lower components.

Because the cover is slightly shorter than the lower half of the case, status indicators on the hand rest area on the right front side remain visible even when the clamshell is closed. But when in use, they're likely to be covered by the user's right hand.

The LED status indicators for the hard disk, power, and battery are visible on the top surface of the case.

The number of the ports and connectors on the LW60 Express went a long way to overcoming our initial impressions. On the outside left, you'll find a genuine parallel port behind a swing-out flap, for attaching a printer to the notebook. In front of this port, you'll find a PC ExpressCard/54 slot above with a PC Card Type II slot below. The ExpressCard slot is protected from dust and dirt with a plastic dummy card, while the PC Card slot is occupied by the unit's IR remote control.

The left side of the case is home to various slots and connectors, a VGA port, and a printer port.

The appearance of a 5-in-1 memory card reader beneath the two card slots confirms the trend of users wanting to be able to insert and use portable memory modules in their notebook PCs.

The parallel printer port is protected by a stable, well-built swing-out cover.