2. A New Notebook Kid On The Block: The Averatec 5110HX, Continued

The colors on the 15" display are somewhat faint but it does have good contrast (188:1). The perspective is average. Maximum display brightness is 138 candelas per square meter, meaning you can work outside - at least in the shade. The keyboard has sufficient travel and a clearly noticeable key force. Merely the scroll and cursor keys are a little on the small side. The silver-colored case gives a sturdy impression. The case's light surface looks like it might scratch easily though.

Anyone thinking of treating their 5110HX to more RAM or a larger hard drive at a later date will have an easy time of it since both components are easily accessible via the screw-off covers on the base.

That said, a memory upgrade to 768 MB or even 1 GB will be relatively expensive since both card slots are already occupied by one 256 MB DDR266 module each.

Connectivity wants for very little: three USB 2.0 and a FireWire port as well as two PC card slots protected against dust by shutters should suffice the majority of users.

The manufacturer has also integrated a modem and an Ethernet connection. As everybody knows, WLAN functionality based on 802.11b is standard fare for a Centrino notebook. Anyone hoping for an IR port or classic legacy connections (serial, parallel) won't come up trumps with the 5110HX.