ZaReason released a high-end notebook with pre-installed Ubuntu

MegaLap is a notebook computer released by ZaReason, a company that produces and sells computers running Ubuntu. This notebook allows people with it to boast about their capital at any party, especially when they compare their notebook volume. This notebook is a symbol of mobile computing technology, and its performance can be comparable to that of a desktop computer used for gaming. MegaLap uses the intelcoteco processor. I tested this $2000 notebook with Core

MegaLap is a notebook computer released by ZaReason, a company that produces and sells computers running Ubuntu. This notebook allows people with it to boast about their capital at any party, especially when they compare their notebook volume. This notebook is a symbol of mobile computing technology, and its performance can be comparable to that of a desktop computer used for gaming.

MegaLap uses Intel Core Duo processor. I tested this $2000 notebook with Core 2 Duo T7400, working at 2.16 GHz. This machine also provides a very compelling 17-inch LCD display with resolution up to 1680x1050, making it ideal for full-screen video watching. Let's talk about its multimedia part. This desktop computer replacement product has four speakers, and there is a bass speaker at the bottom, so there will be no broken sound even when the volume is very high. Equipped with GeForce Go 7700 graphics card, MB independent video memory. There are two audio interfaces under the touchpad, one for headphones and the other for microphones.

You can purchase a 1 GB DDR2 memory version (the test machine provides 2 GB memory), which can be expanded to 3 GB at most. Default configurations include 80 GB 5400 RPM hard drive, DVD recorder, built-in LAN port, Intel 3945ABG Wi-Fi adapter, and integrated bluetooth module. You can also upgrade to an expensive 7200 to GB hard drive.

Do you want to connect to the extended device? Four USB interfaces and one FireWire interface allow you to add multiple devices to the system. The MegaLap notebook has an MMC/SD plug-in, an ExpressCard 34/54 plug-in that replaces PCMCIA, and an eSATA port. In addition to common VGA ports, MegaLap also provides an HDMI port for external display.

A major failure of this notebook is its power management solution. Therefore, the power consumption is quite fast, and the maximum energy is one hour. To prolong battery life, you can use GNOME's power management function. The pending and sleep functions work well. This can also be considered as a security measure to some extent, because a password is required to enter the system during reboot.

Step-by-Step Testing

After the machine is started, I select a user name and enter the password. When using some applications, you need to enter a password to obtain temporary administrator permissions, such as the new software manager used to install and uninstall the software.

To avoid disturbing MPAA, ZaReason does not have a DVD or multimedia playback function. Therefore, I added the Medibuntu software library to the new software package manager and installed libdvdcss. MegaLap can play videos smoothly. I also installed several 3D games to test the performance of the GeForce Go 7700 graphics card. The PlanetPenguin racing game can run perfectly with its highest settings. The first-person shooting game OpenArena also performs quite well. I also installed Adobe Flash. Gnash is also pre-installed to take care of people who like free software.

The system is more or less locked. I encountered it when using OpenOffice.org Writer and OpenArena. It can only be solved by force restart. This seems to be a driver problem because many 100 series Nvidia drivers cannot work well in the system. You may consider replacing the 9639 driver, which can be found in the new software manager.

I can connect to an open wireless network normally. To connect to an encrypted network, you may need WPA supplicant package, which is pre-installed.

Conclusion

MegaLap integrates many hardware. The system provides an efficient multimedia platform. There are also text processors and Web browsers suitable for daily use. In addition to the random Nvidia drive locking problem (which can be solved by updating the system), the system performance is stable. However, if you need more than three hours of endurance, this notebook may not be suitable for you.