ViewSonic brings Core i3 to the masses

Notebook not a stunner, but should be affordable

4 June 2010 10:52 GMT / By Lars-Göran Nilsson

ViewSonic is trying very hard to become a serious contender in the notebook market, and its first lot of notebooks weren’t bad. Now, thanks to Intel at Computex, we know at least what one of ViewSonic’s upcoming models will have to offer.

The VNB145, as it’s currently known, is ViewSonic’s first Core i3-based notebook, and is an indication that the company is targeting the lower-end of the market. Still, for a budget laptop, it appears to have quite a lot on offer.

It has a chicklet-style keyboard that gives us a decent first impression. Also, ViewSonic is one of, sadly, too few notebook manufacturers to include an ExpressCard slot on many of its offerings. This is handy for various expansion cards; say, for example, if you want to add USB 3.0 support.

Unlike its previous models, the manufacturer has also added an eSATA port to this model, which also doubles as a USB 2.0 socket. And a HDMI port is present. Finally, as this is 14-inch notebook, it also sports a DVD drive.

No pricing details or availability are known yet, but we expect it to be in a reasonable bracket.