ExpressCard Media Remote VP6600 review

Want to use your PC card slot for something useful?

25 January 2007 13:00 GMT / By Davey Winder

Mac laptop users have long since come to expect a remote control to come as part of the design led computing experience, and some PC Media Center laptops (notably those from HP) have followed the Apple lead with credit card sized remotes that occupy a PC Card slot for storage.

Now Interlink have upped the stakes for PC laptop users with a device that not only fits into any ExpressCard/54 slot, but draws power from it to recharge the internal battery while it is stored so the remote will always be ready for action when you need it.

If you forget to put it back, don’t panic as we discovered that the battery will survive for a week without charge and will charge fully in less than 2 hours. What’s more, this is no legacy infra-red line-of-sight device, nor a radio frequency wireless one either. Nope, this is cutting edge stuff, so naturally employs Bluetooth connectivity.

This gives it a non-line-of-sight connection range of around 30 feet which, let’s face it, is as much as anyone is really likely to need. It has full Windows Media Center support which is darn handy, and will work with pretty much any of your media applications anyway, including iTunes and PowerPoint.

At a staggeringly sexy 54 x 84 x 4mm and weighing in at just 29 grams it really is a thing of beauty and truly portable, unlike the small brick remotes that come with most Media Center laptops.

The only problem being, for this fat-fingered reviewer, that the slinky size means the buttons are a tad small and too close together for comfort leading to some interesting skip instead of pause accidents.

But that really is the only bad thing we could find to say about this simple gizmo, it even installed automatically in just a few seconds without the need for any messing about whatsoever.

Verdict

Only you can say if £35 is good value for money when it comes to a remote control for your laptop, but if you need one and are happy with the cost then Interlink really have produced a no-brainer purchase here.

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Review Recap

Made by: Interlink
Price as reviewed: £35
The good: Size, weight, storage, functionality
The bad: Fiddly for fat-fingered users
Quick verdict: Self-charging and truly portable remote control for your laptop
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