Whether you’re gaming or working, the 15.4in X-black widescreen will make colours richer and the image brighter, with the side effect that reflections will be stronger. Our panel also suffered from uneven brightness, with the lower corners being slightly dark. Resolution is 1,280 x 800 pixels across all FS115Z models – a good choice for office work, as it packs a fair amount onscreen without things becoming difficult to read. And if you need to take that work with you, expect the FS115Z to last around one hour, 45 minutes with intensive use on full brightness. Giving it an easy workload with a half-dimmed screen, our tests showed it can stretch to two hours, 19 minutes – disappointing for a modern notebook.
Overall build quality is high and the rigid chassis resists any efforts to twist it, although the plastic shell around the left wrist area of our notebook tended to creak a bit. However, we were most impressed with the exceptionally stiff backing behind the screen. This is a major plus if you travel, since it helps prevent long-term damage to the LCD panel. We’re less enamoured with the one-year RTB warranty, which pales in comparison with the three-year collect-and-return warranty seen with some notebooks.
But in terms of hardware, the FS115Z is a great system. There’s a lot of laptop packed in here for the money, including a fast processor and a massive hard disk. It’s not without its foibles, and it has a lot of rivals in our bargain laptops group test, but the superb overall build quality, great styling and attractive price go a long way to compensate.
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