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Review: Zepto Nox A15 laptop - a grand's worth of cool

by Tarinder Sandhu on 4 December 2008, 08:11 3.55

Tags: Nox A15, Zepto

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qaqdd

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Final thoughts and rating

Zepto's aesthetically-pleasing Nox A15 uses Intel's Core 2 mobile CPU and NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT graphics card to create a decent-performing 15.4in notebook that does most things well.

Performance is good across the board, and the discrete graphics card makes a decent fist of gaming at the excellent screen's native resolution of 1,680x1,050.

There isn't a lot we can say that will detract from the attractiveness of the Nox A15: it's competent. However, as much good as there is here, a couple of noisome factors cause it to not quite reach recommended status.

The price - some £999 for this model - is a little on the high side for a notebook that doesn't ship with a Blu-ray burner - an option at £190 - or funky SSD drive as standard. Indeed, given the core components an etail price of around £799 would have made it competitve, and the extra £200 could have gone towards upgrading the hard drive or graphics card to a GeForce 9650M.

The second factor is warranty. Zepto needs to offer an UK-based on-site service as an option - something that the likes of Dell do well.

Thinking about it after time for reflection, we do like the Zepto Nox A15. The chassis is the embodiment of chicness and the screen's just fab. Cut the price by £150 and it would make a serious case as a high-end, avant-garde notebook, and it's different from the horde of Dell, Acer and HPs that seem to consume the etail market

Zepto is a name that you will hear more about in the future, we're sure, and if the Nox A15 is a sign of things to come, there's plenty of potential for the Danish manufacturer.

The good

Lovely chassis and gorgeous screen
Capable graphics card
Consummate performance from practically every angle

The not so good

We would want a Blu-ray drive as standard at this price.
Not the lightest 15.4in notebook around
Battery life is merely average.

HEXUS Rating

HEXUS.net scores products out of 100%, taking into account technology, implementation, stability, performance, value, customer care and desirability. A score for an average-rated product is a meaningful ‘50%’, and not ‘90%’, which is common practice for a great many other publications.

We consider any product score above '50%' as a safe buy. The higher the score, the higher the recommendation from HEXUS to buy. Simple, straightforward buying advice.


Zepto Nox A15 notebook

HEXUS Where2Buy

The Zepto Nox can be configured here.

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At HEXUS, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any company representatives for the products reviewed choose to respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.
   

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HEXUS Forums :: 12 Comments

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Posted by Salazaar - Thu 04 Dec 2008 10:43
Ahem.

/pendant
It's ‘toe the line’ not ‘tow the line’.
Posted by trashcanmonkey - Thu 04 Dec 2008 16:16
what? what on earth are you talking about its u.g.l.y
a plastic black brick.

I can see the build quality from here.. just look at that the ports.. esp the network port. the crappy metal surround that's attached to the main board.. a gaping hole in the chassis around the port:O_o1:

i'm sorry, its really not that bad.. its just the fact that it has been labeled as a grands worth of cool that has gotten my goat. (Hexus now taking little xmas bonuses under the table humm?)

go out and buy a Sony or Macbook+Vista,

there's a grands worth of cool..
Posted by evil1337 - Thu 04 Dec 2008 19:12
trashcanmonkey
I can see the build quality from here.. just look at that the ports.. esp the network port. the crappy metal surround that's attached to the main board.. a gaping hole in the chassis around the port:O_o1:

I was delighed to read this review…

I bought a NoxA15 about 3 weeks ago, and i opted for the 9650M-GT gpu and a copy of Vista HP64bit. To give you a quick rundown, the entire chassis SCREAMS IBM. The entire chassis is rubberised like the lid of my old Thinkpad, including the touchpad (which is a million times better than it sounds, trust me).

The gaping hole (using the ethernet and the usb ports as examples) are better than they look, as you end up a) being able to easily grab the cable out after use and b) have usb cables mount securely etc.

Its not the prettyist laptop ever, but its functional, not garish, and just so well built im amazed (for the record, my company is a Lenovo/IBM partner and our work 'tops are thinkpads, so using a thinkpad for comparison is one hell of a compliment IMHO.)

2 Issues….the machine was pre-installed with a 90 day trial of office, which included EVERY FRIKKIN LANGUAGE PACK on the planet, so took a couple of hours to uninstall. Secondly, the gpu driver 174.90 is dated and has some issues in some modern games (but using a hacked 180 driver has some weird power side effects).

But i aggree, one hell of a piece of kit for the money.

Mine is the same base spec (2.26mhz, 4gb ram, 1680x1050 panel) but a 320gb 7200rpm hdd, both the 6 AND 9 cell battery, fingerprint reader, and a second charger. And i got mine for 1030 with a 3 year RTB warranty.
Posted by this_is_gav - Thu 04 Dec 2008 21:56
Good to hear that, as when I was reading through the review it was just screaming “THINKPAD RIVAL” at me. On the surface not much happening, but get up close and personal and it looks to oose some conservative class and functionality. The Lian-Li of notebooks if you will. Much better than the garish selection of Acers and Toshibas out there at the moment.

Only downsides from what I saw are the lack of firewire and only the 3 USB ports. Other than that it's something I'd consider if I were to replace my XPS M1530 (which won't happen too quickly either, as the keyboard is simply sublime).
Posted by GavinS - Thu 04 Dec 2008 22:56
Seems overpriced.

You can get the HP DV5 (9600GT DDR2) or Samsung R560 (9600GS DDR2) with the same / similar spec for £300 less….

Until the end of November 2008, HP were doing £100 cashback deals and free 3 year warranty, both with online redemption. Unfortunately, both have now expired due to the advent of the Christmas period!

SEE NEWER »