Zenith isn’t the first brand that comes to mind when it comes to netbooks but we have a surprise package on our hands. The Z Book is a pretty neat looking netbook with a glossy finished lid. The inside is a smooth texture that imparts a quality feel. The lid is designed similar to the Gateway LT2002I, but is of much better quality. The netbook is pretty slim and feels quite compact and the build quality seems good. The lid closes with a nice positive snap. The bezel isn’t too narrow and this along with the textured matte black insert just above the keypad spoils the visual effect, once you flip the lid. The keypad while small has decent key spacing. Overall, people used to a slightly larger keypad will have problems adjusting. In comparison, the Acer 532h has a similar footprint but the keypad is a lot better – not only are the keys larger, they feel better spaced out. Once measured, we found the distance between keys to be the same, but due to the design our fingers perceived a greater distance between keys on the Acer. The mouse buttons are vertically stacked, on either side of the trackpad. To be honest this design isn’t too bad, but it takes a fair bit of getting used to before it can be termed as intuitive. The keypad tracking is erratic though, definitely not as accurate as the other netbooks, although it’s miles ahead in terms of comfort if compared to the ASUS 1201HA.
The Z Book has a nice dock that stands the notebook vertically where it occupies a minimal footprint and while docked the notebook manages a look of chic sophistication. The dock features all the connects of the notebook, including a VGA connect which will need to be used since the lid needs to be closed in order to use the dock. On the box Ubuntu 8.04 is mentioned, but we got ours with a clean copy of Windows XP. Do remember that the cost of an additional OS has to be considered. The 10.1-inch screen is pretty ordinary and at 1024 x 600 pixels, it’s very basic. At Rs. 20,000 its at a sweet price point.
 

Zenith isn’t the first brand that comes to mind when it comes to netbooks but we have a surprise package on our hands. The Z Book is a pretty neat...