January 21, 2003
VPR Matrix laptop
A few days ago, Gen asked me to do a writeup of the new laptop I got, a vpr Matrix 200A5. I'm not usually prone to describing the gadgets and gizmos I buy, because I figure it's not really of interest to anyone who can't play with them, but his argument that "it's not your run-of-the-mill laptop" was sufficiently pleasing to my ego that I thought I might discuss the machine a bit.
This computer is, rather famously, the "Tibook PC clone" that everyone was talking about a few months ago, so named because of its decided resemblance to the titanium Apple PowerBook. The design's the obvious starting point, so I guess it bears mentioning that its dimensions and outside casing color are, yes, almost exactly the same as the Apple machine's.
But more interestingly, the fit and finish are just as impressive. I don't doubt that the designers started with the goal of cloning the Apple notebook, but the impressive part is that the machine ended up being just as well thought-out as Apple products are, and even exceeds the Tibook in some areas.
Take, for instance, the slot-loading DVD/CD-R drive. It's no superdrive, so you can't burn DVDs, but I have no use for that so it's no loss. The thing that's better than the Tibook is that it's side-mounted. Using a front-loading optical drive on a plane or with the machine resting on your lap while you recline is just a pain, and this machine's attention to detail remedies that inconvenience. Plus, you can play a CD in the drive even when the computer's completely turned off, by using the full set of controls and the volume knob that are unobtrusively located on the front of the machine. I only tested it briefly, as computers around our place don't spend a lot of time powered off, but it seems to work pretty well.
There are other little touches that I love, too. The built-in WiFi card can be controlled by a slider power switch on the side of the machine. That means that when you're on a plane or sitting somewhere that doesn't have a wireless network, you don't have to have the machine kill its batteries scanning for active networks. Even better, when the machine's powered off, the same slider switch controls the CD playback function.
And the aesthetic of the machine does veer from Apple's standards into some hallmarks of the best of PC designs. There's a slim red bar that acts as the power switch, and it immediately evokes the classic designs of various IBM ThinkPads that have been released over the years. The ThinkPad's influence carries over to several other elements of the machine, since the keyboard and wrist rest surface are black, instead of the Tibook's silver, and have the same squared corners as IBM's hardware.
Some distinctive parts of the Matrix's design aren't merely aped from others, though. Each of the many LEDs on the system is blue. The power, hard drive, caps lock, and WiFi power lights all gleam with a surprisingly dark shade of blue, set against the black matte housing of the work surface. The overall effect is that this machine, especially when used in a dark room, looks mean. I like it.
There are a lot of distinctive elements under the hood, too. Primary among them is an audio system that vpr markets as "Sonopür". I have no idea where the hell that word came from, but the sound really is very, very good. I plugged in my pair of Grado SR-80 cans when watching a test DVD and it sounds better than any PC I've ever heard, and better than the only stereo system that I had handy. Considering that I live in New York City, I'll never hear this thing against a silent background, so that's good enough for me.
Battery life seems decent, around 3 or 4 hours, but I tend to always use it plugged in, so I can't speak to that. The best parts of this machine to me, though, are that it's super fast and the screen is gorgeous. A Pentium 4 at 2 gigahertz is never going to be slow, but it's matched with a great set of subsystems that let it run just as fast as any desktop. 512 MB of RAM is standard, and the hard drive is a more-than-sufficient 40 gigs. The screen, though, is just magnificent. It's widescreen and flat ratio, of course, but the brightness of it is what impresses me. My desktop monitor is a Samsung Syncmaster 760V and, while I love it, it's got nothing on this little laptop's screen. I've always been picky about screens, and the fact that this one is the peer of any desktop monitor, and a hell of a lot brighter than the Tibook's, just leaves me tickled.
So what's not to like? Not much. There's a goofy extra button to the right of the keyboard which is inset and has the vpr logo on top of it. Pushing it either launches an introductory video or takes you to the vpr Matrix website, by default, but you can uninstall that easily enough, as they give you a link to do so. The pointing device on the machine is a trackpad, and given the "best of breed" mindset that pervades the rest of the design, I'm surprised they didn't bother to also include a pointer device, which is what I prefer.
Less of an annoyance is the absence of built-in BlueTooth, though that's added easily enough. A real disappointment is that they included the PC-standard 4-wire FireWire port, which doesn't provide power to FireWire peripherals that are plugged into it. One of the standard FireWire connectors and one of the smaller useless ones would've been a great compromise. This omission is fairly well mitigated, though, by the surprising inclusion of two USB 2.0 connectors on the back of the machine. That just plain kicks ass.
The vpr Matrix ships with Windows XP Home Edition by default, which is probably appropriate for most users. XP Home is just as stable and robust as XP Pro, and the only difference is that it can't log into a domain, doesn't include the Remote Desktop server, and can't install the IIS web server. Since I don't have a job, I don't need to worry about logging into a domain or connecting to my machine via Remote Desktop anymore. IIS is a bigger omission since I'm a web geek, but I can just run Apache with PHP and MySQL if I don't feel like reinstalling the OS to upgrade to XP Pro.
On any Windows machine that's this great at multimedia, the absence of any Windows equivalent to iMovie or iTunes really stands out. XP's photo management stuff is basically equivalent to iPhoto for my purposes, so I'm covered there, but if I had a DV cam, I'd be sorely disappointed with even the newly-released version of Windows Movie Maker. vpr also throws in Microsoft Works, in case you want to look at that for a while before you uninstall it to free up disk space.
The final verdict for me is that this is the best laptop I've ever owned. I know Windows far too well to consider converting to OS X any time soon, and the performance of even the fastest Macs still feels sluggish to me compared to the snappy response I'm used to on Windows boxes. But the attention to detail and sheer elegance of Apple's hardware is inarguably appealing. This vpr Matrix laptop seems to really have covered the best of both worlds, and to have exceeded its reputation as a mere imitation by showing a few flashes of innovation. There tend to be pretty deep discounts on the computer at Best Buy, which is the exclusive dealer for vpr machines. If you see one that's got a few hundred bucks off the cost and you're in the market for a new laptop, I'd strongly recommend it.
Side note: Long-time readers may recall that the last time I got a new notebook, I was shortly without a job. I am not ruminating on the significance of such things. Also, thanks to Andre for assistance in obtaining the notebook.
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Nice laptop. Ryan got one recently, and I must say I was thoroughly impressed with it. Too bad my school gives us a bland ol' IBM Stinkpad.
Sounds pretty swanky. If I ever have to get my own laptop, I'll definitely look into the vpr. Although the name doesn't sound too familiar and I get skittish when looking at unknown brands.
Thanks for posting the review Anil :) As we discussed, I'm in the market for a new laptop, but need to bring it to Japan for a while, and I'm not confident enough in the service/support of Best Buy while overseas. If I was going to stay in the US, the 200A5'd definitely be a contender alongside perhaps one of the Alienware laptops or a G4 TiBook. As things stand right now, I think I'll end up with the TiBook. I know Apple's support overseas is excellent.
I didn't get the 200A5 -- I got the low-end vpr -- but still, I'm extremely impressed with the design and performance. This was my first laptop, and so far I'm been very happy with it. My version is a bit smaller and lighter than Anil's, but it still has everything I need. It's neither clunky nor clackity, and it's a pleasure to look at and a pleasure to use. I've had mine for over a month now and have yet to find a problem with it. And the price point can't be beat.
I got one of their towers a couple weeks ago, and have no complaints at all. Beyond the USB2 and Firewire ports on the back, a nice little touch(like the laptop's side-loading DVD drive) is that the front-side ports are actually on the side of the machine, so your cords are easier to get out of the way. How many "store-brand" computers come with a RAID-enabled motherboard? I was rather impressed with what you get for the prices.
I'd think that not being able to install IIS is a *feature* not a limitation.
Personally I'd go for the new 17" widescreein PowerBook if I had the money... not only does it have DVD-R/CDRW, Bluetooth, Firewire 800, 802.11g support backlit keyboard! and much more...
It looks so much nicer than any PC equivalent out there.
And you wouldn't be biased now would you, mr. dotmac?
Ha. Apple still feels to expensive. I think I like the approach anil took.
Hmmm. Last time I bought a laptop, I too was laid off. This month I auctioned it off, and ended up sort of half-employed. There may be a lesson here.
Looking at the vpr website, they currently seem to have links broken in their "purchase" links back to BestBuy... does look like a great machine.
How is the weight? (especially in terms of what you actually have to carry around?)
The carrying weight is somewhere around 6, 6 and a half pounds. It's not light, but for a full-featured notebook, it's pretty good.
I just finished setting up my vpr 185A5, which is the same thing with a 1.8Ghz processor and a 30GB drive and no high-zoot audio hardware. If I'd known that the audio was so superb, I might have paid the extra $450 for the higher end version, but too late now. In the store, I figured a 25% price hike for 10% more speed and some extra hard drive that I don't need wasn't worth it. For those that care (and I have no idea what kind of site this page is linked from, I got here via google), the thing works VERY well with Linux, too. I installed RedHat 8.0, then upgraded to the latest packages of everything. I had to do a couple of extra things to get the audio and the widescreen working correctly at 1280x854 resolution, but there were excellent instructions available at http://www.goodfellow.net/VPRMatrixLinux/
I just thought I'd let the public know...
Stuart Allsop of Fortune is touting VPR too.
http://www.fortune.com/fortune/print/0,15935,410704,00.html
do you think haveing the slower hard drive makes a difference to you?
I just bought an Apple Powerbook 15. Still waiting for it to be delivered. I've been using PCs for too long so I suppose it's time to look at the OSX world.
I got a vpr 200a5 and i must say i'm very disappointed. i just thought i'd let the public know about my problems.. the first one i got was falling apart from the screen coming off the body to the metal facing around the screen coming off and the wi-fi card sucked for some reason the two antenna's at the sides don't work too well and last the key board was coming off since it is only attached by a few small clips rather than the whole thing. so i returned it to bestbuy where they gave me another one.. it's been over two weeks so i can't send this one back but luckily i have the extended warranty. problems include: the screen humms/buzzes if it is tileted in a certain way and is dimmed (not running at full brightness) the keyboard again is extremely flimsy the screen is again coming off the 4 tiny screws fails to hold the massive screen securly the mother board doesn't handle reading the cdrom and the harddrive at the same time too well which causes the system to hang while it reads a cd. The biggest problem i would say is that it over heats. don't expect to use this laptop on a soft surface suce as a bed or a lap without the left side getting uncomfortably hot. When it's being used for a while i find it hard to hold the bottom longer than 30 seconds because of the head. I suspect it's the harddrive and exessive heat isn't exactly good for any hard drive. The little fan does blow out alot of heat but no where near enough. the tiny plastic clips that hold the screen closed are very delicate one of them broke already. This is a great computer and if vpr would spend more time in insuring the quality on the notebook it would be great but the technical difficulties are driving me into looking to send it back to best buy.
I know I'm pretty late to this discussion, but a question: A 4200 rpm HDD? Isn't that pretty slow? I mean, I see a difference in my 60gb 7200 rpm vs. a 40gb 5600 rpm drive.
Does anyone know how and where to get some of the small screws that hold the case together? I would appreciate any info - bestbuy has not been helpful with this issue.
Megan, go to Best Buy Partsearch. That's now the official parts-site for items sold at Best Buy. Just yesterday I bought a new chasis (top and bottom) for my VPR Matrix there, which I recently dropped.
I had 200A5 Laptop too, overall, the laptop is good, the only thing I'm disappointed the lack of customer support, they didn't support a third party hardware. I try to have an external keyboard connect to the USB port, the keyboard didn't work because the conflict with the touch pad. VPR matrix technical support did not know how to disable the touchpad, they told me need to figure it out. That's nice, there must be a miracle for me to figure out this problem.
A few week later after research on the internet, someone told that I need to go to the bios to disable the touchpad, but I didn't know what is the function key go to the bios, so I called vpr matrix technical support again, they told me "hit F1 at screen start up" Guess what, notthing is happening.
Anyone out there know how to solve this please email me at asiatrinhphan@netzero.com I would really appreciate it. Thanks in advance.
Anil Dash
New York New Media New Funk
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Came across this page by accident. I have a vpr 200a5 and I LOVE IT! I bought it the day before thanksgiving 2002 and it's kicked butt since!
I was a little hessitant in buying it simply because I've never heard of VPR, (and even after i bought it when i checked out vpr forums), but the laptop was a great buy!
The only thing that sucks is the support for VPR (which is just best buy). I bought the special $255 digital audio cable but that never worked. When i called VPR Support, they didn't even have anything on it. I returned the cable and soon found out that they stopped selling it (BECAUSE IT NEVER WORKED!!)
the only problem i've had with my laptop was, i blew the backlight. it's in the shop now, but it's been a month now. (like i said, VPR support [and best buy, in general] SUCK!) anyway, IF & WHEN i get it back, i'll be a happy camper again.
I'm kinda' looking for any info on how i (or IF i can) upgrade the internal WI-FI card to G. I've no problem using a PCMCIA card, but, why bother if i can have it upgraded.
Anyways, MAJOR KUDOS to VPR. After this machine, i'd by a VPR computer again.
VPR SUPPORT sucks the dust out of a dead man's butt. take the good with the bad, i suppose.
Sorry Sir,
Actually I cannot afford to have a comment on laptop, 'cause I don't have that gizmo or I must confess I lost one a couple of months back. It's a Sony Vaio with all accssesories. It was last February when I was roaming around in Manipur, the Indian state (OH!!!! sorry I forgot to tell I'm resident of Calcutta, India. Though since 2001 july I'm residing in Tripura, the Indian border-state with Bangladesh, in north-east India.). There in Manipur, the rebels (or some people love to call them extremists) I met just took away my laptop. Perhaps it was much more needed to them than me.
But nowadays I badly need one for which again I do not have that much cash. So you people, I hope, perhaps understand the situation I'm living in.
Sorry not to tell you earlier that I'm a freelance journalist now working on the various tribes of northeast India.
Thanks everyone
Prabhat Ghosh
'Parimal Bhavan',
L.N.B. Road, Banamalipur,
City-Agartala, State-Tripura,
Country-India.
Ph:913812323668(R)
919436120253(M)