IBALL COMPBOOK Perfect for daily use

IBall Compbook Excelance is a low-cost Windows notebook with a decent set of specs

IN THEIR endeavour to offer low-cost computing devices to the masses in India, homegrown Best IT World, the makers of iBall products, Intel and Microsoftrecentlycametogether to launch a Windows-based notebook computer—iBall Excelance. The device is powered by an Intel processor and comes with a price tag of R9,999. We explored this device for over a week to understand whether the pricing matches the quality.

Out of the box, the notebook looks very decent with its simple yet attracting design and colour combination. The lid and keyboard are made from plastic whichsomewhatlacksturdiness. You may also not like the trackpadduetoitsstickiness,although this could be addressed by having an optical mouse. The 11.6-inch screen has 1368 x 768 pixel-resolutiondisplay.Duetolowresolution of display, the experience of playing high-end games on this machineisnotaspleasantas compared to some highend laptop with decent media graphics. A low resolution— 0.3 MP—VGA camera is placed above the screen that can be used for video chatting.

The iBall Excelance is a light notebook with a weight of just 1.09 kg. It comes with a modest set of specifications that include a 1.83 GHz Intel Atom Z3735F processor, 2 GB RAM, 32 GB flash storage and Windows 10 operating system.

During the review period, the device handled core Windows functions without any hiccup. You can use Excel, Chrome, Edge, Windows Media Player and play some of the high-end games without any lag. On the performance front, despite the device packing the low-end hardware configurations, there is hardly any noticeable impact on the performance. The 32 GB storage can be extended upto 64 GB with the helpof anexternaldisk.Though you may not be able to store bigger applications like Microsoft Office Suite on this system. For this, you will have to subscribe to a cloud-based version or perhaps you can use some cloud services for storage. On the connectivity front, the iBall Excelance comes with all required ports and connectivity options.IthasbothVGAandmini HDMI on the left side to project the media on another screen or television and a 3.5 mm microphone jack on right side for both audio input and output. There are also two USB 2.0 ports—one on the left side and other on the right for accessing data cards. However, you cannot play CD/DVD as no writer is attached to the notebook. The iBall Excelance comes with 10,000mAh Li-Polymer battery which iBall claims to last for 8.5 hours. During the review period with continuous use of internet the battery could last only 5-6 hours. Overall, the notebook handles basic functions quite smoothly. Estimated street price: