Kogan Atlas X14FHD

THIS NEW REPLACEMENT

IS A BIT SMALLER AT 14-INCHES, BUT IT BUMPS THE DISPLAY RESOLUTION FROM 1,366 X 768 UP TO 1,920 X 1,080 IN COMPENSATION.

CAN THIS BUDGET LAPTOP SEQUEL MATCH UP TO KOGAN’S ORIGINAL ATLAS?

IT’S FAIR TO say we really liked Kogan’s original 15.6-inch Atlas laptop from late last year — a $329 device that impressed us by covering all the basics a notebook should and even going beyond them in some spots, like its very solid 5-6 hour battery life.

The new Note 5 bene ts from all of that, and takes most of its design cues from the well-regarded (and iPhone-esque) Galaxy S6. It largely shares the same speedy Samsungmade hardware under the hood; where it differs is in that bigger screen, an extra gig of RAM and the S Pen stylus. Also like the S6, there are unfortunately some high-pro le feature subtractions too: gone are both the removable battery and microSD card slot.

If you’re not immediately turned o by the latter downgrades, this is still the best Note ever. Samsung’s somehow managed to slim down the physical dimensions even further from the Note 4, with bezels on the le and right of the display that are only a couple of millimetres wide, and the fingerprint sensor is now an optical job — no more swiping — making this much easier to hold and use one-handed.

is new replacement is a bit smaller at 14-inches, but it bumps the display resolution from 1,366 x 768 up to 1,920 x 1,080 in compensation. It’s largely the same under the hood, however, with an identical 2.16GHz Intel Pentium processor (the quad-core N3540), 500GB Toshiba hard drive and Windows 8.1 for the OS. (And as with all Windows 8.1 devices, you can get a free upgrade to Windows 10 until next July.) ere are even some surprising elements, like the inclusion of 802.11ac Wi-Fi and physically it doesn’t look too shabby either.

e admittedly plain chassis is all plastic (frankly, you’re dreamin’ if you expect anything better at this price point) and a tap of the palm rest areas will tell you it’s a bit hollow inside, but that 14-inch size makes it a little more portable and at 2.1kg with a compact charger it’s not too hard to take with you.

at new 1080p screen is pleasing too — it’s reasonably neutral in terms of colours, with a tight pixel-pitch meaning images are quite clean — there are no ugly horizontal lines running across the screen, like we’ve seen on some other budget laptops.

In use, that cheap-and-cheerful demeanour continues; it covers simple computing needs (web, light o ce tasks, video playback), but has trouble with more demanding tasks like gaming (Angry Birds — yes; Call of Duty — no). e keyboard and trackpad are both serviceable but far from exceptional, and the mechanical hard drive means it’s not as responsive as a system with an SSD — apps can take a little while to rst launch, and system searches on the Start screen are on the slow side.

Performance wise, though, there’s only one key spot where this 14-inch model isn’t as good as its predecessor — battery life. Here, it’s about half the older model’s 5-6 hours; at most, you’ll get about three-and-a-half hours. at higher-res screen is likely the main culprit and while the battery shortfall is a bit disappointing, it’s not quite a deal breaker — really, it only seems poor because the older model was comparatively so good.

e other main caveat is that this new Atlas isn’t quite as keenly-priced as its $329 forebear. at’s something that the higher-res screen and lower value of the Aussie dollar somewhat help justify. It’s worth noting Kogan has two models on o er — opting for the version with 4GB of RAM instead of 2GB will cost you an extra $10, but is something we’d strongly recommend.