Santech LV1 is low voltage and low fat, but not low price

Santech might not be the most familiar name around here, but the company has a bit of history in the mobile field, and its latest 13.3-inch effort definitely merits a second look. Coming in under that magical mental barrier of an inch in thickness and sporting an Intel CULV processor, it's slinky and (just) powerful enough to be called an ultraportable. Add in a claimed 12 hours of battery life, and the LV1 would seem like a viable competitor to Acer's Timeline series, but it falters on pricing, which -- once you add the 8-cell battery to the base unit of a SU3500 1.4GHz CPU, 2GB RAM and 160GB HDD -- is €701 ($1,003) after taxes, or €100 more than an almost identical Aspire 3810T from Acer.

[Via Notebook Italia]

[JD MTL Posted Aug 31st 2009 9:00AM]

What is that color called? I know it is on some cars rims.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 31st 2009 9:38AM]

@jd.. gun metal grey?

[Wolfticket Posted Aug 31st 2009 1:28PM]

Looks like some sort of colour shift finish.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 31st 2009 9:34AM]

its called lame seeing as you can spend 100 dollars more and get a macbook pro with double the specs, but remember its only 7 hours of battery instead of 12 (bullsh*t).

[Argot Posted Aug 31st 2009 9:38AM]

Yeah but then your stuck with a mac.....

[maveric101 Posted Aug 31st 2009 9:41AM]

well they're both bullshit. that's true of any manufacturer. you will not hit their max battery life specs under normal use.

regardless, wouldn't having an 8 cell battery sticking out of the machine kinda make it pointless for it to be that slim?

[Flowah Posted Aug 31st 2009 10:08AM]

That's only true if you do a real 1:1 currency and price conversion, which neeeeeever happens with electronics. For instance, 449 Euros for the new Acer Timeline model translated into.... 449 USD in the United States. The Macbook Pro probably costs more than $100 more than this CULV machine overseas, yet you're foolishly using the currency conversion as an indicator of price.

@ maveric
Looking at the picture, I don't see anything sticking out of the back.

[Patrick Posted Aug 31st 2009 10:10AM]

@maveric101

maybe it could just make th notebook longer instead of thicker?

for what it's worth, i've got a timeline 3810 that i've been using for about 2 months now. i'm really impressed. for 99% of what i use it for (web surfing, email, office, etc), it comes pretty darn close to hitting its claimed 8 hour mark. with internet useage, wifi on, power saver mode on and the screen on 2/10 or so, i'll get around 7 1/2 hours - 8 hours.

first notebook i've ever owned where i've found "real-world" usage has come close to hitting the advertised numbers.

[aniym Posted Aug 31st 2009 11:11AM]

if i'm looking to buy a 3.1lb Windows laptop, my Plan B is unlikely to be a 5.3lb Macbook. That said, the price on this is too high. The MSI X340 is a better value and at 2.75lbs, almost half a pound lighter.

[Flowah Posted Aug 31st 2009 4:14PM]

@ Patrick

Yeah, that seems to be the case with Acer's new Timeline products. A bunch of people over at notebookreview have been testing their newer models and claimed battery life statistics match reasonably well with real world usage. As long as you don't have the brightness all the way up and are played 1080p movies constantly, you're going to hit within the mark.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 1st 2009 6:15AM]

Hi all, i'm from Italy and i know very well this ITALIAN brand. Excuse me for my English but i can write very well.

Engadget wrote that Santech LV1 is almost identical at Aspire 3810T but they didn't consideratet that Santech offer (included in the street price) 3years of warranty.

100€ for 2years of (very good) warranty it's a good price.

You most considerate that the quality of Santech is better of acer's one.

Bye!Ale215