Hands-on: UMID mbook BZ

@mjburnsy / 1:30 pm PST • February 9, 2010

The original UMID mbook M1 is a mixed bag of results. On one hand it’s a very pocketable Windows XP clamshell with a 4.8-inch touchscreen, but the battery life and computing power isn’t that great. Well, I’m checking out the new mbook BZ right now and it seems that the BZ model addresses one of those issues while offering a few new tricks.

I just unboxed the mbook BZ minutes ago but here’s what I like and dislike so far about the portable. More to come shortly.

Pros

My first words were “Damn, it’s small.”
Feels very solid
Screen looks fantastic
Touchscreen seems accurate enough
Reported 7 hour battery life over the M1’s 5 hour battery
YouTube and Hulu run great (best I’ve ever seen on a small Atom-powered device)
This model much-needed small optical mouse pad, but…

Cons

Optical mouse is wonky
Keyboard is really mushy
Windows is still a bit sluggish
The mbook BZ tends to rock on its round battery when the screen is open making it a pain to type on

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