Micromax Canvas Lapbook L1160: Good looking, great for light work

It's a good-looking device: Black, with a metallic finish; sleek, with a streamlined body

The Micromax Canvas LAPbook L1160 is better looking than its predecesors from the same stable, but that's not the only reason to recommend it. The philosophy of decent quality at an affrordable rate allowed the domestic company to take on global giant Samsung in the smartphone segment. It is using the same principle in the personal computers market, and it wouldn't be a surprise if it managed to grab eyeballs as well as a share of the profit pie.

As I said, it is a good-looking device: Black, with a metallic finish; sleek, with a streamlined body. Weighing only 1.3 kg, it is easy to carry this around. Of course, despite looking metallic, it is made of plastic and that raises questions about its durability. Also, the two hinges that allow an user to stabilise the screen prevent it from being turned 180 degrees. This is definitely a design drawback.

The keyboard is good, without being special. There isn't space to really get comfortable, and using the combination of the "function" key, along with Cltr and Alt can be quite a callisthenic - like I had to to type the m-dash before (keyboard shortcut: Fn + Alt + 0151). The touchpad, too, restricts movement and can be a tad slow to reciprocate to taps. The two left and right buttons can seem superflous. The 0.3 MP webcam is good. Also, another feature that recommends it are all the ports, along with the inbuilt Wi-Fi.

So much for what's outside. What's inside is not bad either. Its processor and RAM ensure that it performs simple tasks smoothly. Five or six MS Office tabs along with other apps run without any detectable lag. But, of course, a device of this sort has limitations and the more tabs one opens, the slower the computer becomes. The battery is good: It did not need to be recharged for a whole day with normal usage.