Review: Shanzhai 11 inch Netbook from Caszh

In the name of exploring the nittier and grittier aspects of shanzhai manufacturing and product development, today I thought we'd take a close look at a netbook product from one of Shenzhen's leading names, the thoroughly lovable yet eminently unpronounceable 'Caszh'.

Caszh have really stepped up to the plate and started making a name for themselves as maker of decent quality netbook products that can compete with more expensive, Western branded products. This review is to all intents and purposes an investigation into just how close they are to the real deal. How many flaws can we find? How's the build quality? We tested a Macbook Air clone about a week ago and found that overall the performance was at least on par with other devices using the same processor platform. Let's see if the Caszh CA-L11B compares favorably.

First off, a quick glance reveals that it uses the processor platform that we've come to expect from netbook class devices; namely the Intel's Menlow platform, although in fairness this particular machine opts for the ever so slightly suped-up N280 Atom, gaining a whole extra 0.06MHz of torque for its trouble. Other than that, the machine is pretty much a netbook through and through in terms of specifications, which you can peruse at your leisure in the table below.


The packaging can be a real giveaway in terms of cheap and nasty products, so it's interesting to see these 'unboxing' images below, showing solid, if standard, cardboard-boxery, polystyrene filler and, wait for it.......a logo. Good to see that Caszh are capable of decent entry-level package branding, although the device image on the box front is actually very ...er...Sony-ish.

Take a look at the pics below and you'll notice the rather nice red finish on the device. We have of course also employed our standard, and now signature fake plastic flowers in the photos.


The screen is a decent 1366 x 768 resolution now common on 11.1 inchers, while the hinges are kind of remensiscent of those used on Acer Aspire netbooks, and clones.

Here's the CPU-Z screen for all you chip geeks eager to count the bus speed and multipliers.


Perhaps not surprisingly the Caszh CA-L11B fairs quite badly in 3DMark 05, a benchmark that focuses on graphics capabilities, one area where Intel's Menlow certainly let's itself down. Then again, this is true of any Atom-based device and shouldn't really detract from what Caszh have put together here.


The debate around HD video and whether or not we really need it on our netbooks will continue, but for sure, 720p video is a decent test for any Atom-based machine. The shot below tells us that the Caszh CA-L11B performs admirably.


Battery life testing is now an essential part of any netbook or mobile product, and BatteryMark is a fair way to push past those blatantly vague and misleading figures that manufacturers often put out. For a 3 cell battery, 1 hour 39 mins is quite average, and far from blinding.

In conclusion, you'd have to say that this device does exactly what you'd expect from an 11.1 inch netbook. The build quality is what you'd expect from Caszh's growing reputation, the design itself is adequately sporty and bright, and in fact you'd have to point to the Intel platform inside it, for any real draw backs. Battery life is certainly is most heavily impacted by the screen and the processor platform inside. Perhaps we've seen a peak in Menlow-based netbook maturity. Will Caszh be tempted by CULV? Not at today's prices I fear. Not while it makes a killing with devices like this.

 

Reviews - Netbook Reviews