Optimus Primus

When Nexstgo announced that it will be entering the Indian market with their Primus range of premium laptops, everyone chuckled. Here was another laptop manufacturer trying to wiggle its way into an already cut-throat market. But then, they sent us their review unit. It was an egg-on-your face moment for most of us. In a market like ours, which is filled with consumers who do not just use their laptops, but abuse and eke out the last drop of performance, the NX101 makes perfect sense. It is sturdy and built really well (so much so that they use it extensively in their brochures), performs really well, has a great array of connectivity options and ticks most of the boxes that a casual buyer would want in their laptops.

However, it is not perfect. The screen seems faded out especially at its peak brightness. LED backlit panel, the colours are not punchy enough and lack contrast. To make matters worse, the appalling display is surrounded by thick bezels, and looks as if the Primus was a laptop from early 2015. We can excuse the top bezel as it houses the full HD camera and the IR Modules for Windows Hello, but surely they could have trimmed the fats from the side. Then there is the bulk of the laptop. For its size, it is light, weighing in at 1.3 kilograms. However, the dimensions are enormous. On the plus side, the keyboard and the track pad are a joy to use.

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Even though the track pad is smaller than what you would expect from a machine in 2018, it is precise, responsive and has dedicated left and right buttons. The keys are back lit and have a slight weight to them. This along with the travel makes it a gleefully wonderful machine to work on. Heck, you can also play some light hearted games on it. Don’t expect to play the latest AAA titles at max settings though. The lack of a dedicated graphics unit, really hurts the laptop’s potential.

Verdict

The Primus NX101 had the potential to be so much more than what it actually is. It has a fantastic chassis and more than decent internals as well. It is nothing short of a joy to use, be it for light content creation, regular web browsing and word processing, or even for some light gaming. But everything falls crashing down because of its display, which is a pity. Because this laptop, minus its screen, is as close you can get to truly portable desktop.

Specifications

• Processor: Intel i5 8250U @1.6 GHz, with turbo up to 3.4 GHz
• RAM: 8 GB DDR4 @2400 MHz (expandable up to 32 GB)
• Storage: 256 GB SSD (options include 512 GB SSD + 0.5 or 1 TB HDD and 32 GB Intel Optane)
• Display: 14” 1920x1080 anti-glare LED-backlit panel
• Battery life: Up to 10 hours of light usage, three to five hours of heavy usage at full brightness
• Security: Face detection (Windows Hello), fingerprint scanner

Yay

• Blazing fast performance
• Built like a tank
• The track pad and backlit keyboard are a joy to use
• Extremely light considering the size of the laptop
• Great array of ports
• Dolby Audio Premium, upward-firing speakers

Nay

• The display panel and the bezels
• No discrete GPU
• Specifications, considering the price
• Outdated styling

FHM rating: 3.5/5

From the January 2019 issue of FHM India.