Introduction
Earlier this month, Harald Thon and Uli Ries took a look at the Dell SmartStep 250N in the article . In this article, we uncovered some of the problems with using a desktop Pentium 4 Northwood processor in a mobile form factor. The results of our investigation into the Dell SmartStep 250N provided some much needed perspective on the pros and cons of using this configuration, although the editors who wrote this article were less than impressed with some of the shortcomings of the SmartStep 250N.
We received an interesting e-mail from the folks at WinBook requesting that we take another look at a desktop processor in a mobile form factor. WinBook suggested that they might be able to provide a better solution to address the shortcomings noted in our Dell testing. Initially, we were not really that excited about this idea, but WinBook "sweetened the pot" by allowing us the exclusive opportunity to test their new J4 with an Intel 3.06GHz non-HyperThreading CPU. While we were still skeptical (since the 3.06GHz uses more power than the 2.2GHz Pentium 4 Northwood that we saw in the Dell SmartStep 250N), we agreed to take a look at their new J4 Final Engineering Sample to see what we might find under its hood.
