Sharp MM10

If you fancy a notebook PC for tasks like email but don't want to lug a monolithic beast around, you could do a lot worse than the Sharp MM10. To truly appreciate how small it is you have to see it. No bigger than an A5 jotter and incredibly, no heavier either, it's hard to believe that there's an entire PC packed into its small frame. Sure enough, though, flip open the lid to reveal the 10in screen, hit the power button and you're treated to the familiar sight of Windows XP Home.

To understand how Sharp managed to pull off this technological wonder, we have to nip under the bonnet. Here we find that instead of going for a processor from AMD or Intel, Sharp has used a 1GHz Transmeta Crusoe. Less powerful than its competitors, the Crusoe has only really found popularity in ultra-portable notebooks, as it uses very little power and generates hardly any heat.

So how does this affect system performance? Backed up by 256Mb of memory, our tests found that the Crusoe is only really suitable for simple applications, such as internet, email and word processing. It's not powerful enough to take on any huge number crunching tasks, but then it's not built to do that.

This is further reinforced by the poor onboard graphics. They're only good enough to power standard Windows applications and are incapable of running any games. The 15Gb hard disk is also a little restrictive for anything other than basic file storage. You certainly don't have enough space for thousands of digital pictures or Mp3 files.

To compensate for this, Sharp has done a lot of work to ensure that the MM10 works well with a desktop machine. Perhaps the feature that best illustrates this is the docking cradle, which connects to a PC via USB 2 and allows the MM10 to be turned into an external hard disk, allowing you to copy files to and from the notebook. As the MM10 lacks a CD drive, this method can also be used to install new applications. The docking station also charges the notebook. Despite the obviously small keyboard, the MM10 was a pleasure to use. It has Wi-Fi built in, which can be used to connect to a hotspot, and the usual range of PC ports for connecting external peripherals.

Our battery life test clocked the MM10 at two hours. This figure might fall behind the current wave of Centrino notebooks (such as the Acer TravelMate 290LCi, reviewed on page 32) but you have to appreciate that the Sharp simply doesn't have enough room for a large battery. An additional battery can be connected to the bottom of the notebook, though, which bumps battery life up to about five hours.

This is definitely a niche notebook PC that will only appeal to people who want an ultra-portable system for word processing and the internet, but it does do that job very well. At just over £1,000 it's well priced for a notebook of its size - just don't expect it to be the most versatile, powerful computer in the world.

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