Advent AIO-156

Just as 2008 was the year of the mini-notebook, 2009 seems to be shaping up as the year of the all-in-one touch-screen computer.

We recently looked at HP’s latest model and PC World has added two touch-screen models to its range of Advent PCs.

We’re looking at the cheaper of the two, the compact AIO-156, which combines mini-notebook technology with a 15.6in touch-screen.

That’s because the computer has essentially the same innards as a mini-notebook: there is Windows XP, an Intel Atom N270 processor and 1GB of memory, plus a 160GB hard disk and wired and wireless network access.

It’s fine for the internet and office tasks (Microsoft Works office software is included) but video editing, high-definition movie playback and gaming are out of the question.

The one thing the AIO-156 has that a mini-notebook doesn’t is an optical drive, in this case a DVD reader/writer that sits on its own in the left-hand side of the case.

The right-hand side of the chassis is home to two USB ports and headphone and microphone sockets. There are three more USB ports in the rear of the case along with the network socket.

There are two connected parts: a base unit holding all the components and the screen, connected by a single strut giving up and down movement - care should be taken as the strut is not very strong. Because the computer uses an external power supply there is no internal fan so it is very quiet when in use.

The touch-screen worked well, and can be configured to suit the user with the supplied software. The only problem we had was with the right-mouse-button function which was a bit obstinate, but this isn’t the only touch-screen to suffer from that and with a bit of practice and patience it can be tamed.

Advent does supply a mouse along with the compact keyboard so if you lose patience with the touch-screen all is not lost.

For internet and office tasks, this is a decent well-priced package, but those who want to do more must look elsewhere.