Medion 17.3in High Definition Design Notebook

The £500 Medion High Definition Design Notebook is, as its full name suggests, a notebook (or laptop) computer with a 17in screen. It's available in Aldi shops from June 17.

The processor is a decent model, an Intel Core i3-350 model and it has 3GB of memory. That processor is at the low end of Intel's latest range, but it's a good model and it means the computer is easily capable of dealing with home/office and internet tasks, as well as some more demanding things such as photo and video editing.

It's packed with features: in addition to all the standard bits and pieces that come with Windows, the computer comes with a TV tuner in the form of a USB adapter, which is supplied with its own small aerial and an adapter for full-size home aerials. With the built-in aerial we couldn't pick up much but plugging in a proper aerial worked well.

There's a 320GB hard disk, about the standard at the moment for a laptop, and a CD/DVD writer. A second hard disk can also be fitted, which might be handy when it comes to upgrading the storage space.

Medion's marketing materials boast about the laptop's 'HD audio' (it has two speakers and a sub-woofer) and it was quite a lot better than you'd find on the average laptop but would still benefit, quality- and volume-wise, from plugging in some good dedicated speakers or headphones.

The computer can connect to both wired and wireless networks, and it has four USB ports, an Expresscard slot and a memory card reader, as well as headphone and microphone sockets.

In addition there is an eSata port for attaching external hard disks, an HDMI socket for connecting a flat-panel TV, and unique to Windows computers we've seen so far, there is a Displayport socket for attaching new monitors. We have yet to actually see a Displayport monitor on sale, but it doesn't hurt to have the socket available for the future.

The price is very reasonable – this computer is good for undemanding home users who don't need to play modern games.