Advent 7053

If you are in the market for a notebook computer, one of the most important things to consider is what you want to use it for. The Advent 7053 is very portable but this usually means compromises in battery life or performance, so we were intrigued to see how it fared.

It uses an Intel Celeron M processor running at 1.4GHz and comes with 256Mb of memory. Only 248Mb of this is actually used by Windows, the rest is allocated to the graphics - Intel's Extreme Graphics 2 for Mobile.

Despite the name, don't expect amazing graphics performance. Our tests found that it struggled with the latest 3D games. Combined with the 12.1in screen, this was perfectly adequate for Windows applications, though.

The 40Gb hard disk is average for a notebook these days, but will still offer plenty of space for files. A DVD/CD-RW combo drive is installed in the right-hand side of the notebook. It would have been nice to see a DVD writer but at this price you can't complain.

On the front of the notebook is a memory card reader and a manual volume control, which is useful if you need to turn the sound down quickly, along with headphone and microphone sockets.

Alongside the DVD/CD-RW drive are three USB 2 ports. The usual array of ports are on the left-hand side of the notebook, along with built-in Wi-Fi. Unfortunately, there is no FireWire.

One casualty of the Advent's small dimensions is the keyboard. The main letter keys are reasonably sized but the function keys and other keys are much smaller, which does take some getting used to. The trackpad, though, is full size and there is a button for scrolling through documents.

The software supplied is enough to get you going as soon as you get it home. Along with Windows XP Home, it includes Microsoft Works 7, CyberLink PowerDVD and Nero Burning ROM.

Performance in our tests was not spectacular but certainly adequate if all you want to use it for is office and internet tasks.

The real treat was the battery life which lasted just under three hours and 40 minutes. For a notebook of this size that is an excellent result and bettered all the models in our group test. This makes the Advent 7053 an great notebook for people who want to work on the move.

Contact: PC World 08705 464 464
www.adventcomputers.co.uk

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