Advent 7045

In the world of notebook PCs, those who want glamorous looks, sleek lines and go-faster stripes should browse through the latest models from Sony or Apple. For no-frills solid performance at a reasonable price, however, it's worth considering an off-the-shelf option such as the Advent 7045.

The unit's silver, plastic body and rounded edges are a nod towards current fashions, but the machine is bulky and clocks in at 3.4kg, pushing the notion of portability to its limit. Its competitive sub-£1,000 price, however, is certainly attractive.

The Advent runs a standard 2.8GHz Pentium 4 processor with 512Mb of memory (64Mb of which is used by the on-board graphics). This isn't exactly cutting edge by today's standards, but it provides more than enough oomph to cope with the kind of tasks most home users will want it for, such as photo editing, home-office work and internet browsing. Likewise, the 7045's hard disk isn't gigantic at 40Gb but it will accommodate the average collection of digital photos and documents. Should you ever need further storage, there's a multi-format recordable DVD drive included - although the lack of video inputs (either analogue or FireWire) means that you will have to invest in an external capture device if you want to edit your own home movies and turn them into DVDs.

The most obvious letdown is the 7045's 15in TFT screen. While its native resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels might suit those who prefer larger icons, the display is just nowhere near as sharp as it should be. Text is slightly fuzzy around the edges and colours are unpleasantly washed out. Angle the screen in any direction other than straight in your line of vision and it becomes very difficult to read. We tried tinkering with the brightness setting to see if this helped, but had minimal success.

In its favour, the Advent features a generous four USB 2 ports for attaching external peripherals. The keyboard feels markedly more solid than some of the flimsier ones we've had to contend with and a selection of programmable 'Easy Start' buttons along the top can be used to launch frequently used programs. Supplied software includes useful applications like Nero Burning ROM and Microsoft Works, but nothing particularly inspiring. Unlike many other notebook PCs, however, the Advent 7045 comes with plenty of documentation.

There's a set-up poster and a booklet dedicated to troubleshooting problems and restoring the unit should anything go awry. Also included is a fairly detailed manual that shows you how to do things like hook up the notebook to a TV to watch DVD movies. The manual appears to be a generic Advent booklet, however, as we found many of the instructions referred to features not included in this particular model, such as wireless networking.

Despite reasonable performance scores, the Advent 7045 is not quite up to being a desktop replacement. Poor graphics performance and below-par display make it distinctly unsuitable for anything other than the oldest of games. The machine is obviously aimed at home office users who want a straightforward, off-the-shelf notebook at a low-ish cost. But you won't have to hunt too far to find something better for a similar price.

Contact: Advent 08705 464464
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