The days when having a portable computer were a sign of having more money than sense are long gone. Today, you can go shopping with less than £1,000 and be spoiled for choice when choosing your notebook. You don't need to go without features either. The Systemax TravelBook 3002 is a typical budget model that provides more punch than the £821 price tag suggests.

Beating at the heart of the TravelBook is an AMD processor and this is a sure sign that the computer isn't going to be terribly pricey. Many buyers are snobbish about buying notebook computers with anything other than Intel processors fitted - as with desktop computers, although AMD processors offer a lot of performance for the pennies. The Athlon XP 2500+ Mobile runs at a speed of 1.73GHz and is accompanied by 256Mb of memory.

That may sound relatively small by modern standards, but our system tests produced little to complain about and we consider it a reasonable performer for the price.

Graphics performance was surprisingly sprightly. The ATi 9000 Mobility Radeon graphics chip means the Systemax can have a stab at the odd game - not always the case with an affordable notebook.

60Gb of hard disk space should satisfy the appetite of most computer owners, unless they are heavily into video editing. Tucked away under the right-hand edge of the keyboard is another surprising find in such a value notebook - a recordable DVD drive. This supports DVD-/+RW standards, will still burn CDs, and gives the added bonus of unlimited storage for photos, video clips and music files on DVDs. It will also play DVD movies, but like most notebooks, the speakers won't do a film soundtrack justice.

Connectivity is fairly good for such a competitively-priced computer. There are a pair of USB 2 ports, which is perhaps a little stingy, but we were pleased they weren't standard USB, bearing in mind the price. There is a single PC Card slot, modem, mini-FireWire, network and infrared ports fitted. Monitor and S-Video outputs are also provided if the 1024 x 768 resolution on the 15in screen isn't big enough for you. We found it large enough, although it lacked the sharpness of the best displays on the market.

All in all, the biggest shortcoming of the TravelBook, and one of the main reasons that the price can be kept so competitive, is the size. It weighs close to 4kg and is the size of a large reference book when stowed. The plastic case isn't exactly dripping with style either, although the colour scheme tries hard to lift the looks. For these reasons, it's not a practical proposition if you spend a lot of time on the move - it is simply too large. Used at a desk, however, the size and weight become an advantage. The keyboard is very comfortable to use as it is virtually full size. The track pad is reasonably large too, but we'd always recommend keeping a proper mouse handy so you don't have to use it. There are two hotkeys above the keyboard, one for starting your internet browser and another for email. These sit either side of an ostentatious power button, which is the size and colour of a ten pence piece.

The TravelBook 3002 has a few faults but in the end, computers are about power and flexibility for a price. In these terms, we consider the TravelBook a good buy. If you are looking to replace an elderly desktop computer with a powerful notebook, this is definitely worthy of consideration.

Contact: Simply Computers 0870 727 2130
www.systemaxpc.co.uk