AJP 8375

AJP's latest offering to the desktop replacement market, the 8375, comes with a mobile Athlon 2000+ processor.

The ultra-fast chip requires a completely new chassis to accommodate the 45w part. This one has been designed by Mitac. The outer shell, however, is very similar to the Time notebook that comes with a 2.4GHz P4 processor.

The 2000+ Athlon chip comes with 512MB of DDR memory. This is more than enough to power it along, and yet Sysmark results were a little disappointing. Overall, the 8375 came in at 129, less than the equivalent desktop chip.

We cannot explain this low result. AMD's power-saving technology, Powernow, was not activated as the notebook was plugged into the mains, and all benchmarks and the Bios confirmed that the chip was running at full capacity. All in all, this was a disappointing start.

Again, on the downside, the shiny silver case is very chunky. This is part of a wave of notebooks that are too large to be portable.

These have emerged as more and more notebooks are being bought instead of desktop PCs to save space. The AJP's size, however, means there are plenty of ports around the sides, the most impressive being the four USB2 ports around the back.

USB2 is still a relatively new format, so there are not many products to feature its high speed transfer capacity, but it's nevertheless very welcome. Also on the back, there is an S-Video port, a parallel port (although no serial connection), a 56K modem and a VGA output.

Round to the right, the Matshita UJDA720 DVD/CD-RW combo sits comfortably next to the infrared port and the easily removable battery. The left side has the Ethernet adaptor and a solitary Type II PC Card slot.

It's strange to find only one PC Card slot as, although Type III cards are not that common, you couldn't fit one into the port as they are roughly twice the thickness of their Type II namesakes.

At the front, there are the usual audio inputs and outputs, mic and headphone sockets, as well as a volume control. Although the sound is average it's good to see instant access.

A mini-FireWwire port also sits next to these, which is fantastic. However, we found the lack of an internal floppy drive odd, although this is becoming increasingly common. AJP has supplied an USB external drive.

The 8375 is large, and so is the keyboard. All keys are present and in their usual positions. They feel good to the touch and their size makes typing relatively simple. The touchpad is on the hefty side, but is responsive.

The two mouse buttons are quite small and their position makes them difficult to use. They feel too close to the touchpad so our hands were cramped into awkward positions which did become painful after lengthy use. A third button in the middle acts as a scroll wheel.

Using S3's Prosavage DDR graphics chip, and 32MB of system memory, this is not designed for playing games. The 8375 managed just 549 in 3Dmark 2001, so it's capable of competently running only a handful of games.

The 14.1in TFT screen is pretty impressive, although it can only handle resolutions of up to 1,074 x 768, disappointing considering its potential power and desktop focus. However, it is crystal clear, with a great viewing angle. Finally, AJP has supplied a Fujitsu MHS2040AT D 40GB hard drive.

But it was battery life which really let this down: one hour six minutes is pretty horrendous, even if it's not meant to leave your desk often.

But if you can put up with this, and the disappointing benchmark scores, then this is a well-featured notebook, especially considering the price.

Specifications:

• Mobile Athlon XP 2000+ processor
• 512MB of PC2100 memory
• 40GB hard disk
• DVD/CD-RW combo drive
• 32MB S3 Pro Savage DDR graphics
• 14.1in TFT screen
• Modem
• Ethernet
• Integrated wireless Lan
• Windows XP Professional
• Dimensions: 328 x 274 x 37mm (w x d x h)
• Weight: 3.2kg
• 1yr parts and labour, 1yr labour-only warranty.

Price: £1,350.08 (£1,149 ex VAT)

Contact: AJP 020 8208 9744
www.ajp.co.uk