AJP 7170

If you feel the urge for a fast, reasonably priced notebook that's fully featured but not too bulky, AJP thinks it has the answer.

Core components consist of a 1Ghz Pentium III and a 20Gb Fujitsu hard drive, with the display driven by an S3 Twister chipset using 16Mb of system memory rather than dedicated video Ram, which won't help performance.

Our pre-production review model came with 128Mb of Ram, but the production version will be supplied with 256Mb, making the lack of video Ram less of a penalty.

This is a relatively low-priced machine, and the biggest and most obvious area in cost cutting is the screen. The displays on top-end units these days can manage higher resolutions than 21in desktop monitors, but the 7170 is limited to a more modest but still perfectly adequate 1024 x 768, with a 14.1in diagonal screen size.

The quality of the display isn't too hot, although the back lighting is even, and it has a limited viewing angle that means the edges of the screen look faded when you're looking at it close up.

As is the wont of manufacturers these days, AJP insists on giving the impression that its notebook is made of magnesium alloy, an impression that's shattered as soon as you touch the case and realise it's made of plastic, albeit two-tone plastic: magnesium-effect blue on the top and magnesium-effect grey on the bottom.

As with all plastic bodied notebooks, the 7170 creaks a little when you pick it up, but it's a lot sturdier and less flexible overall than some we've encountered.

Port-wise, starting from the back edge, you get TV-out, parallel and PS/2 connectors, mini FireWire connector, integrated 56K modem, two USB ports and VGA socket.

There's no serial port, which could be tricky if you want to sync with an older PDA. On the left is a 10/100 Ethernet socket plus PC Card slot. On the right, the non-removable eight-speed DVDRom drive has an infra-red port to keep it company.

At the front are the audio in and out ports, plus volume control for the stereo speakers. As is usually the case with notebook speakers, the audio quality is tinny and only barely adequate. There's no integrated floppy drive, but an external USB unit is supplied as standard.

Our review model also came with an Intel wireless 802.11b network PC Card, but the production model will have an internal wireless hub, which is a neat feature.

On top, you get five programmable application shortcut keys above the keyboard. A good, responsive touchpad does the business with cursor control, and the scroll wheel on your desktop mouse is replaced by two up/down scroll buttons. The keyboard is above average, with a little more travel, tactility and positive feel than many.

The unit is around 35mm thick with the lid shut, 311mm wide and 262mm deep. It weighs a smidgeon under 3kg.

The 7170 is one of a growing breed of notebooks to use a desktop Flip Chip Pentium III, rather than the mobile versions. AJP has used this chip to help keep the cost of the notebook as low as possible. This has an adverse effect on battery life, however.

The NiMH only managed an hour in our battery rundown tests, although in the real world you can expect it to last for longer. Nevertheless, it's a poorer performance than we'd normally expect.

Our review sample arrived devoid of software other than Windows Me, but AJP tells us that the production model will have Microsoft Works 6, McAfee AntiVirus and Dragon Dictate, complete with headset.

For the money, the 7170 doesn't skimp on features. The pre-production nature of the review model meant we couldn't run our normal benchmarks, but the 1Ghz processor and 256Mb of Ram should mean it'll cope with office applications for years to come, and with FireWire, USB, modem, wired and wireless networking, you've got all the connectivity bases covered.

But with the graphics chipset using system memory, gaming isn't going to be the fluid experience of higher-end desktop replacements now sporting nVidia's GeForce2 Go, and the relatively poor display quality could be annoying.

You can get more stylish and better-built notebooks for the money, but there aren't many with this number of features.

Contact: AJP
020 8208 9700
www.ajp.co.uk.