Notebook review: MV Sirius+

The MV Sirius uses exactly the same chassis as the Evesham Voyager A215  reviewed in this group test.

Almost everything, from the number of USB ports to the positioning of the modem and network sockets, is the same.

The one difference is the optical drive; MV has plumped for an old-school CD-RW/DVD-Rom combo drive, whereas the Evesham boasts a more impressive dual-layer DVD writer.

The MV wins back some points with its choice of processor; a Turion 64 MT-40, which runs at a clock speed of 2.2GHz. Coupled with 512MB of Ram, the MV racked up 142 in Sysmark and 1,667 in PCmark.

However, the Sirius+ is the only entrant to contain a 40GB hard disk, which is half the amount of five other notebooks here.

 It’s hardly the stuff of 21st Century computing, and even the lightest computer user will fill that up quickly once programs are installed and My Documents starts to bloat.

The Via/S3G graphics aren’t much to write home about, either. Just 64MB of shared memory is allocated to power 3D graphics, which resulted in 3Dmark not running and 6.86 fps in Far Cry.

Like the Voyager A215, the 15in XGA screen will display a maximum resolution of 1,024 x 768. However, compared to those that can produce resolutions in excess of this, the MV looks dated.

You do get 802.11g wireless networking, though, and a software package that contains Roxio Creator, Microsoft Works, Bullguard Firewall AV software and a 60-day trial of Office 2003.

The warranty runs to a one-year collect-and return-policy with two further years’ return-to-base with labour.

This article is part of a group test on £699 notebooks. Others are:
Intro and Editor's Choice
Acer Aspire 9503EWSMi 
AJP M551G-E
Elonex Prowire 153
Evesham Voyager A215
Fujitsu Siemens Amilo M 6450G
Hi-Grade Notino C5515-1700
HP Compaq nx6125 (EK157ET)
Mesh Pegasus 3070
MV Sirius+
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