AJP 8640

Built around a 2.53GHz desktop P4 and 512MB of DDR memory, this average-looking desktop replacement notebook is no slouch. Although 190 overall in Sysmark 2002 isn't the fastest we've seen, it's more than speedy enough for today's applications.

The 8640 comes with a 40GB hard disk, but we'd have liked to have seen more for £1,500. There's also a DVD/CD-RW drive and an external floppy.

Round the back, there are four USB2 ports, a mini-FireWire and S/PDIF. Although these ports are becoming commonplace, it's good to see a healthy variety. Serial, parallel and VGA, as well as PS/2 and 10/100 Ethernet port, complete the rear, and there's a single PC Card slot and 56K modem on the left.

The right-hand side houses the CD-RW drive and infrared port, and there's a volume control, headphone out and mic in minijack ports at the front.

Two nifty additions are the smart card reader slot, on the right, and integrated wireless local area network module. The smart card reader can take Memory Stick, Multimedia Card, Secure Digital and Compact Flash, and the wireless module is fully 802.11b compliant.

Graphics power comes from Nvidia's Geforce4 Go chip. This 64MB version gave us 4,896 in 3Dmark - good enough for most games, and on a par with many desktops, but it's no graphics powerhouse.

The screen is absolutely magnificent though; every one of its 15.1 inches is crystal clear and really shone in our graphics tests.

The large keyboard and comfortable touchpad makes office work a doddle, so despite the disappointing battery life we were pretty impressed.

Contact: AJP
www.ajp.co.uk

Specifications

• 2.53GHz Pentium 4
• 512MB of DDR memory
• 40GB hard disk
• DVD/CD-RW
• Modem 10/100 Ethernet
• Geforce4 Go
• 15.1in TFT
• Wireless Lan
• Smart card reader
• 332 x 285 x 39mm (w x d x h)
• 3.4kg