Notebook review: Elonex Prowire 153

At 2.8kg, the Prowire 153 is up there with the heaviest notebooks on test.

However, Elonex’s entrant is the only one with 1GB of DDR Ram. Double the amount of memory and your computer will operate faster – it’s as simple as that.

The Intel Pentium M 740 (1.73GHz) is also one of the fastest processors used in this group test and helped the Prowire 153 achieve 135 in Sysmark and 1,792 in PCmark tests.

Like most of the notebooks here, Intel’s i915GM chipset is used for graphics, and it can borrow up to 128MB of the system memory. As expected with integrated graphics, the 3Dmark score was 184 and Far Cry didn’t run.

A technical glitch with Mobilemark 2005 stopped us getting a battery life score before we went to press, but by the time you read this we will have posted full results for all the notebooks at www.reportlabs.com.

Having a maximum resolution of 1,024 x 768 means things can get a bit crowded on the 15in display and it only takes a slight knock to get that shimmering effect that occurs on some budget LCD screens.

The 80GB hard disk matches what’s provided in the other notebooks here, as does the dual-layer DVD writer, which is unusually positioned on the front edge of the chassis rather than the side. There are four USB ports and a switch for turning on the 802.11a/b/g Wifi radio.

The palm rest is bigger than others here and the keyboard feels good to type on. There’s a 3-in-1 card reader that supports MMC (Multimedia Card), SD (Secure Digital) and Memory Stick formats, and there’s also an S/PDIF socket.

Windows XP Home is installed and you get WinDVD 4 plus a collection of Nero applications for multimedia work and disc burning. Elonex includes a carry case, and you can order online with the E-web code 05-PCW-153.

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+
The next level - improving laptop performance
Living with a laptop: pitfalls to avoid