Packard Bell Igo 3491

Yes, it does look like an iBook, open or closed. Even the name Igo 3491 is similar.

This notebook has a 14.1in screen, with a native resolution of 1,024 x 768.

Driven by an ATI graphics chip, it can hook up to an external monitor, which will either replace or supplement the integrated panel - great for web developers on the move.

This can draw on 32MB of memory, robbed from the 256MB of system resources. For mobile use this should be more than enough.

Storage is handled by a 30MB hard drive, DVD/CD-RW combo and floppy. The latter two are integrated, which is impressive for such a compact chassis.

A tour of the edges reveals a plethora of ports, including headphone, mic, mini Firewire and rotary volume control to the front, beside which sit integrated speakers, while at the back there's Ethernet, modem, and a collection of legacy and legacy-free data connectors.

There are dedicated control buttons for music playback and others for email and internet access. None of these were working on our review system so you'll have to set them up when you get the notebook home.

The AMD Athlon XP Mobile 1900+ processor (a 1.6GHz chip) kept cool throughout our testing, and even by the time we'd finished the system was still not too hot to support on a lap.

Small fold-out feet on the base of the case tilt the body, making typing far more pleasant. Shame the same can't be said for the truncated backspace key - we hit Home pretty much every time we tried to delete a character.

If you've always fancied an iBook but would rather not cut your ties with Windows this could be what you need.

Specifications

• 1.6GHz AMD Athlon XP 1900+ processor
• 256MB DDR memory
• 30GB hard drive
• ATI IGP320M graphics
• 14.1in TFT screen
• Windows XP Home
• 3kg
• 329 x 265 x
• 37mm (w x d x h)

Packard Bell 01628 512 400
www.packardbell.co.uk