Mesh Pegasus 3700+

Notebooks are usually considered to be inferior to their desktop counterparts. The Mesh Pegasus 17.1in 3700+ aims to change this perception with a high specification that wouldn't look out of place inside a full-sized home PC.

Alongside an Athlon 3700+ CPU, there's 1GB of DDR memory and a 128MB Radeon 9700 graphics card. Together, these allow the notebook to run at a good pace. It achieved a Sysmark 2004 score of 171, and was able to run most games at high resolution without compromising frame rates.

One of the notebook's best features is its 17.1in widescreen TFT display. This has a native resolution of 1,440 x 900, making it ideal for watching DVD movies in a 16:9 aspect ratio and for viewing two or more documents side by side on your Windows desktop.

Mesh has included a 60-day trial version of Microsoft Office, as well as full versions of Microsoft Works 8, Pinnacle Studio 9 SE and a couple of CD writing and DVD authoring applications to complement the eight-speed Sony DW-D56A dual-layer DVD rewriter.

We were also pleased with the inclusion of a 100GB hard drive, which is generous storage for a notebook. Mesh has supplied an integrated webcam and a 6-in-1 memory card reader that supports most popular formats.

The Pegasus 17.1in 3700+ has a good range of features. Given its competitive price, it is an ideal alternative to a full-sized desktop system.