IN BRIEF: A budget ultraportable that is more than capable of being your main computer
Advent is the brand name of laptops offered by PC World in its range of stores. The Advent 7053 (£699 inc. VAT) is aimed at the cost-conscious consumer looking for an ultra-budget machine to use as a secondary computer, or the student looking for a machine to use for three years worth of studies.
The Advent 7053 is a silver and grey laptop that manages to appear understated and quite plain in appearance. As you would expect from such a bargain priced machine, there are compromises to be made. The first we noticed was the overall quality of the chassis, which is adequate, but won’t stand up to a great deal of punishment – this is not a machine you will want to rely on for use on the road. This is a shame, as the Advent 7053 measures a comfortable 280 x 235 x 33mm and will easily slip into any standard carry case. With a weight of 2kg, the 7053 is heavier than we would have first thought. Most of the weight is at the back of the unit, where the battery pack sits under the screen. With a battery life under test of 218 minutes, we were impressed with the functionality this system provided, especially from a mere six-cell battery pack.
The size of the chassis is kept to a minimum by the use of a 12.1-inch TFT panel, which has a native resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels. The screen on our test machine proved to be extremely clear with no visible flaws. The graphics solution is an integrated one, which is a common occurrence in such a small form factor, and consists of the Intel Extreme 2 chipset. This GPU uses up to 64MB of system memory to perform basic 3D tasks, as borne out by a 3DMark of 2175.
The base specification of the Advent 7053 is based around an Intel 1.4GHz Celeron M processor. Such a chip is Intel’s budget offering, as it lacks many of the features found in the more expensive Pentium M processors. The main problem is with the amount of Level 2 cache found on the die. In the latest Pentium M chips this is 2MB, but in the Celeron M, this has been reduced to a mere 512KB. Therefore, the MobileMark 2002 score of 122 from this system is a fair representation of the performance that can be expected from such a chip. This is compounded by the inclusion of 256MB DDR SDRAM, which is the minimum Windows XP Home Edition needs to run efficiently, but leaves no room for multitasking applications.
At this price range, extras are often kept to a minimum. Sadly, the 7053 is fitted with a DVD/CD-RW optical drive as opposed to the more expensive DVD-rewriter format. However, the use of 802.11g Wi-Fi connectivity is something of a coup at this price. Powerlink PowerDVD XP and Ahead Nero Express are bundled for use with the optical drive and Microsoft Works 7 offers productivity software to get the user up and running.
With many manufacturers skimping on extra features on their budget models, PC World has put together a great machine in the Advent 7053 that is well worth checking out. If you’re looking for an ultraportable at an highly-affordable price this system offers performance and an enhanced battery life. PC World informed us that this model will be superceded in November by the 7064M (£749 inc. VAT), which has the same chassis but a faster 1.5GHz Celeron M processor and dual-format DVD-rewriter.
PRICE £594/£699 (EX/INC. VAT)
PROCESSOR Intel Celeron M 1.4GHz
MEMORY 256MB DDR SDRAM
HARD DRIVE Fujitsu 40GB
SCREEN SIZE AND TYPE 12.1-inch TFT
DISPLAY RESOLUTION 1024 x 768 pixels
GRAPHICS CARD Intel 855 chipset
DIMENSIONS 280 x 235 x 33mm
WEIGHT 2kg
PC CARDS (TYPE II/III) 1/0
WIRELESS LAN 802.11g
ETHERNET Yes
MODEM Yes
USB PORT 3
FIREWIRE No
STANDARD WARRANTY 1 yr RTB
WARRANTY UPGRADE None supplied
CONTACT
08000 565732
www.pcworld.co.uk
VALUE FOR MONEY 7
PERFORMANCE 6
FEATURES 6
MOBILITY 8
BUILD QUALITY 5
OVERALL 8
BATTERY LIFE 218 mins
MOBILEMARK 2002 122
3DMARK 2001 2175
