When I bought my AJP laptop I was a computing student, and like most students I was stingey and spent months making sure I got the best deal. I checked all the websites and read all the magazines, and came to the conclusion that this laptop was by far the best in terms of quality a price.
In fact the only laptop which can beat this one is one of those sexy Sony VAIOs, but if you want one of those your going to have to pay the excessive price for one.
My desktop machine has hardly been used since. I do all my work on my laptop now, no matter if I'm at home or out on my travels.
The components are hard wearing. I've used this machine so much that I've started to wear grooves into the plastic where my hands go. Apart from that, all the components are like new. Its is easily comparable to a desktop machine.
All the hardware works well together, nothing is lacking. The screen size on my version is a generous 14 inches, and very crispy with zero defects.
After cycling a mile into university everyday I realised this machine is quite heavy for traveling. Its ok for walking down the street with, but don't take it hiking with you.
The keyboard and trackpad are lovely. The keyboard is the quiet clicky kind, and all the people who have tried it seem to like it. The trackpad is very responsive, and although you can easily plug a mouse in, I never use one (even when I'm doing graphics, check my webpage for some examples). In fact mice feel really weird to use nowadays :)
Because it uses a Pentium 3 processor the machine would get too hot without a fan. Sometimes the fan can seem quite loud, you wouldn't really want to use it in a lecture theatre or library because it might annoy others. If you were really concerned with the noise level you could easily replace the fan with one of those expensive quiet ones. I found it really easy to get the fan out of my machine, just a couple of screws.
Battery life is good, can't remember what it was to start with. But my batteries last at least an hour and a half nowadays. You have to expect your battery life to degrade over time, and I've had this machine over a year now.
The machine is upgradable as a laptop can be. It has a vast array of data ports on the back and the standard pcmcia holes for all the modem/network/misc cards you want to plug in. You can easily swap the hard drive and battery pack and floppy drive out and replace them with different things.
Also, the people at AJP are fantastic and very friendly. The put up with my bombardment of questions and queries and really knew what they were talking about. I even went down to the showroom to see them, and they let my sit there and test it out for as long as I want. There was none of the usual sales pitch, I got the genuine feeling that they wanted me to be happy with my choice.
I think I have given this machine a rigorous testing. Its turned on for most of the hours in a day, and I'm continually using it. It has easily surpassed my expectations, and this is a purchase I will never regret.
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