Advent 5490 > Reviews > My first laptop was disappointing

Author's product rating:   

Speed	Fast
Look & Feel	Satisfactory
Comfort & Portability	Satisfactory
Robustness & Durability	Poor
Value For Money	Poor

Advantages:	A more affordable option for you
Disadvantages:	Poor build quality, noisy, overheats, heavy, screen flickers

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

I bought the Advent 5490 laptop for £800 in 2001. Perhaps this review may help more recent computer users who are trying to decide what to buy to be aware of the benefits and problems that I found with this product.

Usage
Everyday for word processing, surfing the Net, emailing.

Aftercare
I purchased an extended Warranty, for an extra year after the Manufacturer's 1 year Warranty.

Initially, the large screen for the price that it was, was rather pleasing, when you compare it with the smaller screens on other 'more well known brands', that you could find for the same type of money. Aesthetically, the laptop is nice - a pleasant dark blue colour.

There are some problems which I would like to highlight so that other people can be made aware of what caused me frustration.

Bad workmanship/parts?
As others have mentioned with a more expensive model of Advent laptop, cracks developed in the body of the unit, plus also between the unit and the screen - near the hinges.

Noisy and heavy
I found this laptop to be incredibly noisy. I thought this myself when I was using it, and as it is the first laptop I have owned, one could say, you don't have anything to compare it to. But I found that this laptop was too noisy, and also heavy, - in comparison to friendss who have laptops of different makes, which were all older machines. When I purchased this laptop, the weight was not readily available at the point of purchase. However, nowawdays, I have noticed that manufacturers are displaying the weight of the machines more, and do look for something which is light - you'll find it easier to carry it around.

Overheats
Bad design, or perhaps this is common to many laptops - the fan is located on the base of the laptop - you should keep the laptop raised, on say a thick brochure, so that you can vent the fan. The body of the laptop became incredibly warm to the touch - perhaps this did not affect the function of the laptop?

Screen flickers
This was frustrating indeed. The screen becomes un-visible because the image disappears from view. The design must be that the cables connecting the screen and laptop body, are not durable or reliable. This problem surface within 6 months of usage. I was disappointed.

I have made use of the extended warranty to fix the faults which I've mentioned that affected the functioning of the laptop, however, they have not all been fixed to last. The screen is worse now - lose the image constantly, and tweaking the angle of the screen only brings back the picture on some occasions. I get frustrated, and use another computer. However, not everyone will have a 2nd computer to hand.

All in all, go for an economical laptop if you just want to word process and for light usage. I would not buy another Advent, due to the poor build quality of the machine. I hope that other Advent users have had more luck, and for those looking for a new laptop, let me say that if I can afford a more expensive laptop, I would go for a 'better known brand' next time.