Advent 7099 Laptop

Advantages: sleek design, nice overall feel, bright, wide screen, good price
Disadvantages: trackpad a little over-sensitive, CPU not latest, dodgy support

...Advent is the PCWorld/Dixons own brand, the shipping box in fact says Dixons even though I got mine from PCW. It's been available for around the £500 mark online but somewhat more in store (most recently £550). When I saw it marked at '£500 voucher price' I figured it was worth asking 'what voucher'. After the usual ten minute wait to find someone who knew anything, a mangement type said it was an advert in The Sun, of all places, but no, I didn't actually need the voucher for real, they could do it at £500 for anybody cheeky enough to ask. Fair enough, I thought, because it had a nice bright widescreen and seemed of very decent build quality, in my price range only the Packard Bells seemed more sturdily built, and they lost out on various spec/price points, notably the similarly priced ones were not widescreen. So far I've been... Read review

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Advantages: Power, Quality, Price
Disadvantages: Mismatched colour on fascia of CDRom Drive

...P.C. World's own brand laptop computers would, you suspect have to be of a superior quality and build. In order to claim being the UK's No.1 supplier of computers and accessories they would also have to be able to supply the latest technology at a realistic price. The reason Laptops have not as yet become the industry standard for home computing is the Cost, quality of Screen and poor performance of battery power. PCW's Advent Laptop machines appear to have overcome many of these problems. With competition between retailers and the slump in world sales (against projected figures) causing overproduction, we, the buyers, are benefiting from an enormous drop in retail prices. The Advent 6413 gains strides over the competition through being powered by a 1Ghz Pentium III chip. This chip, fixed to a Fujitsu AT Board and coupled... Read review

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

...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... Read review

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