Advent 8485 > Reviews > Advent 8485

Author's product rating:   

Speed
Look & Feel
Comfort & Portability
Robustness & Durability
Value For Money

Advantages:	Competitive price, good performance, Asus/Hi - grade backup
Disadvantages:	Unusual keyboard layout

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I've always bought Toshiba laptops in the past, but when my latest one started to "wear out" I thought I'd be brave, save a few £s and go for a less well known brand. After digging around on the web I found that this model is actually made by Asus and supported over here by Hi-grade. That certainly gave me a bit more confidence than what I'd heard about PC World.
I walked in and walked out with my new baby within about 20 minutes. Set up was very straightforward with Windows ME pre-installed and Windows 2000 added without hitch. The computer comes with the best presented driver CD I've seen.
I did notice that the hard drive was rather noisy but the machine ran OK for a week. The disaster! The hard drive (a S.M.A.R.T. model Hitachi) reported "Imminent Drive Failure - back Up Now" at boot up! PC World gave me an instant replacement and its been fine since (a month).

The computer is a joy to use, certainly well fast enough for the development work I do. The screen is clear and bright and the keyboard pretty good for a laptop (though certain key placement is unusual). Its nice to have the option to watch DVD movies on the road via the drive and supplied software. That DVD software is about all you get bundled by the way.

With the backup of Hi-grade/Asus I don't think you can go far wrong with this.