Primary Firestorm Ultra Slim DVD/CDRW Combi drive

Advantages: Amazing looks, great battery life, decent performance
Disadvantages: Small touchpad, not as fast as other bigger models

...feel cramped when trying to type. I have quite large fingers and usually find the small laptops (and fold-out keyboards for PDAs) very difficult to use but I had no issue with this laptop whatsoever. Above the excellent screen, which churns out a crisp 1,280x768 resolution, is a little camera that is capable of filming full-motion video or still pictures. On the front you’ll find a wireless on/off button as well as a slot for either a Memory Stick or an external DVD/CDRW drive. For a small laptop it has a wide variety of ports in the back, including Firewire (or as Sony calls it iLink), VGA and USB 2.0. The only issue I had with the design was the size of the touchpad, which was probably designed for 5 year olds (apparently the primary audience for this laptop) because I had trouble using it. It isn’t that bad and it is something you can get... Read review

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Advantages: Reliability, Build, Specification
Disadvantages: None

...After a little research, I chose this machine as it had been awarded a top buy by Computer Shopper and A listed by PC Pro magazines - I was not to be disappointed. An Athlon 1333 processor, complimented with 256Mb of DDR Ram, a 40Gb (7200rpm)Hard Disk Drive, 64Mb Geforce2 MX Graphics Card, 17" LG Flatron Monitor, Creative Labs Live! Souncard, Cambridge Works 5.1 Speaker System, 4 USB ports, a separate DVD and CDRW, running Windows ME, all for £1200 pounds. The Athlon/DDR/7200rpm Hard Disk Drive combi make this a quick and able machine. It is capable of handling a number of heavy applications - Adobe Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash etc, whilst being no slouch on the games front. The LG monitor offers a sharp and vibrant visual, (with an added bonus of containing 4 USB ports), and the sound from the 5.1 speaker system... Read review

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Advantages: Quality Build, No messing inside your PC, Bundled Software
Disadvantages: Maybe a bit pricey.

...to be formatted that can take up to 45 minutes (yawn). While I am on the subject of yawning, below is the technical spec if anyone is interested. -Buffer Memory: 2 MB -Burnproof: no -CD Read Speed: 48 -CD Rewrite Speed: 24 -CD Write Speed: 48 -CD re-writeable: yes -CD record speed: CD-R W48 -CD recordable: yes -Product type: CD re-writeable -Cod & Chips: no -USB1.1: no -USB2.0: yes I was doing a bit of on-line shopping the other day and noticed that an Iomega 52x24x52x CDRW Drive appears to be replacing this model (it is a similar price). Also DVD combi version is available for a tenner more. (Look on insight.com). IN GENERAL: A top quality piece of kit, which will probably outlast your pc.... Read review

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