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 with a more... Read review

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Advantages: large range of laptops and competitive rates
Disadvantages: lack of staff and more knowledgable advice needed

...I went to my local pc world as I wanted a laptop for my University work. I had already researched on the net about which laptops would be best and within my budget. I decided to go to pc world as they were offering the cheapest advent laptop. I waited for 30 minutes for some constructive help from a member of staff. There was a computer in the corner of the store which someone kept looking at and setting off the alarm. Aside from the staff not being able to turn the anti-shoplift alarm off for the duration of my wait at the shop, I had to go through 3 members of staff before I could find someone who could actually speak about laptops. I was told people were on their lunch-breaks and that they were short staffed. It was lucky for them I had already decided which laptop I wanted before I had set foot in their shop. When asking... Read review

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Advantages: Good Performance, Sleek
Disadvantages: No longer in production

...The Advent 7035 Laptop is an excellent allround powerful machine. It is currently no longer in production so can now only be bought second hand. -Hardware- -Processor: Intel Pentium 4 M 2.80Ghz -Chipset: SiS 650 with onbard 64MB graphics -RAM: 512MB DDR (non upgradable) -Hard Drive: 40GB 7200RPM Seagate (upgradeable) -Display: 15' TFT -Soundcard: Realtek AC'97 audio -Optical Drive(s): CD,DVD Reader/24x CD Writer combo -Modem HSP56 MR-8640 -Additional Features- -PCMCIA Advent Branded WiFi Card (PRISM) -4x USB, 100MBPS SiS 900 LAN, Printer, Serial, Tv-Out, no Game, Firewire or infrared -4 programmable "Quick Launch" Buttons -Convieniant "Power Save" Button -Mouse touchpad -Built-in Microphone and speakers -Microphone and headphone jacks + volume control -Security lock -External VGA -1x PCMCIA slot -Battery LIon battery 14.8V... Read review

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Advantages: decent small computer with good specs
Disadvantages: gets extremely hot

...i have had this laptop from PC world for about 2 weeks now and overall i am very pleased with it! speed: its a very quick little laptop, comes with 512MB RAM (upgradable to 1GB) and a 60GB HD that i find very useful. intel celeron 1.5GhZ processor is very fast and effecient. i can boot to windows desktop within around a minute. look and feel: i think this laptop is a very small and handy laptop, when closed there is the large advent logo i think that looks very nice. it feels a very, well modern laptop and very rugged. the plastics seem to be quite high quality. memory / capacity: like i said before it has 512MB RAM which i think any average PC user would be fine with but there is possibility of upgrading to 1GB. the HD is 60GB which is very good i think for a laptop and definitley does the job for me but is also very upgradable (i... Read review

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Advantages: fast inexpensive notebook
Disadvantages: gets warm when rested on your legs

...The advent 7002 has now become the 7006 and has come down in price from a respectable £1499 to a very a affordable £1299 (I believe another £100 has or will be taken off) For your money you get a 1.8 Pentium 4, a 30G hard drive, a 14.1 screen, and unusually for a notebook in this price range a DVD/CDRW. The features you get with this laptop are only normally seen on notebooks above the £1500 mark. . When I purchased this laptop (12 months interest free) I was informed that it came with a floppy drive, on arrival home I found it had not, I contacted Dixon’s where I had purchased it and they gave me a network cable to link the laptop to my desktop so I could use that floppy. (They also threw in a carry case) Networking the 2 computers was made very easy by xp, which will set up and configure both computers for you . You also get a disk... 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: fast
Disadvantages: Unreliable, bad support, cheap components

...I had a sony laptop for four years. The thing was a tank. It survived large amounts of abuse thrown its way without even a mearmer, never missed a beat. It was however getting a bit dated so i decided to upgrade. I saw this laptop in PC world. You can read all the specifications in the "opinion" above. For the money it sounded amazing so I took the plunge and handed over my £1499. I got home opened up the box and it seemed the laptop was alrady on and was password protected. This seemed a bit strange so I put it back in the box and made the 1/2 hour trip back to PC world with the battery dying half way there. Once there they promptly scolded me for letting the battery drain and not shutting down the computer first. After much arguing and shouting it transpired that they had given me the display model without telling me and that is why... Read review

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Advantages: A true portable powerhouse.
Disadvantages: Battery can be a bit poor when using the DVD or Cd/RW.

...The Advent 6422 is truly an amazing value for money, portable computer. I had been looking at Laptop’s for about three years, I liked the way they were so small and still had the capacity of a large desktop computer but in a more minute form. Anyway, I had got myself a new job and had earned myself enough money to buy my dream computer, so off I went to look at various places. In total I visited about different shops, 5 on the high street and 3 on the Internet and I found that the Dixons group (Dixons, Currys and PC World) to offer the most competitive prices. There own range Advent stood out as the most competitively priced and after much debate I set my heart on the 6422 model. It looked very nice in it’s silver/blue colour and had an excellent spec. I managed to collar a sales person who gave me the best deal imaginable... Read review

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Advantages: Cheap
Disadvantages: Poor tech support, poor parts, low quality

...I've had my Advent laptop for about 3 years which I bought from PC World, in that time it has been repaired five times and each time has taken about five weeks to repair! The laptop its self is a generic laptop, built cheaply and then with an Advent badge stuck on it. However when I purchased the laptop it was top of the range and about £700 quid cheaper than other similar branded versions. Of course when I purchased it I was badgered to take the warranty and told things like 'dedicated support line' 'most repairs done within 2 working days' etc. It did cover accidental damage though and the chance of me dropping it or it getting stolen was quite high so I took it out. It is clear that things sometimes go wrong, or get damaged, but so far the case has cracked and needed to be replaced, the screen has needed to be replaced, the fan... Read review

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Advantages: Lightweight and urban
Disadvantages: the "mouse" stick

...After a huge debacle with the manufacturers of my Advent laptop, it was decided that I was now in the market for a new one. One that worked. Thankfully, I know someone in the know, and he pointed me in the direction of the Toshiba Satellite 1700-300 series. They retail for about £750 - £850 and pack a pretty mean punch for your cash. One of the things I hated most about a laptop was that, if you used it on your lap (which is the intended method), it tends to burn the Hell out of your legs. Am almost convinced I got prickly heat from the Advent laptop !! With the Toshiba model, my legs remained relatively cool and comfortable throughout. Coupled with the fact that it weighs a lot less than the average laptop (sorry but I didnt weigh it), this cute little black and silver number was picture-perfect on my lap as I sat and whiled away... Read review

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