Verdict: Great value and a fast response screen, but a little too heavy and bulky for our liking

When PC World told me the spec of this machine, I confess to being a little excited. In fact, with a mobile version of the Athlon 64 3000+ chip, matched with ATi Radeon Mobility 9600 graphics, I was itching to rip away the cardboard packaging and see what it could do.

Twenty minutes later and I had the first result: a score of 1.17 in our benchmarks. I must admit to a certain degree of disappointment - I'd optimistically hoped for a score around 1.50. However, to be fair, the 7039 screams along in general use and can still hold its head high when compared to the 1.7GHz Pentium-M powered Dell, which scored 0.97.

The Pentium-M won the battle in 3D, but only just. And considering the 7039's graphics only include 64MB of memory - and this is the non-Pro version of the Mobility 9600 - the mobile Athlon 64 can claim the moral high ground. Besides, a frame rate of 22fps in Wolfenstein bodes well, taking into account the 1,280 x 1,024 resolution and 2x AA 4x AF settings. What's more, you'll only ever be playing at 1,024 x 768 on this laptop due to the screen's native resolution, making it possible that games such as Half-Life 2 will be playable.

The TFT itself is more than capable of handling fast-moving images, while DVD movies were displayed with similar aplomb. It's also a fine display for everyday use, with a bright backlight and good contrast - so white actually looks white. We quite like the keyboard too; it has a firm feel and the well-positioned keys make typing a pleasant experience.

But there are a couple of areas where the Advent gives away its budget leanings. The design is basic and not hugely attractive, the fan occasionally kicks in overly aggressively and its 3.5kg weight means we'd think twice about taking it away on trips. Ironically, much of this weight is due to the large battery, which helped the Advent to an excellent result of four hours and three minutes in our light-use battery test. Add wireless LAN, and it's well equipped for life on the move.

It falls down against its rivals here because of the 40GB hard disk and DVD/CD-RW combo drive - rather than a DVD writer - but considering the price, this is hardly surprising. If you don't need these extra features, the Advent 7039 offers plenty for your money.

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• Motherboards - 24th October 2008
• Gaming Headsets - 26th September 2008
• Dream PCs - 24th September 2008
• Headphones - 12th September 2008
• Media PC components - 22nd August 2008
• PSUs - 14th July 2008

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