Home page » Laptops

Search:

When it comes to laptops, slim may well be the buzzword of the moment, and "in the style of the MacBook Air" the buzz-phrase. Take the Advent Altro, for example, a slim laptop in the style of the MacBook Air hailing from DSG's (of Currys, PC World and Dixons ownership) own-brand.

With its 13.3in display and low-power CULV Intel CPU housed within a 21mm thin, 1.6kg, metal chassis the basic specs certainly stack up well against the MacBook Air. Addition the Altro features 3GB of RAM, a 120GB hard drive, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

A reported four hours of battery life is hardly spectacular, but for the money expecting more would be asking a bit much. Advent is apparently in disagreement with Apple regarding Ethernet's redundancy, and while only one USB port is available on the laptop itself, a further two are provided courtesy a port replicator.

The £599 asking price is markedly less than that of the Air. Of course that the machine runs Vista does - to my mind - warrant a notable price reduction versus any Apple competition but a free upgrade to Windows 7 come release could negate that somewhat.

For those not so budget constrained and in need of a bit more oomph there's an upgraded version, dubbed the Altro Elite. As well as a cooler name, the elite is treated to a faster Core 2 Duo CPU, longer battery life, a "premium flush glass finish" - whatever than means - and, of course, a higher £799 price tag.

Hailing from DSG's own brand the Altro will therefore be showing up in PC World, Currys stores as well as their and Dixon's websites post haste. With its not-so-bad styling and definitely not-so-bad price, even the least tech savvy of sales assistants shouldn't have much trouble shifting a few!

Add your comment

© 2003-2009 TrustedReviews & IPC Media
About Us | Contact Us | Legal | Privacy | RSS