settings worked fine for us. For your money you’ll find an Intel i3-350M processor running at 2.26GHz,4GB of RAM, an Nvidia GeForce 310Mmobile graphics chip and a 320GB harddrive, so plenty of bang for your buck.The 15.6” LED LCD screen runs at anative resolution of 1366x768. Battery-wise, you can expect to get around 3hours from the 5745PG betweencharges with medium use. There’s HDMIand VGA out, as well as four USB ports,so plenty of room for your extra devicesand displays to get involved. Screenquality was bright and crisp, andperhaps the only disappointment is thesound quality from the tiny speakers. Distinguishing between laptops insuch a crowded market is difficult to do,,but this is definitely challenging near thetop of the table – decent looks, atouchscreen display, and a useful levelof performance are all in its favour. Thebattery life isn’t breath-taking, but thereare very few negatives with the 5745PG.

Supplier Save On LaptopsContact 0121 2020050Website www.saveonlaptops.co.ukVerdict Decent performance, appealing looks,

dedicated graphics and a touchscreen –one of the best 15.6” laptops.

issue 136 << www.pc-utilities.co.uk 91

laptop group test << reviews

Acer Aspire 5745PG

86%

more room would have been preferable. The 5745PG is also equipped with atouchscreen display. We found thishandy for switching between browsertabs, jumping between points in adocument, and swapping betweenapplications, and it’s a welcome additionfor a laptop at this price. The trackpad isfunctional and the default sensitivity

Acer laptops can be relied upon to bewell-built and good-looking, and thestylish 5745PG continues the trend.Each key on the keyboard is raised upand separated from its fellows, anapproach we’ve not seen before andwhich made a pleasant change. Overallwe found the keyboard a touch cramped– perhaps sacrificing the numerickeypad to give some of the other keys

The Dell M301z will win a lot of fans withits stylish, curved looks that give theappearance of something that costs morethan it does. It’s a laptop that manages tohit a sweet spot between performanceand price, and it’s suitable for all of thebasic computing tasks – Web browsing,photo editing and office applications will allbe taken in its stride, so for students or aneveryday home laptop it’s ideal. The

emphasis here is on thinness andlightness, and it’s aimed firmly at thosewho’ll be on the move a lot, which is whythere’s no DVD drive. It’s just about lightenough to hold in one hand, and thebattery lasted us for just under four hours,which is decent without being outstanding. As is normal with Dell, there are anumber of configurations available from

£529

the website (check there for the latestdeals), and our review unit came with anAMD Turion II Neo K625 dual-coreprocessor running at 1.50GHz, 4GB ofRAM, a 500GB hard drive and Windows7 Home Premium. The K625 isn’t aparticularly powerful CPU, but it is verypower efficient, and the M301z has itseye on long battery life rather thanspectacular benchmarking results. TheATI Mobility Radeon HD 4225 chip willgive you slightly more oomph than anintegrated solution to help with those HDvideo clips and games. There’s a HDMI port tucked around theback under a cover, as well as three USB2.0 sockets (one of which doubles as aneSata port). The trackpad was smoothand accurate, and we had no problemswith the well-designed keyboard(although a small amount of flex wasnoticeable if you begin bashing away inearnest). The M301z is an impressivemachine, as long as your performanceneeds aren’t too demanding.

Supplier DellContact 0844 4445818Website www.dell.co.ukVerdict Stylish looks, good battery life and speedy

performance for basic tasks make theM301z an appealing option from Dell.84%

“The K625isn’t a

particularlypowerful

CPU, but itis verypower

efficient”

£599

Dell M301z

“Decentlooks, a

touchscreendisplay, and

a useful level of

performanceare all in its

favour”

PCU136 Reviews-Laptops_PCU 17/01/2011 16:21 Page 91