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If you're short of space and don't want a bulky PC to take over your desk, a desktop replacement notebook is a good alternative. Although the Aspire 1356LMi is portable, at 3.7kg it's better suited to spending most of its time on a desk than being continuously dragged around. It's also fairly bulky and despite its smart silver finish, it's not the most compact design we've seen.
The 1356LMi is built with an AMD Athlon XP-M 2800+ processor and comes with 512Mb of memory, which is better than average, although 64Mb is shared with the onboard graphics. A 40Gb hard disk is included, which is decent for a notebook PC at this price. You can also upgrade this to 60Gb if needed. The overall system performance was pretty good and the Aspire will run Windows applications well. However, the results from our graphics tests were poor. Although most notebook PCs are not designed for super game performance, we would expect more from a desktop replacement.
We were pleasantly surprised to see the inclusion of a recordable DVD drive, especially considering the £1,000 price tag. Using the supplied NTI CD-Maker software, you can create your own CD and DVDs. Power DVD is also included to watch DVD movies, which look good on the 15in TFT screen.
The notebook incorporates all the usual ports, including connections for a separate monitor or television, four USB 2 ports and a FireWire port, so those with external peripherals will be able to connect up their goodies.
The battery life was a little disappointing - it lasted just under two hours in our tests. While this is fine if you are working near a mains supply, you will need to visit a power socket before long if you take it on the road.
The Aspire comes with Windows XP Home, Norton Antivirus, Adobe Reader and a one-year warranty. Although a few details have been overlooked, for a desktop replacement notebook this is still a fair entry.
Contact: Acer 0870 900 2237
www.acer.co.uk
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