£200-£350
£200 - £350
The £200-£350 space is home to more-powerful netbooks and, at the higher-end of the scale, mid-sized machines with Intel Centrino or AMD Turion X2 CPUs in situ.
Our pick of netbooks is the Advent 4211, which, for all intents and purposes, is a re-badged MSI Wind. It sports the same configuration, namely a 10in, 1,024x600 screen, 1GB memory, 80GB hard drive, Windows XP Home, Bluetooth, WiFi, and the same processor as in the Acer Aspire: Atom N270. The extra £80 is put to good use, we feel, even if the Atom can't match a Centrino 2 for sheer performance.
Bear in mind that neither netbook is equipped with an optical drive, if that matters to you.
£279.99 @ PC World - Advent 4211
Paying a bit more and trading portability for performance brings mid-sized notebooks into play. The £300 sector is littered with Pentium Dual-Core-equipped machines (note that this is not a Centrino chip). For example, the Fujitsu Siemens ESPRIMO V5535 shoehorns a T2330 CPU, 2GB RAM, 80GB hard drive, DVD ReWriter, Vista Home Premium, and a 15.4in (1,280x800) screen - all for £295.
Add a little more to your budget and Intel's Centrino or AMD's Turion X2 come into play. The £329.99 Fujitsu Siemens AMILO 1718 hosts an Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo T5300 CPU, 1GB RAM, 160GB disc, DVD ReWriter, Vista Home Premium, 15.4in (1,280x800) screen, and the usual wireless connectivity. At 2.7kg, just like the cheaper Fujitsu, it's not too heavy, either.
Graphics are integrated on both counts, however, so no Race Driver: GRID at 60fps and at 1,280x800.
£294.99 @ Ebuyer - Fujitsu Siemens ESPRIMO V5535
£329.99 @ Comet Electricals - Fujitsu Siemens AMILO 1718
