facebook rss twitter

Advent announces ultra-thin Altro notebooks

by Parm Mann on 17 August 2009, 15:48

Tags: Altro, Advent

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qatkj

Add to My Vault: x

Advent, a subsidiary of DSGi, has announced the upcoming launch of its ultra-thin Altro notebooks.

Ultra-thin and portable notebooks are clearly in, and Advent's solution hopes to mimic the style of Apple's MacBook Air at a far lower price premium.

Advent's base model, dubbed the Advent Altro, measures just 21mm thick and weighs roughly 1.6kg. The slimline system will retail at under £600, making it almost half the price of Apple's MacBook Air. Unfortunately, it isn't quite as powerful, as Advent will be equipping the system with an ultra-low-voltage Intel Celeron processor - presumably the 1.2GHz Celeron M ULV 723 - along with 3GB of memory and a 120GB hard disk drive.

The system will sport Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity, HDMI and USB ports, a built-in webcam, and a multi-touch trackpad. Battery life is quoted at a fairly average four hours.

If the basic Altro just doesn't seem powerful enough, Advent will also be launching a beefier model. It'll be dubbed the Altro Elite and will swap out the Celeron processor in favour of an ultra-low-voltage Intel Core 2 Solo. That'll be joined by a display with a "premium flush glass finish" and a higher price tag of around £800.

Both the Altro and Altro Elite will be available at PC World, Currys and Dixons beginning August 24th.



HEXUS Forums :: 4 Comments

Login with Forum Account

Don't have an account? Register today!
Not terribly much more powerful than the average Netbook then really… not enough to mean tasks impossible on a netbook are suddenly possible anyway…
But remember that even a celery thrashes an atom, in terms of raw cpu power.
SuperPi and others.
Plus you've got 3 Gig, verses a netbook's typical 1, so i'd say this looks great.
I'd agree however that you wouldn't want to use it as a primary editing machine, however it should be fine for tasks like 720p video decoding, which Atom's tend to struggle with.
Couple it with Win7, which should run a treat on it, and you've got a £600 stylish (relative) bargain, depending on screen size & resolution.
For me personally, a great compromise of portability & usability is around the 11.5 to 13.5 inch range, with at least 1200 x 800, preferably higher.
Wether or not the components are better than a typical netbook are irrelevant. The fact remains it's an advent that everyone should avoid at all costs! :D
I don't know, it is mighty tempting.

I also say the new Dell 11z announced over on that very popular gadget blog. Not in Europe yet, but at $399 it could be a bit of a bargain for people wanting a bit more than a Netbook, but not wanting to spend crazy money on a traditional ultraportable from Sony etc.