Product Reviews

Until now, notebooks that use Intel's power-saving Centrino technology have come with a hefty price tag - usually a grand or more. In a snub to thrifty PC buyers, Intel didn't release a budget version of the Pentium-M processor that's at the heart of Centrino systems. For years, desktop PC buyers have been able to take advantage of the cheaper, cut-down 'Celeron' versions of Intel's Pentium chips. Now notebook users can get in on the act, as Intel has released its first Celeron-M chip, and Hi-Grade has put it in a laptop costing less than £900 - including VAT.

The Hi-Grade C5515 Celeron uses the new Intel 1.3GHz Celeron-M processor. There are two main differences between the Pentium-M and the Celeron-M: the Celeron-M only has half the cache (fast onboard memory) of its big brother, and it doesn't support Intel's SpeedStep system, which is designed to conserve battery power. This means it can't scale back its speed (and therefore the power it uses) when the PC notices that you're only doing a simple, undemanding job such as typing a letter.

Despite this, though, the C5515 lasted for an impressive two hours and 18 minutes in our intensive battery tests. This is one of the best battery scores we've seen, and means you won't need an extra long power cable if you fancy playing on the PC in the back garden instead of the spare bedroom.

As our 2D test score of 783 shows, the C5515 Celeron isn't as fast as the Pentium-M based notebooks we've tested, but it's more than capable of running the latest office and productivity software. Hi-Grade has also included 256MB of RAM, which is enough to cope with any day-to-day jobs.

An Intel graphics chip supplies the C5515's visuals. In our games tests, the machine scored a solid, but unexciting 2159 points. This is good enough for some casual gaming - particularly on titles that are a year or two old - but don't

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expect to play the latest titles and get the kind of effects the designers intended. We tested the C5515 with Max Payne 2, one of our current Top 50 games. At full resolution, the graphics were sluggish. We wouldn't recommend the C5515 as a gaming notebook, but its graphics are fine for tasks such as presentations and DVD playback.

Images and text are visible from most viewing angles on the C5515's 15in screen, making it a good choice for showing presentations to groups. Alternatively, if you need to entertain a wider audience, the notebook's S-Video and D-Sub connectors make it easy to plug into a TV, monitor or projector. The 40GB hard disk gives you plenty of room for saving files and installing software; while a DVD/CD-RW combo drive lets you watch films and create your own CDs.

As well as offering decent battery life, the C5515 is slim, so it can slip easily into a shoulder bag. It's also fairly sturdy, with a tough metal lid to protect the screen. At 2.85kg this isn't the lightest notebook we've ever seen, but you should still be able to lug it around without having to embark on a weight training program. Even when it's been running for some time, the C5000 doesn't get too hot, so you don't need to worry about scorching your thighs. There are also plenty of connectors, including two USB2 ports, and a mini-FireWire socket. There's also a PC Card slot - the notebook equivalent of a PCI slot - for adding extra devices such as a Bluetooth adapter.

In addition to power-saving technology, any notebook that bears the Centrino badge is guaranteed to come with 'WiFi' (802.11b) wireless networking. This means you can wirelessly connect to any other WiFi-enabled PC and share files or even a printer. The fun doesn't end there, though. More and more public places such as airports, hotels and even cafes are being fitted up with WiFi networks, so that customers can bring their own laptops and wirelessly surf the Web while sipping their latte or waiting for their plane. As well as the built-in 802.11b wireless networking, the C5515 also has a normal Ethernet port for plugging a network cable in to, and a 56K modem for dialling up to the Internet when you're at home.

If you want a PC for editing video, producing music or playing demanding games, then the C5515 isn't for you, but it was never meant to be. If, on the other hand, you want to write letters and surf the Web - at home, in the garden, or even on the move - then the C5515 is a bargain