Product Reviews

The Advent 3900 Booksize PC may remind you of the Tiny Takami we reviewed back in July 2001. Both are relatively small boxes that attempt to look less like a PC and more like a consumer appliance, such as a DVD player, thanks to their determinedly non-beige colour schemes. However, whereas the Takami attempted to be a one-stop home entertainment centre, the Advent takes a far more traditional approach to 'lounge' acceptability.

The Advent is certainly pleasant to live with. For a start, it's only 272mm wide and 84mm high, with a set of feet supplied so it can be mounted on its side to take up even less space. The most immediately impressive feature, though, is the flat-panel LCD monitor. This rests on two stilts that protrude from a heavy base. The 15in-across viewable area isn't massive, but the narrow bezel sets off Windows Millennium nicely on the bright and clear display. Contrast, however, was somewhat lacking. The panel can be tilted forward and back to improve viewing angles, but unfortunately it can't be twisted round to portrait mode. The PCs 'lifestyle' aspirations don't end there. You also get a cordless keyboard and mouse, which sends their signals to a futuristic-looking circular receiver. Conveniently, this uses radio signals, so you don't have to be careful where you point anything. However, the keys rattle slightly as you type and the mouse uses a plain old ball, rather than a cutting-edge optical detector.

Internally, the specification looks promising, the star of the show being a 1GHz Pentium III processor, but disapointingly, things go downhill from here. The CPU sits in a motherboard based on Intel's 810e chipset. This has an integrated graphics chip, which is a classic no-no for performance. In 2D testing, the Advent scored 2915 - low, considering 1GHz machines tend to break the 3000 mark. However, this is reasonable compared to the Advent's 3D showing which could only be described as abysmal, with a pathetic

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top score of 820 in 3DMark 2000. Our current 3D benchmark 3DMark 2001, wouldn't even get a sniff out of this machine.

There is a sound card with outputs for front and rear pairs of speakers, so you could in theory enjoy surround sound gaming, except the Advent is only bundled with two speakers - and average ones at that.

Clearly, the Advent is not a gaming machine, but what about other forms of entertainment? There's a DVD-ROM drive, and both composite and S-Video outputs so you can attach it to a TV for a really big show. However, there's no digital audio out, which means that you won't get Dolby Digital output from the system, negating one of the fancier features of DVD. Furthermore, there's no DVD movie playback software included, so you'll have to purchase that separately.

Of course, a graphics and sound card upgrade would take care of this - provided there's room inside. To check, we first removed the cover, and were pleased to find just three screws separating us and the interior. However, once inside we found that there are no PCI or AGP slots whatsoever - knocking any chance of an upgrade on the head. There is a free DIMM memory slot, but as it's nigh on impossible to reach without taking the whole machine apart you'd be well advised to make sure you get enough memory when you purchase.

A network port on the rear will allow the machine to be hooked up to a LAN, or a cable/ ADSL line, while the integrated modem will serve for the majority of us who are still mired in the Internet slow lane. The serial and parallel ports will allow use of older peripherals, while the hard disk is an unimpressive affair, offering only 20Gb capacity and spinning at only 5,400rpm.

On the software side, the package includes a preinstalled copy of Microsoft Works, featuring a cut-down version of Word, and a copy of Corel WordPerfect Suite 8, but the latter is quite an old package.

So who will go for the Advent? With its svelte dimensions, it would suit a minimalist office, and with that swanky silver and grey finish and stylish flat panel it will inevitably appeal to the "that would look lovely in the lounge", brigade. If you're after good looks, but cash is still a concern, it's certainly a lot cheaper than Sony's stylish Desktop Vaio, the PCV-LX1, (reviewed issue 124), though inevitably not nearly as desirable. However, if value is on the agenda at all, you can get a lot more for your money elsewhere - and, frankly, that's where you should probably go.