Compaq Evo N160

Who says a corporate notebook has to look uninspired, lack exciting multimedia extras and cost the earth? Compaq certainly doesn't, as its new Evo N160 costs just £1,113 and comes with an 8Mb DDR Radeon Mobility M6 graphics chipset and a powerful 1GHz Pentium III-M processor in a slim 2.7kg notebook.

This isn't in the top league for performance any more, but it's close, especially given the N160's meagre dimensions. An overall score of 2.71 in our 2D benchmarks is nothing to be ashamed of and makes the Evo fast enough to cope with everyday office apps, plus a bit more.

Similarly, the 8Mb Radeon Mobility graphics chipset with software T&L can't match Nvidia's GeForce4 440 Go in Toshiba's Satellite 5000 (see p124). Its 3DMark2001 score of 939 in 16-bit XGA is nothing to write home about, but it provides basic 3D functionality and is a worthwhile inclusion for the money.

So why is the N160 so much cheaper than the £1,767 N600c (see Reviews, issue 89, p112)? Well, there are a few notable differences. First, the N160 lacks the N600c's MultiPort upgrade option in the lid and only has one PC Card slot, plus there's 66MHz less processing power and 8Mb less graphics memory. But that's it in terms of hardware - £654 saved. Even the battery life is superb, lasting 122 minutes in our intensive tests, which is great for a notebook of this size and price.

The N160 is also a gorgeous piece of design. Instead of opting for a standard plastic or alloy material for the palmrests, Compaq has gone for rubber. This makes typing more comfortable and adds to the solid styling. The lid, however, struggles to exude the same class. At first glance, it looks like magnesium alloy, but it's actually sprayed plastic that's more grey than silver and won't afford the same solid protection to the screen.

Indeed, it only takes a bit of pressing on the lid to create ripples in the 14.1in TFT, which you don't want to damage, mainly because it's a high-quality TFT with even brightness and lighting when viewed head on, and a beautifully clear and sharp image. The XGA resolution is perfect for the 14.1in diagonal, being comfortable to view and providing enough screen area without a thick bezel surround.

Below the screen is a selection of shortcut buttons and a well-constructed keyboard that feels solid and produces a satisfying click with each key press. Despite its small size, the cursor keys are given their own space, as are the Del, Home, End, PgUp and PgDn keys. It's easy to type on quickly and accurately, a Windows key is included in the right place, and the only casualties are the half-height Enter key and reduced Backspace key.

The N160's even straightforward and flexible to upgrade - just flip the notebook over and two sliding catches provide access to the removable battery and optical drive. The hard disk and memory can also be easily removed by unscrewing a couple of screws, and a spare SODIMM socket means you can upgrade in the future without discarding your existing 128Mb of RAM.

This may be worthwhile if you plan to upgrade to Windows XP, but this seems to be an elusive area for Compaq. The N160 still comes with just Windows 2000 Professional loaded as standard, and the 'designed for Windows 2000' sticker doesn't suggest it will be available with Windows XP soon. Likewise, the only modern interface included is IEEE-1394, with new standards like 802.11b and Bluetooth notably absent.

This wouldn't be such a worry if it wasn't for the limited peripheral upgrade path. With just one PC Card slot and no MultiPort option, you'll have to be careful about adding more functionality, although a modem and network adaptor are already installed, and there are also two USB ports free.