Prices of notebook computers have dropped a lot in recent years, but it's still a surprise to see a 17in model for £500.

Medion, which specialises in low-cost electronics, is the company behind this achievement, along with Sainsbury's shops, which is where it's exclusively available from August 1.

The main feature is the 17in display, with a resolution of 1,440 x 900 pixels, which makes for an impressively detailed desktop. The screen is quite bright, colours are vivid and its widescreen format makes watching DVDs on it a joy.

The two tiny speakers located just below the screen aren't good for watching films, though, since they produce a tinny and unsatisfying sound. There is a jack at the front of the chassis for attaching headphones and this same jack can also output stereo or surround sound to a hi-fi.

To squeeze in such a good screen, Medion has, it's true, skimped on other areas. This means the computer only includes a 1.6GHz AMD Turion dual-core processor. AMD Turions aren't as powerful as the more expensive Intel Core 2 Duo chips, but combined with 2GB of memory the system is very capable of running Vista Home Premium, which is installed as standard.

Graphics are handled by the cheap ATI Radeon Xpress 1100 chip. In our tests it couldn't cope with games properly and failed to provide a smooth experience even on five-year-old titles. Vista's 3D-flip feature, where the user can switch through programs in 3D, also stuttered a little bit for the same reasons.

A whopping 160GB hard disk provides ample storage for digital videos, music and pictures. After an hour's use the notebook became warm to the touch and very hot underneath: in fact, it's so hot it's probably a bad idea to use it on a lap.

Flat screens on modern notebooks are typically responsible for a large part of the drain on a battery and as such, this 17in screen really hammers the computer's battery life. We squeezed one hour and 13 minutes from it while running a DVD, so it's going to be a good idea not to use it too far away from mains electricity. And at a body-building 3.6kg, its weight further backs up its credentials as a replacement for a desktop PC, rather than a truly portable one.

The chassis is a simple arrangement of black and grey plastic and houses four USB ports, The network and VGA connections are joined by a rewritable DVD drive along one side. It lacks a memory card reader, webcam or an old-fashioned dial-up modem, all features that can be found on similarly priced notebooks with smaller screens. The keyboard is rather good, however, thanks to its large keys and responsive touch. It includes a separate numeric keypad that will appeal to number-crunchers who use spreadsheets a lot.

For email, surfing the web, office tasks and the occasional DVD, the MD 96327 is a good option. It can be bought along with your groceries for £500, exclusively at Sainsburys until the end of August. Just beware that it will be a chore to lug it home.

Vista compatible: Yes