Bucking the trend of most notebooks here, the stout Fujitsu Siemens Amilo M6450G has a 14.1in widescreen display that offers a surprisingly high maximum resolution of 1,280 x 768. In this mode, text and Windows icons are razor sharp.

Having a smaller screen has an impact on its overall weight; at 2.4kg it’s the lightest here.

Nevertheless, it still manages to use an Intel Pentium M 735 (1.6GHz). which is twinned with 512MB of Ram. It would have been good to see 1GB, as with the Elonex Prowire 153, but it still managed to score 136 in Sysmark and 1,887 in PCmark.

Graphics didn’t hit the right note, either, and although the Intel i915GM chipset can share up to 192MB of system memory, it wasn’t enough to generate a decent frame rate. Scores of 237 in 3Dmark and 5.06fps in Far Cry illustrate this point.

The 80GB hard disk provides some comfort, as does the dual-layer DVD writer that can burn up to 8.5GB on the right discs.

The notebook is quite well designed. Each corner is rounded, while the lid and keyboard are sturdy.

A set of green LEDs under the display keep you informed of the status and a PCI Express Card slot gives you a degree of future-proofing in terms of I/O capability.

There are also three USB ports, a mini Firewire port, a 4-in-1 memory card reader, S-video and VGA outputs.

Other than Windows XP Home, additional software supplied is Microsoft Works, WinDVD 5, Nero Smartsuite 6 and a three-month trial of Norton Internet Security. Fujitsu Siemens also provides a one-year collect-and-return warranty with parts and labour.

This article is part of a group test on £699 notebooks. Others are:
Intro and Editor's Choice
Acer Aspire 9503EWSMi 
AJP M551G-E
Elonex Prowire 153
Evesham Voyager A215
Fujitsu Siemens Amilo M 6450G
Hi-Grade Notino C5515-1700
HP Compaq nx6125 (EK157ET)
Mesh Pegasus 3070
MV Sirius+
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