Medion's computers are gaining notoriety for their low prices and high-quality components. The MD41567 is no exception, cramming in lots of top-notch technology for less than £1,000.

At its core is a Pentium 4 running at 3.06GHz. This is bolstered by 512MB of DDR-Ram, which can be doubled to 1GB, and a 60GB hard disk. Needless to say, it performed well, scoring 122 in Sysmark 2004.

The 64MB Nvidia Geforce FX Go 5350 is one of the best notebook graphic chipsets around and is good enough to play all the latest games at a decent resolution, provided advanced features are not turned on. The bright 15in XGA TFT can operate at 1,024 x 768.

While the notebook looks quite bland, it's been designed to rival Windows XP Media Center Edition. The LG dual-format DVD rewriter is hot-swappable with the supplied TV tuner module. When used with Medion's Home Cinema Suite software, it turns the MD41567 into a multimedia machine.

Ports and sockets include four USB2, mini Firewire, S-video out, TV-out and a 7-in-2 memory card reader. It's compatible with six-channel audio with an S/PDIF interface and 802.11g Wifi is built in.

At 3.6kg, it's not the lightest notebook and it looks quite dated inside. The trackpad is also very small, which is strange considering how much space is left unused. That said, some good software is included, all for a reasonable price.

Contact: Staples 08006 929 292
www.staples.co.uk

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