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Advent AIO-100

When a netbook's screen is just too darn small...

There are two speakers built in, positioned towards the rear of the machine either side of the monitor stalk. There's also a microphone front left and a 1.3Mp webcam situated above the display. There's 802.11b/g wireless networking built in too, but no Bluetooth.

Advent AIO-100

The anglepoise mount could be more flexible

The base itself measures a compact 290 x 217 x 37mm, while the display is 447 x 281mm and a mere 13mm thick. It's mostly finished off in fingerprint attracting shiny black plastic with the odd dash of reflective silver here and there.

Supplying five USB ports seems generous at first but unlike a netbook, which has its peripherals hardwired in, you will need to use two of these to plug in the supplied keyboard and mouse - there's no daisy chaining one off the other as there is on other all-in-ones, such as the Apple iMac.

The keyboard itself is small. The actual keys are a decent size, but the numeric keypad is crammed right up against the main layout and it's been streamlined into a three-key wide block. It's reasonable to type on, but it does feel a little light and flimsy. On the plus side, you can slide it on top of the base unit when it's not in use. The laser mouse is also light and a little plasticy but does the job.

The power supply isn't built in, but the standalone brick is small: the size you'd expect to find accompanying a regular netbook.

Advent AIO-100

Where've we seen that wallpaper before, Advent?

The AIO-1000 is pre-loaded with Windows XP Home edition, and Advent has even been kind enough to throw in a copy of CyberLink PowerDVD for movie playback, and Power2Go for DVD and CD authoring. There's also Microsoft Works included, but it's the SE version which includes adverts - delete it and install OpenOffice, that's our suggestion.

Next page: Verdict

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