Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Pa1510 review

Most notebooks we review use an Intel processor, but Fujitsu Siemens' Amilo uses an AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-50.

It's a dual-core processor, which runs at the same 1.6GHz clock speed as the Intel Core Duo T2050 in the Asus F3F-AP010H. Despite its similarly specified processor, the Amilo Pa1510 wasn't as quick in our benchmarks. It scored 147 in our video-encoding test, seven points behind the Asus F3F.

This notebook has an ATI Radeon Xpress 1100 graphics chipset, which uses up more system RAM than the Intel GMA 950 chipset in the Asus notebook. This leaves less RAM for such memory-hungry tasks as our image-editing benchmark. The Amilo managed a respectable 103, but the F3F-AP010H was far quicker with a score of 121. The AMD processor has the same 31W power requirement as the Intel, but the Amilo lasted only one hour and 51 minutes in our light-usage battery test, less than a third as long as the Asus notebook and almost two hours less than the Toshiba A120.

Other than its disappointing benchmark performance, the Pa1510 is a decent notebook. There are lots of ports around the edges of the chassis including three USB and one FireWire port, and a memory card reader with support for SD, MMC and MS formats. Though the base gets warm in use, there are no particularly hot spots. The keyboard is a little unresposive, but the keys have plenty of travel and they are all a good size. The touch pad responds accurately.

Inside there's a big 120GB hard disk. Fujitsu Siemens ships this notebook with Windows XP Media Center Edition. This means you can easily browse all your media files from one simple interface. If you feel like watching TV, you can add a TV tuner and use the operating system's excellent electronic programme guide. Kworld's DVB-T 310U USB hybrid tuner comes with compatible drivers, and is available for less than £40.

This notebook's display is its best feature. It's widescreen, and has a gloss coating that improves the appearance of darker shades and makes colours vivid. It's not the brightest display we've seen, but gives a consistent white across the whole screen. The speakers are typical for a notebook, sounding tinny and not very loud, so you'll need an external set to enjoy music or movies.

This isn't a bad notebook for day-to-day computing and home entertainment, but it is outclassed by several competitors. If you want a Media Center notebook, Acer's Aspire 5612WLMi, reviewed in our 2007 Notebook Price Test (Labs, Shopper January 2007), is a better choice.