AJP M555N-E review

According to AJP, all M555N laptops use a 15-inch TFT SXGA+ screen. These should run at a widescreen resolution of 1,400x1,050 pixels, but our review sample maxed out at a more ordinary resolution of 1,280x1,024 pixels due to the laptop being incorrectly configured on arrival. As a result, the definition and clarity of its images was quite low, but AJP says final retail samples of the laptop will run at the correct resolution. The laptop can be connected to an external monitor, but it only supports those that use analogue D-Sub or S-Video connections.

The M555N-E has a 100GB hard drive. This is a healthy size for a thin and light laptop, as the largest commercial laptop drives top out at 160GB. With this you'll have all the space in the world to store your Word documents and spreadsheets, and there's plenty of room to hoard a sizeable multimedia collection. Making regular backups is advisable, particularly with a portable computer, so we were happy to see a Sony DW-Q58A drive. This is a dual-layer part that can write up to 8.5GB of data to compatible discs at 4x. It'll also write to DVD+/-R at 8x, and CD-RW discs at 24x.

Small laptops can be trickier to handle and therefore more difficult to use than their larger counterparts, but we were relatively happy with the M555N-E, as its keyboard is a good size, and its keys are logically arranged. Our only gripe was the amount of flex in the keyboard, which bends noticeably if you're heavy-handed with your typing -- a sign of questionable build quality. The mouse touchpad feels responsive though, and it has a handy automatic scrolling function that comes in handy when browsing the Web.

The laptop's usability is boosted thanks to its relatively low heat emission. We used it on our laps for a prolonged period, and it stayed the right side of warm for most of our testing. Running demanding applications such as video-editing software increases the heat output significantly, but this is a problem we've come to expect from most laptops.

Like all new Centrino laptops, the M555N-E features an integrated 802.11a/b/g wireless adaptor, so you can use it to get online in your local Starbucks. There's an optional Bluetooth module for an extra £49, but the laptop comes with a free Vodafone 3G/GPRS Mobile Connect Card worth £219. This lets you get online at near-broadband speeds should you find yourself out of range of a Wi-Fi hotspot, although you'll have to sign up for a contract with Vodafone to use it.

Performance
If you're considering buying the M555N-E, you're probably not looking for a high-performance laptop. That's just as well, because it isn't particularly quick. It has a good amount of memory, and its 1.83GHz dual-core CPU is fast enough to run anything asked of it, but it ran noticeably slower than other laptops that use the same specification. It clocked up a reasonable PCMark total of 2,844, but we were expecting this figure to be at least 20 per cent higher.

While the M555N-E will keep most users happy with the speed at which it churns its way through everyday office productivity and Internet content creation programs, it's useless for running games. It achieved a 3DMark 2006 of 143, and ran Doom 3 at a completely unplayable 3 frames per second.

This average overall performance has a positive side though -- the M555N-E has a long battery life. It lasted 2 hours 33 minutes during our intensive tests, and should last even longer when doing basic tasks such as browsing the Web.

Edited by Mary Lojkine
Additional editing by Nick Hide