Advent 6413b

Basically upgraded to Windows XP as soon as it came out as ME is pants, the machine is quite slow, but hey 9 years use is amazing it still works, but then it did cost 1500 quid when purchased from dixons.

Its a machine that has never inspired confidence in terms of build, but it has done the job, and its a bit of a love - hate relationship!! Don't think I would buy another advent though, when this one finally dies.

Now I only bought this gem of a computer through ebay. OH MY GOD what did I do wrong in a previous life. First of all the casing started cracking through use (not even daily), the sockets fell out. The power supply input socket doesn't work and is sooo loose that I have a 1 in 1000 chance of recharging. I can't take it anywhere as it is too heavy. The only good thing on it is Windows XP (got rid of Millenium that it came with as that was rubbish). Oh and by the way Advent make really bad computers. Their after service care once you pass the 12 month stated is none existent. I think that is because they don't expect to be able to fix it after a year, because it is made that poorly. Oh and another thing when you go to any shop they will charge twice as much (YES TWICE) to repair the Advent laptop, just because it is Advent. This is because it takes them 4 hours to take it apart properly, compared to other brand makes. It is currently on my kitchen floor next to the bin. I have taken the hard drive out and that is it. Thanks very much Advent.

The Advent 6413b computer I purchased from Dixons over 1 year ago has not worn well. Windows ME has a lot to be desired, not very user friendly and has consistent update problems. The computer itself is not very well made, the lid on the screen has cracked on the bottom left hand corner due to opening and shutting. The top of the lid is also showing stress marks where it is opened and closed and it probably won't be long until that also gives. The finish on the computer wears off, mostly where I put my hand for the touched. The backlight on the screen intermittently goes out for no apparent reason, and the cooling fan on the CPU consistently rattles whilst the dialup Internet socket is loose. Oh, and the most irritating thing about this computer is the CD drive, they have put the open/close button just so it catches on the side and opens when you don't want it to.

DO NOT BUY THIS COMPUTER! THERE ARE BETTER MAKES AROUND FOR THE SAME MONEY!

I bought this laptop from PC World. As I was upgrading from a 133 processor and 16mb of memory this seems very quick with a 1ghz engine and loads of memory. The only problems have probably been of my own making as it has taken me a bit of time to get used to Windows Me having been using Win95. When I bought the machine it did not have the software installed that I had seen demonstrated in PC World and I felt that I had been cheated slightly. However PC World were very helpful and provided all the software, and more, free of charge. 10 out of 10 for customer service on that front. As a leisure user only I am really happy with this laptop.