written by on 06/04/2011
I have owned this laptop since august 2008 for going to Uni with. It has been the perfect work companion for the whole time I've had it.
The fan is on all the time, but if you keep it clean (which you should do with all laptops) then it will stay quiet enough for skype, library use and other quiet situations or microphone use.
A couple of weeks ago my brother and I tested start-up time against a brand new windows 7 note book, my two and a half year old laptop was 1 second slower than his brand new notebook.
Excellent buy and would recommend for a second hand purchase
written by on 14/12/2010
The advent laptop is very noisy and the battery life deteriorated within 6 months of buying it. My advent laptop is only 14 months old and the battery cannot last more than 5 minutes without plugging it onto power.
written by on 07/03/2010
it is really a bad laptop for the amount of money i paid! the keyboard has sticky keys - basically the words trail my typing on the pad.
the battery charger conked off and i can't find the battery for this anywhere! what do i do???
what i liked was compactness but even that is absolutely worthless if the laptop doesn't work without the power chord...
written by on 06/12/2009
All in all you expect to get what you pay for in this world; however I tend to use the rule that under a certain amount is deemed 'disposable' after a year and a day. I have had several of this Advent model through now (all literally just a month or under 12 months old; so outside of warranty), all showing much the same issue - initially with DC jack plugs arcing and burning out, but upon further investigation a short somewhere else on the motherboard as well - perhaps caused by the faulty jack. Unfortunately it becomes uneconomical so a replacement motherboard would be good - can you source them? Nope - even the Tech Guys at PCWorld can't, even though Advent is their own brand i.e. Advent is just DSG Retails' (PCWorld and alike) sticker; the makers are ECS and that's a no-go as well. My advice/personal opinion would be that if you are going to spend over £400 on a laptop (but are looking for budget) perhaps go for a DELL - easily sourced parts at reasonable prices, but the company is also very helpful whether in warranty or not. Further to that, try to use a local (qualified and experienced; not cowboy!) professional who works with companies like DELL - their service and contacts are usually much better and more helpful than large companies. Hope this is of interest.
written by on 20/10/2009
Excellent little fella' !
Very good for students & businessmen alike, compact, lightwight and definitely good value for money. I didn't find it noisy as someone previously written, on the contrary, very quite for a laptop. Definitely reccommend it highly.
written by on 19/10/2009
I've had this laptop for almost a year now and it fulfiled all my business needs. The battery life is exactly as described in the prospectus (2 hours) and I never had a problem with it. The screen size is pefrect for a frequent traveller, no problems using it in-flight, train or bus. The only thing I'd improve is the OS (comes with Vista), not the hardware.
written by on 23/03/2009
I haven't had a problem with the Advent 4401, it doesn't get too hot on my lap for hours, so I'm very pleased with it. It's small enough that I can carry around but large enough that I don't have trouble working out what is written on the screen.
written by on 14/02/2009
overall very happy with laptop, however the fan is far too noisy. The battery is shorted than expected, around an hour and the keyboard isn't the greatest, but for the price it does run very well. I use it for developing on and have never had an issue with it
written by on 28/01/2009
I would recomend the Advent 4401 for busy business and students. Small, portable, easy to fit and operate in an open zone, webcam, dual core processor, nice ram and classy screen. Battery life is not that great, give you maximum of one hour and 15 minutes, webcam quality is not that great, NOT A GAMING LAPTOP!!I love mine so much and wouldn't change it for any thing else!
written by nissaki on 11/01/2009
Small and compact quick and easy to use when you know
what you are doing
There are problems with the dvd re writer TSST Corp CDDVDWVTS-L632H ATA, it won't write to a single use cd in I Tunes, The Tech Guys tried a Dell fix but it did not work and did not come up with a solution.
I like the Advent but its annoying to have problems that cannot be fixed.
written by edwardphilton on 04/11/2008
PC world Tech Guys took my Advent 4401 in for repair just 35 days after purchase and said they knew what it was and wuld have it back in a week. 28 days later still could not get the parts needed for repair despite them still being for sale in stores across the UK and available online. Now waiting for my refund/replacement from them. totally dissapointed by the service and the machine
written by on 02/10/2008
Utterly reliable, fan only comes on when hot, and it's not even noisy (other reviews I read said it was) Light, portable, ultra fast. Nery a bad thing to say about it. I would recommend the Advent 4401 laptop to family, let alone friends.
written by rockyII on 16/09/2008
I have had nothing but problems. PC World were particularly useless when trying to obtain refund as I was outside 28 days. In fact it was on the 28th working day that I reported the faults - the latest being that it froze when entering start-up password.
If you want minimal problems shop elsewhere and spend your money on something that works. Shame I'm going abroad without the product that cost £400 to keep in touch with my wife and kids.
written by on 02/09/2008
Its quick when starting up, easy connection to wireless wherever I am, windows vista is great (even though I had had XP for many years) plays DVDs great, picture qualitly brill, and an ideal laptop to carry around as its not very heavy and isnt too big. Overall a great laptop and I well recommend the Advent 4401.
written by on 28/08/2008
I got this laptop for going to Uni. I wanted something light weight and powerful enough for just simple everyday tasks word, itunes, internet, MSN etc. Its perfect. The webcam is just an added bonus... it would be nice for the battery to last a little longer but for a laptop this size I cant complain. the fan being on all the time is slightly annoying but you get used to it very quikly nothing to get annoyed at really. Over all good lappy, well recommend the Advent 4401.
written by on 18/08/2008
I needed a notebook that could replicate my desktop environment when I am away from home. The Advent 4401 does this with the only compromise being the small screen and no numerical keypad. I have now used the 4401 for a couple of months and it has been 100% reliable. The earlier comment about fan noise seems to apply only if you use the 4401 in hot conditions where the fan does indeed run fast and loud. However, under the conditions I have used it (21-23 degrees C) the fan slows down to be much quieter.
written by on 30/06/2008
I wanted a small light-weight laptop to put in my handbag.
I think this is a cracking little laptop. My daughter set it up for me and it was up and running in 10 mins.
I like this because I am left-handed and 1 of the usb connections is on the left, which is ideal for me!
The only downside at this time is that no light comes on when you have the Caps Locked.
written by on 14/06/2008
Thought it was a bargain small laptop - good spec. accept build quality would not be as good as mainstream brands - but hugely disappointed when powered it on. Fan noise ridiculous, on all the time - would not be able to use it as such, especially with the in built mic. near the fan - Skype would be pointless.
Straight back to PCworld for refund (reluctantly on their part) - but I convinced them it wasn;t fit for purpose.
Shame.
Do you have a question about this product or company? Simply type it in the box below and one of our community will give you an answer
Once we've checked over your question we will put it live on the site and our strong community of experts will hopefully give you some great answers that you find useful.
We will email you when the question is on the site