Protac Excel G900

The Excel G900 has a 3.2GHz Mobile Intel Pentium 4 processor coupled with no less than 1GB of DDR memory--albeit of the older 266MHz PC2100 variety. These are fine specifications, and given the low cost of the notebook, the fact that it includes a multiformat DVD burner, 40GB hard disk and 128MB ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 graphics controller is quite impressive.

The 17" wide-aspect display looks a treat, with a high viewable angle. We noticed that the keyboard wasn't quite attached properly, a small gripe for an otherwise solid machine.

In addition to the two speakers on either side of the keyboard, there's a small subwoofer underneath the machine. There's also a headphone jack in addition to separate optical-out, front, rear and centre/sub connections for surround sound speakers. A remote is supplied for controlling the integrated TV tuner and its software. Controls on the front fascia allow you to playback CDs without Windows.

Gigabit networking is built in, along with a 56Kbps modem, an integrated six-in-one multi-card reader and support for one type II PC Card. It has a single FireWire port and four high-speed USB 2.0 ports.

Testing the notebook with our benchmarks demonstrated in on-par performance in all areas. Gamers will be interested to learn that Unreal Tournament 2003 testing returned 122 in the Face3 map and 60 for the Inferno map. It in battery test, it managed a worst-case-scenario battery life of 72 minutes.