Labs

The Fujitsu-Siemens' Amilo Pi 1536 laptop is a familiar face in Computer Buyer as it earned itself a Best Buy award way back in our May 2006 issue. But while the Amilo and its impressive specification has remained pretty static since we originally tested it, one thing has changed dramatically - the price. When we first laid hands on the Amilo, it cost a not-inconsiderable £999 including VAT. Now that Buyit247.com are selling it for just £619 including VAT and delivery, it looks like even more of a bargain.

Less is more

Despite costing almost £300 less than it used to, the Amilo is actually better than the model we tested last year. Although Intel's Core Duo was the king of laptop processors at the time, it has since been superseded by the leaner and altogether meaner Core 2 Duo. That the 1.66GHz Core Duo, which originally powered the Fujitsu Siemens, has been dumped in favour of a Core 2 Duo T5600 running at 1.83GHz is a good thing.

Even though, on paper it's just 10% faster, the Core 2 Duo is substantially quicker than its predecessor and our final benchmark score of 135% was a whopping 38% quicker than the old model. It's rare that cheaper and faster go hand-in-hand, but the Amilo combines the best of both worlds.

The processor isn't the only component that has been upgraded, however. The hard disk has grown from 100GB to 120GB, which is more than enough for all but the most obsessive file hoarders, and huge by laptop standards. In the desperately unlikely event that you manage to fill the disk to bursting point, there's a dual-layer DVD writer ready to archive your photos, music and movies.

That's entertainment

Playing the latest games on a laptop is normally a big no

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no, or at least it is unless you're willing to spend a sizable amount on one with a powerful graphics chip. Fujitsu-Siemens has equipped the Amilo with ATI Mobility X1400 graphics and while this is by no means the fastest available it's still pretty good. The truly surprising thing is that the Amilo achieved the highest score of the entire group test in our Call of Duty 2 benchmark, beating even the desktop PCs. A result of 26% is still fairly low, but remember that's a worst case scenario as we crank up all of Call of Duty 2's detail settings as high as they go. As long as you don't do the same the Amilo will run the latest games quite smoothly enough.

It's been a pleasure to be reunited with the Fujitsu Siemens as it's certainly one of the most well-designed laptops we've encountered. The keyboard is a delight to use with its good-size keys providing plenty of travel and a lovely positive feel - it's not often that a laptop keyboard proves nearly as good as a full-sized desktop model. Thankfully, the top-quality keyboard is partnered with a suitably fine trackpad. We particularly liked the scrollbar to the right of the track pad, which functions just like a mouse scroll-wheel for quickly scanning through documents or web pages. Equally helpful is the button below the keyboard that disables the trackpad so you don't end up moving the cursor around with your palms when typing.

Through the looking glass

There's no skimping in any part of the Fujitsu's specification and the excellent screen is no exception. Measuring 15.4in across, the Amilo's display has a native widescreen resolution of 1280 x 800 that makes for a spacious Windows Desktop. It's exceptionally bright too, and combined with the panel's glossy covering, makes DVDs positively leap from the screen. The glossy covering does have the downside of increasing its glare, but the image quality more than makes up for it.

Buyit247.com are onto a winner with this laptop. It's fast, versatile and great value for money. The only bugbear is the 6-month collect and return warranty, but as you can upgrade to a full year for £49 this isn't a huge drawback. Even if you do end up spending the extra £49, the Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo Pi1536 still offers a lot of laptop for a sensible amount of money.