One of the laptop manufacturers to adopt Intel's Centrino technology is Iridium, and the company's Starbook 750 notebook is a satisfying marriage of the work of both firms. Yet the first major point of note is just how quiet the machine is. When working, it's quite possible that you won't hear any audible clues that the unit is switched on. The effect is spoiled slightly whenever the CD/DVD drive is accessed, as that's not been invited to the silent drive party, but if you're used to noisy laptops, then this is still a significant step forward.

One of - if not the - biggest selling points for Centrino, though, is the prolonged battery life you get out of it. For once, this isn't just manufacturer's claims, as there's genuine substance to back this up. Standard battery life out of our non-Centrino test machine struggled to reach 100 minutes. The Starbook 750 was giving us in excess of three and a half hours off a single charge (although, naturally enough, this fell when watching a DVD movie, but then at least we got to see the end credits!). The other big selling point for Centrino is wireless, and support for that is incorporated into the Starbook 750 as standard as well. Your sole input is to tap into the details for your own wireless network and it should work from there.

These advances delivered by Centrino do come at a small price, however; the processor speeds have taken a hit. This unit, for instance, features a Pentium-M 1.5GHz processor. Whilst this chip is a dedicated mobile processor, with all the advantages that brings, it won't escape everyone's notice that for a similar price you can buy a portable machine with a 2.4GHz desktop P4 in it. While opting for the faster beast will leave you with reduced battery life and a noisier unit, for those spending more time with the machine plugged into the mains, it's certainly a consideration. Realistically, the 1.5GHz chip is perfectly sufficient for the majority of users, and in conjunction with 512MB of DDR 266 RAM, and 60GB hard drive, the machine threw up a respectable PC Mark 2002 score of 4,874. Other benchmarks performed well too; there's nothing here to throw up any concerns.

The Starbook 750's 14.1-inch XGA TFT screen was crisp, only occasionally blurring with the obligatory DVD movie, but overall really quite strong. Interesting choices are apparent in the software selection, as Iridium has opted to include Ability Office 2002. Clearly this cuts the costs over using the Microsoft equivalent, and it's an able suite of applications, albeit cutting some corners that may frustrate more advanced MS Office users. Bundled in too is Panda Anti-Virus, Windows XP Pro, Nero 5.5 and Win DVD 4.0.

Before jumping towards the conclusion, a quick note about the Starbook 750's stylish housing. It's a slimline, very lightweight and carefully modeled machine, that's as portable as most laptops we've used, weighing in at 2.4kg. The casing comes with easy access buttons (as well as connectors at the rear for the likes of USB 2.0, FireWire and TV-Out), and in use, the keyboard is perfectly comfortable and functional.

The Iridium Starbook 750 is a professional and very able laptop that best suits those who work away from a power supply on a regular basis. It lags behind some conventional laptops in terms of its performance, but the quality of build and the long battery life lead us to conclude that you'll be getting your money's worth.