Home Computers: Game boy beaten by memory

THE biggest disappointment was in trying to play games. I was looking forward to this because I have never had the right combination of colour and sound on my PCs to play arcade-style games. But when I tried to use the games I had, they would not load or loaded without the sound.

In fairness, this is not Acer's fault but that of the PC technology. Unlike other format machines, the central processor can only work with 640K of core memory. If that core memory gets used up with system 'drivers' - the programs that initiate and control loading of other programs and functions - then programs that need a lot of core memory, like games, cannot get enough free memory to operate.

Acer's help-line could not solve the conundrum but did point out that the review machine was loaded with the DOS 5 operating system. On the DOS 6, the latest version, an automatic start-up routine asks you which drivers you want loaded, so you can dispose of some when you intend to play a game. But it's a complication other format machines do not suffer.