The NB100 is a little overpriced, but it is a solid little unit with Sleep-and-Charge USB ports, which are very convenient while travelling. It could use more RAM and a solid-state drive; a version with Linux installed would be pretty sweet, too.

The HP Compaq 6730b is a good value laptop with an excellent battery life and relatively wide selection of expansion ports. Although it sports a small hard drive and is quite heavy for a 15.4in notebook, the positives outweigh the negatives.

The S10 is a refined netbook that possesses good looks and solid construction. It's easy to use and perfect for travellers and students who don't want to cart around more than 1.4kg (including the power adapter).

Although this device offers a wide variety of expansion options and features a modern and alluring design, the ineffective CPU is a major deterrent.

For running office applications, and even for some light media encoding, this laptop is ideal. It's well-suited to home users who want a second computer, or even as a first computer for the kids.

This Linux version of the Aspire One is easy to use and has a solid-state drive, but the Windows XP version has better memory and storage capacity for only $100 more. Furthermore, Acer will also release versions with built-in 3G modules. It's really a case of waiting for the new versions to arrive, unless the portability and ease of use of this unit catch your fancy.

For its sub-$700 asking price, you can't go wrong with the MSI Wind. It was responsive in our tests, and has plenty of storage and a large screen. Most importantly, its battery lasts a long time. This ultraportable is also quite comfortable to use.

The BenQ Joybook A53-PV09 is an underperforming entry-level notebook. This laptop suffers from usability issues and a scarcity of expansion ports.

It has been out for a while now, but the original Eee PC is still great value and one of the best super-portable laptops on the market.

If you don't need to run the latest games and you aren't after a notebook to be the heart of your home entertainment setup, then the Toshiba Satellite L300/L02 is a decent choice. It won't excite you with its specs, impress you with its size or wow you with its design, but it performs well enough at basic tasks and it's hard to go wrong at this price — especially once you take into account Toshiba's cash-back offer.

The BenQ Joybook R45 balances attractive design and lots of features against weak speakers and palm rests with heat issues. What tips the scales in favour of this notebook is its low price.