This is a powerful mid-range all-purpose notebook that is well worth looking at, as long as you can stand carting around a 3kg laptop.

If you can't fork out the extra $500 for the fully featured ASUS F8Va and still want decent performance in an attractive design then the BenQ Joybook S42-PE01 is worth looking at. It might not have all the bells and whistles, but for this price point it certainly has a lot.

Although it isn't a bad unit in its own right, the Fujitsu doesn't shine as well as it should given its budget competitors and high price point. If you're looking for a unit that has a great touch screen, a fast Intel Atom processor and great connectivity, you're probably better off waiting a month until the upgraded 3G model reaches Australia.

This notebook ticks pretty much every box: style, speed, connectivity (including Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth and 802.11a/g/n Wi-Fi) and usability. It packs in plenty of business-friendly features, including a smartcard reader and a fingerprint scanner. It isn't cheap, but if you're after a business notebook and aren't in the market for an ultraportable the Latitude E6400 may well be worth it. Besides, Accounts will pay for it right?

Toshiba’s Qosmio F50 is ideal for multimedia, but it is also well suited as an all-purpose notebook. If you can live with the glossy display, there is plenty to like about this unit and it has performance to match its looks.

It’s good to see that Toshiba has improved this notebook and rectified some of the small performance flaws we noticed in the earlier M800. Overall the upgrade has seen small performance gains primarily in the graphics department. It's a great ultraportable notebook that offers strong performance despite its small size, and it is a joy to use on the go.

Although the Toshiba Satellite Pro P300 (PSPCDA-00L00D) is a fast system with Toshiba's noteworthy Sleep and Charge USB ports and plenty of hard drive space, the unattractive design and lack of features when compared to similarly priced units mean that you're better off looking elsewhere.

The ASUS M51VA-AS045G is mid-range laptop with a fantastic array of connections and strong processing performance. Unfortunately the screen’s default dimness may prove annoying for novice users and the lack of Gigabit Ethernet at this price point is disappointing.

While we love the size and weight of this netbook, its keyboard is very hard to type on due to the non-standard key layout.

For the business user with demanding performance and connectivity requirements, this Fujitsu is ideal. It has plenty of modern and legacy ports and it was quite fast in our application tests. It could use some more niceties, such as an illuminated keyboard, but it's still a top-notch unit.

High frame rates and fast performance are hallmarks of this high-definition notebook, but it also looks fantastic. If you don't already have the funds for it, you might want to start saving like you've never saved before!