The E6310's improvements over the last iteration are grand, and it's quite competitive among other notebooks at this price range, too. If you're after a machine capable of dealing with both aspects of your daily life then look no further.

The Lenovo N100 performs well, with its 1.83GHz Core 2 Duo processor and 1GB of RAM offering more than enough power for day to day desktop tasks.

As a stand alone machine, the Acer Aspire 5920G is a great machine with plenty of power for the average user, and enough for power users to get by. By comparison to Acer's previous models it's an excellent unit with plenty of good improvements.

With stacks of features and plenty of connectivity, the F8Va is the perfect choice for the home user who wants a mid-sized desktop replacement unit. Its battery life is poor, and we think its design could be better, but it's a solid unit overall.

For users wanting a home entertainment centre or a powerful desktop replacement to work with, the dv9800 is a very strong contender.

The Y510-300 is a fairy decent all-purpose notebook suitable for those with a strong budget and an eye for design. With good connectivity and strong hardware performance, just make sure you use the D drive after purchase.

This AMD Turion 64 TL60 based notebook is a powerful machine. The extra 1GB of RAM helps boost its performance, but with all DIMM slots full there's no more room for upgrading and you're essentially looking at the best this notebook can do.

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.

Phenomenal performance for its price, yet it still has all the features to justify it as a powerful, secure and durable business machine.

For getting online on the go, the integrated 3G capability of this laptop is ideal. It's also a comfortable unit to use, but it does lack some modern conveniences.

A good notebook, backed up by a one-year, on-site, parts and labour warranty.

The Toshiba Satellite A300 provides excellent processing power and a sleek design for a price that won't break the budget.