If you don't want to play lots of games and need a solid notebook for office tasks, the Z61t should fit the bill quite nicely.

A quality notebook for audiovisual enthusiasts with money to burn.

It may not be a powerful performer but it does the basics.

This mid-sized widescreen has plenty of power and a sizable, speedy hard disk, and it's backed by a three-year warranty.

The Pioneer Dreambook Light 822 is a great all-purpose notebook that will satisfy a wide variety of users.

If you consider battery life and light weight the most important laptop criteria, give the LifeBook P7010 a close look. You could probably live with this 1.5-kilogram unit's less-than-perfect keyboard and screen.

All up, the S430 is an inexpensive option for users who want to run simple tasks. Its performance was sluggish in our tests, and we found the keyboard to be a little hit-and-miss, but it's a suitable unit for browsing the Web and working on not-too-CPU-intensive office documents.

A great laptop well worth the price point. A longer warranty would be nice.

This is a value-priced power notebook that's well geared towards multimedia use.

The VGN-N27GH is a solid, but not outstanding notebook for anyone looking for basic performance in a stylish package. Unfortunately, poor battery life and sluggish performance are turn offs, and may turn away users looking for performance on the road.

If you don’t mind your laptop attracting more attention than you, the HP DV5-1010TX_01 is a fast but heavy unit that comes with a built-in TV tuner and Blu-ray player for a reasonable price.

A powerful system for powerful tasks, the AR38G can handle most things you throw at it and has a High Definition Blu-Ray drive, ensuring it will be useful for years to come.