Acer's Aspire 4920G is a good all purpose notebook. It doesn't excel at any one thing, but for users wanting a little gaming, movie watching and general desktop PC activities, crammed into a stylish package, it is a strong contender.

The MSI MegaBook EX600 is a solid, but far from outstanding unit. It will handle most basic tasks with ease, but will struggle with more demanding applications.

While this notebook hasn't excelled in anything particular, it shows enough aptitude in the key area's of business usage to do the job well.

Acer's Extensa 3302WLM is suitable for budget buyers looking for a good-looking notebook with a wide screen and DVD burning.

Good features and good performance make the Centoris KN 5185 an attractive buy for a student or anyone who needs plenty of screen real estate to boost their productivity.

If you already own a MacBook Pro, there is little reason to upgrade. For the rest of us, Apple's power notebook is a fine machine on the whole.

Although the Panasonic Toughbook CF-W5 is not the most stylish or powerful machine, it does offer some good battery life and should take a few knocks without any trouble. However, for the premium price it is short on ports and other features, a disappointment despite the advantages of its rugged design.

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.

This is by far one of the best performing notebooks we've seen. Not only has it equalled the top score of 107 in PC WorldBench 5, but it has done so with very good battery life. This will suit anyone's needs except for people hoping to play the latest games, and the buzzing speaker was an unfortunate blemish on an otherwise excellent unit.

Exceptional battery life and a compact design make the nc2400 a great option for those willing to sacrifice some performance.

This notebook is suitable for anyone who wants an inexpensive dual-core machine for home, school or office use.

A decent, but not particularly inspiring machine, the Tecra A6 will suit those who need an affordable business notebook.