A nice laptop but a little on the heavy side.

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.

Despite returning slower results on our benchmarks than we'd like from a desktop replacement, the low cost and large screen make this unit very good value.

This good-quality wide-screen model bundles such extras as a wireless Bluetooth mouse, and racing fanatics will like the Ferrari motif.

Acer is really trying to do something different with this notebook. Its boldness isn't for everyone, but if you're in the market for a new power portable, check it out.

This Acer notebook is worth considering if you need a 64-bit processor and plan to move to Windows Vista in the near future. The superior build quality is also a plus.

The Toshiba Satellite A65-S126 is slow and lacks bundled software, but it's still a good choice if a big hard drive and big screen top your priority list.

This budget buy looks good and includes some nice options (FireWire, TV-out, card reader) and free extras (mouse, carry bag), but you don't get a DVD writer and the processor doesn't help with battery life.

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.

Physically, it's the same as the Linux version, and it has less storage space, but it does feel a little faster and it's much better suited to playing videos.

Even if you've never used Linux before, the Linux version of the Eee PC 900 is worth considering. It's more expensive than the Windows XP version, but it does have a larger internal storage capacity, and we feel that it's easier to use.

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