The Acer TravelMate 4223WLMi performed well in our tests, had some good integrated features and was reasonably comfortable to use, once you get used to the keyboard design. However, at this price point you can get notebooks with notably better performance and newer technology (such as Core 2 Duo CPUs).

The Fujitsu LifeBook S6311 is a professional notebook with some nice features. It performed well in our tests and it's fairly priced for it's quality.

If you need a machine with a 17in display that will play your movies, download your photos, store your music, play games and has connectivity that will work both on the road and in your living room, the Pavilion dv9018TX will do a good job.

The CoolerMaster NotePal P1 is pretty effective at its chosen task. It's not a miracle cure for severely overheated laptops, but it should help prevent trousers being grafted on to your lap.

HP has done a nice job at creating a good all-round user experience with the Entertainment PC range and this machine is no exception. The performance is much better than the dv2000 family we've looked at earlier but the battery life could do with a boost.

With the nc8430 you get what you pay for. While it may cost a little more than some other dual core machines, it offers great performance across both desktop tasks and gaming, and has all the features you'd expect to find in a high-end business unit.

The Aspire 5634WLMi has proved to be a good overall performer and a nice introduction to Acer's Core 2 Duo notebook range. For the price, you're getting an excellent deal.

A solid ultraportable ultimately let down by poor battery life.

A well-rounded mix of features and performance makes the LifeBook A6010 a good candidate for basic business and personal use.

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.

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.