Although the notebook itself is good, it doesn't offer as much as its competitors in terms of features or value.

Although the Satellite A200 is a fairly good unit, its competitors often provide faster network connectivity at similar prices. For a healthy mix of cheap pricing, good size and plenty of hard drive space, the A200 is a solid choice.

If its battery life was better, and if it had more ports, we'd give this notebook a higher rating. However, we do like its screen, and the power-off USB charging feature is very handy.

If you don't need to run the latest games and you aren't after a notebook to be the heart of your home entertainment setup, then the Toshiba Satellite L300/L02 is a decent choice. It won't excite you with its specs, impress you with its size or wow you with its design, but it performs well enough at basic tasks and it's hard to go wrong at this price — especially once you take into account Toshiba's cash-back offer.

A formidable notebook choice with a classy design. Although it's aimed at the casual user in both price and performance, we still feel that an extra $100 can get you a more powerful Intel-based machine.

This system is intended to be a value system when compared to HP's Pavilion range, offering fewer features and slower performance. Unfortunately it isn't priced accordingly.

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.

This unit's interesting design and user-friendly Sound FLOW package are let down by a lack of the latest ports.

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).

While it looks excellent, the T1 didn't quite perform to expectations, and unless design is of a primary concern to you, there are better deals elsewhere.

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.

With great battery life, a number of extra features and a plethora of bundled software, the Optima Centoris G595 is great value. However, those concerned about 3D performance may want to steer clear.