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

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

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.

While the LGE LS50-8 is light, looks great and has good battery life, is it slightly overpriced.

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.

The Z71A offers solid performance, battery life and DVD writing at a competitive price.

This great-value laptop is highly mobile, but it's much better at general tasks (word processing and browsing the Web) than it is at games.

Good for its price if you are using it for productivity applications. However, try typing on it before you buy, as you may find the trackpad hampers your input.

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.

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.

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 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.