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.

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 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.

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

The Compaq 6730s (FV305PA) is the Dunlop of business notebooks. Like the famous shoe, it's plain, workmanlike and reliable, yet also incredibly dull. If you're on the lookout for a basic business laptop with some gaming capabilities, it will get the job done.

Although the Toshiba Satellite Pro P300 (PSPCDA-00L00D) is a fast system with Toshiba's noteworthy Sleep and Charge USB ports and plenty of hard drive space, the unattractive design and lack of features when compared to similarly priced units mean that you're better off looking elsewhere.

The Toshiba Tecra A10's excellent CPU is wasted thanks to a puny 1GB of RAM. If you want a decent machine with a sub-$1500 price tag, then this is a device worth considering — as long as you upgrade the memory.