A decent, but not particularly inspiring machine, the Tecra A6 will suit those who need an affordable business notebook.

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

This notebook ticks pretty much every box: style, speed, connectivity (including Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth and 802.11a/g/n Wi-Fi) and usability. It packs in plenty of business-friendly features, including a smartcard reader and a fingerprint scanner. It isn't cheap, but if you're after a business notebook and aren't in the market for an ultraportable the Latitude E6400 may well be worth it. Besides, Accounts will pay for it right?

A well designed and rugged notebook backed up by decent performance.

Sony's VAIO FZ17G is a great multimedia notebook which offers a HDMI output and couples it with solid performance and a nice array of features.

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.

The Lenovo IdeaPad U330 is a device with lots going for it. Apart from the excellent keyboard, strong hardware and attractive design, the unit also has a great screen and a large variety of ports. Unfortunately, this quality is reflected in its high price tag.

The ASUS M51VA-AS045G is mid-range laptop with a fantastic array of connections and strong processing performance. Unfortunately the screen’s default dimness may prove annoying for novice users and the lack of Gigabit Ethernet at this price point is disappointing.

If you can't fork out the extra $500 for the fully featured ASUS F8Va and still want decent performance in an attractive design then the BenQ Joybook S42-PE01 is worth looking at. It might not have all the bells and whistles, but for this price point it certainly has a lot.

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 NEC Versa P8310-2402DR is an appealing choice for users who want an attractive and well-performing notebook. While it suffers from usability issues, such as a slightly cramped keyboard and a screen that can be excessively reflective, the benefits largely outweigh the negatives.