The Sony VAIO VGN-FE45G/W doesn't offer great battery life, but is very comfortable to use and has enough power under the hood to deal with everyday use and more.

This notebook is ideal for business users who want a big screen, good connectivity options and above all, a solidly built unit for the road. There's not much wrong with it at all.

The Toshiba Satellite A100 is a solid notebook for the casual home user. It doesn't top the charts with its performance, but it offers just a little more than the core components.

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

It looks good, has good processing power, and it's well-suited as a notebook for everyday tasks. However, it's not really a great unit for high-definition video endeavours, as it lacks a Full HD screen and a Blu-ray drive.

The Toshiba Satellite A200 is a solid workhorse of a machine with plenty of processing power under its hood. Without question, it's the best A200 we have tested to date.

The NEC Versa E6510-2505DR is a very cost-effective and powerful machine that is difficult to fault. Although the faux leather looks and feels fake and the non-standard keyboard may occasionally cause typing errors, users who can look past these faults will find it to be an excellent device.

Acer's Aspire 4920G is a good all purpose notebook. It doesn't excel at any one thing, but for users wanting a little gaming, movie watching and general desktop PC activities, crammed into a stylish package, it is a strong contender.

With a simple, but thoughtful feature set, a solid build and a classy design there's little to complain about. While the CR13G/B isn't the top of the game, it is a very nice notebook.

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.

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.

This is a solidly built unit that's a joy to use and has plenty of grunt for most applications. It also has versatile networking options, including the ability to connect to 5GHz 802.11n routers.