The latest TravelMate from Acer doesn’t just look good in its metallic matte-black exterior, it also has a thin bezel that allows for a 14-inch screen in a body that normally holds 13.3-inches of screen real-estate. It has the biggest screen among all the notebooks in this line-up, except its resolution is only 1366×768 pixels. Acer also managed to get the TravelMate 8481G into a nice and slim shell, with a thickness measuring only 22.3mm. This little black machine also features an Nvidia discrete graphics card for added gaming performance. The solid construction of the entire machine is only let down by the incredible amount of flex in its island-style keyboard.

Dell reckons the Alienware M18x is the most powerful gaming laptop on the planet. This 5.4kg beast runs Windows 7 Home Premium and has an I8.4in screen, 8GB of DDR3 RAM (although you get only 4GB with the base £1,699 model), an Intel Core i7-2630M processor, either a terabyte (TB) or 1.5TB of storage and an nVidia GeForce GTX 460M with 1.5GB of video RAM.

The M18x’s huge screen supports a top resolution of 1920×1080 pixels, while an HDMI port makes this laptop ideal for general entertainment duties such as DVD playback as well as frantic gaming sessions. There are two USB 3.0 ports, so you can very quickly archive off everything to a high-speed external drive and free up some space, should the need ever arise. The 1.3Mp webcam is one of few standard specifications on this extraordinary Alienware laptop.

Dell has created a following for its ultraportable Inspiron Z laptops. The 14z has a 1366×768-pixel screen, a choice of Core i3 and i5 processors and focuses on connectedness on the go. In a home Wi-Fi environment, Dell Stage kicks in to automatically synchronize music, photos and messages.

Content can be called up on any Dell Stage-supported device. Bluetooth, USB 3.0, a webcam and a multiformat card reader mark out the Dell as a high-quality home laptop.

Most of the time, a Fujitsu laptop means a no-nonsense portable computer that gets the job done no matter what. The glossy black Fujitsu SH761 is no different. It looks professional and its build is extremely solid, with no creaking parts whatsoever. It’s small and lightweight at a respectable 1.6Kg, and even then, has space for an optical drive. This slinky little machine also features an Nvidia 520M discrete graphics card for a slight improvement in gaming performance. Another feature which we really like is the touch-enabled scrolling pad that lets you scroll in all directions.

We’re not surprised to see the Lenovo IdeaPad G570 here – only a few issues ago; it earned a thoroughly deserved Best Value award. But whereas last time we reviewed a basic, no-frills model, this time Lenovo has sent us something tastier.

The familiar Core i3-2310M processor takes center-stage, but Lenovo has pushed up the price and added a few extras. There’s now a generous 6GB of memory, and the 640GB hard disk is a welcome sight for the more download-hungry user. Even more impressive, though, is the fact that Lenovo has squeezed in a Blu-ray reader and dedicated ATI graphics.

As well as these additions, all the best features remain intact. The keyboard remains one of the best you’ll find on any budget model: concave Scrabble-tile keys grip the fingers nicely, and the positive action makes for responsive typing. The touchpad is similarly fuss-free, with discrete, clicky buttons, and a wide multitouch surface that makes for accurate cursor control.

The display has been improved, too. Brightness hits a reasonable 225cd/nr, but instead of the previous model’s dreadful contrast, here we measured a solid 248:1 ratio. Colour accuracy is still a little wayward – we noted a bluish tinge creeping into skintones ֊ but there’s enough vibrancy to keep images punchy. The only disappointment is that the 1,366 x 768 resolution isn’t sufficient to make the most of Blu-ray movies.

In terms of performance, the Lenovo puts in a solid effort, with 0.58 in our application benchmarks showing there’s more than enough oomph. Gaming performance is disappointing, however. While the AMD chipset pushed the IdeaPad to 16fps in our Medium quality Crysis test, it isn’t dramatically faster than the GPU on the Core i3 processor. Its addition hampers battery life: the IdeaPad managed 5hrs 40mins in our light-use test.

Lenovo’s IdeaPad G570 is a capable budget laptop, but there’s so much competition. With Samsung’s RV520 delivering the essentials for less, and Acer’s Aspire Ethos 5943G proving a more capable entertainer, this solid and dependable Lenovo doesn’t do enough to stand out.

Given its specification, it’s a surprise that the Acer Aspire Ethos 5943G is so affordable. With a Core i5 processor, Blu-ray drive and dedicated graphics, it easily looks the best on paper of all the laptops here. The reason it’s so cheap is simple: unlike the competition, this one’s from Acer’s last-season range.

The first giveaway is the Core i5-460M, one of the first-generation Intel Core processors. Still, that’s no bad thing. While the latest Core i3 chips have come on leaps and bounds, this is still a more powerful chip than the lot of them – as a result of 0.63 in our Real World Benchmarks shows.

Gaming performance is well above average; too, with ATI’s Radeon HD 5650M dispatching our Medium quality Crysis test at a smooth 35fps. The Acer is a heavyweight in all senses of the word. It weighs 2.87kg – heavier even than Samsung’s 17.3in RV720-and that makes for a sturdy, solid-feeling build. The speakers deliver a warm, detailed sound, and that hefty chassis also gives the keyboard a firm base to go with the Scrabble-tile keys.

Being older than most there’s no USB 3, but with three USB 2 ports, eSATA, mini-FireWire and an optical digital output, the Aspire Ethos 5943G is geared up for serious use. The Acer stops short of greatness, however. The display delivers accurate colour reproduction, but it’s a little too dim – we measured it at only 203cd/m2. A far worse offender, however, is the touchpad. Getting clicks to register required us to press on the far edges of the buttons, and it often felt unwieldy and sluggish.

That aside, if you’ve ever wondered whether to keep last year’s models on your shortlist, Acer’s Aspire Ethos 5943G emphatically answers in the affirmative. It isn’t perfect, but at this price you’ll likely find the few faults easy to forgive.

The black-brushed, 1.35Kg-light, Duralumin-clad Samsung Series 9 definitely strikes us as thin, light and sexy from the moment we laid eyes on it. Duralumin is an alloy used primarily on fighter jets to keep them light and tough, just like on the Series 9. Out of all the Windows-powered notebooks tested, its trackpad is also the biggest and the most comfortable to use. Like the MacBook Air it is competing with, it also sports an SSD that supercharges performance. However it’s a pity it only comes in black. Ports are hidden and can easily be accessed on the side of the machine. The one odd addition to this machine: A Micro-SD card slot.

The very professional-looking HP Elitebook 2560p has everything you need (including DVD-drive) built into a relatively small body. Its metallic exterior and interior doesn’t just look pretty, but makes the machine feel extremely solid and rugged. Like previous generations of HP business notebooks, the Elitebook 2560p is built like a tank, both inside and out. Solid metal lines the palm rest, which also helps with dispersing heat. Our favorite part of the machine is the keyboard. The chiclet-style design not only features wide spacing in between buttons, but also a rigidity in the keys that appeals to us greatly, making this our favorite keyboard out of the whole bunch.

While Intel’s Sandy Bridge technology faced some obstacles right out of the blocks with faulty hardware that necessitated a recall, the problem’s now fixed, with numerous laptop makers all jumping in with offerings of their own. In this review, we take on Fujitsu’s S-series 13.3-inch LifeBook SH561.

Aesthetically, the SH561 is clad in “Urban White” for the most part, save for its base unit that’s adorned in black. The lid sports pin-striped etchings with Fujitsu’s infinity Mark brandished in silver. Generally, the SH561 offers a durable build with little flex on the wrist-rest. At 1.75kg, this baby is also highly portable considering it packs a DVD drive as well.

The SH561 lives up to its all-rounder reputation with a wholesome offering of ports, including a HDMI outlet and three USB 2.0 slots. While USB 3.0 is clearly absent, one of its USB ports does boast of a charging feature. In other words, you get to juice up USB devices without having to power on the notebook, provided of course that the laptop is plugged into a wall socket.

Looking at its interior, it is apparent Fujitsu isn’t influenced by the current chiclet craze. For input, the SH561 features a tightly packed keyboard with standard I9mm-pitched keys. They delivered a soft tactile feedback when tried. To add, we spotted a dimpled contraption on the wrist-rest that’s unique to Fujitsu. While it may appear gimmicky, the “scroll wheel”, as well as the Synaptics-driven touchpad, was both quite responsive when used.

Given its glossy (and annoying) treatment on the 1366×768 pixel screen, images are noticeably vivid despite the SH561′s conservative 200nits ratings. Susceptibility to contrast shifts on both axis is one drawback though.

Discrete GT520M graphics powers the SH561 with its internal Intel HD3000 GPU disabled. Not that we are complaining, for results on both 3DMark06 and Far Cry 2 trumped the Toshiba Satellite E300 (which was powered by integrated graphics) by a fair margin. The SH561 also produced 5,671 3DMarks and 59.6FPS respectively, compared to Toshiba’s 4,918 3DMarks and 25.3fps scores. Battery uptime was noteworthy too, lasting 4 hours and 20 minutes on our DVD loopback test.

Overall, we can safely sum up the SH561 as a dependable and portable machine with decent processing and graphics hardware to match. Although it is tough for us to fault the SH561 apart from its tight viewing angle, it would also be hard to justify the pricey $2,388 tag when more affordable alternatives are available.

With rivals sporting Blu-ray drives, dedicated graphics and other novelties, the Acer Aspire TimelineX 4830T seems rather ordinary. Spend some time actually using this Min laptop, however, and it’s clearly anything hut.

It’s very good-looking. The blue lid is infused with a hint of turquoise, and crisp lines are complimented by a smattering of silver and black on the inside. For a budget laptop, it’s gorgeous; by any other standards, it’s still smart.

It isn’t quite as light as the other I4in laptop in this group, HP’s Pavilion dm4, but at only 2.03kg we wouldn’t baulk at carrying it around regularly. We only wish it was sturdier. Pressure on the lid quickly shows through onto the LCD panel, and there’s the slightest hint of bounce in the wristrest. We’d invest in a padded laptop bag to keep it in good nick.

The Acer’s build quality might leave room for improvement, but there are no such qualms about its stamina. With a captive battery within, we weren’t sure what to expect, but we were stunned: with more than 10hrs 6mins in our light-use battery test, the Acer keeps on going long after the other laptops in this month’s group.

This stamina is allied with fine performance. Like many of its rivals, it has a Core i3-2310M processor thrumming away at its core. With a result of 0.58 in our Real World Benchmarks, the Acer is more than nippy enough.

There’s no dedicated graphics chipset here, though, so serious gaming is out of the question. Indeed, while the integrated Intel graphics managed a relatively smooth 31 fps in our Low quality Crysis test, pushing to the Medium test slowed the action to a jerky 13fps; it’s for light gaming only.

During everyday use, the Acer is a genuine pleasure. Despite the flex in the wristrest, there are no such problems with the keyboard, which feels great to type on. The keys have a crisp, responsive feel, and our only mild complaint is the left Shift key: Acer has placed it hard against the backslash key, which led to a fair few typos before our fingers adjusted.

The display is perhaps the Acer’s weakest hand. The 168:1 contrast ratio leads to poor detail in darker scenes, and the average Delta E of 12.8 indicates that colour reproduction is far from neutral. It isn’t as bad as those figures make it sound, however. There’s plenty of brightness – we measured the Acer’s display at a maximum of 232cd/m2 – and it’s perfectly usable for everyday tasks.

Acer has saved a few pennies by opting for only 3GB of memory, and the 320GB hard disk is a shade on the small side. There’s no Blu-ray drive, but Acer found room in the budget for a DVD writer, a USB 3 port and Gigabit Ethernet. Wireless networking stretches to single-band 802.1 In, accompanied by Bluetooth 3.

So other laptops here might outdo it when it comes to the bells and whistles, but the Aspire TimelineX 4830T remains a powerful, go-anywhere laptop that can last almost a whole day away from the mains. When you consider that performance comes for only £479 inc VAT, it isn’t hard to see why it’s this month’s winner.

Finished in black and brown, Lenovo’s IdeaPad S205 is unlikely to set anyone’s heart aflutter. It has the same AMD E-350 processor as its 11,6in rivals, backed up by 4GB of memory and a 500GB hard disk.

At 1.42kg, it’s the lightest model in this month’s Labs, but that’s reflected in the build quality. The slender base flexes to and fro when tugged upon, and it lacks the more substantial feel of the others here. Given the excellent stamina – it boasts 6hrs 50mins of light-use battery life – we’d keep it in a padded sleeve when on the move.

While the keyboard is typically excellent, and the little touchpad works well, the display is disappointing. It’s dim, and images look pale and unnatural.

At this price, we’d usually suffer a few faults. As it stands, though, the HP isn’t just prettier; it’s the better all-round choice.

As the largest laptop on test, Samsung’s RV720 cuts an imposing figure. But despite its huge 17.3in display and generous specification, it comes with a much more compact price: a very reasonable £464 inc VAT.

With exactly the same design as the smaller RV520, the RV720 is a lovely looking laptop. The textured black and silver lid is as sleek as ever, and the strip of glossy black pooling around the keyboard adds a flourish on the inside. There’s no getting away from the all-plastic construction, and the size means there’s a little more flex in the chassis, but it isn’t bad for the money.

One glance at the keyboard is all you need to see that Samsung has failed to capitalize on the extra space. It’s exactly the same as that of the RV520, which means the same slightly hollow feel to each tap of the finger, but the light key action and wide expanse of the wristrest more than make amends.

The 17.3in display certainly helps. With a 1,600 x 900 resolution and excellent image quality, it’s the making of the RV720. There’s ample brightness – we clocked the panel at 247cd/m’ – and the strong colour reproduction and solid contrast ratio make all the difference.

Of course, there’s no room in the budget for fancy additions such as Blu-ray or USB 3, but the core elements are all present and correct. The 750GB hard disk is capacious, and there’s no lack of connectivity. The basics are covered by three USB 2 ports, an SD card reader and Gigabit Ethernet. Bluetooth 3 makes the grade along with the usual single-band 802.1 In Wi-Fi.

Otherwise, the RV720 performs similarly to many of its rivals. Its overall result of 0.54 in our application benchmarks puts it only a whisker behind the Core i3 pack; we assume the hard disk is a little slow. The huge display drains the RV720’s battery more quickly than most, with the laptop retiring after 5hrs 37mins of light use.

Overall, though, we can’t help liking Samsung’s RV720. There’s no attempt to wow with fancy features, with Samsung instead concentrating on nailing the essentials first. It all adds up to a strong desktop replacement at an appealing price.

Lenovo bills the X1 as the thinnest ThinkPad yet. At around 23mm, it’s still a little chunky compared to other ultraportable. It’s built for speed and durability, and the Windows 7 Professional operating system reveals Lenovo’s intended business audience.

Two processor options are on the table, with the XI available with either a 2.1GHz Intel Core 13-2310M or 2.5GHz Core i5-2520M. We tested the latter, with 4GB of memory and a 320GB hard drive.

Using the built-in battery, the ThinkPad XI lasted for 4 hours 6 minutes in MobileMarK 2007; with the extra 36Wh pack, it managed 8 hrs 11 mins.

The overall speed is good, and almost as fast as a 13in MacBook Air, The Lenovo scored 120 points in WorldBench 6 against the Apple’s 122. These laptop traits because of its slow storage – a 2.Sin hard disk in the face of Apple’s solid-state drive (SSD). You can find the X1 with a 160GB SSD if you pay extra.

The build quality is sturdy, with a rubbery matt black coating that aids grip. At 1.76kg the XI is reasonably light, rising to 2.1kg with the extra battery pack.

Lenovo’s specs describe the ThinkPad X1 as having a 16mm chassis. Where not sure where that piece of marketing mendacity came from: at the front (its thinnest point) the X1 is 18,5mm thick, rising to 23mm at the back. Siap on the extra battery and you’re instead looking at a 38mm wedge.

The 13.3in screen is also tough, featuring the Gorilla Glass that’s often favored for modern smartphones. We question its value here, however. Laptops never experience the abuse of keys and pocket change rubbing against their screens, and placing a pane of glass in front of the LCD reduces screen legibility with its mirror-like sheen.

HP’S surprising partnership with hip-hop producer Dr Dre has bumped it up in the cool stakes, and brought some much-needed quality to the beleaguered world of laptop speakers. While HP’s mid-range multimedia DV7-6103ea isn’t quite as sleek as the company’s Envy range, it has pilfered the same design finesse and also comes with the superior Beats Audio experience.

Taking a leaf from the Envy range, this laptop is solidly built and looks great. The burnished gunmetal finish gives a great streaky effect, adorning the top of the lid and surrounding the Chiclet keyboard. Shame it’s only plastic but, at 3kg, it feels sturdy enough.

In terms of portability, it’s never going to be light on a 17.3-inch chassis, but at 416 x 275 x 36mm, the DV7-6103ea is svelte.

The keyboard is a mixed blessing. Typing for long periods is fine, thanks to the sturdy travel on the keys, while number-crunchers will appreciate the full numeric keypad. However, the arrow keys are crushed into a single row and are difficult to find. We were also disappointed with the multitouchpad, which is a little compact.

Advents Monza E1 is an eye-catching machine aimed at first-time buyers. Despite offering a decent specification for the price, though, it is undermined by poor performance and flawed usability.

With its bright red lid and palm rest, the chassis looks great and the textured plastic finish and mock brushed-aluminum panels set it apart from the glut of plain black laptops on the market.

The lid and main panels all feel firm and there are no noticeably weak points on the chassis. At 2.5kg this is a laptop built for use at home, rather than on the move though. This was highlighted by the awful 107-minute battery life, meaning there’s not even enough power to watch a full movie.

That’s not to say that this is not a decent laptop for enjoying photos and videos, though. The 15.6-inch screen is sharp and bright and delivers gorgeous color reproduction. Images pop from the screen and are rendered with stunning clarity, so as long as you’re plugged into a power point, this is a decent entry-level media machine.

Poor performance is the Advent’s Achilles heel. The dual-core AMD processor struggles with even the simplest tasks; applications run sluggishly and the laptop is brought to its knees by basic multitasking.

Graphics are equally poor and there’s little power on offer for media editing. The integrated AMD graphics card is fine for viewing photos or even watching high-def videos, but it shows its weaknesses as soon as you try to edit videos or run 3D games. If you’re after a powerful media laptop, there are far better machines here.

Medion’s Erazer X6815 is a powerful and impressive all-round laptop with more than enough punch for your pound, thanks to the inclusion of Intel’s sophisticated second-generation Core i 7 processor.

Gamers are the intended audience, which is obvious from the included GeForce GT S55M graphics card. Despite the powerful components, Medion has kept the price down to £699, and at this price it’s an absolute steal.

Unfortunately there are some build concessions. For a 15.6-inch laptop, the ERAZER is quite the chubbster. At 2.7Kg and with a 37mm chassis, its heavy compared to other models of the same size, although it’s still compact enough to carry around without breaking your back in the process.

The glossy black design means it looks cool, but is a magnet for our fingerprints and dust. The glossy design stretches over the touchpad too, which sits with a slight indentation beneath the keyboard so your fingers can find it easily.

Sadly, the pad and keyboard have a cheap unreceptive clack and the individual keys are so loose in the Chiclet array that we managed to get a couple caught underneath the casing. While typing is easy because the keys are isolated, we don’t hold out much hope for longevity before they break.

HP’s Pavilion dm4 is by tar this month’s cheapest laptop at £560, but you wouldn’t know it from the outside. The streaked design makes it a classy affair, and build quality is reasonable – we found little give in the wristrest or the lid, so we’d be happy carrying this laptop around.

We’ve few complaints about the keyboard and trackpad, either. The former mixes a sensible, well-spaced layout with a fine key action, and the latter’s burtons are reassuringly clicky and responsive.

Ami thankfully, when it comes to stamina, price isn’t a huge factor. The HP’s 5,225mAh battery lasted for 7hrs 23mins in our light-use test, putting it in a respectable seventh place. That’s enough for a good stretch away from the mains.

The rest of the specification is more modest. With a 2.1GHz Intel Core i3-2310M, 4GB of DDR3 RAM and a 500GB hard disk, it can’t compete with the pack on raw performance its benchmark score of 0.61 lagged behind all but the MacBook Airs and the weak Asus U36JC. The integrated graphics managed only 2ilps in our Low quality Crysis test too.

That performance is still acceptable, but the quality of the screen is an issue. In our real-world rests, colors were lifeless and lacked punch, while the whole panel had a red tint that stood out a mile when side by side with even the most average of rivals. Blacks aren’t particularly deep – we measured contrast at 230:1 – and an average Delta F. of 11.1 isn’t great in terms of colour accuracy.

The HP’s feature set is middling, with a DVD writer, three USB 2 ports and an HDMI output, hut there’s no USB 3 and the 802.11 n Wi-Fi is single-hand only. The speakers, meanwhile, are firmly in the middle of the pack for quality.

All in all, the HP Pavilion dm4 is a reasonable laptop in this company given its low price, with decent battery life and build quality. But the poor screen is enough to seriously dent its budget appeal.

With a dull-grey plastic exterior, the 5750G doesn’t initially excite, but inside lurks a powerhouse. Acer has crammed in a Core i7 processor alongside 8GB of RAM and a 750GB hard disk. That makes for serious desktop performance, and NVidia’s GeForce GT 540M chipset also delivers enough power to run our test at 33fps.

High-end specs on the cheap take their toll, however. Plasticity build is the first compromise, and the display’s 1,366 x 768 resolution and dim brightness levels make a poor partner for the power on offer. If all you crave is power then the Acer is hard to beat, but others here strike a far better balance.

Among the more stylish laptops lure, the FX720 looks ordinary and feels unremarkable. The textured black pasties give a hollow feel to the base and leave the lid flexing too easily.

The keyboard’s square keys don’t give much in the way of feedback, and the bounce in the base lends a lightweight, rank feel. The loud but rough speakers, meanwhile, are merely competent.

The 17.3tn display improves things, however, with a 308:1 contrast ratio and accurate colour reproduction. Performance is equally sound, thanks to the Core i.5 processor and Nvidia graphics within. It’s undeniably rough around the edges, but at this price the FX720 majors on value.

After a brief trip back to HP’s design team, the dv7 has emerged resplendent. A slick of brushed metal stretches across its lid and keyboard, and the splashes of black and silver look stunning,

HP has also addressed our main complaint by giving the touchpad dedicated buttons. It transforms how the dv7 feels in use and makes a better bedfellow for the spacious keyboard.

The Intel Core i5 processor and AMI graphics deliver healthy power, and a huge 17.3in display, good speakers and a Blu-ray reader make for a formidable entertainment laptop. The only disappointment is the display quality; it literally pales in comparison to some of its rivals.