Right away, there are several things to like about Dell’s Inspiron 14z. The metallic red color (costing an extra £10 but definitely worth it), comfortable keyboard and curvy design all strike you as soon as you pick it up. Furthermore, it has the right mix of power and price thanks to the mid-range Sandy Bridge processor.

Dell is all about the slim and light this year, and the super-portable Inspiron 14z is no exception, weighing only 2.1kg with a 14-inch screen. Strangely, there’s a protruding ridge underneath the laptop coming from the battery that easily adds a half an inch of thickness to an otherwise very slim chassis. That said, the advantage is an ever-so-slighty inclined typing angle, so it’s not all bad.

The Inspiron 14z has a great battery life. Dell has been keen to stress the portability of this machine and has made sure you can get a decent amount of use from it between charges. We ran the high-powered Battery Eater program over a looped high-definition video and scored the Dell at 232 minutes – a good score for a laptop of this price.

HP’s Pavilion range was never going to offer the same ‘wow factor’ as its premium Envy line and we couldn’t pick out its previous dm4 Pavilion in a line up. But HP’s dm4-3000ea Pavilion Beats Edition is far from anonymous.

Thanks to the ubiquity of Beats Audio technology – especially its headphones – HP has decided to give its nondescript dm4 Pavilion a chassis overhaul and specs update. That upgrade does bump up the price to £849, so it’s not brilliant value for money, but the Beats redesign is a success for various reasons. It looks super modern without being too cool for school, enjoys a solid feel for a 14-inch multimedia portable and ֊ most importantly – it sounds absolutely fantastic.

Clad in HP’s customary black and silver, the HP Pavilion dv6 is an affordable, feature-packed media machine. While it obviously doesn’t match up to the premium experience offered by HP’s Envy range, it’s got plenty to recommend it to anyone that needs to keep their budget in mind.

First, and most obviously, it’s a great machine to look at. HP consistently turns out attractive computers and this is no exception. Despite only being a 15.6-inch laptop, it’s a little bit on the chunky side though with the chassis dimensions measuring 378 x 247 x 35mm. The entire body is brushed silver aluminum with speaker grills and air vents mixed with jet-black plastic for the keyboard, touchpad and screen bezel.

There’s no flex on evidence anywhere around the chassis and the tough metal casing seems like it could take a knock or two without any problems. Of course, all that design doesn’t do the weight any favors and the Pavilion dv6 is noticeably heavy at 2.9kg. This isn’t exactly a laptop to be carrying around all day.

If portability is what you’re looking for, then the HP Pavilion DM1 is the clear winner. It’s supremely light and portable with an impressive 270-minute battery life. But this is more than just a glorified netbook and although the AMD Vision chip nestled inside can’t touch the larger laptops here in terms of performance, it still offers an impressive experience considering the size and price.

The sleek outer shell resembles the high-end Envy series, thanks to its curvy chassis and metallic edging. Although predominantly black, the HP stands out when compared with the likes of the Sony thanks to its tactile smoothness, curved lid and metallic finishing.

Under the lid the isolation-style keyboard stretches right across the chassis. So although the DM1 is smaller than other laptops here, you don’t feel cramped when typing. Keys are nicely weighted and a good size – even the arrow keys which are usually the first to get shrunk when space becomes an issue. The great design doesn’t hold out for the touchpad though. The textured surface is responsive but unfortunately does feel cramped, and the less said about the stiff click buttons, the better.

Although the screen is small, it’s both bright and sharp. Watching a movie isn’t as immersive as a 15.6-inch or 17.3-inch screen but the 11.4-inches of the DM1 is perfectly serviceable, and anyone who regularly watches TV on a tablet won’t have a problem. As with most of HP’s new laptops, the DM1 features Beats audio – the sound software developed with Dr Dre that adds an extra layer of polish to the audio. It will reach an impressive, if not room-filling, volume and with 320GB of hard drive space, you’ve got plenty of room for a large music collection.

Of course, what really sells the DM1 is that you can fold it away, tuck it into your bag for the day and almost forget that it’s there. The dimensions are slender and compact and the machine itself only weighs 1.5kg. Unfortunately, we did notice that it tended to get a little hot after prolonged use.

For such a small machine, there’s no shortage of connectivity. Three USB ports, a VGA and HDMI port as well as an Ethernet connection and SD Card slot are all here.

The Asus Zenbook UX21E-DH52 takes the concept of thin-and-light computing to another level; it weighs just 2.25 pounds, has an 11.6-inch screen, an Intel Core i5 processor, and the same 4GB of RAM and 128GB solid-state drive as its bigger sibling, the 2.9-pound Zenbook UX31-RSL8. It delivers high performance in a trivially light package, yet it has a couple of shortcomings that keep it from being a purely dream come true.

The UX21E-DH52 is often mentioned in the same breath as the MacBook Air 11-inch (Thunderbolt) ($999 direct, 3.5 rating). Besides the same price and same processor, the UX21E-DH52 and 11-inch MacBook Air share the same aluminum unibody construction, screen size, and resolution (1,366-by-768 pixels). The former has a USB 3.0 port, the latter a Thunderbolt port. But the MacBook Air 11-inch, though it outshines the UX21E-DH52 with a backlit keyboard, has only half the memory and storage (2GB of RAM and a 64GB SSD).

Plenty of professionals can get by with a standard business laptop, but engineers, architects, and digital artists quickly find that run-of-the-mill just doesn’t cut it. The EliteBook 8560W, HP’s newest mobile workstation, is packed to the gills with powerful components like a quad-core processor, ISV-certified graphics, and everything you need to keep a system safe and secure, and it takes the top spot among mobile workstations as our new Editors’ Choice.

Anyone in any doubt that Ultrabooks are anything other than the spotlight device for 2012 will have to take stock after a slew of new machines were revealed at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. One of CES’ brightest lights was undoubtedly the Dell XPS13 Ultrabook (price TBA) which should hit the shelves by the end of March.

We couldn’t wait that long to get the lowdown on the Dell XPS 13, so we’ve nabbed a pre-production model for review. And, from the Ultrabooks are anything other than the spotlight device for 2012 will have to take stock after a slew of new machines were revealed at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. One of CES’ brightest lights was undoubtedly the Dell XPS13 Ultrabook (price TBA) which should hit the shelves by the end of March.

We couldn’t wait that long to get the lowdown on the Dell XPS 13, so we’ve nabbed a pre-production model for review. And, from the looks of things, we reckon it could rival the Asus Zenbook for the top Ultrabook title.

Like all Ultrabooks, the XPS 13 certainly turns heads. From the outside, it looks like a smaller version of the Dell XPS 15z and 14z – which is no bad thing.

A curvaceous silver aluminum shell at a feather-weight 1.4kg means when you pick the XPS 13 up, it’s akin to holding a tablet. Conforming to the design restrictions laid out by Intel for the Ultrabook format, the XPS 13 measures 7mm at its thinnest point and 18mm at its thickest.

Once you lift the lid and peer inside, the craftsmanship of the device becomes apparent. Unlike the silver interiors of the Zenbook UX31 or the Acer Aspire S3, the XPS 13 is jet black and devoid of any stickers or markings. The interior of the chassis is coated with a soft rubber surface that feels comfortably like the interior of an expensive sports car.

The exception to the rubber coating is the centrally-placed glass multi-gesture touchpad.

The touchpad features integrated mouse buttons, similar to the Aspire S3. While we feel that this doesn’t offer the best usability, we will concede that these buttons are aesthetically more appealing.

Similarly, the isolation-style keyboard is a joy to use. Because of the thinness of the chassis the keyboard here – like other Ultrabooks – has a very shallow travel. This isn’t much of an issue though, and the spacing of the keys is well proportioned – as is the slightly curving design of the keys themselves. Dell has also given the keyboard a backlight that works very well with the all-black interior.

Dell has been on good form recently, releasing a wealth of great laptops. And, while the Inspiron 15R has been around for six months now; it’s still a good choice thanks to the strong performance, usability and design.

If the Inspiron 15R has a flaw, it’s the lack of portability thanks to its rather chunky measurements and 2.7kg weight. You’ll be able to fit it into your laptop bag, but the extra weight is noticeable. Still, we feel that despite its proportions, the Inspiron 15R has a nice design.

It features Dell’s SWITCH interchangeable lids, meaning if you don’t like the pattern on the top of the machine you can buy a different one and simply switch it round. A neat idea, except for the fact that each lid retails for around £30 – far too much in our opinion.

The rest of the laptop chassis is a glossy black with a large touchpad and a comfortable isolation-style keyboard. Although the keyboard flexes during typing, the keys are well-sized with a decent amount of travel. A small touch is labeling the uppermost F-keys that double as shortcut functions in orange. This stands out against the black keyboard and makes altering volume or brightness a quick and easy experience.

The Asus Zenbook UX31E ‘Ultrabook’ is one of the most positive, groundbreaking portables we’ve seen for years. Ultrabook is the new wave of laptop: incredibly light, incredibly thin, and promising almost instant boot times at affordable prices. It sounds like Apple’s MacBook Air has a new rival…

Intel reckons that by the end of 2012 four out of 10 new laptops will be Ultrabooks. And if the Zenbook UX31E is the shape of things to come, the future is indeed bright.

The similarities between the Zenbook and Apple’s MacBook Air are obvious. Both come with solid aluminum chassis and impressive build quality; both are curved underneath to give the impression of being even thinner than they actually are (no mean feat) and both could fit inside a manila envelope if you wish. Most importantly, thanks to the Core i7 processors, both are fully capable of acting as your main day-to-day desktop, even for heavy users. Unlike ultra-light machines of days gone by, there’s no performance penalty to pay for keeping things small.

For a laptop, the Zenbook is genuinely beautiful and a pleasure to use. Its huge metal wrist rest and giant glass mouse pad are cold to the touch, and the brushed aluminum base adds a touch of industrial elegance. Below the surface, scary sounding beryllium heat pipes use the metal chassis as a giant heat sink, which means the fan can be kept to inaudible levels most of the time.

Unless you’re running a particularly demanding application, the Zenbook is silent too, earning its tranquility-inspired name.

But the key difference – apart from the OS ֊ between this and the MacBook Air is the price. You can get an Air for less than £1,000, but to spec it out with the same processor, hard drive and RAM would cost a lot more. The Core i7 processor in the Zenbook is a dual core chip – rather than the quad core one in the Acer 8951G – but it’s still highly responsive for desktop work and even a bit of light video encoding.

Asus drew on the expertise of audio experts at Bang & Olufsen for the speakers in the Zenbook, which makes it sound better than your average laptop, but if you’re looking for the perfect media machine this isn’t quite it.

The Acer Aspire S3 is one of Acer’s dinkiest laptops yet, and the price is appealing considering the impressive specs list. With a thickness of 18mm at its widest point, the Aspire S3 may not be as ‘size zero’ slender as the Toshiba or Asus, but it’s certainly thin enough to slide into an oversized handbag. The lid is impressively slim – and also tough enough to take a pounding. There’s almost no flex in the center either, so the display remains protected even when the laptop is bumping around in a bag.

The reduced chassis space means a compact keyboard, the nemesis of anyone with sausage fingers. Thankfully most keys are well sized, and although the arrow keys are almost comically tiny, touch typing is still a breeze. The touchpad is also a decent size, but cursed with integrated mouse buttons. You need to push the left and right corners of the pad down to simulate mouse clicks. The cursor often skips across the screen when the corners are pushed, leading to incorrect menu selections – after a couple of hours, we came close to busting out the power tools and giving the Aspire S3 a few new air vents. Thankfully you can tap the touchpad’s surface for left mouse clicks instead.

The 13.3-inch display is perfectly serviceable for both business and pleasure. It isn’t the brightest screen ever, but the 1,366 x 768-pixel resolution means images are sharp and HD movies look crisp. The glossy Super-TFT finish is reflective, however – a hindrance if you want to use the Aspire S3 outdoors. Regular travellers will prefer the Toshiba’s matt screen. Ports are standard for an Ultrabook, with an HDMI connector and two USB ports crammed onto the rear. If you have tons of files to lug around, you’ll need to use one of the USB ports to hook up an external hard drive.

Despite the specs listing a 240GB solid state drive, the Acer only reported 200GB of storage. This fills up far too quickly, especially if you’re hoping to carry some tunes or movies with you, although at least it gives you super speedy and reliable access to your data. You also have an SD card reader for extra storage.

If you’re after a machine to play Battlefield 3, Skyrim and Modern Warfare 3, look no further. The Asus G74S is a mammoth gaming laptop, which has the power to play all the latest titles, and while you might not get as much for your money when compared with full form desktops, it’s up there with the best.

Buying a gaming laptop offers fantastic pay offs in terms of space and portability. If you don’t have room for a hulking desktop system, or like to have the option of taking your laptop away from your home, the Asus G74S is perfect.

The G73S is a whopping 17.3” and feature a full HD screen, which makes games look great. The screen is matte, so no pesky reflections will ruin your experience. While this is technology takes the life out of images, the full 1920 x 1080 resolution keeps things looking great, and is just as adept at playing movies too.

Asus may have invented the original netbook with the Eee PC, but it was Acer who took the bull by the horns with its Aspire One series. This latest-generation Aspire One 522 weighs in at 1.2Kg is the cheapest in our test and features a dual-core AMD C-60 1GHz processor.

Like our other models, it also sports Windows 7 Home Starter. There’s a decently-sized hard drive at 320GB, for plenty of photos and music, and the screen size is the now-standard 10.1-inches but is bright and crisp.

The latest-gen AMD chips support output to an HD display, such as your flat screen TV or newer monitor, so there’s an HDMI port on the side. Graphics is a really strong suite for the Acer; it’s easily the most capable here in terms of media playback and will reel off Full HD video with its 1,080 x 720 resolution display and is great at web video.

Connectivity is another of the Aspire One’s strongest points, with three USB slots in addition to the standard Wi-Fi, as well as a VGA monitor connection and that previously mentioned HDMI port. However, there’s no memory card reader supplied, though there is an integrated webcam. The Acer feels the least stylish out of the models here, though the keyboard is pleasant to use and remarkably comfortable for a netbook. The only real bum-note is the battery, which at 2,200mAh has too small a capacity for our liking.

As much as we loved the Asus U36JC, we can’t say the same for the U46SV. It may be the spiritual successor to the U36JC, but we were surprised by the chunky build and rather uninspired design.

The chassis is 38mm thick, which is rather bulky for a laptop this size. It also weighs a lot more than the U36JC at 2.3kg. The U46SV won’t exactly weigh you down, but we expected something a lot slimmer and lighter. Compared to the likes of the Sony Vaio S and Samsung 9003X, this is a boxy beast.

We also aren’t massive fans of the U46SV’s aluminum build, which feels strangely plasticky. The lid is especially weak, bending in the center under light pressure, and looks rather low-rent, with a basic circular design. Still, we can’t complain when it comes to the keyboard. The popular isolation-style design means keys are well spaced, which makes it perfect for touch-typists. The keys are a great size, with no tiny Shift or Return; even the arrows get plenty of space.

For some reason Asus built this with a jutting lip at the rear, which prevents the lid from tilting back more than 45° from vertical. This makes it tricky to get a good view of the screen when sat on your lap. Thankfully, the display has decent viewing angles and is impressively bright, although images are occasionally washed-out.

However, we still enjoyed watching high-definition movies and browsing our photo collection. Speaking of which, you can carry a large chunk of media around on the 500GB hard drive – more than 100 HD films, or 100,000 songs or photos. A 5-in-l memory card reader can be used to boost storage space, or quickly copy your holiday snaps onto your laptop.

Asus has also stuck an extra power button above the keyboard, for booting into its Express Gate OS. This gives you quick access to your media and the web, booting up in seconds. However, we aren’t massive fans of the stripped-down UI and limited functions and would rather wait the extra 20 seconds it takes to boot into Windows.

Hot on the heels of Samsung’s Series 7 and Series 9 laptops comes the more budget-friendly Series 3 selection. The Samsung Series 3 NP305V5A uses less powerful components than Series 7 and 9, but comes in at half the cost.

As usual, the isolation-style keyboard is comfortable for all-day typing. Keys are firmly mounted and spaced apart – even the arrow keys are given generous space. Spreadsheet lovers rejoice, for the Series 3 also has a numeric keypad for those number crunching sessions. We did find the very center of the board a little spongy, but this doesn’t impair your typing.

The touchpad is similarly well-endowed, covering the full width of the palmrests. The surface is responsive, and supports multitouch for zooming in and out.

At 2.5kg the Series 3 is fairly average for a 15.6-incher, proving light enough to throw in a backpack and carry around all day. If you’re always on the move and want a PC to keep you entertained or productive, the Series 3 is a great option. One massively useful feature is the matt 15.6-inch screen, which lacks the shiny gloss coating of many modern laptops.

For business users, Lenovos well-equipped B570 is the best budget choice in this group test, but for someone who wants to use their laptop for play, as well as work, there are more relevant choices.

The plain black chassis design puts function firmly before form. The tough, ridged plastics easily withstand scuffs and scratches and the firm lid protects the screen from damage. Although this is not the heaviest laptop we’ve seen, at 2.4kg it’s also not ideal for working on the move. The 157-minute battery life is average and can keep you working on short journeys.

The B570 s excellent, isolated-style keyboard’s well-spaced buttons move smoothly, quietly and accurately at all times. Even speed typing is a pleasure. The huge touchpad and mouse buttons are just as pleasing to use and the pad’s textured finish makes it easy to find when typing. The wide design perfectly suits the screen’s dimensions and enables you to scroll from one side of the screen to the other without removing your finger from the touchpad.

The screen is a good one, and renders photos and videos nicely. Because Lenovo has gone with a glossy Super-TFT coating, the color reproduction is sharp with excellent contrast.

The Compaq Presario CQ57-366SA won’t win any awards for its looks, but does offer the things we look for in a budget machine. It’s solid with a decent screen and great speakers, and the sort of internal specifications we’d expect at this price.

However, even though this is a budget machine, we’d still appreciate something a little nicer to look at. The Compaq is a solid black brick seemingly devoid of colors, shades or textures. It’s boring and uninspired but, as mentioned above, solidly built -with only a small amount of flex detectable around the chassis. We were also pleased to discover that it’s not as heavy as it looks, weighing in at a comfortable 2.5kg.

Leaving the aesthetics behind, usability is perfectly acceptable. The keyboard has wide buttons and a good depth of travel but, despite the amount of space on the chassis, feels cramped. There’s no numeric keypad or quick-access hotkeys to be found, but, like most laptops, you can alter volume and media playback by holding down the Function key and using the F-keys. While the touchpad is responsive, it’s also the exact same shade of black as the rest of the chassis and therefore wonderfully camouflaged.

Where the Compaq picks up again is with the screen. It’s got a 1366 x 768 pixel resolution, meaning you can enjoy 720p HD videos – although the full 1080p experience is out of reach. We found that although the screen was very bright, it wasn’t as sharp as we’ve seen elsewhere. The Super-TFT coating helps, but ultimately we’d pick this for working on documents rather than watch wgAvatar. Having said that, the Altec Lansing speakers are very good indeed – so we’d definitely be listening to music while we worked.

£350 won’t buy you the greatest components on the market, but the basic user will find everything they require here. The first-generation Intel Core i3 processor is backed up by a capable 4GB of RAM and a standard integrated graphics chip that will handle video streaming from iPlayer or YouTube but stops short of advanced editing suites. There’s a DVD rewriter and a standard 320GB hard drive for storing programs and media.

The Fujitsu Lifebook AH530 is a perfectly capable machine that will offer basic users the experience they are looking for at a bargain price. We can’t help but notice its shortcomings – such as battery life – when compared with some of the other machines in this group test, so we’d only recommend it if you’re on a very strict budget. The Lifebook AH530’s design is unremarkable but sufficient.

There’s a glossy black shine to the lid that looks good but may prove susceptible to marks and scratches. The polished black design continues inside, where it has been applied to the palm rest. Even though we weren’t enamored with the design, this Fujitsu does feel solidly built, with very little flex around the keyboard or the optical drive.

The standard keyboard fails to compete with the likes of the Sony E Series but there is a surprising amount of travel on the keys that makes typing more comfortable than you’d expect. There is also a dedicated numeric keypad, but it’s small and slightly cramped. That’s nothing compared with the touchpad though, which is almost comically tiny and difficult to use.

The 15.6-inch widescreen display is bright and just as sharp as other screens at this price point. Images are well-reproduced, although some colors (particularly reds and oranges) appear a little washed out compared with others on test. The screen boasts a pixel resolution of 1366 x 768 and is perfectly suitable for watching 720p high-definition.

The Envy is HP’s high-performance range and is constantly improving, especially since the arrival of the Beats audio editions. With a 17.3-inch screen, the Envy 17 is the big brother of the family and has the features and performance to prove it.

While the plain black lid of the Envy 17 doesn’t scream desirability, the inside more than makes up for it. A sleek, brushed-aluminum design stands out against a black isolation-style keyboard that bears an uncanny resemblance to something you might find on a MacBook. To the far right is a large circular button that calls up the Beats audio control panel for playback and recording options.

Typing on the keyboard was comfortable and easy. We did, however, notice an unnerving spot of flexing around the far left-hand side, above the slot-loading DVD drive (upgradable to Blu-ray).

The keys themselves are backlit, and you’re also granted a full numeric keypad. The large, central touchpad has a slightly thicker coating that is responsive and comfortable to use. It features integrated mouse buttons built into the pad, which will be a blessing for some and a curse for others.

Catch a glimpse of the Disgo 7000 and you’d be forgiven for thinking that Apple had discovered yet another form-factor and wedged a product into that gap. It looks like a Kindle-esque, novel-sized tab squeezed in between the iPhone and iPad. Given the company’s impeccable sense of style, that a sub-£100 Android tablet could be mentioned in the same breath is quite a compliment to Disgo’s budget gadget.

The resemblance is undeniable, though. Sitting idle it has the same seamless black bevel and glossy, fingerprint-attracting sheen as Apple’s touchscreen devices. It’s only when you flip the 7000 over to reveal the matt plastic reverse side that the disparity in manufacturing cost is revealed.

This is a handsome piece of kit that unashamedly imitates more expensive technology.

It’s also a convenient size – at 10.5mm thick it’s slimmer than the majority of budget clunkers we’ve seen so far. The modest proportions mean it’s more like an e-book reader than an iPad, but that makes it comfortable to hold, convenient for reading and easy to stow in a bag. It’s also flattering to the 800 x 480 pixel screen which much lowers resolution for a 7” tablet, and most have a 1024 x 600 panel.

Of course it doesn’t leave a great deal of space for physical buttons.

The back button is front and center below the screen, but the power, home, menu and volume buttons are arranged along the narrow right-hand side of the device as you hold it in portrait, which can lead to the odd accidental press as you’re getting to grips with the device.

Battery life is also unspectacular, though not atrocious, finally giving up the ghost after three hours of video at full brightness.

Toshiba’s all-conquering Qosmio range was the first to bring us glasses-free 3D, and we were so impressed with the X770 back in issue 156 that we awarded it five stars. The Qosmio F750 continues the tradition, albeit with a couple of drawbacks. The substandard keyboard and paltry battery life might put some off, but anyone looking for a movie powerhouse won’t fail to be impressed.

The bright red outer design is eye-catching and complemented by the glossy all-black look under the lid. White LEDs around the touchpad, power button and hotkeys also add a bit of visual flair. Unsurprisingly though, it’s neither light nor svelte. Measuring in at 386 x 265 x 39mm with a weight of 3.2kg the Qosmio is more of a desk-based PC replacement than a portable gaming machine.

Once you fire up the laptop though, the lack of portability gets lost in a storm of power provided by the Intel Core i7-2630QM CPU and Nvidia GeForce GT540M dedicated graphics chip.

Interacting with the Qosmio is made all the better by the fantastic screen Toshiba has incorporated. Capable of full 1080p high-definition visuals, the screen is bright, crisp and coated with the reflective Super-TFT coating that adds a degree of richness to the colors in pictures and movies.

The standout feature is, of course, the glasses-free 3D effect. By using the webcam to track your eyes, you can move your heads freely while retaining the 3D image unlike, for example, Nintendo’s 3DS game system which requires you to keep your head in one position for the 3D effect. While 3D will appeal to some, others might not be converted yet – and to be fair, the effect isn’t as impressive when compared with the standard Active Shutter 3D system. But considering the price of the glasses, and the prospect of losing them, we’re more than happy with this alternative.