Absolutely jam packed with features, this notebook isn't your run-of-the-mill basic-function productivity laptop. At every turn we found hardware above and beyond the call of duty including a 64MB FX5200 graphics card, sexy widescreen display, 80GB hard disk drive and DVD-RAM/DVD-R/RW slot mounted drive for all your backup and home movie-making needs. A hybrid somewhere between legacy continuation and dismissal, this notebook features three rear-mounted USB 2.0 ports and parallel connectivity.

The Hi-Grade Xperian can simply be described as a bundle of essential technology ingeniously put together in one desirable package.

From five feet away, you'd be forgiven for mistaking Hi-Grade's new Notino for an Apple PowerBook.

Hi-Grade's new performance-oriented notebook is equipped with a 3.06GHz desktop P4, 60GB HDD, and a gigabyte of RAM. The Ultinote 6600DH displays Hi-Grade's typically first-rate build quality, with solid casing and a good quality TFT screen.

Superior build quality is one of the most desirable features to have in a notebook, and this Notino is one of the best examples in this month's roundup.

The Notino 3400S is the second cheapest notebook in this roundup. Unfortunately, it's outdone on almost every other front by the opposition.

Hi-Grade's new high-end notebook offers unparalleled performance. Packing a 2.2GHz Pentium 4 and 512MB DDR, it's one tough cookie, and contains a whole herd of ponies under the hood.

If the Efio 2617 looks familiar, it-s because it is almost identical to the Hi-Grade Notino R5400 (December 2002, page 49).

Dell's new Inspiron 5100 delivers a truckload of performance thanks to a 2.8GHz P4 processor, which even managed to outscore the 3GHz Hi-Grade we tested this month.

With the slow Australian take-off of the Centrino platform, higher spec, slightly larger form factored units are making their way into the marketplace. Intel's Pentium-M processors are ramping up in speed, now available in 1.7GHz values and still impressing.

The second of three notebooks with identical bodies, designs, and almost identical specifications, the Targa Visionary 4E proved to be a powerhouse when it come to the PC Authority benchmark suite, ripping through SYSmark2002 and 3DMark2001SE Pro with ease.

This 8200 is almost identical to the model we reviewed in (September 2002, page 39), but it now packs ATI's new RADEON Mobility 9000, the first full-featured DirectX 8.1 compliant mobile video chip to market.