The JoyBook 8000 marks the first attempt by BenQ to enter what some might argue is a crowded notebook market. BenQ's stance on the JoyBook is different from other notebook manufacturers though, as it won't be selling the JoyBook as 'just another notebook', but will instead market it totally as a digital lifestyle product.

It's not widely available, but with this battery life on offer the BenQ Joybook Lite U101 should be

A fantastic specification notebook with all the trimmings you'd expect to find on more expensive notebooks, the Joybook 8100-V13 has a 15.4in widescreen WXGA with native 1280 x 800 resolution. With ATI's Mobility RADEON 9600 graphics, boasting 64MB dedicated video memory, it's great for DVD playback or gaming -- the unit returned 9,502 marks under 3DMark01SE Pro, more than enough to provide comfortable gameplay with a decent number of fps even in recent games. BenQ has gone as far as to include not just a DVD-ROM for DVD movie playback, but an optical DVD writer, capable of 2-speed DVD+R media writing, ideal for both business archiving or for personal backup.

The BenQ Joybook 7000 v07 is a multimedia PC with some MCE-like abilities. It comes loaded with QMedia Center - another MCE clone - and a PCMCIA-sized remote. QMedia operates much like MCE in that there is a main page – coloured BenQ purple of course - from which the usual Pictures and Videos icons enable navigation of the user’s media files.

It’s lovely to look at, with a full size keyboard and glorious screen. See why the Benq Joybook Lite U121 is one of the best rated in our latest netbook roundup

This attractive netbook is not only stylish, but extremely good value for money at $589 (US$407) including a generous 6-cell battery and LED screen.

Good features, good quality and good value - it’s also the fastest ultraportable we’ve seen.

The new model in Benq's V series may just be an evolution, but under the skin there's a power revolution.

Amazingly good value for what you get: a fully-featured, dual-core, ergonomic notebook.

This attractive laptop bucks the standard square and serious lines, with a funky curved edge on the chassis and matching display, a nice change for anyone after something different.

We see a lot of notebooks at PC Authority, but like the BenQ JoyBook 8000 (page 37), the Portege 2010 was an immediate crowd pleaser when it was removed from it's shipping materials, garnering lots of "oohs" and "aahs" from techies and non-techies alike.

Wondering what to do with your tax return? Here's our list of "if-only" technology products that might be in your reach after your tax return.

We see a lot of notebooks at PC Authortiy, but like the BenQ Joybook 8000, the Portege 2010 was an immediate crowd pleaser.

As one of Australia's few locally designed netbooks, the Kogan Agora lives up to some lofty netbook ideals, but it’s sadly ho-hum in too many aspects to be seen as a real netbook contender.

It seems that Samsung may be a player to watch in laptops - we've just seen their new range including the NC20 and N120, and we have to say we're impressed

Managing a very respectable battery life of four and a half hours during a full productivity workload, Dell's Inspiron scored around middle of the pack under PCMark04 but failed to deliver in 3D, bringing up the rear in third last place.

An attractive design, but several core flaws keep the Mini 10 far from the top of the netbook pile.

Impressive quality, considering the bargain basement price. We're talking sub $1000 here.