A popular and fast top-end option, but it’s losing its grip to new competition from both sides.

It may be affordable, but we’d rather spend a little more to guarantee some genuine gaming ability

It’s incredibly powerful, but recent releases offer similar performance for significantly less money.

Great performance at an appealing price, although the 9600 GT encroaches on its turf

All the current chipsets from both the big gaming guns – ATi and Nvidia – tested, reviewed and rated.

It had little competition at this price, and it knocks Nvidia 8600 cards out of the race, but Nvidia’s 9600 GT trumps it.

It was all looking good until Nvidia’s new cards overtook it on the final straight.

ATI does it again with its latest GPU, combining superb performance with a reasonable price

A decent board, but the Hybrid SLI feature doesn’t justify the high asking price

Revolutionary features and stunning power: for anyone lucky enough to have the cash, the Lenovo ThinkPad W700ds is the ultimate mobile workstation

A smartly engineered processor, but for today’s applications it’s lacking in bang per buck.

An HD screen, Blu-ray drive, TV tuner and competitive price result in an excellent-value entertainment laptop.

The design is impeccable, the build superb and the screen extraordinary, but the price is a huge barrier. We ponder the icon that is the Macbook Pro 17in

A reworking of an old card from Palit, but it’s not quite enough to beat the 9600 GT

Impressive performance for an affordable card, but the 9600 GT treads on its toes.

Big, brash and versatile, but for top-end PCs only. Enthusiasts will love it.

Superb performance in one of the sturdiest and best-looking gaming laptops we’ve seen – the Alienware M17x is worth the expense.

Mike Jennings tests a selection of laptops that offer stunning power and fantastic features in a dozen luxurious packages