Love or hate them, the Netbook is here to stay in 2009. We take a look at five new models: some are contenders and others are likely to be quickly forgotten.

Since the release of the Eee PC 701, the 'Notebook' has dominated. Easy to use, cheap and able to be left on the coffee table next to the remote, Notebooks are true appliance computing. The choice of which one to buy comes down to personal preference, but it's hard not to prefer those with the best usability. Our rundown of your options covers their performance, battery life, and design.

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.

Intel's Atom platform may provide the backbone of today's netbooks, but with rivals emerging, Intel could find itself playing a smaller part in the future, as players such as Nvidia's Tegra take hold.

With netbooks a big favourite with laptop buyers over the last 12 months, we count down the five OSes that could be the friendliest for mini laptops

Superb build quality, battery life and usability – quite simply the best netbook around

It may be lovely, but Sony’s under-powered P-series costs too much and features features poor battery life.

A good quality netbook pipped at the post by its own stablemates.

Sleek and professional, the Hp Mini 5101 is another attractively pitched netbook that can't shake its very poor battery life. When will manufactuers learn that battery life is all-important to netbook success?

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

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.

There are fundamental differences between a handheld OS and the desktop variety. Desktop computers have a lot of power to draw on, while handheld OSes have traditionally been limited by the hardware o

We've tested a massive 25 netbooks to provide a list of the best and worst mini laptops, with one surprise winner. Also, see our big TV set top box guide, in the new issue of PC Authority

If you can’t stretch to the Samsung N110, the 1005HA makes an excellent lower-cost alternative

Not the most attractive, but this Eee PC defies expectations. Another machine that's going onto our netbook shopping shortlist

A Sony netbook? Not as weird as it sounds. also: a music video actually shot on an iPhone, imagining time travel, and DARPA builds a real-life, wearable heads up display

The single biggest reason for existing laptop owners to upgrade to Windows 7 is something unique to this release: it actually requires less horsepower than Vista. That's good news for netbook owners!

A site that shows you how to do infra red photography. Also: Asimov's laws of robotics and why they matter, Earth is getting a Space Fence, and the next big netbook processor.

Wondering how to take advantage of the new 50% tax break for small business IT purchases? Our tax resource centre explains everything you need to know.

Are "free laptop" deals like Vodafone's Dell Inspiron mini 9 offer a great way to save money on a new PC, or a cleverly disguised con? We reveal the truth