The Qosmio is the absolute pinnacle in multimedia notebooks. It brings everything you need for a good Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE) system and squeezes it into a notebook form-factor. Albeit a large notebook form-factor. Yes the Qosmio is a huge and heavy notebook, but it's not nearly as heavy as it would have been if it was packed with desktop internals as many desknotes of this size usually are.

Looking quite a lot like what I imagined the son of Apple's Titanium and Powerbook lines of notebooks would turn out, the AStone notebook features both the Titanium's solid matte silver magnesium-alloy body with the Powerbook's white limned styling. From the very outset this makes the AStone one visually appealing notebook.

Alienware are fairly new to Australian shores, but for any PC-addict it's been hard to avoid their familiar little-green-men styling on the internet where Alienware cases are extremely popular among case-modding and PC-styling communities. They're finally here now, and the Area-51m 7700 is the first product through the PC Authority Labs doors.

The D900T has to be one the most impressively kitted out notebooks we've ever reviewed. Now, before you go running off with a fist full of readies, this notebook isn't available as such to the general public. Rather, resellers of Todaytech's notebooks can order them in whatever configuration you want. Or if you'd rather -- and we quite like this option -- you can order the notebook stripped of most options, and configure your own from spare parts or cheaper parts if you think you can do better on pricing.

The Excel G736 notebook from Protac is a desktop replacement, and as well as better-than-normal notebook specifications it also comes with the other traditional trapping of a desktop replacement notebook: it's big, it's chunky, and it's heavy.

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 an odd gambit business-wise: align your own brand with that of another. But for Acer, the one-off team-up with Ferrari to brand and produce the Acer Ferrari 3000 notebook has resulted in a stunning product.

Not a bad notebook, the Satellite 1110 marks Toshiba's first foray into the sub-$2,500 notebook market, and it's a welcome one. By its own merits, the Satellite 1110's specifications are reasonable: 1.5GHz Celeron, 128MB RAM, 16MB RADEON Mobility, 20GB HD and DVD-ROM, but in comparison to the field it was average in all regards.

The i-Buddie’s biggest claim to fame in the notebook stakes is that it keeps its travel weight down by eschewing an in-built battery. The reasoning is that most notebooks are either used at home or the office, where they’re plugged into the mains, but aren’t powered up on the road much.

This tiny notebook, measuring a mere 26.5 x 22 x 2.1cm looks quite ordinary on the outside, yet comes with quite an interesting processor inside. The Valeo CP10 is not powered by Intel or AMD, nor even Transmeta, but instead has one of the first VIA Antaur CPUs we've come across.

This rather small Centrino-powered notebook from Fujitsu has been designed for students and the hip-crowd; those that want something that's capable of work and entertainment, is not too large or heavy to carry, and that can easily balance on a café table between text books and a hot latte.

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.

Acer was one of the few big name manufacturers that were able to meet our stringent pricing criteria. The submitted notebook, the TravelMate, is not a so bad overall, but it couldn't win out against the smaller manufacturer's abilities to get top components at short notice. Where Acer excels is in after-sales support.

Pioneer's Value notebook is another well-featured offering, with a large variety of ports, a combo drive and a very handy three-year warranty.

Finding a good PC or notebook for the family is not as hard as you might think. PC Authority  puts the latest models to the test.

This is not the first 'desknote' that we've reviewed (see Protac DeskNote, June 2002, page 37) but in our estimation the Aspire 1703SC is the first system that truly expounds the virtues of true desknote-ism.

The iBook represents the budget- end of Apple's notebook range. Its sturdy white lid, and solid base give it a quality feel, and it even manages to come in at only 2.5kg, including power pack.

Even if the Twinhead Efio! 2003CTZ couldn't hold its own with the big boys here when we benchmarked it, we were highly impressed with the unit's features and pricing, which countered its relatively low performance and rocketed it into the top three in the Labs.

The AS2400DW picked up the Labs Winner award this month for several reasons.