A world first on the desktop, Phenom is good but a long way from outstanding.

Impressive technology, but increasing cores doesn’t necessarily increase performance.

Performance per watt has taken a backward step, but it’s very fast with the right apps.

This first of a new generation is only a little faster than the old, but its potential is clearly huge

Nothing incredible in terms of design, but it’s an impressively cheap way to get quad-core in your PC.

There is only one card in this picture. No, really. Okay, let’s discuss this.

Quad-core makes it powerful and good value at the price. Noise and stability suffer though.

Slim and stylish, this isn’t the most powerful quad core we’ve seen, but it’s by far the cheapest.

The move to a new platform brings credible new challengers to Intel’s Core 2 processors

Quad core at this price is fantastic, but it’s not as fast as it should be.

A fast, quiet, good-looking PC that's great value.

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

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

AMD’s next generation of CPUs brings 45nm technology and higher clock speeds - but is that enough to compete with Intel’s latest and greatest?

Fantastic hardware. The GPS software is mediocre, but you can buy your own.

Plenty of modern phones support email, of course, but what always made BlackBerry special was its push technology. With this, you don't need to dial up to collect your email: just sit back and wait for the messages to come to you. Wherever you are, if an urgent email comes through to any of your email addresses -- and the 7100v supports up to 10 -- you can act on it instantly.

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

Another big name brand PC gets a cutting-edge, all-format, high-def optical drive capable of playing Blu-ray and HD DVD.

Fantastic design and highly-configurable power make this XPS useful, desirable and good value.