With the exception of the badge on the lid, PC Club's Highlander is almost identical to both ModTech's and Targa's offerings.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.