Are you ready for the next generation of televisions? Talk the talk with PC Authority's jargon guide.

Flawless. Behold, the crème de la crème by Dell.

The Acer AL1751W may have had the distinction of being the only widescreen 17in TFT in this roundup, but this wasn’t the only thing that contributed to its high rankings. Instead it was a combination of the unit’s specifications, its functions and its features that helped it score highly across our strenuous testing regime, plus a little nudge from value for money at the end to get it across the line.

HITACHI PD32-A2100

A fantastic specification notebook with all the trimmings you'd expect to find on more expensive notebooks, the Joybook 8100-V13 has a 15.4in widescreen WXGA with native 1280 x 800 resolution. With ATI's Mobility RADEON 9600 graphics, boasting 64MB dedicated video memory, it's great for DVD playback or gaming -- the unit returned 9,502 marks under 3DMark01SE Pro, more than enough to provide comfortable gameplay with a decent number of fps even in recent games. BenQ has gone as far as to include not just a DVD-ROM for DVD movie playback, but an optical DVD writer, capable of 2-speed DVD+R media writing, ideal for both business archiving or for personal backup.

Finishing third in PCMark04, fifth in 3DMark01SE and around middle of the pack for battery life, the Z7W from Astone is an attractive and functional widescreen notebook with plenty of goodies.

Powered by a 1.6GHz mobile Pentium processor, featuring dual-band 802.11a/g wireless capability and sporting a 15.4in wide-screen display, the Dell D800 represents the best of the Latitude series of notebooks. At around 3.3kg, it is not light, nor is it thin – but is complemented by an exceptional finish and a solid set of technology.

High definition video is the next big thing for Australia. We explain the essential technologies for your TV or living room PC, and what to expect from our broadcasters.

Perfect image fidelity - no expense spared.

The Todaytech M120W, even though it's based on an OEM housing, is all style with its glossy royal blue top, and the silver surrounds on the palm rest and screen.

While the build quality of the ASUS A4000L is good and sturdy, this notebook is much larger than the others featured in our roundup.

MSI's MegaBook L61OI lives up to its 'mega' moniker with a large 15.4-inch widescreen TFT, desktop CPU, excellent graphics and pumping audio. The model we looked at was a pre-production prototype notebook and as such was a little shaky and did not come with all the inclusions a final model will have. As a proof of concept, however, the notebook is quite good.

Movie and photo transfer capability, MP3 playback, bearable speakers… this is the best portable gaming machine ever

A different screen to the rest on review in this category, the Samsung SyncMaster 172W doesn't have a 4:3 aspect ratio, but is instead a widescreen format display.

A great still camera with a decent movie mode. The restrictions on movie length mean it’s only any good for short video ‘snapshots’, though, and not ideal for that holiday of a lifetime

Absolutely blitzing the field for performance, no other notebook this month could get anywhere near the PowerNote 258SA from Digital Star, despite many trying. Pushing out an absolutely massive 4216 marks, this powerhouse left a 640 mark gap between it and its closest contender, the Toshiba Satellite A30.

An older TV, but if you’re planning to add a digital set-top box or DVD player, this small analogue set is a bargain buy

Optoma did this before, but the Toshiba is a better performer – it's a clever idea, and well-executed

How much? Never mind what the LX-1 costs, just see what it does – yes, it’s pricey, but boy is it worth it

Coming in under our stringent pricing scheme, ASUS bettered it by $50 and managed to include some great hardware and features unavailable in some of the more expensive units.