Hi-Grade's new high-end notebook offers unparalleled performance. Packing a 2.2GHz Pentium 4 and 512MB DDR, it's one tough cookie, and contains a whole herd of ponies under the hood.

Its design and build quality are first-rate, with an agreeably large keyboard and a clear, bright LCD. It's also significantly lighter than a lot of the other P4 notebooks out there – sans power adaptor it weighs 3.3kg. Although it's not ruggedised, the M6600 still sports the excellent two-year 'accidental damage' warranty.

The main feature that sets the Ultinote out from the crowd is its inclusion of a DVD-RW drive. Although the -RW format isn't quite as flexible as the newer +RW, a DVD burner is still an outstanding addition.

Given its high specs, it's not entirely surprising that the Ultinote offers the best general performance we've yet seen in a notebook. Its SYSmark2002 score was incredibly high at 194 – a good 7% faster than the Dell Inspiron 8200 (see page 37).
The M6600 also takes a huge step up in terms of graphics performance, by packing a 32MB GeForce4 Go MX420. This is a speedy chip that's capable of playing most current games at great frame-rates. It still plays second fiddle to the Dell's 8200, however, which has the far superior 64MB Mobility RADEON 9000.

Despite its high price, the M6600 is superb value for money. Although it's only about $500 dearer than the Dell, it packs in a lot more value, especially considering the faster CPU, DVD-writer and excellent warranty. If you want a high end portable, the Ultinote is an excellent buy.