Since the merger of the Compaq and Hewlett Packard companies two years ago, the Compaq name has become synonymous with HP's corporate and business products, while HP remains as the more consumer-oriented brand.
The look of the HP Compaq NC6000_106 is pure business with its black casing and silver trim. It's also one of the heavier laptops at 2.9kg. But to compensate there's certainly a lot of features packed into the case: dual PC card slots; rubber trackpoint AND trackpad; Bluetooth, 802.11a, b and g; and a DVD-RW. The trackpad is of a minor annoyance, however. Most trackpads allow you to tap the surface to simulate a mouseclick: the HP's surface won't without delving deep into the Mouse options on Control Panel. All other notebooks enabled this by default.

Elsewhere, even though the sturdy screen is only 14.1in and not widescreen like some competitors, it is sufficiently bright.

The HP handles itself well in the performance stakes, coming second place in both the battery life test at 289 minutes and the PCMark test at 3370 marks. This means it has plenty of power and enough juice to last while on the road. It's a pity there isn't a second battery included for the price.

And while we're on the subject, the HP Compaq NC6000_106 is the most expensive laptop in this roundup, and by 700 dollars. Though it has plenty of add-ons, such as Bluetooth and also the facility for a docking station, it fails to keep up with the value for money offered by the other notebooks on test here.