Toshiba has come out with a brilliant widescreen notebook with some nifty features. While ASUS's W5 on page ^^ is small and speedy, Toshiba takes a slower, more relaxed look at computing. The two are fairly similar on the feature front, with only 200MHz separating the two on the CPU side.

The performance results are predictable, with ASUS having the edge; the Tecra A4 returned 2835 points in PCMark04, an indication of its competence as a good productivity and media notebook. The gap opened a little in synthetic graphics testing, with the Toshiba managing only 3761 3DMarks -- not exceptional, but enough for a reasonable frame rate in last generation games.

The bundled multi-format DVD burner is ideal for home or business file archiving or creating home movies in conjunction with the 4-pin side mounted FireWire port. A front-mounted wireless switch means you can turn the device on and off as required, leaving it off when not in use will help conserve your battery and improve your mobile run time.

Any manufacturer can put together a notebook and sell it, but the bundled goods are usually the standout features. Toshiba includes a recovery disc for users for when things go pear shaped, allowing you to quickly recover your system to factory settings. Also included is Toshiba Assist, an application for helping users with common problems like network configuration, security setting changes, system diagnostics for easy troubleshooting and an optimize menu with access to functions such as formatting removable memory.

Well priced for the amount of notebook being offered, Toshiba continues to break barriers and is offering a solid all-rounder notebook at a very reasonable asking price.