Optima’s latest Centoris could well be the big brother to HP’s V2340AP. The build quality and styling is generally similar only the colour scheme is reversed. And this is no bad thing. The build quality is excellent. There’s not a loose component on the chassis. The lid also flexes a small amount – affording the 15.4in widescreen display some decent protection.

The keyboard is crisp and comfortable to use and the mouse is responsive (as are the buttons). Above them is the WLAN switch and two shortcut buttons. On the right resides the optical drive which supports 8x DVD+R and 2.4x DVD+R9 dual-layer burning. At the back is a D-Sub connector, S-Video out, three USB 2 ports, modem, Ethernet and docking connector. On the left are headphone and mic jacks, another USB 2 port, Infra-red, mini-FireWire and a media card reader. You’re well catered for.

Under the bonnet is a powerful 1.9GHz Pentium M processor which is supported by a single 512MB SODIMM stick – there’s space for one more. These combined with the 80GB hard disk to generate a respectable score of 0.8 in our benchmarks – just 20 percent slower than our reference Dual-Core PC. However, this is no games machine. The Intel 915GM graphics chip hobbled through our game tests without scoring over 4fps.

If you want to look at photographs you’ll like the well-lit screen which offers reasonable colour reproduction. However, when watching video there was noticeable lag which proved uncomfortable during fast panning shots and motion. Viewing angles could support three people huddled round – but no more without problems. But the speakers are reasonable. They lack punch but can produce a well rounded sound at a respectable volume.

The 3KG weight is also quite respectable. It’s certainly portable though you wouldn’t want to carry it around all day. Also aiding it in this field are decent battery life scores: five hours 16 minutes in our light use test is good for a machine with this power. It also ran our punitive multitasking test for over two hours. It can get a little hot under prolonged use but the fan is mercifully quiet when it appears.

At $1999 it represents reasonable value and delivery is free Australia wide. However, the warranty is only 1yr RTB though this is extendible to three years for a reasonable $199 extra. It’s a good mid-range notebook ideal - if the HP below doesn’t offer you enough oomph and features. But it just misses out on our recommendation due to the lag when watching movies – something which lies at the heart of its stated multimedia aims.