Our five favourite ...

Laptops

Ever more versatile - from home office to mini-home cinema - the key laptop trade-off remains between portability and specifications. But you're not going to have to compromise much either way

Apple Powerbook G4

The Apple 17-inch widescreen laptop packs enough power to run the affairs of a small country thanks to its 1.33Ghz G4 processor and 80GB hard drive. It also offers a 4.5-hour battery life, has a great graphics card with 64MB of memory plus integrated Bluetooth and Wi-Fi for easy internet access on the move. But let's face it, you'll probably just end up playing minesweeper in vivid widescreen.

· Price: £1,700

For: the Multimedia Player

www.apple.com

Samsung X25

The ultra-light, ultra-slender x25 ticks all the boxes. A 1.86Ghz processor, 15.1-inch screen, 512MB RAM, 80GB hard drive and DVD writer make it the perfect all-rounder equally at home managing a spreadsheet as playing a DVD and if it wasn't for the sheer riches on offer from Apple it would be top of the list.

· Price: from £1,500

For: the Tech-Savvy Nomad

www.samsung.co.uk

Asus W5000A

Moving up from merely supplying the parts for big-name laptops, Asus has been creating notebooks with some success. The W5000A is no exception. It manages to cram in a Centrino Dothan processor, a DVD writer and a 1.3 megapixel camera.

· Price: £1,100

For: the Family

uk.asus.com

Fujitsu Siemens Lifebook P7010

Improving on its super-smart P5020, Fujitsu has increased the specifications on its new notebook to include a 1Ghz Pentium M processor, 512MB of RAM and a 60GB hard drive. Although this notebook may be light, it's far from lightweight.

· Price: £1,450

For: the Business Traveller

www.fujitsu-siemens.co.uk

Sony Vaio PCG TR5MP

The TR5MP is a compact with both brains and brawn. A 1Ghz Pentium M Processor, 512MB RAM and 40GB hard drive lie beneath a diminutive sleek exterior. And the 10.6-inch, X-Black LCD screen brings absolute clarity even in direct sunlight, making it perfect for outdoor summer use.

· Price: £1,585

For: the Alfresco Freelancer

www.sony.co.uk

Compiled by Carl Wilkinson/Stuff magazine


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Laptops

This article appeared in the Observer on Sunday July 24 2005 . It was last updated at 00.59 on July 24 2005.

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