Bag yourself a notebook

Buyer's Guide If you're getting a new notebook for Christmas, make sure you check out our 13-product roundup of carrying bags: we'll point you at the best-made, best-looking, least-stealable and best-value products.

NEC Versa P440 review

Review The Versa P440 is generally sound and will make a perfectly satisfactory desktop replacement, but nothing about it really serves to make it stand out from the crowd.

Compaq Evo N800w review

Review The Evo N800w deserves its 'mobile workstation' title, providing a 2.2GHz CPU and OpenGL-optimised graphics. You also get nearly three hours' battery life, which is an added bonus.

Toshiba Satellite 5200-701 review

Review The Satellite 5200 has the power to be a realistic alternative to a home desktop PC, and for the most part the features it boasts -- good 3D graphics, decent audio quality, Bluetooth -- are the ones people are likely to want.

Sony VAIO PCG-GRX516SP review

Review If you want a high-quality desktop replacement notebook that's ideally suited to video editing and other multimedia content creation applications, Sony's VAIO PCG-GRX516SP fits the bill - but be prepared to pay a premium price.

IBM ThinkPad X30 review

Review IBM’s ThinkPad X30 is an ideal travelling companion: it's light enough to carry but comfortable to use, and it packs sufficient power and battery life. It’s not cheap, especially if you factor in external drives and a docking base, but you are definitely getting quality for your money here.

Tablet PCs: the first wave

Buyer's Guide After several false starts, it looks as though pen computing is here to stay, following the release of Microsoft's Windows XP Tablet PC Edition and the first generation of Tablet PC hardware. Check out our reviews to see what early adopters can expect.

Fujitsu Siemens Stylistic ST4110 review

Review Fujitsu Siemens has produced a promising slate-style tablet that, although there's still plenty of room for improvement, could be used as a flexible desktop replacement system.

Toshiba Portégé 3500 review

Review Toshiba has done a good job of designing a convertible Tablet PC, although it is heavier than some of the slate-style competition. The pen interface isn't perfect, but this is principally a software issue.

ViewSonic Tablet PC V1100 review

Review ViewSonic's V1100 has its good points, and many of its faults are common to other Tablet PCs. Battery life, in particular, needs to improve for the V1100 to be a compelling purchase.

Rock Xeno-m review

Review The Xeno-m combines excellent processing power and portability, but its SiS-powered graphics let down the rest of the system, while the price climbs as you add the cost of a floppy drive and a port replicator.

Dell Inspiron 8200 (2.2GHz Mobile P4) review

Review This state-of-the-art 2.2GHz Mobile Pentium 4 notebook is the first we’ve seen with ATI’s new Mobility Radeon 9000 graphics chip, which sets a new standard for mobile 3D acceleration.

Dell SmartPC 250N review

Review Dell has joined the ranks of manufacturers who use desktop Pentium 4 chips in their notebooks. Like others in its class, the SmartPC 250N offers excellent performance at an attractive price.

Apple PowerBook G4 review

Review With its good looks, light weight, features, and performance, the Apple Titanium PowerBook G4 has it all. If price is no object, this is a compelling alternative to just about any Windows notebook or even a desktop PC.

JVC Mini Note MP-XP7210 review

Review Consumer electronics specialist JVC’s first notebook is an impressive Windows XP ultraportable that weighs less than a kilogram and features a 1,024 by 600 display.