Top five best laptops available now

Today's best buys tested, selected

THINQ! Top Mainstream Model

Sony VAIO VGN-NW20EF/S
Price £490

The VAIO NW series are part of Sony’s family of budget multimedia notebooks, the NW20EF/S is one of the latest arrivals to the line-up and despite the price tag, it still has all the Sony design strengths and great build quality.

Powering the NW20EF/S is an Intel Pentium T4300 processor which although clocked at 2.1GHz only has a 1MB of L2 cache and an 800MHz FSB and backed by 3GB of DDR2 memory its no speed demon, but it is more than adequate to power all the everyday office apps. The choice of just 3GB of memory is quite odd as it comes with the 64-bit version of Windows 7 Home Premium which can access all the memory present, and as the motherboard can support a maximum of 8GB, 4GB might have been nice. As it is, if you want more grunt then the option is available to you via two SO-DIMM slots.

The 15.5in screen has a 16:9 aspect ratio and a native resolution of 1,366 by 768 pixels but isn’t that bright, producing slightly washed out colours with poor contrasts.

On the other hand, the keyboard is, as we’ve all come to expect from a Sony notebook hard to fault with large well spaced keys that are a joy to type on.

Good: Good all-round package for the money.
Bad: Dull screen. Lack of HDMI port. No Bluetooth
Overall: Good looking notebook with Sony’s usual design and build quality but the screen lets it down.

Specifications
Processor: Intel Pentium T4300 (2.1GHz, 1MB L2 cache)
Memory: 3GB 667MHz DDR2
Graphics: integrated Intel GMA 4500M (128MB shared system memory)
Hard Drive: 320GB
Optical Drive: DVD +/- RW +/- DL
Screen: 15.5in X-Black WXGA (1,366 by 768 pixel resolution)
Webcam: 0.3MP
Networking: 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi
Ports: 1 x 34mm Express Card, 3 x USB, 2 x audio, 1 x FireWire, 1 x VGA
Card Reader: SD, Memory Stick
Colour Options: Silver, Pink
Operating System: 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium
Dimensions (HxWxD): 29 x 370 x 249mm
Weight: 2.7kg

THINQ! Best Mainstream + notebook

Dell Studio 15 (N0053503)
Price (as configured) £720

As with most Dell systems, the Studio 15 can be configured to fit many budgets; the standard model costs £479 (inc VAT) although it pays to keep an eye on the Dell website as prices change and offers appear on a regular basis. There are a bewildering number of changes you can make to the spec, even down to the colour scheme you want and there are a multitude of them as well, and it must be said that most of them aren’t cheap. Our review model came in the standard black finish or as Dell calls it Black Chainlink!

Our review sample came with an Intel Core 2 Duo P8700 processor clocked at 2.53GHz backed by 4GB of 800MHz DDR memory so it’s no slouch in the performance stakes, the installed 64-bit version of Windows 7 Home Premium runs quickly and smoothly and you’ll have no problem running all your everyday apps on the Studio 15.

Dell have fitted a good keyboard to the Studio 15, well laid out with firm, responsive keys, similarly the touchpad is good and responsive as are the two mouse buttons sitting under it.

The 15.6in screen fitted to our machine was the standard 1,366 by 768 one, but for an extra £70 you can get a 1,920 by 1,080 one, well worth buying if your budget can stretch to it.

As standard the Studio 15 comes with a 6-cell 56Whr battery which was good for just over three and a half hours when tested but if you want more then a 9-cell 85Whr unit is available for an extra £60, again a good choice if your budget can stretch a bit.

Good: Good all round performer
Bad: Screen viewing angles aren’t great
Overall: Fully configurable to your requirements, Dell’s Studio 15 is a well balanced system with a good range of features and decent performance.

Specifications (as configured
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo P8700 (2.53GHz, 3MB L2 cache)
Memory: 4GB 800MHz DDR2
Graphics: dedicated ATI Mobility Radeon HD4570
Hard Drive: 500GB
Optical Drive: DVD +/- RW
Screen: 15.6in TrueLife (1,366 by 768 pixel resolution)
Webcam: 2.0MP
Networking: 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11a/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
Ports: 1 x 34mm Express Card, 3 x USB, (1 x eSATA/USB combo), 3 x audio, 1 x FireWire, 1 x HDMI, 1 x VGA
Card Reader: 8-in-1
Colour Options: multi
Operating System: 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium
Dimensions (HxWxD): 25.3 x 371.6 x 252.9mm
Weight: 2.65kg