In a varied week for reviews, the most notable new arrival was Dell’s Inspiron Mini 12. Attempting to take the netbook category up even closer to true laptop size, it failed on so many counts that our review concluded by saying, “even the presence of XP Home and a high-capacity battery would only elevate the Mini 12’s score from a maudlin two to an unremarkable four.” Harsh words indeed.

Components and peripherals proved much more successful, with Belkin’s N+ draft-n router earning high praise from reviews editor Jon Bray. With the choice of ADSL or cable variants, impressive performance in our tests, a USB port for external storage and a very attractive price, it jumped straight onto our A List.

Sanyo’s new flagship pistol-grip video camera, the Xacti VPC-HD1010, arrived to fill the admittedly short gap before its successor arrives next month. We found it to produce good quality, full HD video recordings, but also decent snaps, and its attractive price should fall even lower with the HD2000 just around the corner.

Two all-in-ones arrived in the Labs. Brother’s MFC-990CW offered all the features a small office could need, including a handset and fax component, but let itself down a little on the performance front. Kodak’s ESP 7 is aimed at the other end of the market – the novices – but still impressed with its speed, if not quite its quality.

Nvidia released the GeForce GTX 285, a die-shrink advance on the GTX 280, with decent but not ground-breaking results. And Nokia’s 5800 XpressMusic had a few too many flaws to impress us enough to earn a recommendation.

Completing the week were the HP Compaq 6730B, which impressed us with “its feel of a professional computer built for professional people” despite its low price, and Arbico’s Stealth 9550 Pro system, which packed plenty of punch but not quite enough value.