Laptop frenzy

We were intrigued by the Packard Bell EasyNote BG45-U-300, a portable laptop to take on the netbooks at less than £300 exc VAT – just £50 more than our A-Listed Samsung NC10. Matt reckons it’s perfect “if you’re after a little more oomph and a higher-resolution screen” than a netbook.

If your budget is significantly higher the UK’s first review of Toshiba’s brand new Portégé R600 ultraportable may be more your bag. Tim reckons it can trounce the Macbook Air on most specs – and he’s the editor so we can’t argue. It’s not the prettiest but “its price, integrated 3G modem and low weight all work in its favour.”

Completing our portable trio is the big, shiny and bold Pavilion dv5-1000ea, HP’s latest budget entertainment laptop. “While the HP is more gaudy haute-couture than timeless style,” mused Matt on its ergonomics, “it’s certainly a refreshing change.” Not quite refreshing enough for an award, but a “perfectly viable alternative” to our A List incumbents nonetheless.

Hard as nails

Ruggedised phones are always great to chuck around the office, and Getac’s PS535E didn’t disappoint. Dave Mitchell stopped playing MacGuyver just long enough to tell us about its “bulletproof feel” – so tough that he reckons it will even “work happily in our delightful British weather”.

He also tested the LaCie 4big quaddra, a huge 4TB DAS appliance with exemplary build quality, silent running, “a classy design and a good range of fault-tolerant features”. Which all adds up to another award-winning business product.

Two for the money

If one GPU isn’t enough, trust ATI to cater for your needs. This time the Radeon HD 4850 X2 isn’t the top-end part, but one which still offers hefty performance at a hefty price. “Is this high-end improvement worth two-and-a-half times the cost of the HD 4850, and just £50 less than a HD 4870 X2?” we asked? Short answer… no.

The Slingbox was a great device for watching your TV over the internet, but the SlingCatcher takes it a step further by allowing you to watch the streamed content on another TV, rather than just a computer screen. It’s a great idea, but the ever-skeptical Jon had his reservations.

Cowon’s O2 is the latest media player to take on Apple, and Jon was impressed by its broad file format support, memory expandability and built in speaker and TV output. Not a luxurious device, by any stretch, but one that’s well worth considering.

Last but not least, Iiyama – recently excelling at offering decent quality TFTs for ever lower prices – released its first 1080p 22in monitor. Whether we really need 1080p on desktop monitors is debatable, but if it appeals to your inner entertainment junkie you may be a little disappointed by the ProLite PLE2208HDS.