Labs

If the industrial looks of the Mesh seem familiar, that's because it uses the same Asus-made chassis. But this machine is Mr Hyde to the F3T's Dr Jekyll: in place of that sluggish AMD Turion, the Mesh has an Intel Core Duo T2350. Backed by the same 1GB of DDR RAM supplied in all but two of the laptops here, it powered its way to a modestly

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impressive 125% in our general 2D performance test. Where the Asus salvaged some pride in 3D, though, the Mesh hobbled in with a frame rate of just 2.2fps - better than nothing, but unplayable.

Like its AMD-based doppelganger, the Mesh accounts for its not inconsiderable bulk by packing in a decent number of connections. Alongside the usual USB 2.0 ports are a choice of DVI and D-Sub connections for an external monitor, plus FireWire and Bluetooth to complete the set.

As with the Asus, the Mesh's screen is brightly and evenly lit, with wide viewing angles, handy if the next passenger is a fan of your DVDs. With a modest 2h 10min battery life on DVD playback, though, Lord of the Rings is out. On everyday tasks, it managed a very respectable four hours.

With a decent 160GB hard disk, the Mesh is awell-specified entertainment centre. As you'll see, though, you can get even more fun for less money.