Labs

For a thousand-pound laptop, the A9900SR looks basic, with large areas of unmarked black plastic surrounding the keyboard. Under the bonnet, though, it's anything but plain: an uncommonly powerful processor propelled the Hi-Grade to the highest 2D benchmark score we've ever seen from a laptop. Put it this way, you won't be waiting around for your software.

Predictably, 3D gaming performance was far more modest. You'd need to drop the resolution quite a bit to play recent games,

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so you wouldn't get the full benefit of the big 17-inch widescreen display.

For everything else, though, the Ultinote feels good to use. The display is clear and bright, the keyboard is pleasingly firm, and the large, responsive track- pad makes it easy to sweep your pointer across the desktop. Battery life of two hours and 40 minutes in our light use test was relatively decent. (Less powerful laptops can top four hours these days, but more capability usually takes more electricity.)

Then again, the Hi-Grade isn't an especially feature-laden portable, with little except performance to differentiate it from the crowd. It was the only machine in this group not to include a built-in webcam, for example. It was also the heaviest, at an arm-stretching 3.8kg. You can lug it around the house easily enough, or maybe sling it in the car to take from one office to another, but it's not a realistic proposition for a regular travelling companion.

However, if you valuepower over portability and substance over style, the Ultinote is undeniably a solid choice.