Labs

What would you think if we told you this laptop started life on the drawing board of the BMW Design Group? 'Value for money' probably wouldn't be the very first words that sprang to your lips. You'd be wrong, though. Acer has an enviable reputation for building competitively priced laptops, and the Aspire 5920G is a textbook example of how to make a portable computer attractive, versatile, practical and - best of all - affordable.

Unpack the machine and the first impressions, just as the 'BMW' tag would lead you to expect, are of reassuring heft and fine build quality. Allow a few more seconds to pass before putting down the Aspire on your desk, and you'll notice one drawback: it's pretty heavy, weighing in at over half a kilo more than the lightest laptop in this group. You certainly won't be popping it in your bag and forgetting about it, but with mass comes strength, and the Aspire does boast reassuringly sturdy construction.

Black and white

You'll find a few manufacturers copying the look these days, but Acer's smoothly curved shiny black lid looks great. Two catches keep the lid securely closed when in transit, and leave no room for any sharp objects to slip between the keyboard and the high-gloss display. Inside, the two-tone styling tends to provoke mixed reactions, but it certainly gives the impression that someone has actually designed this laptop rather

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than just bolting together some bits.

The housing does a great job of protecting the display from flexing: we had to really grapple with it before we noted any effect on the screen, and even heavily prodding it caused few ripples. The base section may be a touch thicker than the other laptops here, but it's almost impossible to bend and feels up to resisting a lifetime of abuse.

Just as well, because what's inside is worth taking good care of. With an Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 processor and 2GB of fast DDR2 RAM, the Aspire scored a worthy 158% in our general (2D) benchmark. That's enough to handle just about any application you can throw at it. When it comes to games, the nVidia GeForce 8600M GS graphics chipset is far from weedy, but noticeably slower than the turbocharged GT variant, and in this instance managed only 47% in our 3D benchmark. You'll still be able to play most of the latest titles if you turn down the resolution and detail settings to keep things running smoothly.

Glorious colour

The Acer's screen is a fine example - bright, crisp and vibrant - and is particularly suited to entertainment. The inclusion of an HD DVD drive means you can watch the latest movies in high definition. As you may have figured out, the screen's resolution of 1280x800 isn't high enough to see HD movies at their full 1920x1080 pixels, but the new discs still give much more detail even when scaled to fit the display. And, with an HDMI port ready and waiting to connect to the latest HDTVs and projectors, you can make the most of your laptop whenever a bigger display is available.

On paper, the Aspire 5920G might not look significantly better than some other laptops here, but in use it's nigh-on unbeatable. All the basics we'd expect of a quality portable are present and correct: a fine keyboard, a crisp display and good, sturdy build quality. To top it all off, it's also a good performer for both work and play. For £799, that's a bit of a steal.