Labs

In a world of shrinking technology - ultraportable PCs the size of a paperback, iPods that fit in a matchbox - the X200 is a bastion of bigness. Twice as thick and twice as heavy as some rivals, it may be maroon, but it's no shrinking violet.

Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Making a computer portable inevitably involves some ergonomic and functional trade-offs, so in designing a laptop that can do everything a desktop can, portability is a reasonable thing to sacrifice.

Thus, the X200 has a full-size keyboard that's almost a match for a quality desktop PC model. Its screen is among the best here (beaten only by the Zoostorm and the more expensive Acer): a 17 inch widescreen with a native

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resolution of 1680x1050 - equivalent to 22 inch desktop monitors - giving you plenty of room to open several windows at once. With its glossy coating, it's also great for DVD playback, which gives you the opportunity to relax and make use of the bundled Media Center remote control. Perhaps the most impressive of the Toshiba's entertainment features, though, are the prominent Harmon/Kardon branded built-in speakers. Music and DVDs alike benefit from their ample bass and clear, crisp treble.

Less impressive is the X200's processing performance. The 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 is the slowest processor in the group, and it shows. The Toshiba came in second to last with a 2D score of 173%. This is more than enough for everyday tasks, but you can get more for the same money. It's not all bad news, though: the nVidia GeForce 8600M GT graphics helped the Toshiba to a score of 67% in our 3D gaming test - enough to manage most recent games, albeit with the detail levels turned down at bit.

When we first saw the X200 a few months ago (in a different configuration), we were impressed. Today, with performance that's no longer top of the class and a relatively meagre 160GB hard disk, it doesn't look as stunning, but it could still be a pleasure to own - though certainly not to carry.