Lab

Light laptops

With laptops now routinely packing the necessary punch for pretty much all everyday tasks, many of us are beginning to question the need to lug around heavyweight machines. Carrying three kilos on your shoulder is more punishing than it at first seems, so we're increasingly looking towards lighter models, both for convenience and style.

To this end, this month we've rounded up ten of the latest and best light laptops in a variety of shapes and sizes. All we asked of manufacturers was that their offerings must weigh no more than 2kg including the battery, and they sent us a fascinating blend of laptops, from genuine 1.3kg ultraportables right up to slightly larger - but still portable - pocket powerhouses.

There's a wide choice of sizes, with 11.1, 12.1 and 13.3in screens in the group, and even the tiniest come with dual-core processors, 2GB of RAM and an integrated optical drive. The most common hard disk size now seems to be an incredible 160GB, and several laptops even include attractive bonuses such as HSDPA adapters and draft-n wireless modules.

Prices range from an extremely attractive £494 up to more than £1,300, and the victorious laptop this month proves you don't have to break the bank to get portability, power and eye-catching style rolled into one. Read on to find out which notebook won, but with so many budgets covered be sure to look beyond just the award winners when making your choice.