Labs

Bargain laptops

For each review this month, there are five star ratings: one for Performance, another for Battery Life, a third for Features & Design, then Value for Money and a final Overall rating. We don't just pluck these figures out of the air: they're calculated using a complex array of benchmark results, objective scores and subjective quality ratings.

Performance

We put each machine through tests using real-world applications such as Word, Access and Photoshop, using the same tests for PCs and laptops. The overall 2D result is relative to a score of 1.00 from our reference PC - a dual-core 3.2GHz Pentium D 840 system with 1GB of PC3200 RAM, a 10,000rpm Western Digital Raptor hard disk and Nvidia GeForce 6600 GT graphics. If a machine scores 1.50, it's 50% faster than our reference machine overall. These laptops aren't intended for gaming, but we ran our most basic Crysis test on them nonetheless at 1,024 x 768 resolution and Low settings.

Battery Life

We run three battery life tests. For our light-use test, we run a simple timer application until the battery runs out, and for the intensive test we push the processor to its limit with our multitasking benchmark. This gives us a minimum and maximum battery life. In both cases, we use the power-management settings most suited to longevity and performance respectively. Finally, we also measure the time each machine takes to recharge to 95% from empty while switched on.

Features & Design

Here we look at an array of objective measurements, such as the range of interfaces, hard-disk capacity and the capabilities of the optical drive. We factor in software bundles but, more importantly, points are given for the amount and type of warranty, as well as each company's performance in our Service and Reliability Awards. The rating also includes subjective points, decided by a panel of judges, for items that can't be measured objectively, such as the build quality, style and the quality of speakers and any accessories.

Value for Money

The Value for Money score is based on a weighted average of the Performance, Battery Life and Features & Design scores; we then factor in exactly how much each machine costs (including delivery) for a bang-per-buck result.

Overall

The Overall rating is a straight average of the Performance, Battery Life, Features & Design and Value for Money scores.