Lenovo 3000 V200

Lenovo has included some decent maintenance tools, a welcome crossover from its line of ThinkPads. Rescue & Recovery allows you to make swift backups of your data, while the Maintenance Manager lets you set up a schedule for common tasks such as disk cleanup and backup.

The V200 certainly loses out in the first impressions stakes: it's bigger, heavier and lacks the sheer "wow" factor Sony has executed so perfectly with the TZ11. But when it comes to value for money, it's clear which is the superior machine, with the V200 nearly £700 cheaper. Before you buy, take a look at HP's Compaq nx7400 RH410ET, which weighs 2.4kg, costs £700 exc VAT from www.insight.com/uk and features a 15.4in screen.

However, if portability is your priority, the V200 is the best notebook we've seen at this price, with an hour more battery life than the HP Compaq and that slight, but potentially important, weight advantage.

Author: Dave Stevenson