Toshiba Tecra 8100

The Tecra is equipped with Toshiba's updated AccuPoint II finger-joystick-type mouse, so fans of the trackpad will be disappointed. However, the addition of scroll buttons on the new version does make it a bit better. I liked the keyboard, which managed to get everything in the right place and of the right size to encourage, rather than hinder, fast and accurate typing.

Performance was fair for a 500MHz Pentium III notebook, with an overall rating of 1.34 in the PC Pro benchmarks, making the Tecra one of the faster 500MHz Pentium III notebooks we've tested. Where the Tecra really distinguishes itself from the pack is battery life, which I found to be in the region of four hours of moderate use - half an hour better than the Latitude. This still doesn't justify the Tecra's price, so overall the Dell Latitude CPx H500GT would be my first choice.

Author: Dominic Bucknall