Evesham Voyager Si 1.2 Pro

These accompany the external DVD/CD-RW combo drive that comes in this £1,599 package - you can save £120 by opting for DVD only. We advise sticking with the CD-RW, especially as there's no floppy drive as standard - a USB drive costs £39. You can also buy the port replicator for £69. This provides ports for parallel, PS/2, VGA, two USB and a LAN passthrough for easy connection to the office. On the unit itself, there are a generous three USB ports, infrared, headphone and microphone jacks, proprietary connectors for hooking up Asus external drives, plus a VGA out. The only disappointment is the lack of 802.11b.

So how does the Voyager compare to the multinationals' efforts? Well, it certainly holds its head up, thanks to the strong specification and good build quality. But it falls down on weight and battery life, and as these are two of the most crucial areas for ultra portables we can't recommend it over the Dell Latitude C400.

Author: Tim Danton