Toshiba Tecra M1

Like the Acer, the Toshiba's design is otherwise well thought out. The styling - with its single hinge underneath the display - won't be to everyone's tastes, but the inclusion of both a touchpad and trackpoint will please everybody. So will the wide range of ports, with both parallel and serial ports round the back, as well as a four-pin FireWire port.

The three side-mounted USB 2 ports are a nice touch too - all easy to access with no fiddling round the back. The same can be said for the front-mounted infrared port, audio jacks and WLAN switch. Two PC Card slots are provided for future expansion, and digital camera users will appreciate the SD card slot on the left.

The Tecra M1 is a superb business notebook, offering fast performance, superb build quality, incredible battery life and a great-quality screen. What's more, if £1,799 is stretching your finances, Toshiba also has a 1.4GHz 256MB version with a 30GB hard disk and DVD-ROM for £1,399. But the £1,799 version outstrips the previous A-Listed business notebook, the Samsung P10 XTC 1900 Fingerprint (see issue 100, p117), in every important area, making the Tecra M1 the obvious successor.

Author: Ben Hardwidge