Toshiba Tecra A2 P-M 1.7GHz

Not that you'll have a huge problem with the latter, as the Tecra lasted over four hours in our light-use battery tests - more than enough for most jobs. This was reduced to around two hours under intensive use. Power management is handled by Toshiba's own excellent Console software, which will allow you to comprehensively fine-tune the Tecra's behaviour to eke out the maximum longevity.

The 40GB hard disk should be big enough for most people, as it still offers a fair amount of storage for business applications and documents. However, for external archiving or backup, you'll be limited to burning CD-Rs at 24x; Toshiba doesn't stretch to a DVD burner with this Tecra.

While limitations like the CD burner and 1,024 x 768 screen reduce the A2's flexibility, this is still a reasonably priced and fast machine. If you don't need to do much detail work, and won't be frustrated by the lack of USB ports, it's a lightweight, powerful and attractive notebook.

Author: Ross Burridge