Labs

The BG46's brushed aluminium keyboard surround and 1.6kg weight mean it doesn't look out of place next to laptops that cost over £1,000. Instead of an integrated DVD writer, the BG46 is supplied with an external USB drive. This isn't as neat as an internal drive, but being able to leave it at home saves weight. The only downside is that you can't watch DVDs on the move. Then again, watching a full-length film is likely to be too much for the BG46's battery, as it lasted for only two hours and 16 minutes in our light-use test.

It's no surprise that a 3G modem isn't built in at this price, but as there's no CardBus slot you'll have to use an untidy USB dongle. The wireless

ADVERTISEMENT

networking adaptor doesn't support Draft-N, and there's no Bluetooth for getting online via a mobile phone.

The 12in screen's colours were a little muted and images from the integrated webcam suffered from the same problem, but it's a nice extra that many of the other laptops lack. The keyboard is mostly excellent, although we repeatedly hit the Cursor Up key when aiming for the right Shift key. With time, though, we'd probably get used to the slightly odd layout. The touch pad is precise, although its round shape is awkward and a clear example of form over function.

The laptop's 1.66GHz Core 2 Duo processor coped well with our Windows performance tests, with the generous 2GB of RAM coming in particularly useful in the multitasking test. Like all the laptops in the group, it couldn't run our Call of Duty 2 test.

The BG46 is compact, stylish, fast and surprisingly affordable. However, its battery life and wireless connectivity options are minimal, and these are critical areas for ultra-portable laptops. If you just need something for the home, office, hotel rooms and trains with power sockets, it's an excellent choice. However, if your computing needs are less predictable and your budget is limited, Acer's Aspire 2920 makes more sense.