Apple Macbook: from £750



Fancy an Intel-powered Apple laptop but can't afford to shell out for a Macbook Pro? You're in luck. The replacement for the old iBook is here - and yes, it will run Windows, thanks to Apple's Boot Camp software.

Rather than shrink the iBook, Apple has expanded it. The 12in display has been replaced by a 13.3in glossy widescreen that bears an uncanny similarity to Sony's X-Black screens and is perfect for watching movies.

The boffins at Apple have given up with the G5 chip and bought a job lot of Intel ones. The good news is that Macs are faster, the bad is that some third party applications run more slowly on Intel. Although it lacks a TV tuner, the Macbook is an all-round entertainment king. A DVI output means that you can attach it to a plasma screen, while the remote control allows you to operate iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie and the DVD plays from the comfort of your sofa.

The main problem is its weight: at 2.36kg it's nearly as heavy as the 15in Macbook Pro and twice the weight of a Sony Vaio TX ultraportable. But the battery lasted an impressive 3.5 hours in a real life test.

Three versions are available - the budget and mid-range options are white, while the top end version is matt black.

Sony VGN-AR11S: from £2,000



This Blu-Ray equipped AR-series flagship is one of the big reasons to get excited about laptops this month. This is the tech fetishist's option and also has a hybrid digital/analogue tuner card built in to go with the bundled Windows MCE OS.



Alienware mALX: from £2,790



This laptop is so dark and so big that dropping it is likely to set off the FBI's UFO alarms. It has a 19in screen, dual nVidia GeForce Go 7900 GTX graphic cards, and Airgo True MIMO networking with big bandwidth - perfect for online gaming.



Macbook Pro: from £1,320



Despite a name seemingly conjured from a two minute "what shall we name our next laptop?" meeting, this Mac portable is the business. A super-quick Core Duo chip, ATI X1600 graphics card and 512MB of RAM makes this an enticing proposition.

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