Asus N20A

Under the chic and surprisingly sturdy casing of just 1.7 kg, we find a very capable setup: a Centrino2 chipset with a Core 2 Duo processor, complemented by 4 GB of RAM and a fast 320GB E-SATA drive. This is indeed quite different from what we are used to in the netbook category, without an excessively high price tag attached to the machine. But be aware: the device still costs at least double that of a netbook.

Security has been considered. A TPM module and biometric scanner keep unwanted guests out. It's a shame there's no DVI port. An HDMI connection is present, however. Furthermore, the design is nicely 'basic' – no unnecessary hotkeys. The only extra button present is not superfluous: it allows you to quickly switch between power saving and maximum performance. A good compromise between portability, price/performance, and power.