It was only a matter of time before the major laptop makers jumped on the Eee PC's low-price, diminutive bandwagon. Like the Eee, the HP 2133 is small, portable and affordable, but it has the bonus of being easy to use. It's underpowered, but the great keyboard makes it perfect for Web access.

It was only a matter of time before the major laptop manufacturers jumped on the Asus Eee PC's low-price, diminutive bandwagon. We've already seen quite a few rip offs alternatives, but the most interesting to date is the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC. Like the Eee PC, it's small, portable and affordable, but it also has the bonus of being easy to use.

The Windows Vista version is available to buy for around £415, while the Linux version is available for around £360. » Read the rest of the entry..

The Dell Vostro 1310 is an ultra-portable laptop designed for basic everyday use, with lower-specification models available at an excellent price. Connectivity is good, with Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and four USB ports. The 13.3-inch matte screen is not too reflective and text and images look crisp.

Budget ultra-portable laptops, such as those in the Asus Eee PC range, have been making all the headlines recently with their shockingly low prices, but usually pretty basic specs. With the Vostro range, Dell is aiming to offer a more grown-up-sized laptop with a beefier spec for a similar price. The Vostro 1310 starts at a rock-bottom £229, but the model we've reviewed here is higher-end, with a larger £674 price tag to match.

Strengths The Vostro range is aimed primarily at business users -- you'll find it in the business section of the Dell Web site -- but there's nothing to stop consumers from taking advantage of their low price tags. Most budget machines are heavy and slow, but the Vostro 1310 only weighs slightly more than 2kg and has a surprisingly good specification. » Read the rest of the entry..

Both Acer and AMD sponsor the Ferrari F1 team, so every now and again they buddy up to produce a Ferrari-themed laptop. This time, the duo have come up with a thin-and-light called the 1100 that will set you back around £1,400. It certainly has a supercar price tag, but does it have the style and performance to do the Italian marque proud?

Strengths The 1100's styling won't appeal to everyone, but there's no doubt that the design does try to convey some of the magic of Formula One. The lid is covered with a carbon fibre texture and there's a large prancing horse badge in the middle. Flip the laptop open and you'll find that the theme is continued inside. The trackpad boasts the same carbon fibre texture as the lid and there's another Ferrari logo to remind you just why you shelled out so much cash for the machine in the first place.

Other than that, you get a keyboard that's actually quite spacious and a row of touch buttons at the top right to give you quick access to applications like your email client and Web browser. » Read the rest of the entry..

The Samsung P200 is a compact, well-built thin-and-light laptop. It punches above its weight in the performance ring, and has a decent amount of storage. It's a good option for those who are after a powerful thin-and-light, but don't want to empty out their pockets.

At first glance, the Samsung P200 seems to be little more than the company's popular Q45 laptop with all the fun taken out in an attempt to make it more appealing to business types. However, look further than its suit-and-tie attire and you'll find that this £700 laptop still has plenty of fire in its belly.

Strengths The P200 fits neatly into the thin-and-light category as its small dimensions mean you can hide it under a single A4 sheet of paper. Although it's small in stature, it punches above its weight when it comes to performance. The combination of the 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7250 and 2GB of RAM helped it post a score of 4,232 in PCMark 2005, which puts it near the top of the thin-and-light stack. You also get a decent amount of storage, thanks to the 200GB hard drive. The battery life isn't bad either: it managed to keep running for 2 hours 44 minutes before finally conking out. » Read the rest of the entry..

The latest manufacturer to take a dip into the ultra-mobile PC pool is HTC with its Shift device. It has features from a touchscreen and a slide-out keyboard to a fingerprint reader. It can be propped up like a laptop and boasts HSDPA for Internet access from almost anywhere.

Every six months or so, a new manufacturer takes it upon itself to flog the terminally-wounded horse that is the ultra-mobile PC. Samsung has cracked the whip three or four times, Asus had a go, and we've seen countless others try and ultimately fail in the process.

The latest to try its luck is HTC, a company best known for its mobile phone handsets. Its device, the HTC Shift, looks good on paper. It's small, packs a touchscreen, has a slide-out keyboard, and can be contorted into a laptop orientation. But can this £900 device be taken seriously, or is it just an expensive and ultimately flawed experiment? » Read the rest of the entry..