Sony VAIO NS20EF/S - £500

The Sony is the biggest and heaviest laptop in this test. Even so, you'd hardly find yourself lambasting it with amusing comic slang such as heffalump or porky.

Indeed, a couple of years ago this would have looked like a fine slender system, but with size-zero-thin laptops of late, even the silver-styled Sony lines look, well, a bit chunky.

Part of the NS series of VAIOs, this is an entry-level model and is based on the budget dual-core Pentium T4300 Intel processor, like the HP model, so it's tried and tested Core 2 technology.

This is good because it puts in a strong performance, near identical to the HP for HD playback and media encoding.

Sony has opted for 3GB of memory, but because this model ships with a 64-bit version of Windows 7, it's a shame 4GB wasn't used, because it would have given it an advantage over the rest.

More disappointments lie in the graphics, because a standard integrated Intel 4500M chipset is the order of the day.

Flip-book style frame rates down in the single figures claw at your eyes with our real-world test, scoring just 6fps, and 3DMark06 reaching a near pointless 725.

The screen isn't stunning either, with a basic 1,280x800 resolution. Equipped with a 3600mAh battery, we were never expecting much from the run times, and it didn't do anything to surprise us, only just making it past the two-hour mark. If only Sony had opted for a similar capacity to the rest, it would have been a worthy performer.

For some it will win points for the internal optical drive and it also offers the latest wireless-N capabilities, but then Sony blows it again and leaves off the HDMI port and Bluetooth.

Verdict: ★★★

First published in Windows: The Official Magazine Issue 37