The Sony VAIO VGN-AR61ZU is a good desktop replacement notebook with great performance and entertainment capabilities.

This VAIO is an impressive notebook sporting a large 17in display while clocking in at high speeds with one of the new Intel’s Penryn processors - a Core 2 Duo T8300 running at 2.4 GHz and 4 GB of RAM.. But on the downside, it’s a bit expensive, heavy (4kg), and has a short battery life.

In terms of entertainment, this notebook is enough to keep you satisfied. Turning out 29fps, its GeForce 8600M chip will support the needs of most gamers as well. It also comes equipped with an internal TV tuner that allows the user to watch and record programmes with the Media Center PVR applications which is standard with the Windows Vista Ultimate Edition. Not to mention the internal Blue-ray DVD drive combined with the 1920 x 1200 high resolution display make a perfect combination for watching high-definition films.

The weakest point of this Vaio is a battery that lasts approximately 71 minutes. Seeing as it cannot be far from a power supply for long, it is not the most appropriate notebook for traveling. A larger touchpad would also have made it much easier to use. In fact, it’s hard to understand why Sony installed such a small touchpad on a notebook with so much space

Sony VAIOs have always been a bit spendy, and the VGN-AR61ZU is no different – priced at ₤1799. Nevertheless, it does offer reasonable performance and reliability for the price.

The Samsung R60+ 15.4in Notebook is a great bargain as far as costs go for laptops these days. It is priced at less than £450 (including VAT and delivery). However, the competition for 15.4in screens is pretty tough in terms of design, customization, features as well as prices that match these excellent standards. Consequently, the Samsung R60+ lags behind compared to manufacturers offering 15.4in screens such as Toshiba and HP, for examples.

The exterior and internals look aesthetically pleasing and are a glossy black which is typical of the Samsung style seen on its TVs, monitors, printers, MP3 players, etc… The downside is that one will never be able to avoid the scratches and fingerprints on the lid that are inevitable with regular use.

The larger chassis is amazingly thin and portable with a thickness varying from 31.1mm at the front and 35.8mm at the back rendering it quite sleek for its size. It’s weight isn’t too bad either - at approximately 2.68kg.

Suited especially for general word processing, web surfing and email, the Samsung R60+ makes a good office machine including a 1.4 GHz Intel Pentium Dual-Core T2310 chip accompanied with 1 GB of RAM.

The battery life is approximately 107 minutes and the hard drive is 80GB which, again, is reasonable for the price.

Not only are the ports and connectors are a bit sparse (containing only 3 USB ports available), but they’re also inconveniently located - with two at the rear and one on the left.

It’s 256MB ATI Radeon Xpress 1250 graphics processor doesn’t really measure up to gaming as it only managed to achieve 7 fps (frames per second) in a grueling games test.

The best feature for this budget notebook has to be the 250 GB SATA HDD which is providing a lot of storage and space for plenty of videos, photos and music.