Stories by: Elias Plastiras

It has only taken six months, but HP's Pavilion dv3000 has already been refreshed. The new and improved model, the dv3539TX (FZ917PA#ABG), has a more impressive design as well as tougher guts under the hood, making it faster than its predecessor by approximately five per cent.

Described by NEC as being "sensuously slim", the PowerMate S7000 can also be described as being "deceptively heavy" and "not optimally designed". It's a business machine that's designed to be used either as a slim tower or as a flat desktop with a monitor on top, and for the computing power you get it's probably a tad too big.

Aussie distributor EDsys, has its sight firmly set on supplying its customers with computer systems that don't consume too much energy yet aren't slouches when it comes to processing ability.

Style and ease of use are hallmarks of the 12.1in HP tx2522, and it also has adequate processing power. It's pitched at home users who require the functionality of a tablet, but without the exorbitant price tag most tablets command. But its battery life is bad. Really bad.

Fujitsu's Lifebook E8420 is a business tool with plenty of useful hardware and software features, and, most importantly, it's fast!

At 14.1in the F8Va isn't huge but it's also not an ideal travel companion. It's rather bulky to use while on the road and its battery life is poor. It's much better suited as a point-to-point type of notebook; that is, one which you can use at work or in class, and at home, but not while on the road. Powerful specifications ensure that you will be able to run most office applications and even photo editing and video encoding software.

There are normal PCs, and then there are statement PCs. Altech's NRG is one of the latter and it's designed with high-end gamers in mind. It's the "don't mess with me or you'll get creamed" statement that's heard loudest from its fans' synchronous whispering, and it's definitely one of the best built and most intimidating machines we've seen in a while.

If you're after a normal hard drive for your new PC or upgrade project, this isn't it.

Good looks and plenty of functionality are a couple of the traits of HP's Compaq Presario CQ50-114AU, which is a laptop that's been designed primarily with the home user in mind. It's a 15.4in model that weighs 2.8kg without its power supply, and unlike most notebooks we see, this one is based on an AMD CPU.

ASUS is the company responsible for starting the sub-$1000 ultraportable notebook craze -- 'netbooks', as they've been dubbed -- but the company is not resting on its laurels.

One thing's for sure: the ASUS Eee Box, like the Eee PC, is tiny and inexpensive. But while we like the idea of a slim PC for the home or the office, we wish that the Box was a better product straight out of the box.