What’s the device you use in a work context most often? Chances are, it’s a laptop for sheer convenience. 

In 2023, many office workers fall into one of three categories: those who are fully remote, those who are in the office every day, and those who work a hybrid pattern that combines the two.

Business leaders know with more mobile employees than ever, they have to invest in appropriate devices; ultraportable laptops and workstations are both appealing to different categories of hybrid workers for different reasons. Less is true of the once almighty all-in-one PC: when was the last time you even thought of one?

With hybrid workers able to take powerful laptops with them everywhere they go, what good is an all-in-one?

We no longer need a jack of all trades

There was a time when all-in-one PCs played a solid role in the midweight computing space, with a primary user base of office workers performing simple tasks. But with the gap widening between power and portability, they now sit in an uncomfortable middle ground as a jack of all trades but a master of none. In a way, they’re the clock radios of computing. Once a popular and convenient product, they’ve been outmaneuvered by a range of more capable products in the years since their height.

Laptops are getting more powerful, while many business applications are moving further to the cloud and therefore demand very little from the hardware. Those who are left with a persistent need for power, such as creatives or developers looking to run generative AI models locally, vie for workstation desktops or high-performance business laptops.

All-in-one PCs offer less bang for your buck when it comes to the components – and by quite a margin if your business is large enough to have a team that can source aftermarket desktop parts like GPUs on a case-by-case basis. You’d be hard-pressed to even find the parts for an all-in-one PC. Ask a forum how to build one and you’ll be kindly told to change your mind.

“But all-in-one PCs come bundled with great monitors,” is an argument that doesn’t wash either. In some offices, monitors are the one piece of hardware that you can reliably find at every desk, and it’s also easier to establish a dual monitor setup with a laptop and display.

Another argument for all-in-one PCs is that they take up less space on a desk. Ignoring the fact that with a keyboard included, their impact is much the same as a laptop, this is also an area where micro PCs such as the Mac Mini shine.

A business that buys a job lot of micro PCs, and a similar number of cheaper 4K (or even 1080p) monitors can focus on investing in more expensive, color-accurate displays for the select few employees who really need those features day-to-day. This is also a more scalable solution – external display stock can be increased or decreased depending on the size of the relevant workforce.

Many businesses have also operated on a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) model for some years, with mass reopenings after the worst of COVID-19 having only driven this further. This does come with downsides such as a lack of administrator controls that could open users up to programs unsuitable for work or even to malware, but it in the short term can be an incredibly cheap choice for smaller companies.

Perhaps surprisingly, there’s more call for someone who works remotely to have an all-in-one PC. For one, an inexperienced worker can turn on their device simply and with no need to plug in an external monitor, or peripherals such as a webcam or microphone that they may desperately need in order to stay in touch with their colleagues.

But the same is true for a laptop – which comes with the added benefit of having an integrated keyboard and mouse. Foldable devices like the Asus Zenbook 17 Fold, which promise to deliver all this on a larger screen while remaining portable. Yes, they’re a bit of a gimmick right now and carry eye-watering price tags. But ultimately they’re another nail in the coffin when it comes to the supposed benefits of all-in-ones.

But what about when things go wrong?

Sometimes, manufacturers claim all-in-one PCs are easier to fix, as all the components live under the same roof and are therefore more replaceable. This may be true versus, say, laptops, as despite pushes for a ‘right to repair’ in recent years, most laptops, tablets, and phones are still embarrassingly difficult for users to fix.

But when one considers that, like a laptop, the all-in-one PC is likely to have to be shipped back to a manufacturer to be repaired, the hegemony of its parts is exposed as a less important factor. On top of this, it’s far easier to ship a laptop than an entire desktop/monitor combo.

It’s no surprise that the world’s favorite all-in-one device, Apple’s iMac, has endured into the era of Apple silicon but is also routinely given some of iFixit’s lowest repairability scores. No. If an IT department is looking for a machine into which they can easily swap a new SSD in four years’ time or just dust out occasionally, they’ll pick a desktop.

The time has surely come to say arrivederci to the all-in-one PC. Losing out on every metric to another device in the ecosystem was once acceptable in the name of convenience. But in today’s more specialized world, there’s just no room for a machine that seeks to do it all, and fails to win in anything.

Intel’s latest “Alder Lake” CPUs have given the company a new lease of life with their exceptional power. The ASUS ROG Zephyrus M16 shows that they don’t even need to be housed in a huge desktop replacement notebook either. Weighing in at 2kg, this laptop is still distinctly portable - but with a 14-core processor inside, it can deliver performance to better many desktops, and it has potent graphics acceleration to match.

Asus ROG Zephyrus M16 review: Design

2022 has seen affair few ASUS laptops get a refresh, this model has to so it won’t get mistaken with the design from last year – that had the previous-generation Intel processor. This confusion could be forgiven from looking at the notebook, however, because the chassis itself hasn’t changed noticeably since 2021.

This is a more inoffensive device offering than the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17. It has a matt black finish, with fewer LED lights beyond the keyboard. It also looks more restrained when the screen is lifted. However, it is a good-looking laptop, it sports a diagonal surfaced section on the top to display the ASUS ROG motif, but with a much less flashy marking in the corner.

The M16 has a 16in frame, this feels like a small decline from a 17in desktop replacement laptop, but the size and weight are significant compared with the Alienware x17 R2, for example. The Zephyrus M16 is around 2kg in weight, and while the near-2cm thickness is still quite unwieldy, this is a laptop you could easily take around with you.

Asus ROG Zephyrus M16 review: Display

We’ve seen laptops in this range with 4K-level screens, such as the Asus ProArt Studiobook Pro 16 OLED, but the Zephyrus M16 plumps for a 16in screen that has a 2,560 x 1,600 resolution and a 16:10 aspect ratio. The screen comes with IPS technology and offers a 3ms pixels response and 165Hz refresh, which is great for gamers but may not be a selling point for those wanting to use this in a business.

The colour gamut of this display is outstanding, providing 100% of sRGB and 98% of DCI-P3. The official rating is for 100% of DCI-P3 but getting just 2% away is still praiseworthy. Colour accuracy is also very good, although not as good as others we’ve examined.

The average Delta-E colour variance of 1.11 is good, however, the maximum of 2.79 is a bit more of a deviation. The maximum screen brightness of 475cd/m2 means this is a very vibrant panel that should be noticeable even in a very well-lit setting. We had no trouble seeing it in direct sunlight. This screen will be brilliant for media viewing, other entertainment uses such as games, and the wide gamut will mean it will be handy for professional work as well.

Asus ROG Zephyrus M16 review: Keyboard and trackpad

The 16in chassis isn’t wide enough for the keyboard to be accompanied by a numerical keypad, but the chiclet keys are full-sized and have a solid travel, making touch-typing comfortable. ASUS tends to place the # key above the Enter key on its notebooks. This will need acclimatisation if you’re used to a layout with a taller Enter key but otherwise, this is a comfortable, ergonomic keyboard.

The trackpad is massive, and although it is centrally placed, so is the keyboard, so it’s well situated to avoid contact while typing. The ridge around trackpad is very shallow, but it’s very close to the front edge of the notebook and the keyboard at the back, so you don’t need to look down to be sure you’re pressing in the right place. The trackpad is also responsive and accurate.

Asus ROG Zephyrus M16 review: Hardware and performance

Central to ASUS’s 2022 laptop refresh is the adoption of the 12th Gen Intel Core processor. The Zephyrus M16, like the ROG Strix Scar17, uses the near-top processor model from this generation, the Core i9-12900H. This incorporates a whopping 14 cores, although they are not all the same. Instead, the CPU has 6 P performance cores and 8 E efficient ones. The P cores have a nominal 2.5GHz frequency with 5GHz turbo mode, whereas the E cores operate at 1.8GHz up to 3.8GHz. The 12900H in our sample was backed by 16GB of DDR5-4800 memory, although there is also an 8GB option (which is not recommended with this many cores). You can upgrade the Zephyrus M16 up to 48GB (but only 40GB if you started with 8GB).

The graphics acceleration is also extremely high-end on this laptop, in the shape of an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti GPU. This combines a potent 5,888 CUDA cores with 8GB of GDDR6 memory. You can purchase a version of the Zephyrus M16 with 3060 or 3080 Ti graphics, with the latter offering a massive 10,240 CUDA cores and 16GB of GDDR6 memory. These are all high-end gaming options, but sadly there is no professional graphics choice.

All variants of the Zephyrus M16 come with a sizeable 2TB NVMe PCI Express 4.0 SSD as main storage. This is a very fast example of the genre, too; the SSD delivered sustained reading of 7,085MB/sec and sustained writing of 5,258MB/sec with CrystalDiskMark 8. This is extremely rapid throughput and the 2TB capacity will be ample for the lifetime of the notebook.

With the same processor as the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17, performance is similarly superb with everyday applications. In our IT Pro media benchmarks, the overall score was an excellent 388, although the Scar 17 delivered an even more impressive figure. The Zephyrus M16’s result was made up of 236 in image editing, 370 in video editing, and 451 in multi-tasking, showing excellent capabilities across the board.

This performance was emphasized by similarly superb results with Maxon Cinebench. The Zephyrus M16 delivered 6,836 in R20 and 17,626 with R23 mutli core and 1,929 single core. These are the levels of CPU performance we saw in 16-core AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X desktops of just a few years ago like the Armari Magnetar S16T-RW1000G2 - although current Ryzen 9 5950X models such as the Scan 3XS RTX Studio Pro G132R are further ahead now.

The GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is not a professionally focused graphics accelerator, but it’s so powerful it will still do very well with most 3D content creation applications. To show this, we ran SPECviewperf 2020 v1.0. The Zephyrus M16 managed 56.2 in 3dsmax-07 and 112.27 in maya-06, which are decent but behind what we were expecting for this GPU. Similarly, the scores of 53.34 in catia-06, 64.65 in creo-03 and 59.52 in solidworks-05 indicate usability but aren’t up with what we expected. The result of 18.75 in snx-04, however, shows the expected inability of consumer-grade graphics to run Siemens NX smoothly.

Asus ROG Zephyrus M16 review: Battery life

A laptop this powerful shouldn't have the same battery life as a slim and light model designed for travellers, but the Zephyrus M16 performed better than we anticipated in our movie playback battery test, lasting 10 hours and 20 minutes. That's not nearly as long as, say, the Dell XPS 17, which lasts more than 11 hours. This is a credible result, however, the Zephyrus M16 is more potent than the XPS 17. It is far more adaptable than a larger desktop replacement because it may endure an entire workday or an entire transatlantic journey.

Asus ROG Zephyrus M16 review: Ports and features

The Zephyrus M16 offers the latest Wi-Fi 6 capability, and there’s plenty of wired connectivity available too. On the left next to the power connection is an HDMI 2.0b video output, plus Gigabit LAN. Further along is a single USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type A port, which will be great for attaching a flash memory drive. Then there’s a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type C port, delivering 20GB/sec bandwidth with DisplayPort support and power output. Next door is a Thunderbolt 4 port with twice the bandwidth and more power output, able to support two 4K displays at once and PCI Express devices. Finally, there is a combo analog audio minijack.

The right-hand edge also offers a USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type A port, in a great place to connect a mouse (if you’re right-handed). Next door is a slot for a microSD card, which will be handy if you use a media capture device that employs this format, such as an action camera. Overall, it’s a comprehensive port selection, and it’s great to see legacy Type A and HDMI alongside futureproofed Type C and Thunderbolt 4, plus a built-in card reader.

Asus ROG Zephyrus M16 review: Verdict

The ASUS ROG Zephyrus M16 offers extraordinary desktop-level computing power in a device with a day's worth of battery life. It's just the right size for you to tote along as well. The screen is vibrant and has a wide colour range. A wide variety of connecting options are available, from the venerable USB Type A to the cutting-edge Thunderbolt 4. This is a fantastic multi-purpose notebook that can master many different skills in addition to being a proficient jack of all trades.

Asus ROG Zephyrus M16 specifications

The Alienware x17 R2 might be a gaming laptop, but the vast performance levels and impressive build quality of these notebooks means they shouldn’t be overlooked as potential work devices. This machine, for instance, deploys a beefy Intel 12th Gen processor alongside one of Nvidia’s most powerful laptop graphics cores, and it’s got an immersive 17.3in screen to go with it.

Gaming laptops aren’t cheap, though, and the Alienware is no exception. This model costs £2,624 exc VAT, and the entry-level variant still costs £1,791 exc VAT. When conventional big-screen notebooks are cheaper, can the x17 possibly justify the outlay?

Alienware x17 R2 review: Design

Part of that budget inevitably goes towards eye-catching aesthetic design and, true to form, Alienware’s largest laptop looks bolder than most business machines. The exterior mixes black and white aluminium, and it’s covered with honeycomb air vents. You can deactivate the x17’s bevy of RGB LEDs, but this laptop will always attract attention.

The 21mm-thick body is certainly more eye-catching than the sleek Dell XPS 17 and the dark Asus ProArt Studiobook Pro 16 OLED, and its 3kg heft means that it’s significantly heavier too. Build quality is impeccable, but this machine will definitely weigh you down.

Alienware x17 R2 review: Keyboard and trackpad

The robust chassis does provide space for an excellent keyboard, however. The keys have 1.5mm of travel, and they’re fast, crisp and snappy – the movement is satisfying and not far removed from the best mobile mechanical keyboards. For all-day typing, the x17 fits the bill.

The x17’s keyboard has extra media keys but, like the XPS 17, this machine omits the numberpad. The Asus ProArt machine has shallower keys, but it does have a numberpad and a customizable dial that adds functionality to Adobe’s creative tools and Windows.

The trackpad is another area where the x17’s gaming focus shows through; most gamining machines are typically used in combination with USB mice alongside their laptops, so the x17 has a smaller trackpad than most work notebooks. Its responsive surface and pair of buttons are fine for everyday workloads, but both rivals have bigger pads and the Asus has three buttons.

Alienware x17 R2 review: Display

Above the keyboard you’ll find an IPS display with a 1,920 x 1,080 resolution. That’s fine for everyday workloads and most creative tasks, although you’ll need a higher resolution if you’re planning to spread windows around or see fine detail.

Quality levels are good, though. The contrast ratio of 1,153:1 delivers solid depth and detail, and the peak brightness level of 386cd/m2 is high enough to handle most indoor and outdoor situations. The Delta E of 1.78 means colours are accurate, and the Alienware’s panel rendered 98.1% of the sRGB colour gamut.

It’s a great mainstream screen and it can tackle photo-editing and other content-creation tasks that require sRGB gamut coverage, but it struggles beyond those scenarios. It didn’t render more than 80% of the Adobe RGB and DCI-P3 colour gamuts, so it doesn’t have the ability to handle colour-sensitive design work in Adobe Creative Suite tools and it can’t properly produce or run HDR content. And while it’s got a stonking 360Hz refresh rate, that’s of little use beyond playing the latest games.

The Alienware’s competitors are better in this regard. The Asus has a 3,840 x 2,400 resolution and a 16:10 aspect ratio, and it covered the entire DCI-P3 and sRGB colour gamuts with more accuracy and a better brightness level. The XPS 17 we reviewed uses the same 4K-busting resolution and it also has better gamut coverage and a huge 444cd/m2 brightness level.

It’s possible to upgrade the Alienware’s display to a 4K model for an extra £541 exc VAT, but that’s a significant price for a screen that adds more pixels but no extra gamut ability.

Alienware x17 R2 review: Hardware and performance

As you’d expect from a high-end gaming machine, the specs here are certainly impressive. This x17 pairs an Intel Core i7-12700H processor with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti graphics core, and that powerful hardware sits alongside 32GB of DDR5 memory and a 1TB SSD. The processor has six Hyper-Threaded P-cores, which rattle through tough workloads, alongside eight E-cores designed for easier tasks. The graphics core has 16GB of dedicated memory and 7,424 stream processors.

Unsurprisingly, the x17 blitzed our benchmarks. Its overall result of 437 is twice as good as the XPS 17 and even further ahead of the Asus. Its video-editing and multi-tasking scores of 437 and 508 are impressive too, and in Cinebench R20 the Alienware scored 6,157, while neither rival could get beyond 4,800 points. Those machine have similar processors, but their slimmer, quieter designs restrict performance, and the only way you’ll get more content-creation power is by moving to a desktop.

In Geekbench’s single- and multi-core tests the x17 scored 1,686 and 12,040, with the former score a little behind Apple’s M1 chip but the latter result nearly 2,000 points ahead. You won’t notice the slight single-threaded discrepancy in everyday use, but the big gulf in the multi-core test gives the Alienware a noticeable lead. The SSD helps, too: its excellent read and write speeds of 6,318MB/sec and 4,155MB/sec mean booting, loading and launching is always fast.

SPECviewperf 2020 tests illustrate the Alienware’s content-creation abilities. Its 3dsmax-07 result of 138.71 is almost twice as good as the Asus and further beyond the XPS, and its 410.61 score in Maya-06 maintains the gap. The x17 scored 265.54 in SolidWorks, which is nearly 100 points beyond the Asus. That’s no surprise when the x17 has an RTX 3080 Ti and its rivals top out with the RTX 3070 and RTX 3060, but it does mean you’ll have loads of power for 3D modelling, product design and animation.

The Alienware retained its lead in the Catia-06 and SNX-04 tests with scores of 75.82 and 22.8, but they’re less impressive and it’s entirely normal for consumer GPUs to struggle with these engineering tools.

There are some trade-offs to get this level of grunt, though. You’ll certainly hear fan noise from the x17 if you push the components in tough work environments, and this is not the notebook to buy if you want a quiet environment – the Asus and Dell are far better.

That said, the fan noise is never overwhelming, and the x17’s size means it’s quieter than most smaller gaming notebooks. And while the exterior does get warm during intensive workloads, only the area above the keyboard becomes uncomfortably hot – and you won’t be touching that part of the laptop.

Alienware x17 R2 review: Battery life

Gaming laptops usually struggle in battery tests, too, and that’s true of the x17. In our 170cd/m2 video benchmark the x17 lasted for 4hrs 17mins, which isn’t even half the lifespan of the XPS 17 and a couple of hours behind the Asus.

If you really push the hardware, especially the graphics core, you’ll only get an hour of longevity from this laptop. And if you occupy the middle ground with an everyday work test, expect just over two hours of use. None of this is a surprise, but it does mean that the x17 is not suitable if you want a long-lasting laptop.

Alienware x17 R2 review: Ports and features

You’ll find the x17’s ports at the laptop’s rear. The Alienware has a Thunderbolt 4 socket, a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port with power delivery, and two full-size USB 3.2 Gen 1 connectors. Display outputs come from HDMI 2.1 and mini-DisplayPort, and the x17 also includes a microSD card slot.

That’s good connectivity, but a ring of RGB LEDs around the rear make the sockets nearly impossible to see from many angles – we’d recommend turning those off. And while rear-facing ports keep cables and dongles tidy, they’re not as accessible as side-mounted sockets.

Above the display there’s a 720p webcam that supports Windows Hello, and on the inside there’s dual-band Wi-Fi 6 and Gigabit Ethernet. The x17 has no Kensington lock slot, but does boast a TPM 2.0 module, and the laptop’s base can even be removed for access to pairs of SO-DIMM and NVMe SSD slots.

That’s enough connectivity for gamers, but the x17 also misses other features. That webcam doesn’t have a privacy shutter, there’s no fingerprint reader, and the speakers have loads of volume and bass but a tinny top-end. A full-size SD card slot would be more useful for creatives.

Dell’s XPS machine competes with four Thunderbolt 4 sockets and an SD card reader, but it only has one full-size USB port. The Asus is better than both: it mirrors the x17’s USB selection and adds an SD card slot, its webcam has a privacy shutter, and it has a fingerprint reader and Kensington lock slot.

Alienware x17 R2 review: Verdict

Some of those missing features are no surprise when you consider that the x17 isn’t a work notebook, but its sheer performance levels mean it’s still worthwhile if you need productivity power. And, alongside the muscular internals, it’s got plenty of ports, a great keyboard and a rock-solid exterior.

There are inevitable downsides, though. The x17 is significantly heavier than both rivals, and they have better battery life and screens. The Asus offers its innovative Dial and better connectivity for £1,666 exc VAT, while the XPS 17 costs £2,332 exc VAT for a specification that approximately matches the x17.

That said, the Alienware x17 R2 is worth the extra outlay if you want extreme performance inside a sturdy, port-packed laptop – just remember that you may get more looks than usual in the office.

Alienware x17 R2 Specifications

Opting for a powerful notebook used to mean being lumbered with a thick, unwieldy monster, but that’s no longer a given. The Dell XPS 17 is a case in point: it packs in an Intel processor with at least six cores, a 17in screen, and discrete NVIDIA graphics, yet only weighs a bit over 2kg and measures under 2cm in thickness.

Prices for the entry-level specification start at £1,374 exc VAT, although the configuration on test demonstrates why it’s worth shelling out for the pricier models. After all, if you’re going to go big, why skimp on the capabilities?

Dell XPS 17 review: Design

If you’re familiar with Dell XPS notebooks over the last couple of decades, you’ll know that the 17in models used to be extremely chunky and definitely fell into the category of “desktop replacement”, intended to be moved from desk to desk rather than used on the train or plane. Not so the new XPS 17 Laptop. Admittedly, at 2.21kg it still isn’t a device you can carry around all day without noticing, and while it’s a relatively slim 19.05mm, its 374 x 249mm footprint may require a dedicated laptop carrier. On the other hand, you can happily shuttle this device from one meeting to another without a team of day-labourers and a forklift.

Dell sticks to the brushed metal exterior with black interior that XPS notebooks have sported for some years now. However, the tapered edges and extremely thin screen make the XPS 17 feel even more svelte than it actually is. It’s a stylish but sober design, which is about right for a creative professional who wants to give clients the correct impression.

Dell XPS 17 review: Display

There are two choices of display with the XPS 17 Laptop. Both are 17in, 16:10 in aspect, and employ Dell’s InfinityEdge technology, so have a very thin bezel. This has allowed the laptop to be as small as possible while still sporting a 17in display. Both screens are also touch-enabled and rated up to 500-nits brightness. However, the basic screen has an FHD+ resolution of 1,920 x 1,200, whereas the display on our test system has four times the pixels with a UHD+ resolution of 3,840 x 2,400.

In our tests, this screen covered 94% of the DCI-P3 colour gamut and 100% of the sRGB colour space, with a maximum Delta-E of 0.9 making it excellent, if not quite as good as the Asus ProArt Studiobook Pro 16 OLED. Brightness is also high at 444cd/m2, and here the Dell does surpass the Asus.

In other words, this is a truly lovely panel, with excellent brightness, wide viewing angles and an anti-glare surface that keeps things visible even in brightly lit environments. This will be a great screen for creative work, such as image or video editing. The near-frameless design also means there’s virtually no bezel to distract you. It’s not quite as impressive as the panel on the ASUS ProArt, but it’s close, and also slightly bigger, despite the Dell being a little thinner and lighter.

Dell XPS 17 review: Keyboard and trackpad

Dell hasn’t used the extra width of a 17in chassis to include a keypad, so the keyboard sits in the middle with space either side, which has been populated with speakers. This also means that the trackpad sits almost directly beneath the spacebar, which is something we thoroughly approve of. If you’re a touch typist, this will minimise the chance of accidentally brushing the trackpad (which is both huge and highly precise) when typing.

The Chiclet-style keys have shallow travel but a clearly defined action, which will take a little getting used to coming from a desktop keyboard but not much. Overall, it’s a decent typing experience. The touch screen can also be used instead of the trackpad, although you’ll have to contend with finger marks on the screen.

Dell XPS 17 review: Hardware and performance

Dell sticks with Intel for the XPS 17, supplying processors from the 11th Generation. The basic option is the Core i5-11400H, but our sample came with the Core i7-11800H. This is an eight-core processor capable of running at up to 4.6GHz although the base clock speed is half that. The top frequency is on par with the AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX supplied in the ASUS ProArt Studiobook Pro 16 OLED. The other processor options are Core i9 processors, either the 11900H or 11980HK, which also have eight cores but higher boost frequencies.

Memory options range from 8GB to 64GB, always supplied as two 3,200MHz modules of DDR4. Our system came with an adequate if not earth-shattering 16GB, but heavy graphics users might want to go for 32GB instead. Speaking of which, optional discrete GPUs include NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3050 with 4GB of GDDR6 or an RTX 3060 with 6GB of GDDR6. Our sample came with the latter, which sports a considerable 3,840 CUDA cores.

Storage is provided by a PCI Express 3.0 NVMe SSD, with capacity options up to a maximum of 4TB. Our unit came with a 1TB drive, which supplied 3,469MB/sec sustained reading and 2,945MB/sec sustained writing in CrystalDiskMark 8. This is behind the performance we saw from the ASUS ProArt Studiobook Pro 16 OLED’s NVMe storage, but it’s still very quick for a laptop drive and you’ll certainly feel it when booting the system or loading software.

A few years ago, having eight cores in a notebook that was still quite portable would have seemed unfeasible. But the Dell XPS 17 Laptop delivers huge amounts of performance from its acceptable lack of girth. In the IT Pro media benchmarks, it achieved an impressive overall score of 281, which is even higher than the ASUS ProArt Studiobook Pro 16 OLED, with its eight-core AMD Ryzen 9 processor. Image editing was a little behind at 204, but video editing considerably ahead at 287, as was the multi-tasking score of 302, showing that this Dell notebook will be brilliant for everyday media tasks. The raw 3D rendering abilities are great too, with 4,684 in Maxon Cinebench R20, although this is slightly behind the ASUS notebook.

If you’re performing 3D work, despite the consumer-grade graphics this notebook will be capable with a range of professional applications too. Running SPECviewperf 2020 v1.0, the XPS managed a competent 58.3 with 3dsmax-07, an impressive 204.09 with maya-06, and 138.09 with solidworks-05, showing that it will cope well with 3D animation using Autodesk 3ds Max and particularly Maya, and with SolidWorks product design. The catia-06 result of 44.23 and creo-03 score of 73.97 also show that these engineering apps will run adequately smoothly too. However, Siemens NX, as always, is the Achilles Heel. The result of 13.26 illustrates yet again that consumer-grade GPUs are not a good fit for this application.

Dell XPS 17 review: Battery life

Another area where powerful notebooks have traditionally been lacking in the past is battery life. However, with our video playback battery test, it lasted a whopping 11hrs 37mins, which is over 5 hours more than the ASUS ProArt Studiobook Pro 16 OLED. Notebooks aimed at more “road warrior” usage such as the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 15.6in, Apple M1-based notebooks, and the Asus ExpertBook B94550F can go even longer than this, but you can easily get a working day completed on battery with modest tasks using the XPS 17. If you were performing activities like rendering out 3D it’s likely to be a lot less, but this doesn’t have to be a desktop replacement that you can really only carry from desk to desk and plug into the mains.

Dell XPS 17 review: Ports and features

Dell has entirely dispensed with legacy connectivity for its port allocation on the XPS 17, which means no full-size USB Type A ports, no HDMI and no ethernet. The only nod towards the past is a combo minijack for audio. Otherwise, you get four Thunderbolt 4 ports - two on each side - and a dongle in the box for HDMI and a single USB-A port.

There is also a full-sized SD Card slot on the right, however, as well as Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1 for wireless connectivity. The lack of ports could be a major drawback without the supplied dongle, although you’re still left without wired networking, which could mean a separate dongle purchase for some work environments.

Dell XPS 17 review: Verdict

The Dell XPS 17 shows how far portable computing has come. Like the ASUS ProArt Studiobook Pro 16 OLED, it delivers a huge amount of computing power in a form that you can conceivably carry around and use on the go. It also illustrates that Intel’s 11th Generation Core i7 processors are competitive with AMD’s Ryzen 9 on a mobile platform, particularly with everyday media applications.

The XPS has a great screen, a powerful GPU, and it’s still reasonably thin. Although the ASUS ProArt Studiobook Pro 16 OLED pips it in a few areas, with an even more vibrant screen, the Dell XPS 17 is a great all-rounder for professional creative work on the move.

Dell XPS 17 Laptop specifications

Connection broker software vendor Virtual Cable has signed a technology partnership with remote access software company Glyptodon that’ll enable users to log onto virtual desktop and application sessions without a VPN.

Virtual Cable offers software that enables administrators to manage and provision virtual desktops and applications. Glyptodon offers open source software that lets users log into remote sessions without a VPN. The two companies developed an extension that integrates the two, enabling VPN-free remote desktop sessions for Virtual Cable users.

Available as a subscription, Virtual Cable's UDS Enterprise software enables companies to set up virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) services quickly, supporting Windows and Linux virtual desktops. Administrators can manage multiple desktops from a single dashboard, and it includes support for user access management via several authentication systems. Virtual Cable is especially popular with higher education and public administration customers.

Glyptodon's solution, called Glyptodon Enterprise, is a commercially supported version of Apache's Guacamole open source remote access software that provides browser-based access to remote desktops. The developers of the original Guacamole software formed Glyptodon and offer their implementation of the open source product free for personal use.

The companies expect a wave of demand for easily accessible remote desktop services due to the continued work-from-home trend during the pandemic. "With so many companies planning to continue remote work in some form after the pandemic, enterprises need simple, secure solutions that can scale quickly and affordably," said Glyptodon's CEO Mike Jumper.

VPNs have concerned some IT decision-makers, who worry about the security risk and overhead cost of running multiple devices on their premises.

Lenovo and Nutanix have announced a new solution to help businesses address the growing demands of a remote workforce.

Called Lenovo TruScale for Hosted Desktops with Nutanix, the new solution combines the traditional, on-premises infrastructure with the simplicity and benefits of the cloud.

“Many organizations are modernizing their IT infrastructures to support the growing demands remote work continues to place on their IT systems,” said Kirk Skaugen, executive vice president of Lenovo Group.

“We are seeing a shift where customers are more interested in as-a-service models to help offset the investment associated with upgrading their IT systems quickly. Lenovo’s collaboration with Nutanix provides customers with a more secure, Hosted Desktop as-a-service solution that is easy to secure, deploy and manage with minimal up-front costs.”

A fully managed IT solution, the Lenovo-Nutanix Hosted Desktops service also includes devices, data center infrastructure, and management tools for a reduced up-front investment. Customers may choose to work with Lenovo’s services group to design their migration strategy, added Lenovo. What's more, Lenovo Managed Services makes infrastructure management convenient around the clock, saving IT administrators’ time.

Most notably, Lenovo TruScale for Hosted Desktops with Nutanix reduces operational costs by co-locating compute, storage, and virtualization onto one cluster. Built on ThinkAgile HX systems and Nutanix cloud platform software, the service can tackle increased workload and scale for maximum flexibility.

Fraser Health Authority was an early adopter of the Lenovo-Nutanix hosted desktop solution in response to COVID-19. Through using this service, the Fraser Health Authority raised its IT capabilities to boost patient care during a statewide lockdown.

“We see that remote connectivity is more than just a short-term response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s part of our long-term strategy to ensure we can deliver vital health services no matter what,” said Wesley Kampff, portfolio manager at Fraser Health Authority.

“To streamline maintenance and support, our preference was to engage a single vendor to deliver the workstations and data center solutions. We were confident that replacing our traditional three-tier architecture with the cutting-edge ThinkAgile HX hyperconverged platform, with Nutanix, would offer the performance, availability and scalability we wanted,” added Kampff.

When it comes to kitting out an office or workplace, the best business laptop is the right tool for the job at hand. This doesn't necessarily mean the most expensive, the newest, or even the most powerful. It's about picking the right machine for the role.

Do you need all-day battery life? A powerful dedicated GPU? A color-accurate display? Are you a Windows or macOS organization? Would you consider a Windows on ARM device? What's your policy on Copilot buttons? There are lots of key purchasing decisions to make – and, thankfully, lots of great laptops to choose from.

In this article, you'll discover our top picks for the best business laptops in every major category. IT Pro's team of laptop-reviewing experts has decades of experience in laptop reviewing, and in the past 12 months, we've rigorously tested and reviewed a broad selection of laptops from Apple, Dell, Lenovo, HP, and more.

What to look for in a business laptop

It's been another stellar year for laptops. The ARM-based competition from Qualcomm and Apple has given the x86 chips from both AMD and Intel some much-needed competition, and the result is that the latest generation of chips provides a more potent cocktail of application performance, graphics power, and battery life than ever before.

This is great news for buyers: whether you want an affordable everyday business laptop, a long-lasting ultraportable, or a mobile workstation, there's plenty of great hardware out there to fit every use case, both in x86 and ARM-based flavours. You want a powerful, portable laptop and all-day battery life? Your wish has been granted.

AI remains on everyone's lips – and it also remains on their laptops. The neural processors (NPUs) in laptop chips are steadily increasing in power, and both Apple and Microsoft are harnessing that new resource to deploy a range of AI-powered features in their operating systems. These features aim to both boost productivity, power local large language (LLM) models, and shift battery-sapping video, image, and audio processing onto the NPU for more power-efficient operation.

Oftentimes, though, it's the far more basic, physical aspects of a laptop's design which elevate it above the competition: the display, keyboard and touchpad, the connectivity, the upgradability – or lack of it. These are the crucial factors in laptop design that you can only evaluate with proper hands-on testing. And that's why all of the laptops we recommend here have been tested by experts who use these devices for day-to-day work, and benchmark and test every key aspect of their performance.

Read on, and you'll discover our pick of the best laptops that have crossed our desks in recent times. Whether it's an affordable everyday laptop, a high-end ultraportable, or a heavyweight workstation, you'll find something for every desk.

Best business laptops

The Asus ExpertBook Ultra borrows a little glitz from the consumer-focused ZenBook range and brings some much-needed glamour to the business portable. It's also a potent demonstration of just how dramatically Intel's latest Panther Lake generation has caught up with the competition.

The hardware is luxurious. A stunningly bright, vivacious OLED touchscreen takes centre stage, and despite the 14-inch 2,880 x 1,880 panel, Asus has somehow kept the kerb weight down to an impossibly slight 0.99kg.

It's not delicate, though: the featherlight shell is built from magnesium alloy with a 'Nano-Ceramic' coating and has a MIL-STD-810H accreditation for toughness. A matte layer of Corning Gorilla Glass Victus shields the OLED screen from damage, too. You'd expect an 11mm-thick laptop to feel delicate, but the ExpertBook Ultra is anything but.

Nor is it poorly connected. You get two Thunderbolt 4-equipped USB-C ports, one on each edge, and also a further two USB-A ports, which reach USB 3.2 Gen 2 speeds. Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 are included, too – although it's worth noting that there's no physical Ethernet socket.

The advances made by Intel's Panther Lake chips are transformative. The result is a laptop which is able to balance quite formidable power – both in applications and gaming – with excellent power efficiency. The 70Wh battery kept going for almost 21 hours in our tests.

For more information, check out our full Asus ExpertBook Ultra review.

Sometimes you just need a good everyday laptop. A simple balance of sturdy build, ample performance, and good battery life. The Omnibook 5 delivers exactly that for a retail price of around £900 – and far less if you shop around.

Bear in mind, though, that this is a Windows on ARM device. If that doesn't immediately rule it out for your business – software compatibility issues can be a dealbreaker – then Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Plus chip offers a good balance of stamina and performance. It's around 25% slower than its Elite cousins, but we've found performance to be more than ample for everyday browser-based work. It consistently lasts a full day of work with some left in the tank.

Only GPU performance disappoints. Qualcomm is behind the competition here, and the modest Adreno X1-45 GPU limits it to very casual gaming.

Most buyers are unlikely to care. The 14in chassis is finished in a nicely solid-feeling aluminium chassis that's around 13mm thick and weighs in at 1.3kg. Pop open the display, and you're faced with a comfy-feeling keyboard and a decent-sized mechanical touchpad. The only complaints are minor: the half-height Enter key is one, the touchpad's loose, rattly feel is the other.

The presence of a decent OLED screen really sweetens the deal. Color accuracy is good, brightness reaches an ample 300 nits, and it covers around 99% of DCI-P3. That's impressive for the money.

For more information, check out our full HP Omnibook 5 review.

If it's desktop-adjacent power you crave, then the Pro Max 16 Plus is a superb investment. The specification is highly customisable, the chassis handles high-power CPU and GPU combinations, and the design is rock-solid. Only the cramped keyboard really irks.

The beauty of the Pro Max 16 Plus is that you can build it to your specification. If your use case needs a powerful CPU, no GPU, and a fancy OLED touchscreen that is just burning your IT budget, then you can keep the price under £1,500. If, however, you want a top-end CPU, 128GB of CAMM2 RAM, up to three PCIe 5.0 SSDs, and one of Nvidia's high-end RTX Pro chips, you can relieve a big chunk of your IT budget with ease.

We tested a fully stacked model with a Core 9 Ultra 285HX, RTX Pro 5000, 128GB of LPCAMM2 memory, and a 2TB PCIe Gen 5 SSD; the bill totted up to over £7,000. Around £500 of that was due to the stunning 3,840 x 2,400 OLED touchscreen – and we can confirm that its DisplayHDR 1000 True Black certification is well deserved.

Connectivity is a highlight. You get drop-jaw 2.5GbE Ethernet, HDMI 2.1, two USB-C Thunderbolt 5 ports, a single USB-C Thunderbolt 4 port, two 5Gbps USB-A ports, a 3.5mm headset port, and a full-sized SD card slot. There are optional extras, too: a smartcard reader, Bluetooth, and WWAN.

Bear in mind that the 'mobile' in mobile workstation is relative. Even the most basic specification tips the scales over 2.5kg, and that's before you've considered the extra bulk of a big, brick-sized power supply. You'll need a big, sturdy bag, and you'll get a workout thrown in for free.

For more information, check out our full Dell Pro Max 16 Plus review.

Chromebooks are not always championed when it comes to laptops – even in this Chromebook Plus era. They're often seen as the last resort of IT stock, the machine you take when your Mac or your Surface machine is out of commission. But the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus is different and doesn't deserve to be tarred with that brush.

For starters, it's genuinely brilliant – not 'brilliant for a Chromebook' but actually, surprisingly good. The i5 model we tested proved to be the fastest Chromebook from 2024, with a Geekbench 6 multithreaded score of 7608 – that put it ahead of the excellent Asus ExpertBook CX54.

The integration of Google's Gemini AI into Chrome OS is also a big shot in the arm for Chromebooks and, what's more, there is an argument to make about it being more useful than some of Microsoft's more flashy Copilot+ features.

While employees might want Apple Macs, or the flashest Windows devices, IT teams should go against the grain and look at Samsung's Chromebooks. From as little as £649, your employees can have a stunning slimline laptop with a lovely OLED screen. One that is fast, lean, efficient, and easy to manage for small businesses or larger enterprises.

Read our full Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus review here

Squeezing the sort of hardware that keeps hardcore creatives or power-users satisfied into a 13.3in laptop is no easy feat but Asus has managed it and with some aplomb with the new ProArt PX13. Inside this compact laptop, you'll find a 100W Nvidia RTX 4070 GPU, AMD Ryzen 9 CPU and 2TB of storage. And there's a 360-degree lid thrown into the bargain for true convertible flexibility.

Made from matt-black aluminium the ProArt PX13 isn't the lightest 13.3in laptop on the market at just shy of 1.4Kg but the 360-degree hinge accounts for some of that and the whole package is MIL-STD 810H-rated so it should prove every bit as robust as it feels.

Connectivity is bang on point with Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 on the wireless side along with two Thunderbolt 4 and a single 10Gbps USB-A port, an HDMI 2.1 video output, an SD card reader, and a dedicated DC-in jack so you don't have to sacrifice a Type-C port to charging duties.

Performance from the new 'Strix Point' AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX370 is impressive but it's the graphics performance from the 100W TGP RTX 4070 GPU that marks the ProArt PX13 out from the herd. To find a better performer you'll need to invest in a larger and more expensive high-end gaming laptop.

The 2.8K OLED screen covers 99.5% of the DCI-P3 color gamut and recorded a Delta-E variance of just 0.48 which is outstanding. All-in-all It's a great display for creative work and media consumption: HDR content looks particularly impressive. The 60Hz refresh rate rather limits the ProArt PX13 when it comes to motion fidelity and gaming but it's hardly a deal-breaker.

The keyboard is of very high quality and the touchpad is surprisingly large given that this is quite a small laptop. Built into the upper left part of the touchpad is Asus' DialPad, a virtual scroll-wheel that provides granular access to tools in several creativity apps though its real strength is its deep integration with Adobe's creative apps.

Read our full Asus ProArt PX13 review here

Apple hasn't reimagined the MacBook Pro for the arrival of the M5, but then it didn't need to. The 14in model is the smaller of the two Pros, and it's a beautiful thing both inside and out.

The design is simple and elegant and the 1.55kg aluminium body is tough. It's not just a looker, though. The keyboard and touchpad remain top of the heap, with a lovely crisp feel to the keys and a haptic touchpad which doesn't put a foot – well, finger – wrong. It's still the benchmark by which laptop touchpads should be judged and demonstrates the benefit of tight hardware and OS integration.

Connectivity is eminently sensible compared to some rival laptops, too. You get three Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports, HDMI 2.1, a full-sized SD card reader, and – yes – a 3.5mm headphone socket.

The move from M4 to M5 is quiet evolution rather than revolution, adding a little more single core power and some neural AI processing chops, but if you can pick up an M4 model on the cheap, then do – it's more than good enough. Bear in mind that, at the time of writing, buying direct from Apple only gives you the choice of M5, M4 Pro or M4 Max. For power users, the previous generation Pro and Max chips still outmuscle the M5.

The 14in Liquid Retina display is a typical highlight. The 3,024 x 1,964 resolution is sharp, the 120Hz refresh rate is slick and the Mini LED backlighting pushes brightness over the 1,000 nit mark with ease. You'll need to pay an extra £150 for the matte Nano-texture screen finish if anti-glare coatings are top of your wantlist, though.

Unfortunately, UK and EU buyers won't get a charger in the box. The EU push to reduce e-waste means you'll be paying an extra £59 for the privilege of charging your new MacBook. US buyers can gloat quietly.

For more information, check out our full Apple MacBook Pro M5 review.

The Acer Aspire Vero 16 is a solid 16in business laptop that costs a little less than most. For well under £1,000, you're looking at a 16-inch laptop with a capable all-round specification and good design. Throw in MIL-STD-810H certification for toughness, and you have a recipe for affordable laptop success.

At the time of writing, we're seeing the Vero 16 down to as little as £750 at some retailers – for that money, it's very easy to forgive the all-plastic build. Not that you'll mind: the base feels taut and well-constructed, and there's only a little give in the lid. The 1.8kg weight is modest, and you can remove the base and replace the battery or SSD as required.

There's no skimping on connectivity. You get two Thunderbolt 4-equipped USB-C ports, a pair of 5Gbps USB-A sockets, an HDMI 2.1 port, and a 3.5mm headphone output. Ethernet is absent, but fast onboard Wi-Fi 7 offers some consolation.

The 16:10 panel is a welcome sight: the 1,920 x 1,200 resolution makes the Windows desktop feel more roomy than on a standard Full HD panel. That's not the highest resolution, but the quality is superb. Color accuracy is good, and the panel covers 99.8% of the sRGB color gamut and 82% of DCI-P3.

Performance is also good across the board thanks to the Lunar Lake chips. NPU performance is low at 13 TOPS, but everyday applications – and even games – run incredibly well thanks to the Core Ultra 7 255H in our review sample. For GPU-based duties, the display's modest resolution is more a blessing than a curse. Efficiency is excellent, too, with an impressive 17-hour-plus runtime.

For more information, check out our full Acer Aspire Vero 16 review.

HP's big-screen convertible is a consumer model, but it gets a lot right. The 360-degree hinge allows it to transform from a standard laptop into tent mode and through into tablet mode. The USB-C stylus adds some welcome inking support, too.

It's another good-looking laptop from the HP camp. The chassis is clad in plates of aluminium, which add a nice, sturdy feel, and it weighs a reasonable 1.88kg. The all-important 36-degree hinges feel reassuringly solid, too.

Connectivity hits the spot. There's one full-sized USB-A port on either flank, and two USB-C ports, one of which supports Thunderbolt 4. Full-sized HDMI 2.1 and a 3.5mm headphone socket are welcome, too. Networking is solely wireless: you get Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4.

The OLED panel has a crisp 2,880 x 1,800 resolution, and peak brightness reaches 520cd/m2 in HDR mode. Color accuracy is great, and it also covers 100% of DCI-P3 and 95% of Adobe RGB. Impressive stuff.

Given the gloriously bright OLED display, the 15-hour battery life comes as some surprise. Performance from the Intel Lunar Lake chip is good, but we'd steer buyers towards a 32GB model, as the on-chip RAM is not upgradeable.

The only slight issue is that the integrated GPU struggles with the display's native resolution – you'll need to use Intel's XeSS upscaling to get playable framerates.

For more information, check out our full HP OmniBook X Flip 16 review.

FAQs

Why are business laptops more expensive?

You may have noticed that laptops which are specifically aimed at business buyers tend to be noticeably more expensive than those which are mostly consumer-focused. Although this is partially attributable to the fact that businesses can usually afford to drop a little more cash on their purchases, there are several good reasons why business laptops are more expensive.

For one thing, they’ll often come with AMD Ryzen Pro or Intel vPro chips. These special professional-grade components don’t confer any additional performance advantages, but they include extra security and manageability features designed to make it easier for IT admins to manage large fleet deployments.

Business machines are also more likely to have a wider range of ports and connectivity options, as many offices still rely on older connections like HDMI or even VGA for connecting to projectors and other peripherals. Other additional features like biometric security and better access to internal components for the purposes of repair and upgrade are a more common sight on business devices, too.

How long do business laptops last?

Another factor in why business laptops tend to command higher price tags is that they last longer than personal machines. The manufacturer’s warranty will generally cover a standard consumer laptop for a year, but business machines often come with a three year warranty.

Even beyond that, the typical device refresh cycle for most companies tends to be around five years - which means that business laptops will need to last for at least that long with no major problems in order to avoid unhappy customers. In fact, some companies can sweat their laptops for as much as ten years before replacing them – although they may upgrade certain components such as storage and RAM every so often.

Should I buy a convertible business laptop?

Convertible laptops allow users to seamlessly flip between tablet-style operations and the more traditional laptop form-factor. In theory, this offers increased flexibility and greater productivity, but while it can be a convenient way to display your screen for an informal presentation to colleagues, you may find its workplace utility to be somewhat limited unless you’re a big fan of taking handwritten notes or doing digital illustration.

The Dell XPS is a stalwart in the tech giant's laptop arsenal and its 13in 'Plus' variation is one of its very best. A refreshed design, smaller, portable size, and innovative keyboard design make the 13 Plus a laptop for the modern worker.

The keyboard design, known as 'zero-lattice', runs from edge to edge to house larger keys. The benefit here is that even the most inaccurate of typists can pick up a decent speed. The travel is good too, as it allows for a nice clean typing action across largely silent keys.

However, the real innovative part is the always-on illuminated symbols that run along the top of the keyboard. This appears to be Dell's take on Apple's ill-fated touch bar but with a more useful layout, with shortcuts for functions like print screen, volume dials, display controls play, and pause buttons.

You can also tap the Fn key and have the middle 13 of these symbols vanish to be replaced with backlit F1 to F12 icons. You can use the Fn-Lock to have the function key icons rather than the symbols as the default. Magic.

How we test

When we review a laptop, there are a number of tests that we use to determine its capabilities. To measure the quality of the display, we use the open-source DisplayCal app and a dedicated colorimeter to determine the maximum brightness, the contrast ratio and how much of the sRGB color gamut it covers (as well as the DCI-P3 and Adobe RGB gamuts where applicable) – which determines the range of colors the screen can reproduce. We also measure the average Delta-E rating, which indicates how accurately those colors are displayed.

Performance is tested by running it through our own in-house benchmarks, which consist of three tests: an image conversion test, which gives an indication of single-threaded speeds, a video encoding test, which makes greater use of multi-core processing, and a multitasking test which runs both processes simultaneously while also playing a video. This test is the most strenuous and is designed to push processors to their limits. These tests give us individual scores, as well as an overall result.

We'll also run the Geekbench 5 performance test to confirm the accuracy of these results, as well as assessing its performance in day-to-day tasks throughout our evaluation period. Storage is tested using the AS SSD benchmark.

In order to measure battery life, we'll charge the battery fully, then set the display brightness as close to 170cd/m2 as possible using a color calibrator, turn on flight mode and play a looped video until the battery dies. This gives us a consistent figure to compare the battery life of different models, although it may not necessarily give us an indication of real-world battery life. For this, we assess how long the battery lasts over several days of actual use, subjecting it to a range of workloads and activities.

The Gigabyte Aero 15-X9 is a curious laptop that tries to enhance its normal workstation features with the kind of design that's usually seen in gaming machines.

The end result is a laptop that costs a whopping 2,416 exc VAT - but a machine that tries to take the fight to more conventional work notebooks by deploying a powerful graphics core, a Pantone-certified 4K screen and a high-end Intel Core i9 CPU.

Gigabyte Aero 15 (15-X9) review: Design

You certainly wouldn't anticipate those internals just from the exterior. Gigabyte's Aero design has been around for a couple of years, and it looks smart and understated. Most of the machine is made from matte black aluminium, with an illuminated Gigabyte logo on the lid and the Aero logo inscribed below the screen.

It's certainly not bad-looking, but it is showing its age. There are visible seams around the base and screen, and the like last year's Dell XPS 13, the webcam is installed in the hinge - so the angle results in an unflattering view up your nose if you're having a video conference. Most rivals install their webcams above the screen for good reason, despite ubiquitous slim bezels.

The Dell XPS 15 has a more modern design than the Aero, which mixes bright metal and carbon fibre, while the 15in Apple MacBook Pro has its familiar aluminium body. Neither machine has many visible seams - although the XPS 15 shares its awkwardly-placed webcam.

The Aero loses out when it comes to physical dimensions, too. It weighs 2kg and is 19mm thick, making for a pretty chunky beast. Both rivals are slimmer and narrower, while the Apple machine is lighter too. Moreover, despite the Aero being chunkier than the competition, its build quality isn't as good. There's flex in the metal around the keyboard, and the screen bends back and forth a little too much for our liking.

The Aero isn't weak, but its rivals are sturdier while also proving a little slimmer and lighter. We'd be comfortable slipping the Dell or Apple machines into a backpack without any extra protection - but we can't say the same about the Gigabyte.

The Gigabyte does better when it comes to connectivity. The Aero has a USB 3.1 Type-C port and a faster Thunderbolt 3 connection. You also get three full-size USB 3.1 ports, and one of those uses the faster Gen 2 protocol. Elsewhere, there's Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI, one audio jack and a full-size SD card reader.

Although the Dell XPS 15 has a full-size HDMI port and SD card slot, it's only got one USB-C port and two full-size USB connectors, while the Apple machine has loads of Thunderbolt - but little else.

There's versatility underneath, too. It takes a little while to unscrew all the base panel's Torx screws, but once you're inside you can access all of the major components - alongside a spare NVMe connector should you wish to add an extra SSD.

Gigabyte Aero 15 (15-X9) review: Keyboard & Trackpad

The Aero's keyboard stretches across the entire base, and even includes a numberpad. The layout is fine, with full-size space and enter keys, and you get per-key RGB LED backlighting that can be altered or disabled via software. The buttons have ample travel for a machine of this size - alongside a consistent typing action. The base is reasonably solid, and we had no problems hammering through documents.

It's not perfect, however. The buttons aren't particularly tactile: they feel muddy and indistinct when they're pushed down. It means that they don't feel light or clicky, especially when compared to the rapid snap of the buttons on the Dell and MacBook.

The Aero's typing quirks won't slow anyone down, but you'll want to look elsewhere if you want a keyboard that offers a lighter and faster typing experience. The trackpad is fine, though. It has a smooth glass surface that supports multi-touch, and the buttons are good - snappy and shallow enough to get close to a proper desktop mouse.

Gigabyte Aero 15 (15-X9) review: Display

There are two different kinds of screens available across the Aero 15 range. Our 15-X9 has a 4K IPS panel with a 60Hz refresh rate, while a 1080p, 144Hz IPS version is also available. Both are calibrated by Pantone to deliver superior colour accuracy.

The Full HD, 144Hz version is better if you want some after-hours gaming, or if you work in applications where smooth animation is important. The 4K option, conversely, is better for work where precision or extra screen real estate is more prized.

The Dell XPS 15 is available with Full HD or 4K panels, with the latter calibrated to handle the Adobe RGB colour gamut - a key attribute for design work. The MacBook Pro has a 2,880 x 1,800 IPS screen that can't match quite the Gigabyte or Dell 4K panels for sharpness or screen real estate, despite its overall quality.

It's a solid specification, but the Aero didn't deliver particularly good colours. The colour temperature, for starters, sits at 7,118K - a little too far from the 6,500K target for a laptop that's supposed to be ideal for design. Similarly, the average Delta E of 3.95 is mediocre - not bad, but not as good as it could be. As a result, colours look a little tepid.

Those results also mean that the screen's colours aren't quite comparable with how colours will look in print, or on displays with better calibration. It's a shame that the colours are a little chilly and underwhelming, because the screen can display nearly 100% of the sRGB and Adobe colour gamuts.

That won't influence many kinds of work tasks, where resolution and contrast are more important - but it does mean that the Gigabyte's screen is not suitable for situations where colours are key, like design work or professional photo editing.

The colour situation is a shame, because contrast and uniformity are both better. The Aero's peak brightness level of 380cd/m2 is excellent - good enough that the screen doesn't lose any clarity beneath bright office lights. The black measurement of 0.23cd/m2 is just as good, and those figures deliver a contrast ratio of 1,652:1.

That's great, and it ensures that the Aero's panel has loads of depth and punch, with dark areas rendered with loads of depth and bright colours handled with vibrancy and punch. Uniformity is excellent too. The screen's backlight strength only deviates by 4% at its worst point, and it's better in most areas of the screen.

The Gigabyte's screen has a 4K resolution, great coverage and impressive contrast, making it effective for plenty of different work situations. However, its colours are a little chilly, and not as accurate as they could be. That's disappointing for a Pantone panel, and it means that the Gigabyte is not suitable for work where extreme colour accuracy is required - like in certain design or photography situations. If you do need more colour accuracy, the Dell XPS 15 is better.

Gigabyte Aero 15 (15-X9) review: Hardware & Performance

Under the Aero's hood you'll find a 32GB of DDR4 RAM and a Core i9-8950HK, which is one of the most powerful mobile CPUs that Intel builds.

It's got six cores, a base speed of 2.9GHz, and can reach 4.3GHz across all cores and 4.8GHz on one and two cores. It's also overclockable and has 12MB of L3 cache, and in this machine its performance is dynamically managed by Gigabyte's software, which claims to ramp up the Aero's abilities in tasks where extra grunt is required.

The Core i9 was also included in the latest Apple MacBook Pro 15, and it's better than the Core i7-8750H that's usually in high-end laptops. That chip also has six cores, but it has weaker base and boost clocks of 2.2GHz and 4.1GHz as well as a smaller cache. The Gigabyte is available with Core i9 and Core i7 CPUs - and the Dell and Apple machines can also be configured with both chips.

The Core i9 CPU zipped through our benchmarks to deliver an overall result of 206. That's significantly quicker than the MacBook Pro, which used the same Core i9 CPU, 32GB of RAM and a weaker GPU to score 173.

Machines with the more conventional i7-8750H often score around 170 in benchmarks, so you're getting a significant boost over the familiar Core i7 silicon too. It's a good bill of health that'll see the Core i9 chip handle almost anything, from video and photo applications to CAD tools and huge databases.

However, more testing reveals that this chip isn't as quick as it could be. When the CPU was tasked with single-core workloads, it peaked at around 4GHz - and when it was handling multi-core tasks in ran between 3.8GHz and 4GHz. In a CPU stress-test, with all cores at 100% load, the chip peaked at 3.5GHz. With the CPU and GPU stressed at 100%, the CPU hovered between 3.2GHz and 3.4GHz.

Those speeds are a long way short of what the Core i9 can theoretically achieve, and they mean that you're not getting maximum performance. The throttling does make some sense, though - with the CPU stress-tested the chip peaked at 73C, and with the entire rig stressed the CPU topped out at 90C. The chassis clearly wouldn't be able to cope if the CPU were left unfettered.

The Gigabyte produced modest fan noise during a CPU stress-test, but was louder with the whole system stress-tested. The noise is noticeable, and it's louder than the Dell and Apple machines - but it's not the worst we've heard. It can be drowned out by using a headset or just by working in a busy office, and we're also pleased that the exterior never became too warm.

The Core i9 CPU is paired with RTX 2070 graphics. It's one of Nvidia's more powerful mobile chipsets - although Gigabyte has relied on the Max-Q version, which means reduced clock speeds to improve efficiency at the expense of performance.

Nevertheless, the Aero easily beats the competition. The Dell only wields the older, slower GTX 1050 Ti, while Apple lags behind with underwhelming AMD Radeon GPUs. The Gigabyte's GPU delivered a score of 121.07fps in Cinebench's OpenGL benchmark, which replicates graphics-intensive workloads. That's about 20fps ahead of the GTX 1050 Ti.

You get extra graphics power with this machine, and you also get additional features, like Nvidia Ray-Tracing and DLSS. They have limited usefulness now, but it's worth having if they become a big deal in future graphic design applications.

The rest of the Gigabyte's specification is impressive. There's a 1TB Intel 760p SSD as well as Killer-branded Ethernet and dual-band 802.11ac wireless. The extra memory and large SSD are beneficial for work and play, although those networking chips will only come to the fore in games.

The Gigabyte's 2,416 exc VAT price compares well to rivals with similar hardware, too. To get an equivalent Dell XPS 15, with the Core i9 CPU and 32GB of memory, you'll have to spend 2,666 exc VAT - and that only gets you the GTX 1050 Ti GPU, which is the only graphics option available for that machine. If you want an equivalent MacBook Pro 15, it'll cost you a mighty 2,999 exc VAT, and that's with a weaker AMD graphics chip.

Gigabyte has kitted the Aero out with a 94Wh battery that offers surprising longevity for a machine with gaming DNA. In our tests, the battery life came in at 6hrs 35mins - a little behind the MacBook Pro, and a couple of hours behind the latest Dell machines.

You'll be able to nurse the Gigabyte through a day's work away from the mains if you use low-intensity applications and keep the screen brightness down, but only just. Also remember that tougher work will slash the battery life - expect four hours (or less) if you run applications that hammer the CPU and GPU.

Gigabyte Aero 15 (15-X9) review: Different Models

Alternative specifications are available if the Core i9 CPU is overkill - or if you want more GPU power. The Aero 15-Y9 has an RTX 2080 that delivers extra graphics power, and it comes with the 1080p screen variant the Core i7-8750H CPU. It costs 2,642 exc VAT.

A version of the 15-X9 is also available with the weaker Core i7 CPU, 16GB of DDR4 and the 144Hz Full HD screen alongside this review's RTX 2070 graphics core, costing 1,917 exc VAT.

The cheaper Aero 15-W9 has the Core i7 CPU and the 1080p screen, and it cuts back elsewhere with 16GB of memory and an RTX 2060 graphics core. That costs a more affordable 1,559 exc VAT, and that graphics core will still outpace the older, weaker graphics hardware inside the Dell and Apple machines.

Gigabyte Aero 15 (15-X9) review: Verdict

The Gigabyte Aero 15-X9 doesn't have as much style or finesse as its rivals, but it does deliver more power and with better value.

That approach does have its own pros and cons. The Core i9 CPU delivers a huge amount of processing power despite its throttling, and the RTX 2070 serves up more graphical grunt even though its clocks are cut back. Together, when combined with 32GB of DDR4, they create a specification that can handle a wider variety of work tasks than either rival.

The Gigabyte's thermal performance isn't awful - especially for a machine with gaming DNA - and it's still reasonably slim and light.

However, the screen doesn't live up to its billing, instead offering a high resolution and great contrast but with colours that should be better. The keyboard is divisive, and battery life is good - but some rivals last longer.

You won't get more CPU power in a laptop at this size, though, and Gigabyte's machine offers it with more GPU power and a lower price than the competition. The Aero 15-X9 isn't a flawless mobile workstation, but it's a good option if you need more power than other machines at this size can deliver.

Verdict

It can’t make full use of its power, but this laptop still delivers loads of performance inside a relatively slim and light chassis

Processor: 2.9GHzGHz Intel Core i9-8950HK

RAM: 32GB DDR4

Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Max-Q 8GB

Storage: 1TB Intel 760p M.2 SSD

Display: 15.6in 3,840 x 2,160 IPS

Operating system: Windows 10 Home 64-bit

Optical: N/A

Connectivity: Dual-band 802.11ac, Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth 4.0

Ports: 3 x USB 3.1, 1 x USB 3.1 Type-C, 1 x Thunderbolt 3, 1 x audio, 1 x SD card, 1 x HDMI 2.0

Dimensions: 356 x 250 x 19mm

Weight: 2kg

Warranty: 2yr

Apple's MacBook Pro is now somewhat venerable by laptop standards. The latest design was launched in 2016 to great fanfare, and got even better last year with the upgrade to Intel's 7th-generation Kaby Lake CPUs. However, Apple's challengers have been nipping at the MacBook Pro's heels ever since, and companies like Acer, Dell and HP are gaining ever more ground on it.

With so much competition, has the MacBook Pro still got what it takes to keep Apple as king of the notebook hill?

MacBook Pro 13in (2017) review: Screen, keyboard and trackpad

There's no denying the 2017 MacBook Pro's screen is still stunning. Not only are the colours vibrant, with accurate contract and brightness throughout, but images are pin sharp on the 2,560 x 1,600 pixel retina display. Always one of the MacBook Pro's most redeeming features, the resolution does definitely not disappoint. Bravo again, Apple.

Just as the brightness and contrast deserve praise, so does colour reproduction. Apple's decided to give the 2017 MacBook Pro something of a feature boost, with a wider DCI P3 colour gamut. This means the colours are richer and offer a pretty spot-on reproduction of colours - better than the majority of the notebooks available today.

Whether you use a MacBook Pro to edit images and video, or just want to watch YouTube, play around with files or need it for more intricate design work, the screen makes this all a breeze.

The MacBook Pro's keyboard is unquestionably one of the best on the market. Rather than attempting to maximise the travel distance and feedback of each key, Apple has essentially done the opposite, shaving travel time down to a bare minimum.

This would be a negative point, were it not for the fact that it has also scaled down the amount of force needed to actuate each keystroke, meaning that after a brief adjustment period, your fingers will be gliding over the keys with effortless speed and grace. It's a far cry from the solid 'thunk' of a good mechanical keyboard, but feedback is still firm and satisfying as well.

The MacBook Pro's trackpad is another highlight, providing plenty of room to manoeuvre while offering appropriate sensitivity levels that let you move to the edges of the screen without having to reposition your finger. Unfortunately, the left and right clicks aren't quite punchy enough to provide the sort of feedback we enjoy on other trackpads, but this is a fairly minor gripe.

We can do nothing but praise the accuracy of the MacBook Pro's trackpad. The fact it responds to every tiny stroke makes it ideal for intricate tasks such as photo and video editing that are usually more suited to an external mouse or even a graphics tablet.

Multi-touch gestures have also seen much improvement in this latest version of Apple's portable hardware, making it much easier to stroke using two fingers or more to complete actions. Even if you're yet to uncover this seemingly secret world, now's the time to give it a go.

MacBook Pro 13in (2017) review: Design and features

Unfortunately, Apple hasn't had a change of heart and has still omitted the majority of 'standard' ports, such as a full-size USB connector. Along with the USB, the Thunderbolt 2, SD card reader and HDMI ports are also gone. All except the standard 3.5mm jack have been replaced by Thunderbolt 3 slots that can be used for everything, including data transfer tasks and hooking up printers, an external mouse if you're not keen on using Bluetooth, a monitor and just about everything else you may want to add.

The lower-cost iterations of the MacBook Pro only have two ports too (and one will need to be used for charging the laptop if you like to work with it plugged in), so only having one port will cause some annoyance. If you opt for the more expensive Touch Bar-enabled laptop, you'll have four to play with, but that comes at a hefty price.

This may prove a pain for a large chunk of MacBook users. If you're using it as a desktop replacement, it means you may need to rethink your workstation setup, as monitors, keyboards, and other peripherals likely won't connect directly to Thunderbolt 3 ports. Your best option is to invest in a dock, which adds extra hassle and expense onto an already pricey device.

There's a silver lining, though, and that's that having to use a dock can actually streamline your workspace and make you more mobile. You can get your whole setup connected in one stroke (connect your monitor, keyboard, mouse and any other peripherals to the dock, which then connects to your MacBook with one cable), making it easier to flit between mobile and desk-based working.

That's something you're going to want to be doing a lot, too - this is Apple's thinnest, lightest MacBook Pro yet, and it's never been easier to sling it in a bag when you're heading out the office. In fact, it's the same weight as the equivalent MacBook Air and as thin as the Air's thickest point, although it doesn't taper to a fine edge. In terms of mobility, it's definitely Apple's best laptop thus far for working on the go.

While it may seem like an odd point to mention, the MacBook Pro's hinge is really nice. The movement is smooth, with noticeably less force needed to adjust it than older models. It shouldn't make that much difference, but it's a small touch that gives it a satisfyingly premium feel.

MacBook Pro 13in (2017) review: Hardware and specs

Apple hasn't refreshed the MacBook Pro's hardware since mid-2017, so it's still sporting last generation's Kaby Lake chips. The 13in model comes with a Core i5 processor, with a base clock speed of 2.3GHz for the entry-level non-Touch Bar version and 3.1GHz for the higher-specced version with Apple's Touch Bar tech.

You can also swap both processors out for slightly faster options at the point of purchase, and both come with 8GB of LPDDR3 memory as standard, with an option to beef that up to 16GB. Both versions of the 13in MacBook Pro use Intel's built-in graphics processing - in order to get a proper discrete GPU, you'll need to upgrade to the 15in model.

These aren't bad specifications, necessarily, but they're no longer quite as cutting-edge as they used to be. It's starting to show, too - the most recent Dell XPS 13 outclassed Apple's top-end MacBook Pro by more than 60% in multi-core performance, according to our Geekbench tests.

Having said that, the 2017 MacBook Pro has had a significant bump over its Skylake-powered predecessor. According to our benchmarks, it's around 10% faster. However, when we ran it through the Geekbench tests, it was more than twice as fast as the 2016 MacBooks at single-core operations, and around a third faster for multi-core tasks. It's roughly on par with the Core i5 version of Microsoft's latest Surface Pro, pulling slightly ahead in terms of multi-tasking.

Even if it's no longer top of the pile in terms of performance, we still wouldn't expect the newest crop of MacBook Pros to struggle with anything but the most demanding of tasks, and our review unit did not disappoint. Even when running the latest version of Adobe Photoshop, LibreOffice, Spotify and three Chrome windows with more than 10 tabs each, the MacBook Pro didn't break a sweat, and you're unlikely to see slowdown unless you start seriously pushing it to the max with intensive rendering tasks.

The 2016 MacBook Pro's already-excellent storage speeds have also been improved on, with an upgrade to both read and write performance. The 2017 MacBook Pro's read speed has had a negligible speed boost of around 5%, bringing it up to about 2.1GB/sec, but write speeds have had a massive 69% uptick, pushing them to a blazing 3GB/sec. We managed to transfer 8.5GB of files in mere seconds.

These speeds are blazing, to say the least, and outstrip the competition by a country mile. If you've ever been bothered by long load times, the new MacBook Pro should make those frustrations a thing of the past.

Unfortunately, one area where the latest MacBook Pro has slipped slightly is in terms of its battery life. The 7hrs 30mins score it racked up in our benchmark tests isn't exactly shameful, but it's more than two hours less than last year's model and less than a full workday.

This is the price that you pay for Kaby Lake's improved performance over its predecessor, but it's an irritating compromise that we could have done without. On the other hand, Thunderbolt 3 charging means that it's compatible with a huge range of third-party power supplies, so juicing back up shouldn't be a problem.

MacBook Pro 13in (2017) review: Verdict

When Apple first debuted its redesigned MacBook Pro in 2016, it was a seriously impressive machine; sleek, sophisticated and without an ounce of uncessary fat on it, it was the pinnacle of notebook design in a number of ways. Last year's addition of 7th-generation Kaby Lake chips made it even more attractive, offering some of the best performance around, and it richly deserved the five-star score and Editor's Choice award that we gave it when we first reviewed it.

Two years on from the initial launch, however, and the blush has come off the rose to a certain extent. Apple's top-spec MacBook Pro is now being outperformed by cheaper Windows alternatives thanks to Intel's 8th-gen processors, and while Apple's design still hasn't truly been equalled from an aesthetic standpoint, its rivals are now both thinner and lighter.

It's still a heavyweight performer, and you're very unlikely to be disappointed by it in any particular way - but the fact is that it's now even worse in terms of value for money than it was originally. If you've got the cash to splash and nothing but Apple will do, then it's still the MacBook to buy, but if you want a cheaper, more portable and more powerful option, then Dell's XPS 13 is the notebook to go for.

This might not last long though; rumours suggest that Apple may be about to unveil a new line of Coffee Lake MacBook Pros, and if it does, we fully expect them to re-establish the Cupertino company's place at the top of the heap.

Developers will soon be able to run full-fat Linux on their smartphones, with the news that Samsung is bringing support for Linux distros to its flagship Galaxy range.

The company announced that it is working on an app, dubbed Linux on Galaxy, that will allow Samsung Galaxy S8, S8+ and Note 8 devices to dual-boot Linux-based distributions in addition to the base Android OS. The feature will also be DeX-compatible, switching to a full-screen desktop environment when placed in the DeX docking station.

Rather than being intended to let users run their favourite Linux distro for everyday use, the feature is designed to allow developers to use Samsung's devices for writing and testing code.

"Although it's in trial phase, Linux on Galaxy is our innovative solution to bring the Linux experience on PC to mobile, and then further onto a larger display with Samsung DeX,"the company said.

"Now developers can code using their mobile on-the-go and seamlessly continue the task on a larger display with Samsung DeX."

"This represents a significant step forward for software developers, who can now set up a fully functional development environment with all the advantages of a desktop setting that is accessible anytime, anywhere."

While Samsung has promised that the forthcoming feature will let developers "work with their preferred Linux-based distributions", it has not specified whether developers will have access to the full plethora of Linux distros, or whether they will have to pick from a smaller selection.

Samsung has stressed that the project is still "a work in progress", but developers that want to be notified of availability as soon as possible to sign up here.

30/03/2017:The Samsung Galaxy S8 can replace your desktop

The Galaxy S8, Samsung's new flagship device, is more than just a smartphone - it can also be transformed into a desktop computer, thanks to Samsung's new DeX solution.

Short for 'Desktop eXperience', Samsung DeX is a dock released alongside the S8 that enables the phone to be used with a monitor, mouse and keyboard.It features an optimised UI designed specifically for use in desktop mode, andsupports resizable windows, taskbar notifications and contextual menus, transforming the device into a fully-fledged desktop when it needs to be one.

In addition to stock apps, Samsung has partnered with Microsoft and Adobe to include DeX compatibility with apps like Adobe Acrobat Reader mobile, Lightroom Mobile and the Office suite. When docked, these apps will shift to a desktop-style user interface for easier use with a mouse and keyboard.

"The smartphone has become the central point for the modern mobile professional, and when giving a presentation or editing documents remotely, it means they can work effectively using just their smartphone. We developed Samsung DeX with the highly mobile worker in mind, giving them a convenient and flexible desktop experience," said Samsung's mobile CTO Injong Rhee.

"Our collaboration with key partners such as Adobe and Microsoft was essential in the development of Samsung DeX, as they share our vision for building excellence in mobile productivity. With Samsung DeX, enterprise users can also be assured their smartphone and data is protected by the Samsung Knox security platform built into the smartphone. Samsung DeX redefines what a smartphone can do to keep mobile workers productive."

The DeX dock also comes with a full suite of connectivity options; it features a HDMI port for plugging in a monitor, two USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet connectivity and power via USB Type-C, with peripherals connecting via WUSB, Bluetooth or RF. It's even got Samsung's adaptive fast charging built in to juice up your phone while docked, with the company's Knox security technology ensuring it stays safe while connected.

In a move that should be very interesting to business users, Samsung has worked with three major virtualisation partners, including Citrix, VMWare and AWS, to offer their desktop virtualisation services on the Samsung DeX. This means employees can use their S8 as a thin client to access all their Windows enterprise apps without needing a laptop.

Fujitsu has a history of producing business-grade devices for enterprise users, but more and more companies have begun issuing their workers with consumer-oriented laptops like the Apple MacBook, taking advantage of the boom in attractive, powerful and affordable notebooks. So can Fujitsu's enterprise pedigree propel it to victory over the upstarts, or has the sun officially set on the company as a laptop manufacturer?

Design

We had some issues with the construction of the U757's stablemate, the Fujitsu Lifebook U937, but thankfully Fujitsu has improved the build quality substantially for this model. Gone is the flimsy, plastic-feeling chassis, replaced with a body that feels much more high-quality.

The U757 is solidly-constructed, and the lid and keyboard surround actually feel like aluminium, unlike the U937. It's a chunky beast, with a starting weight of 1.7kg and a thickness of just under 20mm, but it feels comfortably substantial, rather than unwieldy.

It's nowhere near as portable as the 15in MacBook Pro, and you'll want to have it on a desk rather than in your bag most of the time, but if you do need to take it out of the office, you're not going to need a forklift.

Interestingly, while parts of it are constructed from aluminium, it doesn't use an aluminium unibody design - the chassis itself is plastic, with an aluminium overlay over the top of it. This doesn't feel quite as sturdy as an all-metal design would (although it's far from the worrying flimsiness of the U937) but the benefit of using a plastic design is that the U757 can be much more versatile.

The underside of the laptop features numerous panels and hatches, allowing users (or more likely IT support staff) to actually access its internal hardware for the process of upgrades and repairs.

This is an oft-overlooked feature of business IT devices - MacBooks are all very well, but if your IT staff don't have the specific, specialised tools needed to actually get into the devices, every hardware fault can result in a time-consuming and costly trip back to the manufacturer. Having an accessible chassis prevents this from becoming a problem.

Display

Unfortunately, the display is less successful. Although the 15.6in Full HD panel offers heaps of space for whatever you're doing, the maximum brightness of just 261cd/m2 was rather dim, and made it a little difficult to use even in a brightly-lit office. It's also lacking the matte screen coating often used by business-grade laptops, so glare may well be a problem when using it outside.

The colour accuracy was also a little disappointing, with an sRGB coverage rating of 84% - quite a bit below rival devices, which frequently manage coverage ratings of 90% and above. It shows, too. Colours appear muted and dull - although it's unlikely to adversely impact most business tasks, it's not really suitable for any graphics work.

Keyboard and trackpad

The keyboard was another area where we felt that the U937 let us down, but thankfully, this has been greatly improved with the U757. The keys have greater travel distance and a firmer, more satisfying feedback, resulting in a much better overall typing experience. The U757 also features a full numpad, which is a nice addition - although, like most tenkey laptop keyboards, it does have a tendency to feel ever-so-slightly cramped.

The trackpad, on the other hand, is still a disappointment - we wish Fujitsu would adopt the same all-in-one integrated trackpad design that other manufacturers use. Instead, Fujitsu's Lifebooks use separate, physical mouse buttons, which means you have to move your finger off the trackpad every time you want to click on something, rather than simply pressing down.

It's a black mark that makes an otherwise relatively capable and sophisticated machine feel significantly behind the times.

Specs and hardware

You'd expect a business machine of this size and weight to be packing some some very capable hardware under the hood, and sure enough, Fujitsu can fit the Lifebook U757 with some pretty impressive components, all the way up to one of Intel's Kaby Lake Core i7-7600U processors and 8GB of RAM.

The unit we tested came with a Kaby Lake vPro Core i5-7300U, with 8GB RAM, the same specifications as the U937, oddly enough. What's even more odd is that the U757 achieved a markedly worse score in our benchmarks than the U937, with an overall result of 47 compared to 55. This is somewhat disappointing, but those who need additional performance can always upgrade to a more powerful configuration.

Unfortunately, one thing that's lacking on all configurations is a dedicated GPU. This a serious oversight in a laptop this big and expensive. The U757 is going up against devices like the MacBook Pro and Dell XPS 15 - both of which have discrete graphics chips, which allow the devices to be used for more intensive photo and video editing tasks, as well as 3D rendering and other graphics workloads.

Ports and features

If there's one area where the U757 begins to make up for its shortcomings, it's in terms of its business-grade features, chief among which is its selection of ports. We thought the U937 had a wide variety of ports, but its big brother puts it in the shade.

The usual suspects are all present and correct - two USB 3 ports, a USB C port and an HDMI port - but there's also some more esoteric options. Like the U937, there's a Smart Card reader, an SD card slot and an Ethernet port, but there's also a DisplayPort connector, an optional SIM card slot and even a VGA port.

If that's still not enough for you, the U757 includes a connector on the underside, allowing it to be attached to a docking station and port replicator. The enterprise features don't stop there, either - as the U757 is compatible with Intel's vPro platform, you'll have access to all the business-grade management and support tools that come with it.

It's also got support for Intel's PalmSecure biometric authentication technology - although there's no support for Windows Hello, which offers a far superior user experience.

Battery and charging

Battery life is - once again - a little bit of a disappointment. We wouldn't expect it to hit the 10-hour mark set by smaller laptops, given the large screen and power-hungry components, but a score of 4 hrs 49 mins is disappointing even so. At less than five hours, the U757's battery life will barely see you past lunchtime. There's no way you'll get a full working day's worth of charge out of this.

We also found that, while Fujitsu has included a USB C port with power delivery functionality, we couldn't use it to charge the U757. When we connected to our USB C monitor, the laptop's battery level merely remained constant, rather than actively increasing.

Verdict

The Fujitsu Lifebook U757 offers a litany of compromises which conspire to drag down what should otherwise be a very competent laptop. It has a number of desirable features for businesses, including vPro support, user-replaceable hardware and all the ports you could wish for.

Unfortunately, it's hampered by a disappointing screen, the lack of a dedicated GPU and a rather paltry battery life. Compared to more accomplished and comparably-priced machines from Apple and Dell, the U757 looks like it has fallen behind in a major way.

There's simply no reason to buy a Fujitsu Lifebook U757. While it has some features that enterprise customers might find appealing, the poor performance and uninspiring design won't prove much of a hit - especially when you can pick up the gorgeous and better-performing XPS 15 for the same price (if not cheaper).

Pictures: Adam Shepherd/IT Pro

Verdict

The Fujitsu Lifebook U757 just isn't good enough to compete compete with rivals. Disappointing performance, a poor-quality display and a sub-par battery life make this one to avoid, despite business-friendly features.

The new Dell Precision 5520 banishes memories of blank and bulky workstations by cramming the latest Intel processors and Nvidia Quadro GPUs inside a sleek metal and carbon fibre frame.

This level of extravagance means the Dell isn't cheap, but the 1,675 model we've reviewed is still a little cheaper than its key rival - the Apple MacBook Pro 15.

Screen, Keyboard and Trackpad

The Precision has a 15.6in screen inside a 14in chassis, with three bezels slimmed down to cram the hardware inside. The panel impresses elsewhere, too: it uses IPS technology, and the screen is sturdy despite its slim 4mm-thick frame.

The screen's benchmark results are also solid. The 1,718:1 contrast ratio is excellent, and it remained at 1.666:1 when we dialled the brightness back from its retina-searing level of 378cd/m2 to a reasonable 150cd/m2. Those superb ratios combine with stonking black levels, which mean colours are rendered with subtlety and depth. The average Delta E of 2.21 is decent, and it improved to 0.78 when we dropped the brightness.

In other areas, however, the panel is more ordinary. The colour temperature of 7,627K is cool, and it means the screen feels pallid. It's not too uniform, either: backlight strength swung by 13% across the bottom row and 12% across the middle.

Those more middling measurements mean this screen is less capable with colour-sensitive work. And, as if to confirm that, the Precision rendered 91.8% of the sRGB gamut but only 66.8% of the Adobe RGB spectrum. Those figures are a little underwhelming for a workstation, especially when Dell boasts of the Precision's 100% Adobe RGB coverage.

That disconnect occurs because two different panels are available for this machine. The entry-level model reviewed here has a 1080p screen, but that Adobe RGB designation is only available on the machine's 4K panel - an option that costs an extra 211 but also offers an IGZO touchscreen and Dell Premier Color's professional presets.

The 1080p screen has great contrast, black levels and colour accuracy, which means it's solid for most work tasks - but the colour temperature and gamut coverage means it slips behind the superb colours of Apple's Retina display. It also has less real estate than the MacBook, which has a sharper 2,880 x 1,800 resolution.

We have few qualms about the Precision's ergonomics. The keyboard is backlit with large buttons, and they depress with a shallow and consistent action that encourages fast, precise typing - and with more travel than the MacBook's butterfly mechanism. The only problem is minor, with larger buttons like the space bar and enter key feeling a little wobbly.

The trackpad is one of Dell's gesture-heavy Precision units, and its smooth surface offers pin-sharp operation and two satisfyingly clicky buttons. The MacBook's trackpad is larger though, and offers similar quality.

Design & Features

The gunmetal lid extends to the Precision's bevelled edges, and the interior is coated with dark carbon fibre. It looks different from the MacBook, with its glossy black and smooth metal, but no worse - and that's no surprise, considering this machine shares its design with the excellent XPS 15.

The good-looking exterior offers more versatility than Apple's notebook, with USB 3 and Thunderbolt, a battery indicator and a card reader. The downside, though, is that Dell's machine is chunkier: the Dell's 22mm body is thicker than the 15.5mm MacBook, and both weigh around 1.8kg. This may not be much of a problem, however, as many workstation laptops tend to spend most of their time at a desk.

Dell has also loaded this machine up with useful software: the Power Manager serves up battery and power options, while the Precision Optimizer has monitoring information alongside profiles for work applications like CAD tools and graphic design utilities. It's ISV-certified, too.

Hardware and Specs

The Dell arrives with Intel's Kaby Lake architecture, and its choice of chip outpaces the older Skylake part inside the MacBook. The entry-level Precision includes an i5-7300HQ processor, which has four 2.5GHz cores that Turbo to 3.5GHz, but no Hyper-Threading.

Apple's entry-level machine comes with a Core i7-6700HQ that starts at 2.6GHz and Turbo Boosts to 3.6GHz, and it does have Hyper-Threading - but it also uses an older architecture.

Graphical grunt comes from the Nvidia Quadro M1200. It's a mid-range mobile chip tuned to the needs of work software, and it has 640 stream processors alongside a 1,093MHz core - a solid specification that also has 4GB of memory. Those specifications are marginally better than the AMD Radeon Pro 450 inside the MacBook, which has 640 stream processors but a slower 800MHz core and just 2GB of dedicated RAM.

The Dell has 2,400MHz memory, which is faster than Apple, but its 8GB allocation is half as much as the MacBook offers. Apple fights back in storage, too: the Precision has a 256GB Toshiba XG3 SSD that delivers speeds of 1.4GB/s and 1.1GB/s, but the MacBook's PCI drive delivered speeds of 3.1GB/s and 1.4GB/s - a blazing pace that we've yet to see anyone come close to matching.

There's very little to choose between the two machines in benchmarks: the Dell has a newer processor and slightly better GPU, but the MacBook has Hyper-Threading and better storage. They're both exceptionally quick machines with solid benchmark scores - the Dell's overall score of 90 in our application tests isn't far short of the powerful desktop chip we used as our reference result. The Precision has the grunt to run intensive tasks, and its SPECviewperf 12 scores further demonstrated its ability: it returned a solid score of 44.8 in the 3DSMax test, and 61.38 in the SW-03 benchmark.

Impressively, Dell's machine produced this level of performance while remaining chilled - the fan noise was modest, and the Precision's exterior only became a little warmer during benchmarks and stress-tests. The processor's peak temperature of 91C is a tad high, but the clock speed never throttled and the silicon never became unstable.

The Precision's three-cell battery lasted for eight hours and 56 minutes in our standard test - a good result that's almost identical to the MacBook.

Alternative Specifications

Dell's machine is littered with potential upgrades, but this versatility makes it even pricier than the MacBook Pro.

Upgrading to a Core i7 costs 151, and deploying a beefy Xeon E3-1505M v6 costs 226. The 4K screen is 211, and doubling the memory costs 93. Upgrading to a 512GB SSD is 327, and doubling the battery capacity costs 31. Fitting a Core i7 CPU, 4K screen and 16GB of memory increases the price to 2,034, which is more than the entry-level MacBook Pro 15.

The standard three-year warranty is a generous next-business-day deal, but upgrading to ProSupport costs 193 - and extending that deal is more expensive still.

Conclusion

The Precision 5520 is a superb laptop that crams huge functionality into a small, attractive exterior. The Kaby Lake processor is fast, and the Nvidia Quadro GPU means this machine will handle graphical tasks with aplomb.

Even the entry-level machine is expensive, though, and it's still hindered by its 1080p screen and middling SSD. To fix those problems, you'll need to spend a lot more - which makes the MacBook's Retina display all the more tempting.

Regardless of the specification, though, the Precision remains a top-quality choice for workstation power in an impressively small package - the entry-level specification is cheaper than the MacBook, and its customisable components help it become more versatile than the Apple. If you need true workstation performance in a lightweight package, the Precision easily justifies its cost.

Verdict

Huge power and versatility inside a small and smart design – but you’ll pay for it

Worldwide PC shipments have fallen for the fifth year in a row according to Gartner, continuing the industry's seemingly unstoppable decline.

The number of PCs sold in 2016 fell by more than 6% compared to 2015, with a total of just 269.7 million; for context, that's the same as in 2007.

Analysts have blamed the continued slump on a lack of practical innovation within the PC sector, with Gartner's principal analyst Mikako Kitagawa noting that "the broad PC market has been static as technology improvements have not been sufficient to drive real market growth".

"There have been innovative form factors like 2-in-1s and thin and light notebooks," she noted, "as well as technology improvements, such as longer battery life," but pointed out that despite high engagement from pro-sumers, "the market driven by PC enthusiasts is not big enough to drive overall market growth".

Slowdown has also been blamed on an increasing reliance on smartphones, as the gap in capability between mobile and PC narrows. "There is the other side of the PC market, where PCs are infrequently used. Consumers in this segment have high dependency on smartphones, so they stretch PC life cycles longer," Kitagawa said.

While there were certain niche sectors of the market that are still likely to see growth over the next year such as the business and gaming segments she predicted that these areas would not be enough to reverse the decline of the PC market in 2017.

Analysts also warned that the UK was likely to be hit particularly hard by Brexit, with prices expected to rise by up to 10%.

Workstation laptops tend to be no-holds barred affairs. They're effectively portable PCs with all the performance, ports and features a CAD designer, graphic artist or photographer could want - price be damned. HP has a long tradition of producing compelling and desirable workstation laptops, but its latest Zbook 15u G3 doesn't feel quite right.

Casing and ports

As expected, the Zbook 15u G3 has a very sombre and understated aesthetic with a plain black and grey plastic build. The only hint of style comes from the dimpled lid. If you just want to blend in with everyone else at the next meeting, rather than be the object of attention, then this unassuming laptop fits the bill.

The 15u G3 has plenty of ports - indeed, it may have too many and of the wrong kind. Gigabit Ethernet, a pair of USB3 connectors and a USB-C port are all very useful. DisplayPort is handy for connecting a 4K monitor at 60Hz, but the VGA port is antiquated while the SmartCard slot and docking station/port replicator connector are becoming increasingly niche. Rationalising all this could've made room for more USB3, USB-C or Thunderbolt ports - all versatile enough to fulfill a wide variety of roles. Although this usually requires adapters, that's not too much of a bother for a 2.2kg laptop that probably won't spend much time on the road.

Performance and battery power

Although the 15u G3 doesn't come with the latest Xeons and ECC memory, it's still very fast. Our review configuration came fitted with 16GB of RAM and a dual core Intel Core i7 Skylake-class processor. The 6500U starts at 2.5GHz and can turbo boost up to 3.1GHz. It's a speedy combination that buzzed through our benchmarks, but it doesn't set any new records when compared to the similarly priced competition. A modestly thicker chassis with bigger cooling fans and vents could've accommodated a processor.with a higher base clock speed and more cores.

Even so, it should be fast enough for all but the most demanding tasks - especially as it's helped along by a blisteringly fast Samsung NVMe PCI Express SSD. Plus, the cooling fans weren't excessively noisy and didn't pump out uncomfortable lap scorching gusts of heat out of the vents.

One area where the 15u G3 starts to impress is 3D graphics performance. The Firepro W4190M may be one of AMD's cheaper, lower end dedicated professional graphics chips but it still scored a very respectable 53fps in our 3D graphics benchmarks.

When operating on battery power, the laptop is clever enough to automatically switch away from the Firepro to the more power efficient Intel integrated graphics. You can, if you wish, manually control this and even choose which applications use which graphics chip.

With this in mind, we weren't surprised to find that battery life was lengthy for a 15in laptop. The battery lasted eight hours and 14 minutes in our moderate usage test and just under 13 hours in our light use test. It's unlikely you'll frequently tote a 2.2kg laptop (rising to a hefty 2.6kg including its charger) while out and about, but it's good to know that it's less likely to run out on you when you're out for the odd site visit, field project or client meeting.

Command and control

HP Inc has made good use of this laptop's ample girth by fitting in a keyboard with a numeric keypad and no undersized keys. Although the keys were a bit too rattly for our liking, the ample travel and feedback means that typing was still swift and free from typos.

Like Lenovo's Thinkpads, the 15u G3 has a touchstick. This won't be to everyone's taste, but we liked it and were disappointed only by the lack of a scrolling mode - you'll have to either use the cursor and navigation keys or use the multitouch gestures on the large touchpad. Alternatively, you can use the touchscreen but it's unlikely you'll want to do so with any regularity. Upright touchscreens are still best suited for occasional flicks given their ergonomically awkward position.

The touchpad itself generally worked well. It accurately and smoothly kept track of our prods and swipes. It's not quite perfect though. It did mysteriously start to become very jittery and jumpy, which was only solved by updating to the latest build of Windows 10 (although this introduced problems of its own, as we'll see later). In the case of the buttons for both the touchstick and touchpad, both sets felt a little too deep and spongy - more precise feedback would've been preferable.

Windows 10 and fingerprint reader

The fingerprint reader sits just beneath the numeric keypad, but it's not like the more modern fingerprint scanners found on some of the latest smartphones. It requires a very deliberate and comparatively slow swipe of your finger compared to the lightning fast tap and go performance of most smartphones.

The fingerprint enrollment software works well enough, but we encountered a baffling incompatibility when upgrading to the latest build of Windows 10 (at the original time of writing) via Windows Update. Version 1511 build 10586 was incompatible with both HP's fingerprint enrollment and its whole disk encryption software. Although Windows 10 Enterprise licence holders will be able to postpone this update until HP rolls out updated versions of both programs, this lack of joined up thinking between the world's biggest PC OS vendor and one of its most prominent and well-known laptop partners is disappointing.

Screen

Given the still disjointed support among Windows apps for high resolution, high pixel density displays, we're not disappointed that the 15u G3 only' has a resolution of 1080p. That's still more than enough for most tasks and doesn't result in any odd scaling issues such as illegibly small text.

While it was reasonably bright, colours looked very washed out with a slight grainy sheen. This disappointing level of colour accuracy is surprising not only given how much this laptop costs, but also because exacting graphics professionals are prime buyers of workstation laptops.

Conclusions

The HP Zbook 15u G3 is an odd laptop. It has almost everything most professionals could want out of a workstation, but not quite enough. HP not only fumbles the software but it also chose to include a surprisingly mediocre screen. That might be excusable in a cheaper laptop, but not in a portable workstation that costs so much. It's still a good laptop for users who don't need top notch screen quality, but everyone else should think twice - especially given the wealth of other high-priced, high-powered laptops available.

Verdict

One too many compromises mean this promising laptop can’t quite justify its high price

HP Inc has blamed Windows 10 for a 12 per cent drop in its latest financial revenues to $12.2 billion (8.76 billion) year-over-year.

Dion Weisler, CEO of HP Inc since HP split into two divisions (the other being Hewlett-Packard Enterprise) last year, claimed a lack of demand for Windows 10 products has hit HP's hardware business.

"I still believe [Windows 10 is] a tremendous operating system," Weisler told investors on conference call this week, transcribed by Seeking Alpha.

However, he added: "We have not yet seen the anticipated Windows 10 stimulation of demand that we would have hoped for, and we're carefully monitoring any sort of price developments that could further weaken demand."

HP Inc sells PCs and printers, both markets that are experiencing declines in demand as the adoption of smartphones and tablets has continued to rise.

And Wiesler's claims are supported by a Gartner report last month that found a lack of Windows 10 uptake at the end of 2015 contributed to a year-on-year drop of 8.3 per cent in the PC market.

Principal analyst Mikako Kitagawa said at the time:"On the business side, Windows 10 generally received positive reviews, but as expected, Windows 10 migration was minor in the fourth quarter as many organizations were just starting their testing period."

However, Microsoft claims the operating system now runs on 200 million devices.

HP Inc reported a 13 per cent fall in its personal systems revenues which encompass notebooks, desktops, workstations and other devices taking $7.46 billion in all, compared to $8.56 billion in the same quarter last year.

It experienced a further 17 per cent fall in revenues from its printers across supplies, commercial and consumer hardware taking $4.64 billion in all, compared to $5.59 in the same quarter last year.

Weisler said the company had warned investors about the increasingly tough market conditions, saying: "We expected that. We outlined that at the security analyst meeting and we expect it for several quarters ahead."

But that did not stop HP's shares falling by 1.5 per cent to $10.66 on the New York Stock Exchange in the wake of its results.

HP Inc's results for the three months ending 31 January 2016 is the company's first financial report since Hewlett-Packard was split in two.

Analysts originally predicted that last year's launch of Windows 10 wouldcounteract the steadily decline of PC sales.

But so far, it has not helped HP, which faced an equally stormy time during its late 2015 results, and continues to face challenges selling its products to enterprises and consumers.

Weisler referenced the HP Elite X3, a hybrid mobile product showcased at Mobile World Congress this week, as an example of how he believes the company is adapting to changes in the computing market.

"The PC lines are being redrawn at the moment," said Weisler during the investor call. "We continue to take costs out of the system. We continue to drive innovation into the system, and we're not after share for share's sake."

Following its disappointing first 2016 quarter results, Weisler said the company will be examining "productivity initiatives and accelerated restructuring" in the coming months.

It's hard work running a business, but sometimes it can be harder still to find a decent laptop to get you through the working day. However, with prices falling, it's now easier than ever to find a laptop that is robust, secure, light, long-lasting and powerful.

Many laptops nowadays can double up as tablets, thanks to Windows 8 (soon to be Windows 10). But no matter what the form factor is, many need a notebook that won't let them down, and performance is always a key concern.

4GB of RAM is usually the minimum we expect from a business notebook, but many now sport 8GB and beyond for powering through spreadsheets and design documents.

Battery life is also an issue. A big battery will help get you through a day, but will add to the weight of a long commute or business travel, and can make an otherwise portable machine unweildy.

Here are some of the best laptops you can get for under 500.

Microsoft Surface 3

Microsoft hasn't made the mistake of trying to run Windows on ARM with the Surface 3, and has returned to the Intel fold, albeit with an Atom processor. Happily, this means that the Surface 3 runs full-fat Windows and so should appeal to business.

This hybrid laptop/tablet sports a 10.8-inch display and at 622g and 8.7mm thick, it's the slimmest and lightest Surface yet. While it can be used as a tablet, as a Windows machine, normal laptop use is a better bet for most organisations.

Unlike a lot of other tablets, the Surface 3 has as many connectivity options as we would expect from a laptop, with a total of one USB 3, a microSD slot, a 3.5mm headset jack, and one Mini DisplayPort).

Read review

Price: 419 (base model)

Acer Aspire V3-371

While this laptop leaves out a touchscreen display, this is no bad thing. This device focuses on improved wireless connectivity and fast 500GB SSHD storage.

A fairly meaty Intel processor gives improved graphics and overall performance as well as longer battery life. The 4GB of memory should ensure that normal users will get by, although more intensive tasks will strain it.

Connectivity-wise, there are two USB ports, one for USB 2.0 and one for USB 3.0. There is a spring-loaded Gigabit Ethernet port along the narrow edge of the laptop, and complementing this is an SDcard slot and a headphone jack.

While the Wi-Fi is limited to 802.11n, it has dual antennae and dual-band capability. In tests, the laptop managed around 11 hours of battery life, way above the manufacturer's claimed seven hours.

Read review

Price: 430

HP 15-g094sa

This general purpose laptop is reasonably well built and weighs 2.2kg, so can just about be carried around all day.

It sports a single USB3 port, Ethernet, headphone jack and an HDMI port on the left side, while on the right are two USB ports and a DVD writer. Inside is a 1TB hard disk and a quad-core AMD A8-6410 processor, which runs at a base clock speed of 2.4GHz.

Battery life is average, knocking up five hours nine minutes in tests by sister publication Expert Reviews. It also sports 8GB, which should help with more intensive tasks.

Read review

Price: 380

Toshiba Satellite Pro NB10-A-10P

The Satellite Pro-NB10-A-10P is well built and comes with enough grunt to carry out basic work and multimedia tasks.

It sports a 2GHz quad-core Intel Pentium N3510 running at 2GHz, along with 4GB of RAM. The 11.6in screen is a TN panel, and has a resolution of 1366x768 pixels, which is on the low side of anything a manufacturer would claim was HD.

The integrated Intel graphics mean it is perfectly adequate for business purposes, but will prove disappointing for after-hours gaming.

Read review

Price: 357

Asus Transformer Book Flip TP300LA

The Transformer Book Flip should give us some unsubtle clues as to the features of this laptop. The display can be flipped all the way back to become something of a thick tablet.

This Asus has a keyboard deeply reminiscent of a MacBook Pro. Luckily, it also is good too with edges that don't dig into the wrist allowing extended sessions on the keyboard. Mouse buttons are also incorporated into the touchpad, which is very responsive.

As a laptop, this Asus model is light at 1.75kg, but perhaps a tad heavy compared to tablets. It also sports a 1.9GHz Intel Core i3-4030U processor. This is a dual core chip with hyperthreading, meaning you have four virtual cores.

Read review

Price: 450

Lenovo N20p Chromebook

This Chromebook from Lenovo comes with a display hinge that can rotate 300 degrees back to stand in "tent" mode, allowing users to watch video or perhaps a presentation.

This laptop has both a physical keyboard, or if needed, an on-screen one. The screen itself has a resolution of 1,366x768. It is powered by a dual-core 2.16GHz Intel Celeron N2830 processor and sports 4GB of memory.

As it features ChromeOS as the underlying operating system, it is able to do all your web-based tasks, as well as document editing and watching video. It allows the transfer of documents and files to USB sticks and SD cards directly through the laptops ports. As you'd expect from a Chromebook, it works well with Google Drive's cloud storage and users get 100GB of free storage for two years.

Read review

Price: 200

HP ProBook 450 G2

An increasing rarity among laptops, this HP comes with Windows 7 installed instead of Windows 8. (although with Windows 10 around the corner, many user may well see this as an opportunity to upgrade).

The chassis sports a rubberised coating that doesn't pick up grease easily, so perhaps one to consider for more industrial settings (although this is not marketed as a rugged device).

There are four USB ports, two of which are USB 3.0. There is also both an HDMI and VGA interface for connecting to all types of monitors.

Read review

Price: 499

Toshiba Satellite Click 2 L30W-B-10D

Another hybrid, this time from Toshiba. This device can easily detach the screen from the keyboard by sliding the unlock slider and lifting the screen away.

But being a hybrid has a weight cost. The combined tablet and keyboard dock weighs in at 2.1kg, which is heavier than some 13-inch laptops.

Unlike laptops, the Click 2 has all of the ports around the tablet screen, so you can still use peripherals when in tablet mode. It has a Micro HDMI port for connecting up to an external monitor or projector, a USB 2.0 port and a multi-card reader.

The device boasts a quad-core 2.16GHz Intel N3530 that also supports Intel Turbo Boost up to 2.58GHz - when temperatures allow - and this is paired with 4GB of memory.

Read review

Price: 499

Toshiba Chromebook 2 (CB30-B-104)

This Chromebook from Toshiba is a 13.3-inch laptop with a Full HD (1920x1080) display; it's possibly the cheapest Full HD laptop on the market. This should make working with two windows side-by-side a snap.

Not only does it boast a great display, but it is also lightweight at 1.35kg, with a 19.3mm depth. Thinness comes at a cost, however, and the number of USB ports has been reduced from three to two. But there is still room for a full-size HDMI port and a headphone jack.

The battery lasts over seven hours but there is also a lightweight charger in case you run out of juice.

It has 16GB SSD on-board storage and like other Chromebooks, there is 100GB of free storage from Google for two years.

Read review

Price: 250

Workstation laptops have a reputation for being ugly and bulky but, with Ultrabooks and Apple notebooks all the rage, that's just not good enough anymore these machines now have to be powerful and truly portable.

HP's latest ZBook, the second generation 15.6in model, certainly ticks the right boxes when it comes to power. It's anchored by an Intel Core i7-4910MQ, which is one of Intel's most potent mobile processors.

Specification and Performance

That chip certainly has the grunt to handle high-end work applications. It's got four cores with Hyper-Threading, so it can address eight concurrent tasks, and it runs at a stock speed of 2.9GHz that rises to 3.9GHz with Turbo Boost. That's impressive, and that's not all it's also paired with 16GB of memory.

It's a potent combination that romped through our application benchmarks to a score of 1.09, with individual Explorer and video rendering results of 1.27 and 1.26 indicating this machine's multi-tasking and media prowess. That's far ahead of some rivals: the latest 13in Macbook Pro could only score 0.78.

It streaks ahead of other competitors in synthetic benchmarks, too. The HP scored 5,849 in PCMark 7, while the Dell XPS 15 and Macbook Pro 15in couldn't get beyond 5,800 points.

In Geekbench 3 the HP was even further ahead; its result of 13,995 trounced the Dell and Apple's scores of 11,422 and 12,873.

The HP boasts discrete graphics, too. Nvidia's Quadro K2100M is a mid-range part that has ISV certification, which means it'll work with most professional graphical applications. It's got enough power to beat the integrated Intel graphics inside the Dell XPS and 13in Macbook Pro, and it's able to beat the XPS 15. Only the larger Macbook and its Intel Iris Pro chipset proved a little quicker.

There's a big gulf between Macbooks and Windows machines when it comes to battery life, and nothing about the ZBook changed the status quo. In our standard battery test the HP lasted for three hours and 35 minutes only seven minutes short of the Dell XPS 15, but miles behind the eight hour lifespan of the Macbook Pro 15. If you want a machine to last a full day away from the mains, look elsewhere.

Heat and noise results also showed the downside of such grunt. The processor topped out at 99C when its cores were stress-tested, and at this point the chip couldn't use Turbo Boost instead, it was reigned in to its stock speed.

The graphics core kept a little cooler and, thankfully, the noise wasn't too bad. The Macbook and XPS machines are all a little quieter, but the HP's modest whine won't prove distracting and, with less demanding work, it was virtually silent.

The storage plays its part in this machine's impressive performance. The 256GB SanDisk A110 SSD hit sequential read and write speeds of 692MB/s and 411MB/s better than the Dell, but not quite as swift as the Macbook's PCI-based SSD.

The impressive specification is backed up by good connectivity and business features. There's dual-band 802.11ac wireless and Gigabit Ethernet, and TPM 1.2.

Screen

The new breed of high-end work laptops often have high-resolution screens, and the HP is no different. It's got a 3,200 x 1,800 15.6in panel, which means images are pin-sharp. It's a better resolution than the Macbook Pro 15in, and virtually the same as the Dell XPS.

Windows 8.1 has made great strides in working properly with high-resolution panels, and HP has made the screen usable by scaling the OS by 150%, which makes icons and text readable without any squinting.

The impressive sharpness and pixel density does have its downsides, though. Most of these concern third-party software, which often doesn't work properly with such high resolutions some make text tiny, others mix up page furniture, and others blow icons and text up until it's pixelated.

Quality is mixed, too. The brightness and contrast levels of 248cd/m2 and 1,127:1 are fine: the former figure ensures the screen will be legible beneath bright office lights, and the latter ensures deep black levels and good variance and vivacity throughout the rest of the colour gamut. Those figures may be good, but the Dell XPS 15 and Macbook Pro 15 are both brighter.

The HP's colour accuracy is disappointing. Its colour temperature of 7,721K is far too cool and cooler than its 15.6in rivals and its average Delta E of 3.73 is similarly middling.

The HP's screen is good, and it's certainly got the resolution and quality to suit most work tasks. Its rivals are better, though, which means we'd opt for an XPS or Apple laptop for colour-sensitive software.

Ergonomics

We don't have many complaints about the HP's typing action. The scrabble-tile keys are installed into a firm base, they've got a good amount of travel, and we like the action it's soft enough to feel comfortable for long periods of time, but snappy enough to really feel like you've hammered down the keys. It's easily as good as the keyboard on the Dell XPS 15, but it's not quite able to match the Macbook.

The trackpad is decent, too, with a smooth surface and three light physical buttons. It's also got a trackpoint in the middle of the keyboard and this gets its own trio of buttons.

The keyboard and mouse facilities are ergonomically sound, but they're hampered by niggling issues. The Return key is only single-height, and the trackpad is off-centre we kept nudging the pad with our left hand.

On the outside

Laptops like Apple's Macbooks and Dell's XPS machines have raised the game when it comes to design, but the HP doesn't match its rivals in this department. The lid is clad in dark brushed metal and bordered with grey plastic, and the interior is similarly staid, with plain metal throughout. Exposed screws are found around the back, and the only sop to style seems to be the Hewlett Packard logo on the hinge.

It's heavier and thicker than the competition, too. The HP's 2.8kg weight looks chunky when stacked up against the 2kg Macbook and 1.88kg XPS, and the ZBook is 40mm thick. Dell and Apple's machines are a svelte 18mm and 17mm respectively.

You'll notice the ZBook weighing down your bag, but there's no denying its strength. None of the HP's edges flex or bend when stressed, and the screen is thicker and stronger than many competitors. Internal access is decent both memory slots, a spare 2.5in drive bay and a vacant 42mm M.2 socket are all accessible.

The exterior is versatile, too. There are four USB ports, a Blu-ray drive, a Thunderbolt port and an SDXC card slot. Businesses will be pleased by the ExpressCard/54 and Secure Digital slots, and there are DisplayPort and D-SUB outputs.

Alternative Specifications

There's no getting past the ZBook's price, but different configurations can cut the cost. Cheaper Core i7 processors save hundreds, and three different graphics chips come from Nvidia and AMD and all cost less than this machine's Quadro.

Different screens options cut the price and resolution, and memory and storage changes can also save money. Elsewhere, smaller batteries, different care packs and varying accessories are available and it means that this machine can be far cheaper or even more expensive.

Overall

The HP succeeds in several key departments: fantastic application power and solid graphical ability mean it'll scythe through virtually all work applications, it's got plenty of ports, and good interior access. The keyboard and trackpad, too, are decent.

The screen is bettered elsewhere, though, and Apple's Macbook has a better keyboard and superior battery life. Rivals are also cheaper in most instances.

This machine is only worthwhile, then, if you need its power levels and office-friendly features. If not, then consumer-focused systems offer better value.

Verdict

It’s got great power, decent ergonomics and versatile design, but the HP loses out to its rival thanks to a high price, middling screen quality and its sheer size.

Processor: 2.9GHz Intel Core i7-4910MQ

GPU: Nvidia Quadro K2100M

Memory: 16GB DDR3

Storage: 256GB SSD

Connectivity: Dual-band 802.11ac, Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth 4.0

Ports: 3 x USB 3, 1 x USB 2, 1 x Thunderbolt, 1 x DisplayPort, 1 x D-SUB, 1 x audio

Dimensions: (WxDxH): 382 x 257 x 40mm

Weight: 2.8kg

Intel has started shipping its first 14nm processors based on the Broadwell architecture to vendors and the chips should appear in systems by the end of the year.

The new Broadwell-Y Core M chips should usher in a new generation of tablets and ultra-thin laptops without fans needed for cooling. Intel said the processors would feature in a range of servers, PC, tablets, and mobile and connected (Internet of Things) devices.

However, the launch of the new chips hasn't been without problems. Intel was expected to roll out Broadwell chips last year, but quality control issues forced delays. The first systems sporting Core M processors won't be available to buy until later this year with wider availability more likely to start in the first quarter of 2015.

The Broadwell-based chips use second-generation Tri-gate (FinFET) transistors, which the firm said provided "industry-leading performance, power, density and cost per transistor". These transistors have fewer fins positioned more closely together to increase component density. These transistors are also stacked in a 3D arrangement like cubes.

The firm also said its architects and chip designers have achieved more than twice the reduction in the thermal design point when compared to the previous generation while providing similar performance and improved battery life with a 60 per cent lower idle power level to boot.

As the processors can run without fans, it is expected that PC manufacturers will now be able to design Core M devices as thin as 7.2mm. Broadwell is a die-shrink of Haswell the tick in Intel's tick-tock design model - and is 50 per cent smaller and 30 per cent thinner than Haswell. It also draws five watts of power compared with Haswell's 10 watts.

"Intel's integrated model the combination of our design expertise with the best manufacturing process makes it possible to deliver better performance and lower power to our customers and to consumers," said Rani Borkar, Intel vice president and general manager of product development.

"This new microarchitecture is more than a remarkable technical achievement. It is a demonstration of the importance of our outside-in design philosophy that matches our design to customer requirements."

VMware claims the user experience problems and cost barriers that previously put business users off adopting virtual desktops have now been overcome.

The virtualisation giant made the declaration during a press briefing to discuss the imminent launch of its Horizon 6 desktop virtualisation offering.

The product's aim is to provide IT departments with a means of delivering and managing desktops and applications across a wide range of devices in the workplace with ease.

Horizon 6 presents the available applications to end users via an app store-like "unified workspace", so their datacentre-hosted, SaaS-based and locally stored programmes can all be found in one place.

The system supports Windows software, as well as published applications from third-party platforms, including Citrix XenApp.

The storage costs associated with desktop virtualisation are often cited as a barrier to successful deployments, which is an area VMware is hoping to address with this release by bundling in management capabilities for its hypervisor-converged VirtualSAN storage technology.

The vendor agnostic product is designed to automate labour intensive storage tasks and create a centralised storage pool that can be scaled up or out according to user demands. This in turn can reportedly cut over provisioning costs.

Speaking to IT Pro, Alistair Wildman, head of VMware's end user computing unit in EMEA, said this is one of the reasons why demand for VDI is now on the up.

"We've got to a situation with the management of physical laptops and associated services where it is comparable or cheaper to run them virtually," he said.

"If we're going to put products into the market today, they have to be better in terms of functionality and have to give a better TCO to the end user or they're not going to buy them.

"Now we're leveraging the software datacentre, we believe we can provision VDI cheaper than customers can do physically," he added.

Wildman said the reductions in TCO, along with advances in user experience, have created a lot of buzz around the latest Horizon release.

This has been boosted, Wildman claims, by VMware's acquisitions of MDM player Airwatch for $1.54 billion in January and Desktop-as-a-Service vendor Desktone in October.

So much so, the company claims to have around 16,000 people registered to watch a webcast about the product's forthcoming launch later today.

"In terms of launch, this is probably the biggest one we've ever done, in terms of our desktop products," said Wildman.

"Those two acquisitions have really helped the portfolio, [and] there is a really big demand in the market right ow for VDI...because a lot of people are coming out of these big outsourcing contracts...and lots of enterprises have a lot of old technology...and need to do something different."

There will be three versions of Horizon 6 available to buy, including the standard, advanced and enterprise editions, with prices starting from $275.

HP has unveiled its new Windows tablet for business users, the ElitePad 1000 G2.

It runs a 64-bit version of Windows 8.1 and features an Intel Bay Trail CPU. It replaces the ElitePad 900.

Making its debut at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the tablet is among the thinnest tablets the vendor has ever made, measuring in at 9.2mm and weighing 680g. The 10.1-inch touchscreen WUXGA display has a resolution of 1920 by 1200 pixels and a pixel density of 224ppi. The touchscreen is covered in Gorilla Glass 3.

It also comes with 4GB of RAM and 64GB or 128GB of storage. It also boasts an 8-megapixel rear camera with flash, 2.1-megapixel front camera, and USB 3.0 and micro-SD slots. The processor is an Intel Atom Bay Trail-T Z3795 quad-core CPU running at 1.6GHz.

There is optional LTE connectivity available on some models too. It also includes 802.11 a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 4 wireless connectivity as well as NFC.

For businesses there are also integration tools and "self-repair" features that allow users to remove the back of the tablet to access and replace the battery, display, webcam, system board and other components.

Like the ElitePad 900, the 1000 G2 comes with an array of covers that can add additional batteries and ports to the tablet.

The tablet is priced at $739 and will be available in March. There were no details about UK pricing at the time of publication.

HP also launched a cheaper tablet offering in the form of the ProPad 600 G1. This tablet sports 64GB of storage and weighs in at 652g but is thicker than the ElitePad 1000. It boasts an 8-megapixel rear camera, 2.1-megapixel front camera. It also has micro-USB 2.0, micro-HDMI and micro-SD ports.

Unlike its bigger sister, the ProPad doesn't sport the self-repair features and won't work with the firm's Smart Jacket covers.

Having sold two million units since its launch, the sub-30 Rasberry Pi has proven its worth as a product and resulted in an explosion of creativity last seen during the 80s microcomputing boom.

From books and educational materials to fully-fledged retail-ready devices powered by the Pi, there are lots of projects you can get cracking with.

We take a lot at three of the devices expected to sell well during Christmas 2013:

1) The handy PiFace Control & Display module2) The powerful GertDuino add-on board3) An expansive Fuze Powered by Raspberry Pi educational bundle

Each is targeting a different sub-section of the Pi demographic, all have one thing in common: it was the launch of the Pi which gave their creators the impetus to launch their own products into the market.

PiFace Control & Display

The PiFace Control & Display module was the brainchild of Dr. Andrew Robinson, honorary research fellow of the University of Manchester. He was inspired to create add-on products for the Pi as soon as he first clapped eyes on the project. Seeing its potential for educational use, Dr. Robinson - along with colleagues Thomas Preston and Thomas Macpherson-Pope - designed the original PiFace as a means of expanding on the Pi's handy but somewhat limited general-purpose input-output (GPIO) capabilities.

The team's latest product, the PiFace Control & Display module, addresses a common problem with the use of the Pi in embedded projects: no way of controlling the system without a display device and some form of input. Network control is a common solution to this problem, but inapplicable to the Raspberry Pi Model A which lacks the Ethernet connectivity of its more expensive predecessor. As a result, it's not unusual to see a Pi festooned with LEDs, liquid-crystal panels and buttons - but difficult to do so in a manner befitting permanent installation.

The PiFace Control & Display board sits atop the Pi, connecting to the GPIO header at the top left and balancing thanks to a supportive strut which rests atop the Ethernet port - giving the board an unfortunate wobble on the Model A. The split-level board provides a significant amount of IO capability for Pi-based projects: a 16x2 alphanumeric backlit liquid-crystal display dominates the face of the board along with an infra-red receiver for use with almost any infra-red remote control unit. Whilst, the top edge includes a three-way jog-style controller, the bottom edge, has five buttons split into a bank of four - for directional control through a menu system, as an example - plus a single lone button.

While none of those are esoteric components a hobbyist would struggle to connect to a Pi, they are bundled in an attractive plug-and-play package. It's the software which makes the PiFace stand out from the crowd. Written in Python, the language of choice for the Raspberry Pi Foundation, the downloadable software is designed to get the user up and running as soon as possible - either by following one of the example projects or by creating something new using a handy menu builder package.

Example projects on the official website include using the PiFace as a direct monitor replacement for the entering and execution of shell commands, playing a hangman game directly on the display, and retrieving and displaying train times - all without a monitor, keyboard or mouse. There's even a seasonal advent calendar example, while the team has produced an emulator which allows the budding engineer to test a project without needing physical access to the device itself - a boon for schools, who may baulk at buying a unit for every child in a class.

Software and documentation quality was a real issue in the early days of the Raspberry Pi's availability, and can still be a problem for some projects, but the PiFace Control & Display appears to get everything right. Priced at 25.20, the PiFace isn't cheap - it's only a few pounds less than the Raspberry Pi Model B to which it would be connected, and more than the 20.05 of the Model A - but it's a worthwhile upgrade for anyone looking into building embedded systems.

The PiFace Control & Display is available now.

Score: 5/5

GertDuino

Gert van Loo is no stranger to the Raspberry Pi: a Broadcom engineer, van Loo worked heavily with project co-founder Eben Upton on the board's original design. He was also one of the first to latch on to the potential market for Pi-compatible accessories, announcing the original GPIO expander: the Gertboard.

Sadly, the Gertboard was not a great success: poor documentation, complex configuration and a fiddly self-assembly process - soon abandoned by manufacturing partner Farnell in favour of pre-assembled boards - led to the board being ignored by all but those Pi fans already well-versed in embedded development and C programming.

Now, van Loo is back with a second crack of the whip: the GertDuino. Concentrating on a small sub-set of impressive capability of the original Gertboard, van Loo hopes to bridge the gap between the Raspberry Pi community and the open hardware Arduino microcontroller project.

Designed, like the PiFace, to sit directly on top of the Raspberry Pi and connect to its GPIO header. Where the PiFace Control & Display sacrifices the GPIO capabilities of the Pi in exchange for the ability to operate it without a monitor, keyboard and mouse, however, the GertDuino expands its capabilities - making it entirely compatible with the popular Arduino Uno microcontroller family.

The Arduino has long been a darling of the hobbyist electronics world. Based on Atmel's ATmega family of microcontrollers, the open hardware board is compatible with a range of 'Shields' which connect to the oddly-spaced headers on the face of the board to add displays, sensors, motor controllers, or even just a miniature breadboard and some buttons. These Shields range in the thousands at this point, but are incompatible with the Pi: as well as requiring the Arduino's esoteric header spacing, they communicate at 5V rather than the 3.3V used for the Pi's logic. Additionally, all code created with Arduino Shields in mind is written - as you might expect - for the ATmega microcontroller, not the ARM processor powering the Pi.

The GertDuino's solution for this is twofold. First, the board includes a bi-directional level shifter which translates the Shield's 5V logic into 3.3V for the Pi and vice-versa. Second, it includes an on-board ATmega328 microcontroller - the same model as the Arduino Uno - for full Arduino compatibility, along with a smaller ATmega48 which handles on-board infra-red capabilities and doubles as an extra digital IO pin and real-time clock.

Sadly, the GertDuino falls into the same trap as its predecessor the Gertboard: clever hardware let down by poor documentation. The 30-page PDF manual should walk the user through getting started with the board, but instead becomes an exercise in scrolling as it sends the reader back and forth through various sub-sections. Then the examples are written from the perspective of someone with at least passing knowledge of command-line tools such as avrdude and gcc and while it is possible to program the board using the far more user-friendly Arduino integrated development environment (IDE) the instructions for doing so are incomplete and will leave beginners stranded.

Even if you know what you're doing, getting started with the GertDuino can be awkward. Like the Gertboard before it, the GertDuino's various modes are controlled by connecting jumpers to a central pin header in a variety of configurations. While jumpers are provided for the two most common configurations, a third - required to make use of any Arduino Shield which uses serial communications - needs the use of jumper straps, which are not provided. Even when scrounged from a kit-bag, the straps cause another problem: Shields no longer sit on top of the GertDuino due to a lack of clearance, leaving the user having to procure stacking headers to build a precariously top-heavy tower of hardware.

If you can get past the steep learning curve, and don't mind supplying your own stacking headers, jumper straps and a lithium battery for the real-time clock, there's a lot of power in the GertDuino; it's just a shame it's locked behind such a beginner-unfriendly veneer.

The GertDuino is available for 22.50.

Score: 3/5

The Fuze Powered by Raspberry Pi

Where the previous two products have been aimed at the more budget end of the market, the Fuze is a bundle aimed at the education market. The Fuze transforms the Pi from a fragile bare circuit board into a metal-clad microcomputer reminiscent of Acorn's BBC Micro design from the 80s.

The Fuze started was developed by Jon Silvera. Seeing how attractive the low-cost Raspberry Pi would be to education, Silvera set about making it more suitable to use in a classroom - and doing so in a way that provides as much benefit to the UK economy as is feasible.

The flagship version of the Fuze - which is also available in a version that swaps the Pi for the microcontroller-based Maximite - is an impressive bundle. As well as the metal case itself, which protects the Pi at its centre from inquisitive fingers, the full kit includes an embedded keyboard, wireless mouse with Fuze-branded mat, GPIO break-out board with breadboard, a parts packet and a series of educational project cards designed to get classes up and running with the system as quickly as possible.

A lot of thought has gone into the Fuze, as evidenced by the growing number of educational project cards provided as free-to-download PDFs and the use of a language readers of a certain age may find familiar: BASIC. Provided on a bundled SD card containing a customised Raspbian Linux installation, the variant of Gordon Henderson's BASIC interpreter is a blast from computing's history - but brought bang up-to-date with Arduino-like control over the Pi's various GPIO pins.

The principle behind the Fuze is simple enough: the easily-broken Pi is encased in metal, whilst its GPIO header is broken out into a short-protected board at the top left of the case above the embedded keyboard. A dip in the casing provides room for a solderless breadboard, into which jumper cables and supplied components - switches, LEDs, a buzzer and the like - can be inserted as per the PDF project cards. A bit of BASIC programming later, and the student has created his or her first Pi-powered piece of hardware.

The Fuze comes across as a labour of love: the cards are detailed and well-written, the design well thought-out, and everything bar the keyboard and mouse is locally sourced - even the cardboard packaging. It's not perfect, but it is a work in progress. Since the Fuze launched earlier this year, Silvera has worked to address criticisms and produce increased numbers of the project cards.

There's only one fly in the ointment for those who do not have a school's budget: the price. The full bundle costs an impressive 179.99 - although businesses and educational establishments can claim the VAT back to bring this total down - while a model without a Pi costs 129.99, allowing for a small saving when paired with a sub-30 Pi from a different provider. For hobbyists with plenty of components already, it's also possible to buy the metal chassis and integrated keyboard alone for 69.99.

For those with the money to spare, however, the Fuze is an excellent way to get the most from the Pi - especially for those hoping to introduce the younger generation in computing, where its attractive appearance and much-needed protection against accidental damage during experimentation will likely prove invaluable.

The Fuze Powered by Raspberry Pi is available for between 69.99 and 179.99 depending on version.

Score: 4/5

Microsoft has slashed the price of its Surface RT tablet by around 30 per cent in the UK, with the 32GB device now selling for 279.99.

The software giant has reduced the price of both the 32GB and 64GB versions of the tablet by around 120, with the latter now retailing at 359.

Users that plump for a 32GB Surface RT/Touch Cover bundle will need to stump up 359 or 439 to get the 64 GB tablet included instead.

At the time of writing, the Surface Pro was still retailing on the Microsoft online store at full price.

A Microsoft spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal the price cut will help the firm capitalise on the success of similar pricing promotions in other parts of the world.

"We've been seeing great success with pricing and cover promotions over the past several months on Surface RT in the US and other markets," the spokesperson said.

"People who buy Surface love Surface, and we're excited about all those additional people out sharing their excitement for Surface with other people."

Over the last couple of months, Microsoft has been offering significant discounts on the tablets at its developer and user conferences, with many queuing for several hours to snap one up.

This is on the back of criticism about the firm's Surface pricing strategy, which prompted market watcher IDC to warn Microsoft earlier this year that the high cost of the Surface RT could stop the device being a success.

News of the price cuts are sure to fuel speculation Microsoft is trying to jumpstart sales for the device, which the firm's CEO Steve Ballmer admitted back in November had been "modest" since its release on 26 October.

According to a slide displayed during a keynote presentation at the firm's Worldwide Partner Conference last week, Microsoft is reportedly gearing up for a refresh of the Surface RT and Pro devices in the coming months.

The global decline in PC sales is not a temporary blip, but suggests a long-term shift in end user preferences for mobile devices.

This is the view of market watcher Gartner in its latest market tracker, which monitors worldwide shipments of PC, tablets and mobile phones.

The analyst said it expects notebook and desktop PC shipments to decline by 7.6 per cent to 315 million units in 2013, while tablet shipments are predicted to experience year-on-year growth of 69.8 per cent and hit 197 million units.

Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner, said falling prices and a growing array of devices will continue to fuel demand for tablets.

"Growth in the tablet segment will not be limited to mature markets alone," said Atwal.

"Users in emerging markets who are looking for a companion to their mobile phone will increasingly choose a tablet as their first computing device and not a PC," he added.

Gartner said the total number of PCs, tablets and mobile phones shipped will be nine per cent higher than in 2012 and is on course to top 2.4 billion units this year.

This upward trend is expected to continue, with Gartner forecasting that 2.9 billion units will be shipped in 2017.

Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner, said the number of people who own both a traditional PC and a tablet will diminish over time, with many set to favour the latter form factor.

"While there will be some individuals who retain both a personal PC and a tablet, especially those who use either or both for work and play, most will be satisfied with the experience they get from a tablet as their main computing device," said Milanesi.

"As consumers shift their time away from their PC to tablets and smartphones, they will no longer see their PC as a device that they need to replace on a regular basis."

Google has launched a 1,049 Chromebook, which the internet giant claims boasts the highest pixel density of any laptop screen on the market today.

The Chromebook Pixel was announced by Linus Upson, vice president of engineering at Google, via a blog post yesterday and looks set to be the first device of its kind the firm has made in-house.

"With the Pixel, we set out to rethink all elements of a computer in order to design the best laptop possible, especially for power users who have fully embraced the cloud," said Upson.

"The philosophy of Chrome has always been to minimize the chrome' of the browser. In much the same way, the goal of the Pixel is to make the pixels disappear, giving people the best web experience."

Previously, Google has partnered with PC makers Samsung, Acer, Lenovo and HP to make its Chromebooks, which it claims now account for more than 10 per cent of the notebooks sold at Currys and PC World in the UK.

The new touch-enabled device has a pixel density of 239 pixels per inch (or 4.3 million pixels in total), is made from anodized aluminium alloy and features an etched glass screen.

The Pixel is powered by an Intel Core i5 Processor, features solid state Flash memory, and users have a choice between buying a Wi-Fi only or a 4G-enabled model.

Buyers will also get access to one terabyte of Google Drive cloud storage, which should allow them to access business documents on the go.

The Wi-Fi only version of the device is available to buy in the UK now from the Google Play store, and is expected to start shipping next week.

"It's one of the most exciting times in the history of personal computing, thanks to the rapid pace of change, innovation and consumer adoption of devices," added Upson.

"Our goal is to continue to push the experience forward for everyone, working with the entire ecosystem to build the next generation of Chrome OS devices."

Google recently talked up the benefits of Chromebooks for business and education users, citing their relatively low price point and ease of management.

However, the 1,049 asking price, high pixel density and markedly slicker design of the Chromebook Pixel suggests Google is turning its attention to higher-end users, and potentially positioning it as a challenger to Apple's Mac Air range of devices.

Raspberry Pi has confirmed that a stripped-down version of its flagship Model B device is now available to buy across Europe for around 19.

The ARM-based device, known as Model A, features a single USB port, 256 MB of RAM and reportedly uses a third of the power of the 512MB Model B.

A cheaper version of the handheld computer is sure to be warmly welcomed by the developer community, who have championed the Raspberry Pi Model B since its launch as a means of encouraging children to learn coding and programming skills.

Due to unspecified paperwork-related issues, the Model A will only be shipped to European customers at this time.

In a blog post, announcing the Model A's release, the Raspberry Pi Foundation said the product is available to buy now from its long-standing distribution partners RS Components and Premier Farnell/element 14.

However, due to unspecified paperwork-related issues, it will only be shipped to European customers at this time.

"RS customers outside Europe (Allied in the US) can order a Model A now, but there will be a short delay in processing their order because we're waiting on some paperwork before the Pis can be shipped," said the post.

"Farnell customers outside of Europe (Newark in the US) will see Model A appear on their local sites when this paperwork has been filled."

Speaking to IT Pro back in December, Raspberry Pi founder Eben Upton predicted the firm would have sold 1 million devices by February 2013, and also set out plans for a sequel to the Model B.

"Even if we were to refresh the hardware we'd still support existing devices. I expect the Model B to carry on shipping until 2020, but won't be the lead model, it'll be part of a portfolio," he explained.

Virtualisation giant VMware has suggested that Microsoft's hold on the enterprise market could be coming to an end, thanks to cloud and the bring your own device trend.

In the keynote address at VMware's Forum in London today, Joe Baguley, the firm's chief cloud technologist, said the proliferation of devices in the workplace means fewer people will use Microsoft Windows in the future.

We replace our operating systems for the same reason we replace our socks, because the old ones have worn out.

The downturn in IT departments "writing stuff" for Microsoft Windows is proof that this transformation has already started, claimed Baguley.

Citing feedback from an informal get together between VMware and CIOs from across Europe, he also claimed very few would choose Windows for a Greenfield desktop project.

"I asked CIOs, if you had a brand new, Greenfield company to set up tomorrow with 5,000 users, how many of you would rollout Windows Desktops?' Not one hand went up," he claimed.

The rise of operating system neutral applications is fueling this trend, as end users do not want devices to limit how they access their data and applications.

He predicted that operating systems will be replaced in time by open Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) constructs that allow end users to run applications wherever they like.

"That's why we've developed an open PaaS and that's where the next battles will be fought in our industry. We believe by having the first and only truly open Paas, we are truly positioned to answer that need," he added.

During a post-keynote press briefing, Baguley added, with Windows XP reaching end of life in April 2014, many firms are seizing on this to ditch Microsoft completely.

"We replace our desktops the same way we change our socks. We replace them because the old ones have worn out," he explained. "Now we're being forced to, people are using this as an opportunity to do things a different way."

Raspberry Pi, the 22 computer designed to teach children how to code and program, could be in the hands of buyers within days after the device was cleared for sale in Europe.

The pocket-sized Linux-based computer passed its Conformit Europenne(CE) tests earlier this week, which means it can now go on sale across the EU.

According to Raspberry Pi representative, Liz Upton, the computer was passed for sale and does not require any further hardware modifications.

There is still a mountain of paperwork for us to sign, but that's a piece of cake compared to what we've been doing all week

"There is still a mountain of paperwork for us to sign, and that then has to be looked over by [Raspberry Pi resellers] RS Components and element14/Premier Farnell; but that's a piece of cake compared to what we've been doing all week," she said on the organisation's blog.

She added that, despite the bank holidays, most customers should receive the computer within "7-to-10 days".

The testing was carried out over the course of a week at Panasonic's facility in South Wales. During this time, its compliance with US, Canadian and Australian regulations was also tested.

During the assessment period the makers of Raspberry Pi stopped manufacturing the devices, fearing hardware changes would be necessary. With no modifications needed, the factories are set to roll out units immediately.

Earlier in the year, the device hit another glitch after its Chinese manufacturer decided to solder in non-magnetic Ethernet ports instead of magnetic ones. This problem has now been fixed.

HP seems to be rather fond of reorganisations.

This week, it confirmed that it will merge its printing (IPG) and personal computer (PSG) divisions, in an attempt to improve margins and cut costs. Dave Donatelli, currently HP's executive in charge of storage and servers, will head the new Enterprise group.

Maybe it should give Tim Cook and Jonny Ive a call.

But we have been here before. Under Leo Apotheker, HP was poised to dispose of its PC-making operations altogether, in a move industry experts described as "doing an IBM", reducing reliance on hardware sales and focusing instead on software and services. And before that, Carly Fiorina put HP's PC under control of Viyomesh Joshi, the long-standing head of IPG, only for that decision to be reversed by Fiorina's successor, Mark Hurd. HP's PC division moves almost as often as HP changes its CEOs.

This time, though, HP boss Meg Whitman seems serious. Beyond the usual management speak the reorganisation will provide "the best in customer focused innovation and operational efficiency", Whitman says, HP's consumer and peripherals businesses face some real structural problems.

The printing division, once HP's cash cow, faces weaker growth. Analysts expect the global market for computer printers to grow at just one to two per cent a year, against perhaps a five per cent growth rate for PCs. Then there are the margins. HP's printing business enjoys some healthy margins 15.4 per cent at the last count whilst the PC division struggles to make margins of six per cent.

But more worrying for Whitman must be the trend: margins in the PC business have recovered, but the printer group margins have declined since 2009.

Merging the two divisions will help bring some efficiencies, and could make it easier for HP to sell bundles of printers and PCs, especially in the consumer and SME markets. But it will do little to help its industrial-scale digital presses, sold to replace conventional printing presses, or its large-format printers, sold to the graphic arts, architecture and point-of-sale businesses. Although these products are niche, they deliver both strong margins, and good services revenues.

But in the mass market, HP struggles because it lacks one, single (and increasingly important) part of the information distribution chain: a tablet. The main reason printer, and printer consumable, sales are expected to decline over the next few years is that consumers and analysts are printing less information, especially in mature markets such as Europe and the US.

We are consuming more information on smartphones, connected TVs and especially, tablets. And HP, since it wound down its WebOS operations last year, lacks a mass-market tablet offering. Just how important that market is, is illustrated by Apple's sale of three million iPads in three days.

Merging the IPG and PC divisions at HP will not address the fact that more and more people are viewing business information on a tablet device, and those tablets are mostly made by HP's Silicon Valley neighbour Apple. Perhaps HP should focus instead on finding markets for some of its highly innovative patents and inventions, such as flexible displays. But for now, as Gartner analyst Mark Fabbi puts it, HP is still "less than the sum of its parts".

Maybe it should give Tim Cook and Jonny Ive a call.

Stephen Pritchard is a contributing editor at IT Pro.

The PC market is continuing its decline as Gartner today reported shipments in Western Europe fell over 11 per cent from last year, as Dell lost ground in the continent.

PC shipments totaled 14.8 million units in the third quarter of 2011, resulting in an 11.4 per cent decline from the same period last year.

According to Gartner, the mobile PC market was hit hard with a 12.6 per cent decline because of the 40 per cent decrease in mini notebook shipments. Desktop PCs also declined almost nine per cent.

The results in the third quarter of 2011 make unpleasant reading for the PC industry.

"The inventory build-up that slowed growth in the last four quarters was mostly cleared during the third quarter of 2011; however, the PC industry continued to perform below normal seasonality," said Meike Escherich, principal analyst at Gartner.

"The results in the third quarter of 2011 make unpleasant reading for the PC industry, as the third quarter is traditionally a strong consumer quarter, driven by back-to-school sales."

Dell dropped a place in the rankings, down to fourth behind a resurgent Asus. Dell recently lost its global number two position snatched by Lenovo.

Acer didn't fare too well either, as it saw market share drop from 24.5 per cent to 15.2 per cent.

Apple, meanwhile, has seen its market share increase from 5.7 per cent to 7.6 per cent.

UK's numbers

This year, PC shipments in the UK totaled 2.9 million units in the third quarter, resulting in an 11 per cent decline compared to figures in the same period in 2010.

"The market seems to be moving at three speeds," said Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner, talking of the UK market.

The top two vendors, HP and Dell, continued to struggle to find new opportunities and experienced single-digit declines; Acer, in the process of inventory re-adjustment, declined more than 50 percent; Apple and Samsung gained strength in the market. More importantly, quarter-on-quarter, all vendors saw growth apart from Acer, suggesting the fluctuations in the market may be bottoming out."

The consumer market saw a major decline in the UK, as shipments fell 18 per cent year-over-year.

HP, which decided it was to stay in the PC game last month, retained first place in the country. It was followed by Dell, then Acer. Apple and Samsung came in fourth and fifth respectively.

When Google launched its first Chromebooks earlier this year, it received a mixed reaction.

Some saw the devices signalling the future of computer usage in both the consumer and business spheres. Others criticised Google's thin client machine for lacking any native power or storage functions something businesses undoubtedly still desire.

Using thin clients has its positives. Yet if companies want to cut desktop costs, there is another way to do so and empower staff at the same time. How? Have employees use their own machines.

For most businesses, bring your own device makes perfect sense with the right sort of technologies.

The bring your own device' model, or BYOD, should be the future of client computing in the enterprise, merging the business and consumer sides of people's computing. Add desktop virtualisation to the mix and it's a genuinely attractive proposition for IT. And for almost all involved in the market, it makes sense.

Why thin clients aren't the future

But let's start with why thin clients won't kill off PC use in businesses. Dumb terminals are designed to be managed and run over the cloud, be it public or private. The end goal is to provide the user with the ability to work wherever they are, whilst maintaining control over systems for security and management reasons.

But how many workers will be permanently connected to the web? Very few. To truly enable mobile working, offline capabilities are required. With thin clients that's simply not possible and when connectivity goes down, or if login details are compromised or are forgotten, they live up to their name: dumb.

Instead, thin clients only really show their worth in special use cases. For instance, directories company Yell has deployed thin clients in a number of its office buildings simply because some their premises could not cater for 2,000 workers, each with a PC.

"The air conditioning and design meant they had to go thin client," explained Roy Illsley, principle analyst at Ovum. "In certain situations the thin client, where you've got a dense population, call centre-type situation, will be there. But really bring your own device is on the up."

Even Citrix, which has gained much from the rise of thin clients, doesn't see thin clients as the way forward for businesses. The company is really going after certain verticals with its thin client plays, like this week's announcement of HDX on-a-chip.

"We don't see [thin client] as the future," Mark Templeton, Citrix CEO, told IT Pro during the Synergy 2011 event in Barcelona this week.

"We see the future as basically being device ubiquity and infrastructure that is not tied to it, unless there's a reason for it to be Even though we like to push certain types of devices because they give customer solutions, it's not because we believe in one over another."

Why BYOD makes sense

Like some savvy gambler, Citrix is betting on BYOD. Martin Duursma, vice president of Citrix Labs and chair of the company's CTO Office, believes within five to 10 years, BYOD will be run by 70-80 per cent of organisations.

Uptake of BYOD with desktop virtualisation, which has been fairly minimal so far, is going to soar. That's according to vendors and analysts alike, so you might want to do a Citrix' and put some money on the market too.

"It's the way IT is going," Duursma said. "For most businesses, bring your own device makes perfect sense with the right sort of technologies."

For IT, BYOD brings high levels of control over what workers are doing. Using desktop virtualisation, it solves the security issues around consumerisation by centralising management and splitting devices into two: one half for business, the other for personal use.

There's obvious savings surrounding hardware procurement as well, especially if you don't give workers too much cash to spend on their devices. No doubt they'd only buy some overpriced piece of trash like a convertible tablet anyway, right?

For the user, it enables them to become genuinely mobile and choose which form factor suits them most. Rather than being lumped with a piece of kit they aren't used to or simply don't like, they can enjoy their computing and even self-service. Instead of calling up IT moaning about their dilapidated PCs resembling WALL-E on a cocaine come down, in many cases they'll know how to fix the problems themselves. Imagine that

As for PC manufacturers, the market may be in decline, but in a world where BYOD is ubiquitous they will benefit from continued sales of laptops, tablets or whatever other most-likely-Apple devices consumers are frothing at the mouth over.

Admittedly, PC makers will get fewer big enterprise hardware deals, but giants like HP and Dell have recognised the need to do more than just supply PCs and servers. In sticking with the client market whilst branching out into services, vendors can still prosper.

You get 2,000 to get your own kit - I think it's an unnecessary expense...

For practically everyone, it is a win-win. But most of all it is a win for IT departments, simultaneously offering them tremendous agility and control.

Overcoming the problems

Enabling BYOD will be painful to begin with, however. There are a host of issues to overcome for a successful VDI-run system.

The main problems are around what is required at the back-end to support a BYOD rollout in particular how scalable it will be.

"Say your department get it for 50 people, that's great, you can manage that. But 5,000 people bringing in their own device? Are your HR policies right for it? Can you wipe those devices if they go abroad?" Illsley said. "I/O and storage are the two big issues."

There's also the need to decide what kind of virtual desktop model to punt for. Do you go down the route of asking employees to buy certain kinds of devices, or do you just make sure users can only access work apps via a client like Citrix Receiver?

"Some organisations go down the XenClient route, which will say here's some money, go and buy one of these PCs.' Because it has got XenClient on it, IT can then smack an image on it and workers can do whatever else they want with the device," the Ovum analyst told IT Pro.

"Others will say here's some money, go and get a device and we can put Receiver on it and as long as you can put Receiver on it then you can use it.'"

Citrix itself gives its workers over 2,000 to buy a device for work and play, but it needs to have support with that. Many will not want to spend so much though, as it would utterly negate the proposed benefit of reduced hardware overheads. Mark Diamond, who led the Citrix-based project at RBS, described the Citrix model as a "shambles."

"You get 2,000 to get your own kit - I think it's an unnecessary expense," Diamond said. Clearly how much goes on buying end-user devices, if any, is another area that needs much consideration.

Added to that, there's a culture shift to address, getting users to accept the new model and have them be more productive on it.

That's just a few of the complications IT needs to overcome before VDI and BYOD can be effectively implemented. Once you have BYOD in place though, its numerous comparative benefits over running non-virtualised physical infrastructure make it worth the effort.

BYOD makes sense. When it comes to wide-scale use, thin clients do not. As Diamond says, BYOD is an inevitability.

Lenovo has passed Dell in PC sales, and taken the number two spot worldwide, according to the latest figures from analysts IDC and Gartner.

The Chinese manufacturer, which owns IBM's former PC division, saw its shipments increase by 36.1 per cent, based on IDC's third quarter figures. HP, the market leader, also increased its sales, by 5.3 per cent.

The latest data gives Lenovo a 13.7 per cent market share, against 18.1 per cent for HP and 12 per cent for Dell. Dell and Acer saw their sales drop, although Taiwan's ASUS posted strong growth. Apple also continued to gain ground with both analysts ranking it third for PC shipments in the United States. According to Gartner, Apple's sales were boosted by the popularity of the MacBook Air ultraportable.

The good performance for ASUS, Apple and Lenovo masks a less positive picture for some vendors. Although HP's sales do not seem to have been affected by the company's restructuring and possible sale of its PC division, Dell suffered from lower demand from business users. "Dell's issue has been balancing profitability and market share gain," said Mikako Kitagawa, a principal analyst at Gartner. "That is a difficult task in a PC industry where high volumes and low margins are the norm."

And overall, the PC market remains sluggish, with IDC registering worldwide growth of 3.6 per cent and Gartner, just 3.2 per cent. Mature markets, especially central Europe and the US, remain tough, and PC makers also face increased competition from tablets and even smartphones. Gartner believes these have eaten in to sales of PCs to consumers.

Steve Jobs, the co-founder and former CEO of Apple, has died at the age of 56.

Tributes have been pouring in from around the globe, with US President Barack Obama saying the world had lost "a visionary."

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said he would miss Jobs "immensely," adding the man who created Apple with Steve Wozniak in 1976 had a "profound impact on the tech world."

Apple's homepage simply contains a picture of Jobs, accompanied by his name and living years (1955-2011).

"Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being," the company said on a special page dedicated to Jobs.

"Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple."

The early years

Jobs did not have a typical American childhood. Born in 1955 to university students Joanne Schieble and Syrian-born Abdulfattah Jandali, Jobs was immediately put up for adoption and was subsequently taken in by a Californian couple.

He went on to enjoy a diverse adolescence, in which he had a summer job at HP and later went on to work at Atari, where his precocious talents matured.

Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being.

After dropping out of college to travel to India where he would adopt Buddhism as his main religion something that would shape his philosophy for the rest of his life he founded Apple with school friend Wozniak in 1976. The first Apple computer was released that year.

The man who made Apple

Despite being thrown out of his own company in 1985, Jobs continued to influence the technological world. He established his own computer company NeXT, the technology of which would form the foundation of the Mac OS X. In 1986, he bought animation giant Pixar.

Ten years later, Apple welcomed him back amidst serious financial troubles and, in 1997, he became CEO. After that, he led Apple to become the hugely successful company it is now.

He oversaw the creation of now iconic devices, including the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad, as well as the massively popular range of iMacs and MacBooks.

The company now has an estimated market value of 227 billion and is the world's most valuable technology company.

Jobs became the face of Apple, presenting all the company's major launch events in his charismatic style.

His management style epitomised control. Tales of Jobs walking out halfway through interviewing job candidates or telling employees their work was not good enough within minutes of seeing it have become the thing of legend.

He was criticised by some for enforcing the so-called "walled garden" approach at Apple, making it more difficult for developers to get their apps on the App Store.

Yet Apple has gained millions upon millions of fans, leading some to compare the company to a cult.

Ill health

Jobs has suffered from health problems since 2004, when he announced he was suffering from pancreatic cancer.

In 2009, he had a liver transplant and took medical leave. He returned to the company only to take another leave at the start of 2011.

Although he was on hand to introduce the iPad 2 in March, he resigned as CEO in August, handing over the reins to the then COO Tim Cook.

RSA has offered to replace certain users' SecurID tokens following significant attacks on the security firm in March.

The company also admitted yesterday the SecurID data taken during the breaches had been used in an attack on US defence supplier Lockheed Martin.

"On Thursday 2 June 2011, we were able to confirm that information taken from RSA in March had been used as an element of an attempted broader attack on Lockheed Martin, a major US government defence contractor," said Art Coviello, executive chairman of RSA, in an open letter.

"We recognise that the increasing frequency and sophistication of cyber attacks generally, and the recent announcements by Lockheed Martin, may reduce some customers' overall risk tolerance."

RSA offered token replacement to those customers "with concentrated user bases typically focused on protecting intellectual property and corporate networks."

"We will continue to work with all customers to assess their unique risk profiles and user populations and help them understand which options may be most effective and least disruptive to their business and their users," Coviello said.

For anyone who thought tokens might be on their way out as a two-factor authentication mechanism, RSA appeared to disagree.

"We will continue to invest heavily in both our SecurID and our risk-based authentication technologies," Coviello added.

"We believe that SecurID is the most powerful multi-factor authentication solution in the industry."

Lockheed lament

RSA's confirmation of the information used in the attempt on Lockheed came after much speculation duplicates of the SecurID tokens were used in the attack.

Rick Moy, president and chief executive (CEO) of NSS Labs, claimed Lockheed had long enough to change its tokens following the strike on RSA.

"Lockheed had slightly over two months from the time that EMC notified them and other RSA SecurID customers about their breach," Moy said in a blog post.

"Based upon their remediation actions for this breach, Lockheed Martin's senior executives chose to do very little about the compromised SecurID token technology in spite of many warnings issued by security specialists about the potential aftereffects of the RSA attack."

At the time of publication, Lockheed had not offered IT PRO a response to Moy's criticisms.

Mobile operator 3 has been named as the 3G provider for the Google Chromebook launch in the UK.

In a blog post, 3 said it could not say much about the deal other than the fact it was excited by the developments.

"3 is delighted that we've been selected as the 3G connectivity partner for the Chromebook launch in the UK. We'll have more details to share in the next few weeks so stay tuned," the provider said.

However, over at the official UK Chromebook page, Google has revealed pricing of data plans for the Samsung-made laptops.

Those Chromebooks that come with integrated 3G will get a free SIM card including 3GB of free data which can be used in the first three months after activation.

Following this, users will have to pay 2.99 for a 500MB day pass, 10 a month for an additional 1GB, 15 for 3GB and 25 for 7GB.

The Samsung Chromebook is due to be released on 24 June in the UK.

Business benefits

There has been plenty of excitement surrounding the launch of Chromebooks across the world this summer.

David McLeman, from Google partner Ancoris, said the "Chromebook marks the end of the typical desktop refresh that most organisations face every three or four years."

"Before today's announcement an organisation with 100 employees would spend 165,800 over a three year period purchasing and maintaining desktop PC's," he added.

"Google's announcement of the Chromebook at a cost of $28 per user per month for a device requiring no capital expenditure, no additional OS licencing costs, no patching and without an expensive three year refresh and OS upgrade including hardware replacements and upgrades suggests a saving of at least 50 per cent over the traditional Windows desktop."

McLeman suggested businesses could now move away from Microsoft products, partly because of Citrix and VMware partnerships with Google.

"With the inclusion of Citrix Receiver (which Citrix recently announced for the iPad), business users can be freed from the constraints of a Windows PC but access their non-web applications on a web only device,'" he added.

"The launch of the Chromebook can only accelerate the adoption of web-based applications such as Google Apps for Business as a replacement for business applications such as Microsoft Office, Exchange and Sharepoint."

We don't often review desktop replacement laptops since we don't really see the point of a laptop that's too heavy to actually take anywhere on a regular basis. We decided to take a look at the new 17in 3kg MacBook Pro though as it's not only the first laptop from a major manufacturer to come with a new Intel Sandy Bridge processor, but it's also the first to come with a Thunderbolt port.

Thunderbolt is an exciting new port and cable technology from Intel that could leave USB3 in the dust. We've already taken an in-depth look at Thunderbolt and its potential for both video and storage peripherals is very promising. At the moment though it's of little practical use as there are no Thunderbolt peripherals available, but with Apple including the port on all its MacBook Pro laptops, hopefully it will take off soon.

The Thunderbolt port isn't useless though it's backwards compatible with existing Mini DisplayPort monitors and, using adapters sold separately, HDMI, VGA and DVI-equipped monitors and projectors too. We do wish at least one of these adapters had been included in the box since Mini DisplayPort monitors are fairly rare. There are also three USB2 ports and a FireWire 800 port. There aren't any USB3 ports or a SD card reader, but these can easily be added using the ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot the 17in model is the only one in Apple's laptop range to have this slot.

The 17in MacBook Pro comes with a quad-core 2.2GHz Core i7 2720QM processor and 4GB of RAM. It sped through our benchmarks with a high overall score of 165. It's the fastest laptop we've seen yet so it shouldn't have any trouble handling demanding applications for some to come. The normally whisper-quiet fan did become noticeably louder and part of the aluminium underside did become very warm when our demanding benchmarks were running though.

MacOS X can automatically switch between the two depending on what applications you're using so, theoretically, you should be able to get the best of both worlds fast 3D performance and long battery life. Oddly, some apparently mundane, undemanding applications, such as a Twitter program, can trigger the AMD chip so we wish Apple had included a way to forcibly activate the Intel chip to prolong battery life as much as possible. Third-party apps that let you do this don't yet support the new AMD chip.

The battery lasted surprisingly long for such a large and heavy laptop. It managed just under eight hours in our light usage web browsing test which puts many lighter laptops to shame. However, at 3kg we can't see many people taking the 17in MacBook Pro out and about that regularly, but if you do then at least the battery is less likely to run out at an inconvenient moment.

We were impressed by the bright, sharp-looking display. The high resolution of 1,920x1,200 pixels is large enough for working on 1080p video or for editing two Word documents side-by-side. Colours look vibrant and accurate and they don't shift in appearance if you adjust your seating position. The glossy finish does reflect light from overhead lighting very easily though the resulting glare looks very distracting. An optional anti-glare matt finish can be requested if you order from Apple, but this costs an extra 40 which is a bit rich for a laptop that already costs more than 2,000 inc VAT.

As with the other MacBook Pros, the 17in model feels rugged but still looks sleek thanks to its sturdy, slender aluminium construction. One design element we're big fans of is the MagSafe connector for the power supply. Since it connects magnetically, if someone trips over the cable then it falls away harmlessly instead of dragging the laptop to the floor or wrenching itself out of the socket, potentially damaging it.

There aren't any specialised security features, such as a fingerprint reader or smartcard slot, although that's no surprise since Apple has eschewed such features in the past. The one year warranty is also a little short. Although the warranty can be extended for an additional two years for 228 ex VAT, a longer base warranty would be preferred.

There's no Blu-ray writer built-in, even as an optional extra, which may disappoint if you want to author Blu-ray movies on the go or want to backup large quantities of data onto a single disc. There aren't any complaints about the large 750GB hard disk though. This can be substituted by Apple with a SSD up to 512GB in capacity, although this will be costly.

So what's our verdict?

Verdict

The 17in MacBook Pro is a powerful desktop replacement laptop that's also equipped with a great screen, long battery life, several useful design touches as well as a comfortable keyboard and touch pad too. It's expensive though and the lack of Blu-ray and security features will put off some. It's a niche laptop, but at least it's a good niche laptop.

Processor: Intel Core i7 2720QM, 2.2GHz Memory: 4GB 1,333MHz DDR3 RAM Graphics: 1GB AMD Radeon HD 6750M and Intel GMA 3000 Hard disk: 750GB hard disk Display: 17in 1,920 x 1,200, LED-backlit screen Features: 1.3 megapixel camera, microphone, stereo speakers Connectivity: 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR Ports: 3 x USB2, 1x FireWire 800, 1 x Thunderbolt/Mini DisplayPort, 1 x ExpressCard/34, 3.5mm headphone and microphone audio sockets Dimensions: 23x394x268mm (WxDxH) Weight: 2.9kg Warranty: 1 year C&R or customer carry-in warranty OS: MacOS X 10.6.6 Snow Leopard BENCHMARK RESULTS Image editing 156 Video encoding 180 Multiple apps 147 Overall 165 Light usage battery life – 7h59m POWER CONSUMPTION Sleep 1W Idle 25W Active 80W

With every major mobile phone release, users are treated to an ever-expanding list of advanced features. Some are more useful than others, but they represent an industry that is always on the move.

The next big feature to make our lives easier is usually only an upgrade away but we've decided to gaze a little further into the future as we anticipate where manufacturers will go next with their products. Here is our top 10 future smartphone features.

Projection

We don't have to look too far into the future for this one, with Samsung's Beam handset already offering projection, albeit in a fairly primitive form and more advanced Android based handsets on the horizon. Basic or not though, the Beam is a ground breaking device, and in projection we see a feature which we think will become a staple in future releases.

Being able to sit down in a conference room and simply view a presentation or video without waiting for laptops to be plugged in or faulty cables to be swapped out would be breath of fresh air for most business users. As technology advances we will see the extension of projection into the video conferencing environment and others.

Looking further into the future we should see mobile devices packing holographic projection. The technology, which is in its infancy currently, offers a full three-dimensional rendering of the subject and would be invaluable to any designer or architect. People in the medical profession may have to wait a while longer for full body holographics but it's certainly not a flight of fancy to assume it will arrive.

Advanced imaging

Every new camera phone released is touted as a 'compact camera replacement' but with the advancement made in the camera industry they seldom live up to their hype. We're set to get a glimpse of what's in store though with the upcoming release of Nokia's N8 smartphone, which carries an eight megapixel sensor and Carl Zeiss optics.

We've also seen huge advances in video recording, with Samsung's Galaxy S and Apple's much vaunted iPhone 4 offering 720P capture, with HTC's Desire HD also entering the fray with 720P HD video capability.

As good as these features are, they aren't good enough to usurp a compact DV or still camera and the future may well see a further coming together of big names in the photography and mobile world as industry leaders in both fields realise that people don't want to carry a camera and a mobile device. So expect to see 12 megapixels and 1080P capture, huge on-board storage and even full editing on the hoof with Photoshop and Premier among the software being used.

Augmented reality is the future. As end-users we've had our initiation with Google's 'Goggles', 'Layar', 'Wikitude' and 'Last Minute's Nru', among others, but the flow of AR technology into the marketplace is only just beginning.

We can look forward to true location awareness, enabling clients to view couriers progress in real-time, AR for emergency services, showing the location of victims of crime or accident by their cellular signal and many other greatly useful applications to make our professional lives more efficient and safer.

Aside from general advancement in AR apps, we can also expect a range of devices offering AR replacements for traditional methods of human input, ranging from projected keyboards and touchpads to eye-dialling your phone via a heads-up display while driving. AR is also likely to fill the void between 2D projection and holographic, allowing users to conference and work in a CG environment, sharing information and tools and interacting via virtual controls and workspaces.

The application of AR technology will go beyond smartphones though. Indeed, expect to see augmented advertising hoardings and other interactive media as the norm in the coming years.

Desktop replacement

As processor manufacturers continue developing smaller, less power hungry and increasingly powerful products the traditional desktop computer edges nearer and nearer the door. With tablets like Dell's Streak and Nokia's N900 we've been given almost complete desktop functionality in the palm of our hand.

The successors to those devices will be empowered by multi-core processors, advanced graphic processing units and more RAM and ROM than you can shake a stick at. Enabling users to carry out every task they could want on their handheld, and de-centralising the workplace in ways not seen since the introduction of the World Wide Web. Expect to see super-mobile, super-powerful devices that you can plug into your display when you're in the office and work on when you're on the move.

In the more immediate future we can expect to see Nokia's follow up to the geek-friendly N900, sporting ARM's latest Cortex-A9 processor and a lush capacitive touch screen, and no doubt the next generation of Apple's iPad, which also runs on hardware provided by the British chip manufacturer. The iPad may have divided the community like the business equivalent of marmite, but it certainly heralded a new approach to super-mobile computing which we feel will be the standard in years to come.

Along with the power and flexibility of tomorrow's devices we should see a leap to cloud computing in the mobile market.

With smaller, more powerful devices having the lion's share of their hard work done remotely, users could expect to have all the power that they need without having the suit ripping form factor to go with it. Also, the de-centralised storage of documents, photographs and other data would enable users to work seamlessly with colleagues and even share devices without loss of data.

The removal of brand-based constraints from applications would also be a firm benefit with mobile cloud implementation, any device, any app; so long as it's registered on the network. We believe the mobile cloud would also see the distillation of mobile operating systems, leaving users with a quicker, more labour efficient experience when working on their devices.

The mobile cloud is already in use in certain applications such as Google's Gmail and Apple's MobileMe, but with more extensive usage network infrastructure would have to be fast and stable enough to support the high amount of data transfer needed to make such a concept viable which leads us on to our next point.

4G and beyond

The arrival of 4G is imminent and with it comes a new array of functionality and speed to enhance our mobile lives. Higher specced hardware and improved network infrastructure will provide businesses with a fast and stable data connection, and the next generation of applications, some of which we have already touched on, will run smoothly and - hopefully - without a hiccup.

Keeping you connected is only part of it, the higher speeds afforded users by 4G technology will allow the delivery of high-quality media to clients, enabling you to get your marketing materials out into the world that much faster.

With a new mobile generation coming around roughly every 10 years, we can expect to see 5G implemented fully by 2020, and following current projections will likely see peak data speeds of 1Gbps.

As mobile devices evolve into more than just communications tools, security becomes ever more important. Priceless data has famously been left on trains and in cars and the potential loss of revenue from such an oversight could be huge, not to mention the embarrassment to your company.

Enter biometric security.

Fujitsu has already begun rolling out fingerprint based biometric security across some of its range and in the near future voice or even inner-ear activated devices will be widely available, allowing corporations to protect their data fully when it's not in use.

Other uses could include individual workspaces within a single device, enabling a user to pick the device up and have his or her data downloaded automatically, once their identity has been confirmed a function which could prove invaluable with shared hardware.

As our mobiles become less exception and more norm the concept of all forms of necessary data being held within our device is gathering momentum. Our credit cards, passports, insurance documents etc. could all be carried around with us in our hip pocket, securely protected and unable to be used without our presence.

Operating systems

Current mobile operating systems are almost unrecognisable when compared to the basic user interfaces of a few years a go. With every release Google's Android is becoming faster and more stable and Apple strives to add more powerful features to its cleanly designed iOS.

The divide between mobile OS and desktop OS is narrowing though and in the future we expect to see much closer integration between the two. Following the lead of the MeeGo project we're moving toward true multi-platform operating system, one which can be installed on your netbook, smartphone and workstation to allow you a seamless working environment.

We've already touched upon mobile cloud computing and the possibility of a true cloud operating system in the mould of Google's Chrome OS really excites us, it also becomes more plausible with the upcoming introduction of 4G technology.

With the implementation of some of the technologies we've discussed the door is left open for new and more convenient form factors to emerge.

Wrist watches and long, pen-like devices have been seen on the market before but are never viewed as anything more than a quirk but with evolving technology allowing manufacturers to squeeze in everything a user needs they needn't be constrained by shape and size any longer. Think all-in-one earpiece devices, working fully from voice recognition or spectacles with an AR display in one lens, the possibilities are huge and manufacturers will be able to tailor devices to specific professions with greater and greater ease.

The svelte tablet won't be disappearing though but we expect them to get thinner and tougher, with higher resolution displays and longer life batteries.

Environmental awareness

Environmental awareness

This may not be a popular choice currently but the implications of sourcing a product from sustainable, fully recyclable and non-toxic materials are far greater than any one of us can currently see.

Aside from the far-reaching environmental consequences of irresponsible manufacture we have the added concerns of demand far outstripping supply when it comes to the materials used to build our important devices.

Sony Ericsson has taken steps towards a range of eco-friendly devices with its GreenHeart initiative, which promises lower carbon emissions, reduced paper usage and between 50 and 100 per cent recycled plastics used in production. These points not only benefit Mother Nature though, as sustainable materials also serve to keep production steady and with lower transport costs.

Another feature which we fully expect to see in future devices is solar panel integration or other eco-charging solutions. What could be better than saving money whilst saving the planet?

Is it a stretch to expect our children to be educated in the development and use of mobile tech in the future? Will there be an entirely new, life-changing device, which supersedes all others rendering them obsolete? Only time will tell.

As with all predictions for the future, some will happen, some will be lost forever or consigned to the gag reel. One thing that is certain though is that smartphones and mobile devices are here to stay in whatever guise human demand causes them to take and in 10 years, you can look back at this on your shiny, new ultra hi-definition micro tablet or HUD and say you saw it here first...

Laptops are fragile things, as you'll know if you've ever accidentally dropped, driven or spilled your tea over one. Screens crack, hard disks give up the ghost; laptops just die.

But that's no good if you regularly need to access a computer outside, or your job involves using a computer while standing up. That's where rugged computers such as Motion Computing's latest tablet PC the J3500 come in.

Built with a magnesium internal frame, thick, shock-absorbing rubber on the rear and tough plastics elsewhere, the J3500 is drop, dust and water resistant. There are sealed flaps covering all the ports and sockets (two USB, D-SUB out, Gigabit Ethernet and 3.5mm audio ports on the left edge; ExpressCard 34 and SmartCard on the right), and our review model was supplied with a 128GB SSD for extra robustness.

If you can't afford that luxury, the standard 160GB mechanical disk is still shock-mounted and has drop-sensing technology built in. The screen is shock-protected, to prevent cracking or shattering, and it very feels tough push down hard on it and you'll see barely a ripple on the LCD below. If you need more protection you can specify toughened, scratch and breakage-resistant Gorilla Glass instead.

The J3500 meets both the Military specification MIL-810G for drop resistance and the IP52 standard for dust and water ingress protection (you can see the test in action on Motion Computing's website).

What this boils down to is that you can leave the J3500 outside on a building site in the rain and the likelihood is you'll be able to carry on working when you get back from your tea break You can drop it on the floor or knock it off a worktop, while it's switched on, and it'll still be working when you pick it back up again.

And, while you might expect a little extra weight with all that protection built in, the J3500 is a comparative tiddler at 1.9kg; Dell's similarly rugged, IP54-rated Latitude XT2 XFR tablet laptop weighs a more hefty 2.45kg.

Using the optional folding keyboard supplied with our review model you can also use the J3500 as a pseudo laptop/desktop replacement. Just unfold the keyboard, drop in the J3500 and off you go; there's even a touchpad built in, and with the keyboard folded away again, it clips magnetically to the base of the J3500 for transport.

Plus, there's a whole host of similarly ingenious accessories you can add, from the FlexDock - a deskbound docking station that makes it look like a standard monitor when connected - to a standalone battery charger and range of sleeves and cases.

Once you move back outside again, you'll find the sunlight-readable screen another useful touch. And instead of just one battery, you get two, offering both redundancy and hot-swap flexibility: in the event of failure you won't be stuck with a dead laptop, and when one battery runs out in the field you can detach it and insert a spare without having to interrupt your work. There's more too: flip over the J3500 and you'll find a three megapixel documentation' camera on the rear with a light for capturing pictures in low light; look to the side and you'll discover a fingerprint reader; peer inside, and you'll find Intel's top-end Ultimate-N 6300 Wi-Fi module, a mobile broadband modem, a TPM 1.2 security chip and even GPS for geotagging duties.

The Core i7-640UM's biggest selling point, though, is that it couples this fine performance with Turbo Boost to give the cores a temporary boost to 2.266GHz, Hyper-Threading to bump up the number of cores from a physical two to a logical four, and an extremely low power draw. This processor's TDP is an incredibly frugal-looking 18W.

This leads us, however, to the J3500's major weaknesses battery life. Despite boasting twin packs, the batteries that slot into the bays at the rear of the device are low on capacity (2,000mAh each), and it shows when you come to use them away from the mains. In idle with the screen on half-brightness, they lasted just four hours 39mins before both ran completely dry. That's disappointing, as each mobile worker will need at least one spare battery pack to get a full day's use and, therefore, the desktop battery charger accessory too.

The price softens the blow. In its most basic configuration the J3500 starts at 1,620 exc VAT, going up as you add to the specification until you reach our review model at 2,253, but even at that price it's good vale for a mobile computer this rugged. Dell's XT2 tablet, for comparison, although a little more water resistant, starts at a base price of 2,534.

But still, we find it rather difficult to wholeheartedly recommend the J3500. It's supposed to be a no-fuss, field computer, and it certainly has the feature set to go the distance, but its small batteries and inevitably limited battery life damage the convenience and manageability from both an end user and IT manager's perspective, and just hold it back from achieving greatness.

Verdict

A versatile and reasonably priced rugged tablet PC, but the battery life is a little disappointing.

Processor: Intel Core-i7 640UM, 1.2GHz

?Memory: 4GB 800MHz DDR3 RAM?

Graphics: Intel HD Graphics

?Hard disk: 128GB SSD

?Display: 12.1in 1366 x 766, LED-backlit, sunlight readable, Wacom dual multitouch and digitiser screen?Features: Three megapixel camera with light, fingerprint reader with TPM 1.2, microphone, stereo speakers

?Connectivity: 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR?Ports: 2 x USB, D-SUB output, SmartCard slot, ExpressCard/34, 3.5mm headphone and microphone audio sockets ?

Dimensions: 323 x 231 x 23mm (WxDxH)?Weight: 1.9kg?

Warranty: 1yr C&R warranty?

OS: Windows 7 Professional 32-bit

The sure sign that Microsoft had struggled to enthuse the market about its Windows Vista operating system, years after it was originally released, was the staggeringly high usage figures for Windows XP.

Even today, nearly nine years after it was officially launched, Windows XP remains the world's most used operating system on a day-to-day basis. MarketShare reports that Windows overall is still accounting for 91 per cent of the market, but subdivided into versions, and Windows XP seems to have an iron-like grip.

According to figures issued at the start of June, Windows XP is now accounting for 62.55 per cent of operating system usage. To set that against later iterations of the operating system, Windows Vista sits at 15.25 per cent, Windows 7 at 12.68 per cent and next up is MacOS X 10.6 at 2.34 per cent.

Migration

Microsoft is understandably keen to ensure that users migrate from Windows XP to Windows 7 (an upgrade that involves a reformat of a machine), but in spite of the success of the launch of the latter version of its OS late last year, Windows 7 is still a long, long way behind.

There are several reasons why, of course. Firstly, Microsoft hardly helped drain away XP users with its stance on the netbook market, where it was seemingly slow to react and adapt its Windows OS to take advantage of this burgeoning sector of portable computer sales.

As such, at the point major manufacturers started offering netbooks with Linux operating systems, the best Microsoft could do was scramble Windows XP, given that Windows Vista was realistically too bloated to sit on such a modest machine. From a short-term strategic standpoint, this turned out to be a wise move, as Microsoft arrested the interest in Linux on such machines and established itself as the lead operating system provide to netbooks. But it also added more numbers and market share to a product that it had been trying to phase out for years. It also meant that is had to continue supporting it for years to come.

And as a result, they haven't. Thus, every time Microsoft has looked to phase out support for Windows XP, it's had to backtrack on its plans as the mass market has shown surprisingly little interest in moving.

Deadline

There's another deadline coming up, too. From 13 July, Microsoft is stopping support for Windows XP Service Pack 2. On the same day, Windows Server 2000 will also reach the end of its support life. Interestingly, a Canadian firm, Softchoice, undertook research to discover just how many businesses in Canada and the US would be affected by this. It looked at over a quarter of a million systems as part of its research, and concluded that 45 per cent of them are still running Windows XP SP2 on their machines.

So given that support for the OS ends next month, does this mean they'll suddenly migrate? No, not at all. And here's another problem that Microsoft is facing. Because there's such a mine of knowledge with regards the foibles of Windows XP, that the end of formal support is near is less of an issue than it once was. Microsoft itself has a knowledge base of information freely available that's brought together the best part of a decade's worth of information, and the world is not short of people who can solve Windows XP problems.

Persuasion

Yet given how strong a sales pitch it made with the release of Windows 7, just how close is Microsoft coming to persuading people to change? Certainly tracing the Windows XP user statistics for the past year offers some clues. Back in July 2009, for instance, Windows XP usage stood at 72.93 per cent. And since November 2009, it's lost around seven per cent in market share. That's the biggest fall it's experienced in some time.

In the same time period, Vista too has been in decline, but it's been far steadier. In July 2009, Vista's market share stood at 17.9 per cent, and it's lost just over two per cent in the course of a year. The biggest single month drop came at the start of the year, where it nearly lost a full point of share between January and February. And since then the product has been in slow and steady decline.

Which thus leaves Windows 7. This is where Microsoft is pinning its hopes, putting together a package that accommodates many of the criticisms levelled at Vista, and providing a scaleable operating system that sits comfortably across different platforms.

And it does seem to be enjoying some success in getting people to upgrade. For the past few months, it's been gaining market share at a rate of around on per cent per month, and while its rate of acceleration is slowly, it's still easily going to overtake Vista in the next couple of months.

But what of XP? While Microsoft will be encouraged that its hold on the market is being chipped away at and it's ironic that for all the marketing dollars the firm spends, it's effectively in competition with itself here the hard fact is that it remains dominant in the market. Even if it sheds market share at a rate of 10 per cent a year to Windows 7, the two are a couple of years away from crossing, and it seems a long way off now particularly with Windows 7 take-up slowing slightly before XP won't have a strong foothold in operating system usage.

It should certainly comfortably celebrate its tenth birthday this autumn as comfortably the market leader, and comfortably the most successful and long-lasting product that Microsoft itself has put out.

Because for the best part of a decade, it's been untouchable in the operating system marketplace, with no competitor able to do anything to tackle its dominance. Right now, the problem for Microsoft is it itself is included among those who continue to fail to do so...

When starting out in a small business getting the right combination of computer hardware is vital as a wrong step can lead to wasted time and additional costs - two major issues that are best avoided.

So what are our options when it comes to an all-in-one or laptop, a notebook, and possibly a netbook which, together, should provide the required computing power to get us started in our small enterprise?

The office unit we are moving into already has a PC available for our use. However, it is a fixed Windows XP mini tower that isn't very practical when we're likely to be travelling regularly between, and working from, the office and home. With this in mind our evaluation saw us looking for just the right combination of computing equipment, which currently consists of three machines: an all-in-one (or possibly a laptop/desktop replacement), a notebook, and a netbook.

The all-in-one will run Windows 7 as its operating system, one of the Adobe graphics design studio packages - possibly Creative Suite 5 Web Premium - and Microsoft Visual Studio. The notebook will run Windows 7 and the accounting package Sage, Credit Pro and one or two other business applications together with Office 2010 for general office duties.

The netbook will be loaded minimally so it can serve as a machine that can be picked up and used on the go. Windows 7 will be a sensible operating system for the netbook if the other two machines are also running the same operating system. The use of two primary machines should also provide a safety net in case one of the core machines fails.

Upgrading to Windows 7 for Small and Midsize Businesses, especially if you are considering a migration from Vista or XP.

Fortunately, there are some options for small businesses, particularly when it comes to the notebook, including the Dell Vostro, Toshiba Satellite Pro, and the HP ProBook. For the netbook we are leaning towards the Samsung N150, or the HP Mini 210 (although we will have Windows 7 Starter Edition to contend with). The all-in-one is proving to be the most interesting so far as we have a mix of machines available, all running Windows 7 Home Premium including the HP Touchsmart, Dell Inspiron One, Sony Vaio L Series, and the Packard Bell oneTwo. One thing to remember is that the Windows 7 Anytime upgrade from Home Premium to Professional is around 100 (]and the same for the netbook Starter to Professional).

Next time we will look at regular backups and how to get our data back in case of disaster. We'll also tackle how we go about networking the machines whilst ensuring our data is safe.

Jason Slater is a columnist for IT PRO and has just set up his own company.

Comments? Questions? You can have your say below or follow Jason on Twitter here.

Google's John Herlihy isn't the first person to predict the death of the desktop PC. And he probably won't be the last.

Earlier this month at the Digital Landscapes conference in Dublin, Google's vice president in charge of global ad operations told a slightly bewildered audience that "in three years time, desktops will be irrelevant," adding that "In Japan, most research is done today on smart phones, not PCs. Mobile makes the world's information universally accessible."

Herlihy's remarks were given weight to by comments from Google's chief executive Eric Schmidt, at the Mobile World Conference event in Barcelona in February. "The new rule is mobile first," Schmidt said in his keynote speech.

"Mobile first in everything. Mobile first in terms of applications... Every product announcement we've done recently of course we'll have a desktop version but we'll also have one on a high performance mobile phone," he added.

From Google's perspective, the new mobile focus makes a lot of sense.

According to Morgan Stanley's December Mobile Internet Report, the mobile web market will eventually be double the size of the desktop web market.

"Regarding pace of change, more users will likely connect to the Internet via mobile devices than desktop PCs within five years," the report concludes.

Nor do the numbers look good for the old desktop PC. A recent IDC report looked forward to a period of global growth for the PC market leading up to 2014, but with sales of desktop PCs declining across all regions except Asia/Pacific and sales in emerging markets will just about keep the desktop alive.

At one end, the desktop PC is being hit by the growing use of smartphones, netbooks and notebooks. At the other end, it's being hit by a resurgence of interest in desktop virtualisation putting virtual systems on a server, not real ones on or under users' desks.

In February, IDC predicted that 10 per cent of new desktop deployments in the corporate enterprise would be virtual. In short, the prognosis isn't good. Is it time to wave goodbye to the descendants of the old beige box?

Only one foot in the grave

Maybe not. Look behind the headline-grabbing proclamations, the predictions and the statistics, and there are sound reasons why the desktop PC isn't going anywhere.

In fact, not all the predictions are so grim. Earlier this month, a survey by investment bank Caris and Company predicted a 15 to 20 per cent market growth for PCs in 2010, and while this would be driven by notebooks and netbooks, the company expected desktop PC sales to stop eroding, and "take on a low single-digit recovery after two years of decline, driven by emerging markets, corporate workhorse use and power gamers."

The key to the desktop PC's survival is that the days of one-size-fits-all computing are over.

As Curtis Campbell, senior product marketing manager for commercial desktops at Dell suggests: "In today's business environment, staff are increasingly looking to use their computers on their own terms. It is becoming very clear that it isn't about the desktop or laptop anymore, it's about the user experience."

For some of these users, the advantages of the notebook or netbook are compelling. Staff can work on the move, or use the same device at home or at work, and the screens are large enough and the processors powerful enough to make them a viable, all-day work solution.

Yet in some businesses, the desktop PC is undoubtedly a better choice. As Campbell notes: "Users in specific industries such as banking and customer service still require the performance and physical security provided by desktops."

For these industries, Campbell believes that "mobility is less important than security, manageability and scalability" all areas where the desktop system comes up trumps.

It's a point backed up by Andrew Barrow, desktop and visuals director for Lenovo in Western Europe. "In mature markets we continue to see demand for desktop PCs within industries such as financial services and customer support call centres, where employees primarily rely on their PC for data entry and transactional purposes."

"We also find that businesses within these industries typically do not want company PCs leaving the office," he continues. "In call centres, employees often share the same PC throughout the day. In these types of usage scenarios, the lost-cost, high security and easy management attributes of a desktop PC is preferred."

Nor should we forget that the needs of a user whose work mostly involves a word processor, email and spreadsheet are very different from a user whose work may extend to large-scale spreadsheet manipulation, application development, the editing of more visually intensive documents, or other forms of visualisation or content creation.

While it's possible to buy a large-screen laptop with the required processing and graphics horse power, it's more economical to outfit a department with desktop systems and screens.

John Swatton, UK marketing manager for Asus, is the first to trumpet the advantages of netbooks and notebooks, but even he admits that while "both netbooks and laptops offer a great balance to suit a variety of lifestyles there will always be consumers who both create and consume content from a fixed location, such as a school, library, office and even in the home."

When it comes to creating content, a desktop is simply the stronger device.

Evolution, not extinction

One more great thing about the desktop PC is its flexibility. It always has and always will evolve to meet new applications and new needs.

"While the trend is for growth in the notebook space the desktop PC is still viable," says Lenovo's Andrew Barrow. "In fact, it is reinventing itself to fill the needs of specialised markets. For example, we see high growth potential in the public and education sectors with the new commercial all-in-one desktops such as our A70z."

All-in-one PCs are certainly one of the desktop's brightest hopes. IDC predicts that the market share of all-in-one desktops will double in 2010. The likes of Asus and Acer are focusing on new form factors as well, with Intel Atom powered all-in-one net tops and small form factor PCs that clip onto monitors seen as one part of the desktop's future.

"These are ideal for everything from basic applications to full multimedia enjoyment," says Asus's John Swatton, "and their lower power consumption can deliver tremendous saving for organisations who use a large number of PCs."

This last factor is important. For a while the desktop PC has seemed like the notebooks inefficient older brother, using more energy for arguably little gain in real-world terms. Now that is changing, as more energy-efficient processors, screens, graphics processors and system architectures hit the market.

As long as this process continues, argues Dell's Curtis Campbell, "it is unlikely that desktop PCs will be replaced wholesale any time soon."

And while we'll all spend more time searching and using social networking sites on our mobiles and word processing from our laptops in the future, the desktop PC has one final ace in the whole: you can always add more performance when you need it.

"Desktop PCs continue to be attractive to business users from a scalability perspective," says Campbell. "Support for dual discrete graphics cards, high performance hard drives, wireless connectivity and numerous other productivity enhancing options is also a benefit; these offerings are less available in portable devices."

If your desktop PC can't do the job, you can adapt it. If your netbook can't? Well, it's time to move on.

These are tough times for the desktop PC, and the days of one on every corporate desk are over, never to return. All the same, reports of its demise are, for now, exaggerated.

As long as users need to create, and not just consumer content, they'll be needed. As long as users need more application power than a smartphone or netbook can offer, they'll be in demand.

While cloud-based services could one day make the hardware platform irrelevant for those who want to communicate or write a memo, it's unlikely they'll do the same for those who need to create or manage those services, analyse a mass of scientific data or produce a good-looking 50 page report.

As long as that holds true, the desktop PC will still have a place.

Toshiba is to the computing world what Toyota is to the car industry - it produces a range of machines that might not be the most racy examples of their kind, but are always solid and dependable.

The Satellite Pro L500 1D6 very much fits into this mould. It's a large laptop, weighing in at a considerable 2.72kg and it seems solidly built but its styling is unsubtle compared to other machines you might find for the money. The main chassis has a rather chunky look to it, and the glossy finish of the plastic with silver stripes is uninspiring.

Equally, the bezel around the display, containing a webcam, is large, and the rubber pads round the edges are practical but it doesn't add up to sleek looks.

For example, a similar amount will garner you an Apple MacBook, which undoubtedly is a more, desirable laptop computer, but as ever in the world of Windows, what you lose in style you gain in other areas, specifically screen size and processor power.

The L500 1D6 sports an Intel Core 2 Duo P8700, a 25W TDP Penryn based chip that speeds along at 2.53GHz and equipped with 3MB of level 2 cache and it runs on a 1,066MHz front-side bus. Sure enough, the benchmark score of 1.25 indicates that for a laptop, this is a fast machine. That said, we're starting to see laptops fitted with mobile versions of Intel's new Core i3 and Core i5 mobile processors and, inevitably, before too long this Core2Duo will seem long in the tooth.

Perhaps more impressive though is the graphics chip an ATI Radeon HD4600, which propels the 2D graphics score to a high of 1.40. This highlights the laptops strength for video playback and video editing or even a spot of light after hours gaming.

Processor and graphics are supported by 4GB of 800MHz DDR2 memory, which is good but for reasons it knows best, Toshiba has only seen fit to supply 32-bit Windows 7 on this professional range laptop, so only 2.96GHz can be addressed by the operating system.

While under our tough display tests the LCD struggled to reproduce highlights and black level detail in practice DVDs still looked smooth and impressive but only if you're seated straight on, as viewing angles were poor. However, in terms of everyday readability for business applications it can't be faulted, being bright and clear.

Leaving aside the resolution issue, the L500 makes for a very effective work machine. The chassis size has been put to good use and the keyboard is effectively full size so there are no oddly shrunk keys Backspace, Enter and the right Shift are all as they should be and you'll also find arrow keys underneath this. What's more, there's plenty of room for a full number pad on the right, which is unusual on a laptop. The only negative is that we often struck Ins, instead of Delete, which can cause issues with disappearing text.

There is also plenty of room for the track pad, and while the mouse buttons are simply plastic bulges covered in a cheap silver spray paint, at least they're easy and comfortable to use.

Above the keyboard are five large buttons Power on the left and Play/Pause, Skip and Volume mute for the others. Again, these don't look particularly pretty, but they're practical, as is the volume control dial at the front of the chassis. This also is where a memory card slot is located for SD and Sony Memory Stick. You'll also find indicator lights here for wireless, power and disc activity.

The speakers in each corner at least have a decent volume level to match their size, and have a better mid-range than most laptop speakers.

On the right hand side of the machine you'll find a DVD drive that can handle any type of disc you can throw at it save for Blu-ray, while fixed storage comes from an average 5,400rpm 400GB hard disc, which should be more than enough for most local storage needs. An old-school modem and a Kensington lock make up the ports on the rear.

In terms of software you'll find a trial version of Office 2007 we'd uninstall that and download the beta of Office 2010 instead. Security is also provided by a system recovery utility, which is activated by hitting F8 on boot-up.

Toshiba also offers its own power saving eco utility, which usefully integrates itself into Windows 7 as a power profile. Out battery tests use Windows standard balanced setting, so the eco setting could improve on the singularly unimpressive one hour 14 minutes we obtained from the heavy use test, and the two hours 48 minutes we achieved in the light use test. Considering the size of the notebook and the beefy processor, unspectacular battery life was to be expected, but even so, these figures are disappointing.

The Toshiba's strength then lies as a straightforward, no frills, desktop replacement system, that's practical as long as you don't need to venture too far from a power plug. The highlight is the full-size keyboard, and the clear bright screen, but the low resolution and the lack of Gigabit Ethernet are low points you need to be aware of before purchasing.

Verdict

The Toshiba is not a stylish machine, but it is solid, dependable and speedy, which for most companies will be a priority. The downsides are a relatively low screen resolution, and non-Gigabit Ethernet, but if you want an easy to read display, a full-size keyboard and plenty of grunt, the Toshiba Satellite Pro L500 1D6 delivers good value.

Processor: Intel Core2 Duo P8700 2.53GHz Memory: 4GB (2.96GHz addressable) Hard disk: 400GB Toshiba MK4055GSX Display: 15.6in 1,366 x 768 LCD Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon HD4600 Series Optical drive: DVD Super Multi (Double Layer) drive, HL-DT-ST GT20N DVD-RAM, 8x DVD-ROM, 6x DVD-RW, 8x DVD-R, 8x DVD-RW Connectivity: 802.11n Wi-Fi, Fast Ethernet, Bluetooth Ports: 2 x USB 2.0, 1xHDMI, 1x e-SATA, headphone, microphone, VGA, SD card slot Extras: Kensington lock, volume control, OS: Windows 7 Professional 32-bit Dimensions: 383 x 259 x 35.5mm Weight: 2.72Kg

The majority (80 per cent) of businesses will overspend by as much as 15 per cent on wireless services by 2014, according to Gartner.

"Our research shows that the majority of companies are not adequately managing their mobile users or services," said Phil Redman, research vice president at Gartner.

As mobility has grown among businesses, so have costs and enterprises need to become better at managing such overheads, according to Gartner.

"They need to look more closely at their key user segments and requirements in order to match those needs with the right services and optimize their spending," added Redman.

If they wish to reduce the costs associated with increased mobility, Gartner said that businesses will have to focus their management into four key areas: contract, international roaming, mobility management, and desktop replacement.

Redman said businesses need to move away from individual contract plans for employees, and adopt corporate liability plans instead. This will allow for better control of costs through the optimisation of wireless services and corporate discounts.

Redman added that there is no "magic" answer for reducing international roaming charges.

But by switching to smartphones and obtaining specific package deals for remote users, companies will reduce costs linked to using international wireless data.

The report said businesses should be looking to adopt outsourced services, such as telecom expense management (TEM) in addition to unified communications, linking landlines to mobile devices, to effectively manage the costs associated with increasing business mobility.

Sometimes you don't want a desktop machine particularly if you don't like to work from home and want something that can be tidied away. The Sony VAIO VGN-AW21XY/Q sets its stall out as an true desktop replacement powerhouse thanks to several attributes, not least its stunning screen. As well as boasting a diagonal width of 18.4in and a native resolution of 1,920 x 1,080, helped as it is by RGB LED technology.The extra two inches mean that the panel's sheer vivacity and sharpness look very impressive. And we were also pleased to note that the colours weren't quite as saturated as they were in the Studio XPS, which required tweaking before looking its best. The VAIO required no such adjustments and is one of the best laptop screens we've ever seen - ideal for both work and play in equal measure.Sony's audio heritage means that the VAIO doesn't boast brand label speakers, but the pair you get - in concert with the single subwoofer - combine to produce plenty of volume and impressive clarity.The commitment to quality extends to the chassis, which is one of the sturdiest and most stylish we've seen. There aren't many flashy touches - the VAIO logo across the glossy lid and the green ring around the hinge is about as extravagant as this machine gets - but the leather across the wrist-rest and glowing media buttons just ooze class.The familiar scrabble-tile keyboard is one of the best examples we've tried too, offering more travel and a more positive action than keyboards of the Apple MacBook Air or the more recently-reviewed 17in MacBook Pro.The trackpad is another highlight: it's wide and responsive pad with a pair of comfortable buttons. And, scattered around the chassis is a decent selection of ports and sockets, including USB, Gigabit Ethernet, FireWire and an HDMI output.

Verdict

The RGB LED screen, Blu-ray writer and awesome specification result in the best all-round desktop replacement on the market.

Processor: 2.93GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile T9800 Memory: 4GB 800MHz DDR2 RAM Storage: 500GB hard disk, 2 x 64GB SSD in RAID 0 Optical drive: Blu-ray writer Graphics: Nvidia GeForce 9600M GT graphics Display: 18.4in 1,920 x 1,080 TFT Ports: VGA, HDMI; 3 x USB Connectivity: 802.11abg + draft-n; Gigabit Ethernet; ExpressCard/34; FireWire; 3-in-1 card reader; webcam OS: Windows Vista Ultimate Warranty: 1yr RTB Dimensions: 437 x 386 x 40mm Weight: 3.8kg.

The release candidate of Windows 7 is out today for MSDN and Technet subscribers.

We've already looked at the most important business features that will be coming to the operating system (OS), but now we look some of the most compelling overall end-user features that will make a difference to you on the desktop. Some are small, and some are major, but taken all together it makes for the most exciting upgrade for Windows users since the arrival of Windows XP.

1. Speed

Even aside from incompatibilities and other issues that many people had with Vista, one of the most straightforward was speed it just felt too sluggish compared to XP, even on pumped up hardware. Windows 7 brings a more responsive and sprightly feel and Microsoft has spent a lot of time and effort getting the Start Menu response just right.

Microsoft has also recognised the need for improved desktop responsiveness, which gives the impression that the computer is responding to the user and that they are in control something that was often lacking with Vista.

You can also expect faster boot times. And the boot sequence is now not only prettier than it was with Vista, but it's speedier too.

2. Compatibility

In simple terms, compatibility on Windows 7 will be far better than it was with Vista. Many programs that individuals and companies used on Windows XP did not work immediately and required updates, but with Windows 7 almost all applications that work on Vista should still run.

In essence, Windows Vista has done most of the hard work for Windows 7 in this respect.

3. Lower hardware requirements

Vista gained a reputation for making even the beefiest hardware look rather ordinary. Windows 7, however, will run well on lower end hardware, making the transition from Window XP less painful.

Microsoft is even pushing Windows 7 for netbooks. This could provide a modern replacement for Windows XP, which has found a new lease of life as the OS of choice on netbooks, supplanting Linux. The downside is that Windows 7 Starter Edition, as it will be called, will be limited to only three applications running at the same time.

4. Search and organisation

One of the best things about Windows 7 is the improved search tool, which now rivals Mac OS X's Spotlight to be able to find what you need quickly and easily. For example, typing mouse' will bring up the mouse option within the control panel or typing a word will display it and split it up neatly into files, folders and applications.

Also introduced is the concept of Libraries, which takes the My Documents' concept a stage further. The various Libraries, such as Documents and Pictures, will watch multiple locations which you can add yourself, so you don't have to keep everything in one place.

5. TaskBar/Start menu

At first glance, the task bar looks like nothing has much has changed since Vista. In fact, that's not the case and it's a lot more powerful. Microsoft is now making best use of its aero technology. By default, taskbar icons are now larger and items are grouped together and are not labelled with clumsy text.

If you have multiple Word documents or Windows Explorer windows open then you'll see a stack appear on the task bar. Hover the mouse over the app and each Window will be visible in a thumbnail. Hover over each thumbnail and it will become visible, while all other open windows temporarily disappear, save for their outlines. You can close each document or Window down from the thumbnail directly or click on it to bring it to the front.

Even better, this works with individual tabs in Internet Explorer 8, though unfortunately not Firefox.

Right clicking gives a Jump menu , giving you speedily access to recent documents and you can pin apps of your choice directly to the taskbar.

In the Start menu, a small arrow to the right of applications such as Word now expands to give a list of recent documents and any can be pinned so you can keep one permanently on the list.

Our favourite new visual feature is called Aero Shake'. If you have a multitude of Windows open but want to focus on just the one you can all you have to do is grab it by the title bar (at the top) and shake with the mouse. This minimises all the other Windows leaving just the one you've grabbed on the desktop.

7. Stacking

Another great touch is Stacking. You simply drag a Window to the sides of your screen and it will stick automatically to the side filling half the screen, making it quick and easy to view documents side by side. Move to the top and it will maximise to the whole screen.

8. Peace from UAC

Vista's User Account Control (UAC) was one of the headline annoyances in Windows Vista. In a reaction to malware problems, the Windows designers introduced the UAC, a dialogue box that popped up every time you made any changes to Windows when installing apps. It proved quite annoying, especially to power users who tended to turn it off straight away, thereby negating any benefit it might have.

In Windows 7, a slider has been added, enabling users to tone down its nagging factor, making you less likely to turn it off completely. It works too and one or two notches down should be enough for most. In this state it actually gives more confidence that your OS is looking after you.

9. Gamma curve

The display properties now boast a useful gamma curve feature enabling you to calibrate your display. Set aside 10 minutes to go through it carefully and you can really give your monitor image a boost, which will pay dividends when you're sitting in front of a screen all day. Think of it as a free monitor upgrade.

10. Touch

The most whizz-bang visual feature to come to Windows 7 is its touch capability. This of course will only be available to those with a touch enabled PC, such as HP's Touch Smart range, but for those suitably equipped it will provide a new way of interacting with their PC.

The video will let you open apps from the taskbar, scroll up and down by flicking, and zoom and rotate pictures by holding and turning. Tap and holding reveals right-click' context menus. At present, it's mainly used for kitchen based media centres but it could add a whole new wow factor to corporate presentations at least until the novelty wears off.

When deciding which operating system - or platform - is best for business, there are a number of considerations you'll have to take into account, such as which handles email in the most efficient way, whether browsing is clear enough for online applications, and which platforms are best to carry out multiple functions.

Blackberry for example, syncs all office applications including POP and IMAP email with its Enterprise Server. Windows for Mobile utilises Microsoft's exchange server, while the iPhone utilises Apple's own MobileMe platform for push email.

Matt Hatton, principal analyst at Analysys Mason, believes that when deciding which OS is best for business comes down to survival of the fittest.

"The business market differs from the consumer market in two ways. There's the need for reliability and the availability of IT support in business applications, and in consumer markets, open models will dominate," he explained.

"The business market demands a rather more managed approach. An end-to-end managed environment is more in keeping with the demands of business. That's why a company like RIM is so successful with the Blackberry product. It controls all elements of the service including device, application and server to ensure the optimal user experience."

The contenders

However, James McCarthy, head of business marketing at Microsoft, believes that the familiarity a platform such as Windows provides for business people is one of the most important factors when deciding which OS to choose.

"Windows brings the familiarity of Microsoft Office to the mobile device, including Outlook Mobile, Word Mobile, Excel Mobile and PowerPoint Mobile. Through these we deliver a great deal of similarity from PC screen across to mobile screen."

"Outlook Mobile can be securely enabled on Windows Mobile devices without the need for any additional software or servers, just with a relatively inexpensive data bundle' from the mobile operator," he told IT PRO.

"This makes delivering Outlook Mobile to all employees a very cost effective use of existing company assets more so than mobile email solutions that require additional servers and expensive tariffs."

David Wood, part of the Leadership Team at the Symbian Foundation, thinks that platform support and development is one advantage that Symbian has over other platforms.

"Symbian is the only platform with roadmap input from a range of the world's leading mobile companies. It has a uniquely proven capability in both roadmap design and roadmap delivery.

"We have healthy and productive relationships with network operators around the world and support a wide range of hardware, device form factors, and user interface models - offering great choice to both consumers and business people," he said.

"The powerful ecosystem of partners means that we can quickly provide new solutions catered for specific consumer and business use."

Examining applications

When examining which platform is most useful for business, there are two main considerations, said Hatton.

"There are horizontal applications that are relevant to all business, such as email, web browsing. Other than voice, email is probably the single most used application, simply because it is such an integral part of how we do business today.

A well-implemented email application can save businesses time and money.

"As little as a 15 minute per day time saving is enough to pay for a mobile email solution for most businesses," Hatton explained.

McCarthy explained how Windows brings together these two elements.

"Windows is the platform of choice for line-of-business applications for businesses who want to give their field-based' workers direct connectivity to business processes. If you've ever signed for a parcel on your doorstep directly on to a mobile device, it's almost certainly running Windows Mobile and is connected to very efficient processes that reduce cost and waste, while improving competitiveness of the delivery company as a business."

The question of openness is another important factor when considering which platform is best for business. The possibility of developing and more installing applications that benefit business means that a mobile phone can become an office on the move.

App stores

Application stores were one of the main talking points of Mobile World Congress last week, with companies including RIM, Microsoft, Google and Symbian launching or revamping an application marketplace in the face of Apple's version.

Hatton explained that this puts the vendors into a certain amount of conflict with mobile network operators who historically have controlled the sale of applications, at least to consumers.

Wood said: "Symbian's open source and open processes will encourage and support a much greater range of third party innovation, resulting in numerous new and improved enterprise applications and services. We're being transparent with our roadmap and decisions, as well as with our source code."

There are more than 18,000 known mobile applications available for the Windows Mobile platform according to McCarthy.

In Hatton's opinion, you have to go a long way to beat RIM, despite its application marketplace being one of the newest.

"Businesses benefit from a controlled ecosystem even if it means that some third-party innovation is lost. RIM's dominance of the enterprise space is based on tight control of the end-to-end user experience.The company has also recently been putting a lot of effort into extending the range of third party applications supported by their devices," he added.

"The big issue is that we're seeing an increasing fragmentation of the application development environment, meaning that application developers need to produce more and more different versions of their applications to sell across multiple platforms."

Hardware choices

When it comes to hardware range, Windows and Symbian lead the way, with a large number of manufacturers taking on the platforms.

"Windows Mobile offers a wide choice of devices, of all shapes and sizes some have keyboards, some have numeric keypads, some are even ruggedised' which makes them suitable for delivery drivers and other outdoor workers who need something tougher," McCarthy said.

Symbian has been taken on by Nokia, Samsung plus Sony Ericsson and this is set to increase too, with the formation of the Symbian Foundation that brings together major players including Nokia, Sony Ericsson and LG.

The three main smartphone platforms each have advantages; Blackberry's business-controlled environment gives IT managers complete control over features, whether it be synching or email, while Windows is the most familiar platform for those using PCs. Symbian has the support of major telecoms companies, but only time will tell if it can sustain its focus on business rather than consumer devices.

For the latest mobile phone news and reviews, check out Know Your Mobile.

Dell has announced a new line of Latitude and Precision laptops aimed at the business market ranging from ultra-portables to mobile workstations, but failed to reveal the much rumoured netbook.

The worldwide announcement revealed the ultra-portable 12.1 inch Latitude E4200 which Dell said at 1kg was its lightest commercial notebook in its history. It also announced the bigger and more powerful Latitude E4300 with a 13.3 inch screen but a weight of 1.54kg.

For photos of the new laptops, click here.

The E4200 and E4300 were expected to have the new technology Dell Latitude ON in the coming months which Dell claimed would offer access to e-mail, calendar, attachments, contacts and the web without having to boot up the main operating system.

It's mid-ranged Mainstream' models were the 14.1 inch Latitude E6400 and 15.4 inch E6500, designed to be desktop replacements for customers wanting high performance. Prices started at 709 and 729 respectively. One of the main points Dell highlighted was the fact that the E6400 would have 19 hours battery life, based on lab testing.

The cheapest models were the 14.1 inch Latitude E5400 and the 15.4 inch Latitude E5500, which both started at 469. It also revealed a semi-rugged' model designed to face military style conditions the 14.1 inch E6400 ATG which started at 899.

Dell also revealed that end user demand meant that Latitude notebooks were to be available in different colours, including regatta red, regal blue and quartz pink.

The new Precision laptops - which are more powerful and with stronger performance aimed at engineering, media, entertainment and the bioscience industries - were the 15.4 inch M4400 at 939 and the 14.1 inch M2400 at 889.

Dell chief marketing officer Mark Jarvis said that the new line of laptops focused on design and durability, as well as all day computing'.

"Users don't want to be tied to an outlet, they don't want to be changing batteries all the time, they want to be connected to their email and everything else," he said. "We focused on having batteries that ran for 19 hours a day and with Latitude ON this thing will run for days, up to a week."

One announcement conspicuous by it absence was news of the new 'netbook', the tiny laptop which Michael Dell showed off last year.