3.

The Dell Inspiron M101z ultraportable laptop is small and light and offers decent performance for everyday tasks. It's the type of notebook you should consider if you want something that's about the same size as a netbook, but which offers better performance. Our only quibble with this notebook is that its screen is of poor quality, but that's to be expected for such an inexpensive ultraportable. Overall, we like it.

4.

With a low price and lots of great features, the Medion Akoya E7216 (MD98550) is a great alternative to big-brand entry-level notebooks. It's a 17.3in laptop and it's not pretty, but it has a solid configuration and modern conveniences such as USB 3.0 and HDMI that really set it apart from the competition. It goes on sale at Aldi supermarkets on 27 January, 2011.

5.