Asus N80Vc laptop

Computer maker Asus is fast becoming well known among home users for its Eee PC range of mini-notebooks but it's still making the larger models such as the N80Vc.

Being bigger, the N80Vc is more powerful than its Eee cousins and is somewhere in between being a multimedia computer and business PC, with a 14in screen

Although the screen was supposed to be an anti-glare model, we were disappointed to see that in it still suffered from reflected bright light. This was a shame because it's otherwise an excellent screen, with a crystal-clear picture that made watching movies a pleasure. Unlike a mini-notebook, it has a CD drive, which can read and write CDs and DVDs but not the newer Blu-ray discs.

The N80Vc uses an Intel Core 2 Duo T5800 processor, and it has 3GB of memory, both of which are impressive for a laptop and allow it to easily run high-end programs such as video editors and games. The 320GB hard disk can be used to store music, video, photos and other documents. It's loaded with Microsoft's Vista Home Premium operating system, and it can connect to Bluetooth, wireless networks, and there is a webcam built into the screen.

There's also a memory card reader, HDMI output for connecting to flat-panel televisions, five USB ports and a VGA monitor connection. The wired network connection is the fastest, newest kind and there is an eSata port for connecting newer external hard disks.

We were also impressed with the way the laptop handled games. The N80V has an Nvidia Geforce 9300M GS graphics card with 512MB of memory. This meant it was able to handle even quite new games in high quality without much trouble. The graphics card also has an option to switch off its higher-end features (which are used mainly for gaming) to save battery life if you only want to do simple things such as word processing.

As well as being fit for music and video the N80Vc laptop also has nice touches for business users. It comes with a fingerprint reader, which can be used to log in to the computer and to websites and other programs, and which we found was easy to set up.

The Asus Express Gate feature allows users to show music, video and browse the web without loading Windows. Although this was impressive it's annoying that it loads each time the PC is switched on, and you need to press a button to continue loading Windows, adding to the start-up time.

The N80Vc is 14in wide and 2.6kg, which makes it easily portable at 2.6kg. Overall, it offers an excellent mix between performance and portability, and at the asking price it represents very good value indeed.