Optima Centoris KN 5185

The Centoris KN 5185 is a hefty notebook with a large (15.4in) screen, but there is nothing large about its price tag - the 5185 is a relatively inexpensive Centrino platform. It performed well in our tests (scoring 86 in PC WorldBench 5) and is a very capable notebook for running everyday applications. The unit has two spindle devices installed; a roomy 80GB hard drive and a versatile DVD burner.

Being a Centrino model, there is an 802.11b/g Wi-Fi adapter built in, and you can also go online through the 10/100 Ethernet and 56Kbps modem ports.

The one aspect of this notebook that stood out was its relatively long battery life. Its eight-cell battery looped a DVD for 2hr 43 min in our tests, which is perfect for catching a few of your own flicks on a plane trip, for example. The unit may be a little too large for comfortable use on the pull-down trays found on most planes though - its base is 365mm wide and 260mm deep.

As for ease of use, the keyboard does not take up all of the available real estate on the wide base, which means there are still half-size function and navigation keys to deal with, but the palm rests are huge. We found the overall build quality of the Centoris KN 5185 to be adequate; not quite rugged, but not flimsy either, which is indicative of its price range. Optima ships the unit with a soft case.