If Apple's new lappies are too expensive for your blood and Toshiba's R500 too small, check out the new Tecra M8. It's got a medium-size 13.3-inch screen and a friendlier ($1,399) starting price than both machines. What's under the hood, you ask? Let's just say this Centrino Duo-based notebook won't disappoint.

Inside you'll get one of the new Core 2 Duo CPUs, 802.11n and Intel's Turbo Memory, which can be used to save battery life and bump up your system's performance. The notebook's HDD is also smart enough to park itself when it senses a drop and there's a fingerprint reader to keep everything secure. I'd still choose the R500 over this model, but this is a nice compromise if you don't like ultra-small notebooks. – Louis Ramirez

Press Release

Contact information for this author is not available.