Toshiba Qosmio F25-AV205

The Qosmio F45 sports a glossy black finish reminiscent of the Toshiba Portege R400-S4931. The previous version, the Qosmio F25-AV205, had a funereal looking matte finish. The F45 is much better looking, and it's lighter than the F25 compared with the 9.9 pound G45, it's almost three pounds lighter, at 6.8 pounds.

It's not as light as the 5.8 pound HP Pavilion dv6500t a competitor that can also be outfitted with an HD DVD drive but of this crop, the Qosmio F45 arguably has the sleekest and most attractive design.

With a smaller frame comes a smaller (15.4-inch) screen, though its 1,280 by 800 resolution is more than capable of handling high definition content at 720p.

The 1,920 by 1,200 resolution on the G45 is rated at 1080p, which might be significant to an HDTV expert, but a typical user would be hard pressed to detect any visual differences between 1080p and 720p resolutions, especially on a 15.4 inch screen. (Very few 15.4 inch laptops are 1080p.

The Panasonic Toughbook T52 is one of them, but it doesn't come with any HD drives.) The F45 is fine for watching video, editing digital photos, and viewing PowerPoint presentations.

The system has a full size keyboard, which flexes a little toward the center. The Apple MacBook Pro 15 inch (LED) has a more rigid keyboard, and so does the HP dv6500t. The media buttons above the keyboard are physical buttons, not the touch sensitive ones that are found on the G45-AV68.

The back light volume dial and arrow scroll wheel are unique to the Qosmio line and can be invaluable when you're cranking up the volume or navigating the Web.