Compaq Presario 725US Notebook (Athlon-4 1600+, 256 MB RAM, 20 GB hard drive)

If speed is what you crave, the 725US delivers. Rated at 1.4 GHz, its AMD mobile Athlon 4 1600+ processor is one of the fastest you'll find inside any portable computer. This robust chip is equipped with AMD's QuantiSpeed architecture to further aid in the collection and distribution of data, and a generous 512 KB of ultrahigh-speed Level 2 cache to enhance performance during complex computing situations. Factor in the system's 256 MB of 133 MHz SyncDRAM (upgradeable to 384 MB) and 32 MB ProSavage KN133 video card, and you have a power plant capable of running just about anything thrown its way.

Sporting a sleek design and a futuristic two-tone, black-on-silver color scheme, the Presario 725US looks substantially more stylish than many of its notebook peers. It tips the scales at a comfortable 6.4 pounds and measures in with a slightly larger than average 10.6-by-12.4-by-1.64-inch profile. Compaq has put these dimensions to good use by installing several desirable perks, such as a large 20 GB hard disk, a 3.5-inch disk drive, a 56K ITU V.92 PCI modem, and a combination CD-RW/DVD drive. The latter offers solid but not spectacular performance, playing compact discs at 24x, recording and re-recording them at 4x, and playing DVDs at 6x.

You'll watch your movies and other applications on a crisp 14-inch LCD display capable of 1,024 x 768 resolution and 16 million colors, and listen to your CDs and multimedia through a high-end bass reflex JBL speaker system that delivers surprising bottom-end punch. And you won't have to press a bunch of keys to do it. The 725US keyboard is equipped with numerous one-touch multimedia, Internet, and e-mail buttons, plus a scroll wheel and touchpad for convenient navigation.

The unit's roster of ports includes two USB jacks for plug-and-play peripherals such as joysticks and digital cameras, a single parallel port for printers, a 10/100 Mbps Ethernet network connection, an all-purpose PC Card slot, a PS2 jack for a mouse or keyboard, a VGA video-out for external monitors, S-video TV-out, and speaker and microphone ports. Microsoft's latest operating system, Windows XP, and an assortment of Internet, multimedia, and information applications round out this impressive package.