Asus Bamboo

There is a holy grail in laptop computing, a magical combination of processor power, battery life, portability and size, which numerous companies have been trying to find. There are desktop replacements that tick the power box but weigh a ton, and ultra-portables (AKA lilliputers, AKA netbooks) that err on the too-small side, many not even featuring full-sized keyboards or with the power to do more than basic tasks.

Asus is becoming known for its netbooks, having kicked it all off with its Eee last year. The Bamboo is a step up: a lightweight laptop with a Core 2 Duo processor, 12.1in screen, full-sized keyboard and Vista Home Premium. But it didn't stop there, deciding to make the laptop as green as possible, no more noticeably than by encasing the entire machine in bamboo. As well as making the laptop even lighter, it also gives it a stylish feel. Even the trackpad is bamboo - however, that's a touch too far: the buttons are sticky and difficult to use.

The mix of metal and wood works quite well, with the bamboo absorbing some of the excess heat that computers always produce, while the metal makes the keyboard and screen stand out. The result is a designer feel - for which you'll pay: the price tag is £1,349, which includes a matching mouse, sleek leather case and a promotional Filofax.

Inside, the Bamboo has everything you'd expect from a larger laptop: a DVD drive; 8-in-1 card reader; Nvidia GeForce 9300M graphics card; Wi-Fi; a built-in webcam; fingerprint recognition; and a choice of hard drive size (from 160GB to 320GB). This is what makes the Bamboo so startling: that something so small can be that powerful. The fingerprint scanner is a nice touch, but in practice is awkward to use and doesn't always recognise your fingerprint.

And the battery life isn't spectacular. At full power I got just under an hour of work done before needing to recharge. But the Bamboo can handle Vista's more memory-intensive features quite nicely and the keyboard is a joy: the keys are the same as those on a 15in laptop, so there's no fear of cramp or RSI.

Yes, it's expensive. But the Bamboo is a beautiful little machine. You could buy a powerful PC for half the price but if you want to stand out there is nothing quite like it on the market. It's not the holy grail - the battery life being the signal failure - but the thing about the holy grail is you keep on looking for it, don't you?

Pros: Stylish, environmentally friendly, lightweight and powerful

Cons: Sticky trackpad button and short battery life

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