WHAT'S HOT: The Sharp Actius RD10 will keep you well connected with its four USB 2.0 ports, a FireWire port, an S-Video-out port, and three slots on the front for Memory Stick, Secure Digital, SmartMedia, and CompactFlash media. It also has built-in 802.11b Wi-Fi and a 60GB hard drive. The keyboard is big and comfy and almost soundless.

Though we haven't tested any other 2.8-GHz Pentium 4-equipped notebooks, the Actius RD10 performed in line with what we would expect from a notebook with such a fast chip. It earned a PC WorldBench 4 score of 123--about 10 percent higher than the score of 112 earned by a Toshiba Satellite 1955-S803 that came with a slightly slower desktop chip, the 2.5-GHz Pentium 4.

WHAT'S NOT: The RD10 measures over 2 inches thick and weighs more than 10 pounds (not including the power adapter). Add to that a battery life of just 1.7 hours (based on our tests), and you have a notebook that's workable as a desktop replacement, but a bear to travel with.

WHAT ELSE: Though its features are not always elegantly executed, the RD10 offers most of those you'd look for in a desktop replacement. A fixed DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drive is on one side of the notebook, and a fixed floppy drive is on the other, but no multipurpose bay. The hard drive is fairly easy to remove if you want to replace or upgrade it, but to reach the RAM sockets you must remove a deep-set screw on the bottom of the machine and then peel back the keyboard.

The speakers, which are located above the keyboard, emitted surprisingly thin sound for such a large notebook. The keyboard, while comfortable, boasts few extras--there are no quick-launch buttons or volume controls. You do get a big shortcut button at the top for switching the screen to maximum brightness, but annoyingly, pressing the button again doesn't return the screen to dim--you have to use a keystroke combination for that.

UPSHOT: Its big case, unwieldy weight, and battery life of under 2 hours make the RD10 a poor traveling companion. But for around the home or office, the Sharp has just about everything you'd need for a mobile desktop.

SUMMARY

Sharp Actius RD10 PC WorldBench 4 score of 123, 2.8-GHz Pentium 4, 512MB of DDR SDRAM, Windows XP Home, 15-inch XGA screen, NVidia GeForce4 420 Go with 32MB of DDR SDRAM, 60GB hard drive, 8X DVD-ROM and 24X/10X/24X CD-RW combo drive, built-in V.90 modem, 10/100 ethernet port, touchpad pointing device, 12.2-pound weight (including AC adapter and phone cord). One-year parts and labor warranty; lifetime 24-hour daily toll-free technical support. $2199 800/237-4277 www.sharpsystems.com