Acer Aspire 5920

The media controls include a button for launching Acer's Arcade interface, which provides direct access to HD DVD movie and music playback without your having to boot up Windows. Both sounded great through this notebook's subwoofer-assisted stereo speakers. The 'e' button--a blue sparkly triangular piece of keyboard trim that looks like a faux gemstone--puts sound equalizer options such as rock, pop, and classical within easy reach. This laptop also includes a 1.3-megapixel Webcam. Unfortunately, the option to get an integrated TV tuner for the 5920G is available only in Europe and Asia.

The 5920G felt comfortable to use. The mouse buttons are slightly stiff, but the four-way scroll button for moving pages in any direction is nice. Overall its keyboard is great, especially for shortcut fans. Though the super-glossy Acer CrystalBrite screen reflects fluorescent office lights unless you tilt it just right, it's bright and easy to read otherwise.

This Windows Vista Ultimate home notebook lacks bundled applications, but it has power and style to spare. Short-list this one if you're on the prowl for a trendy home desktop replacement.

Carla Thornton