Acer TravelMate 4600 Series

The Acer TravelMate 4600 provides more than enough performance, battery life, and features to satisfy home and small-business users interested in simple tasks such as e-mailing, Web surfing, and document creation. We think its $1,149 price tag is pretty good, though you should know that Acer skimps on phone support. If 24/7 help is important to you, look to slightly more expensive laptops, such as the HP Compaq Presario V4000 or the Gateway M460S.