Core Duo notebooks are coming in a rush now, with Asus today announcing two notebooks using Intel's dual core CPU, plus we're currently testing the Lenovo (IBM) X60 Thinkpad - the newest model in its ultra portable range.

Asus is not that well known for its notebooks, but those we've had in our labs have been impressive enough. It's two new models are the A7J and W2J, which use the 1.83GHz T2400 and 2GHz T2500 processors respectively.

Both machines are pretty well spec'd, with ATI's X1600 Mobility Radeon graphics, 1GB of memory, inbuilt digital and analogue TV tuners and 1.3megapixel web cams. The A7J has a healthy (for a laptop) 100GB hard drive, while the smarter W7J has 120GB.

That model, which costs £1,999, also has Dolby Home Theater 5.1 surround sound. The  £1,399 A7J has Dolby Digital Live sound.

As for the Thinkpad X60: our first impressions are don't be fooled by its Plain Jane looks. This is a sturdy, well-built workhorse with fantastic battery life. Our only disappointment so far is its paltry 512MB Ram - it really should be double that.