According to Dell, a business notebook is one that doesn’t come with a shedload of trial software you have to delete before you can do anything useful. The new Vostro small business notebooks don’t have trialware pre-installed but they do have useful business software for online backup, network setup, support and performance tuning. HP and Lenovo have had similar tools on their business systems for some time.

Nearly all business laptops have a fingerprint sensor and a TPM chip, so you can encrypt your whole hard drive and log in securely; if you lose the machine, any confidential data stays secure. HP and Lenovo have their own encryption software and business versions of Vista come with encryption. Lenovo also lets you disable any ports you don’t plan to use for security. You’re more likely to see a PC Card slot than ExpressCard, so you can use the same peripherals as existing machines in the office. HP’s Compaq nc6400 has a Smart Card reader for logging into a corporate network. And when less than four hours of battery life is common for business laptops the nc6400 excels with around five hours.

Because of Vista, even basic integrated graphics chipsets support DirectX 10 for Aero glass and business machines may have built-in Webcams, but that doesn’t mean they’re ready for modern games and don’t expect high-quality sound. Processors are mainly Core Duo and Core 2 Duo. Centrino Pro combines the new Santa Rosa Core 2 Duo processor with vPro remote management, hardware firewall and virtualisation technology, making it easier for a business to secure and maintain notebooks that don’t spend much time in the office.