Office work doesn’t require cutting edge laptop technology, but a good level of performance and reliability ensures a productive work rate. A mid range processor such as Intel’s Core Duo will meet your needs, but if you are working on a tight budget, consider the Intel Celeron.

Choosing the right operating system is important for business machines. Choose Windows XP Pro, Vista Business or Vista Ultimate is you are connecting to a corporate network. Vista Home Premium is fine for Home office machines on small networks where the level of network control required is limited.

The minimum recommended amount of memory for office work depends the operating system. XP Pro will run on 512Mb whereas Vista really needs at least 1Gb to shine.

Hard drives of 80GB will be ample to store all your documents and files, but if you are planning to store music or video as well, a larger hard drive would be a worthwhile investment.

Obviously as with all recommendations it’s best to try and match the specification to the usage your laptop is going to get. If you are a power user working with large spreadsheets and databases then you will want to look for models with higher processor / memory configurations

A useful feature for an office laptop to include is a docking port. This allows the connection of a docking station enabling you to effortlessly use desktop peripherals with your laptop. For a comfortable working experience a 15.4 inch screen or larger is generally more practical and comfortable, smaller screens could be a strain to work with over long periods. If security is an issue then look out for biometric fingerprint scanners to stop unwanted access to your data.