Ultrabook performance at a notebook price. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon reviewed last month was a bit tasty, we're sure you'll agree, but it did come with one itsy-bitsy caveat in the form of a near-£2,000 price tag.

That's a serious chunk of change, yet such figures appear to have become commonplace in the world of high-end laptops, and it makes us wonder: how close to the premium experience can you get with a budget of, say, £600? To find out, we're taking a look at PC Specialist's Lafité II.

Priced appropriately at £599, the 13.3in Lafité II is a clever piece of kit insofar as it offers various Ultrabook niceties without the exorbitant fees. Dimensions of 325mm x 219mm x 18mm make it suitably svelte - it's 0.3mm thicker than the ThinkPad, if you're counting - and a 1.4kg weight makes it a true ultra-portable.