Is this your next computer?(laptops - test)(Buyers Guide)

Even as the pace of desktop-computer sales slows, laptops are selling at an ever-increasing rate. It's not hard to understand why. Laptops now belong in the same league as desktop computers, thanks to brighter and larger displays, faster processors, and more-efficient batteries.

Today, the laptop makes an attractive choice as a replacement computer or the household's second machine--even if you never tote it farther than the kitchen table. Laptops are already regular fixtures in classrooms and boardrooms. Expanding a laptop's advantages is the growing availability of high-speed wireless Internet access at airports and hotels, and, it's expected, in thousands of Starbuck's coffee houses.

For this report, we tested both Windows-based and Macintosh laptops, covering all three major designs:

All-in-one models, generally the heaviest, have the diskette drive, CD-ROM drive, and battery housed in the case, like a desktop machine.

Modular models have space for the battery, plus a CD-ROM or diskette drive.

Slim-and-light models, lightweights that are streamlined for travel, contain just the hard drive and a smallish battery; you can connect other components with cables.

We also tested reduced-legacy models, which come with no diskette drive--a feature some may consider a handicap.