The MPC TransPort T2200 is a competent system for business use, and if it were priced about $1,000 less, we might recommend it. But for the price, its performance was disappointing, as were some of the components.

The 5.9-pound T2200 has a 15-inch screen and a comfortable full-size keyboard. A two-button touch pad with a two-way scroll button is included, but there's no pointing stick. It also has a fingerprint reader, similar to that of the Gateway 450XL, for extra security.

For ports, the T2200 has two USB 2.0, one FireWire, one VGA, and one S-Video. It has a three-in-one memory card reader (for Memory Stick, MMC, and Secure Digital) and a DVD/CD-RW combo drive.

The T2200 has a useful modular hot-swappable expansion bay. Unfortunately, the AC adapter can be used only with this system, and the OS image can't be applied to other models in this line.

Performance is not the T2200's strong suit. Its scores were the lowest in the group on Business Winstone 2004 (16.8), Multimedia Content Creation Winstone 2004 (19.6), and BatteryMark (2:42). But its 802.11g solution surprised us, giving the best throughput in the roundup at 160 feet.

Overall, the T2200 is a decent notebook, but in view of its shortcomings in performance and features and its steep price tag, it simply can't compete against systems like the HP Compaq nc6000 or the IBM ThinkPad T42.