We are just about to launch a new service for high secure remote access for schools and other establishments.  The system comprises of a server c/w hardware encryption chips and all the SME server trimmings and a USB drive called a SPOK! (Secure Portable Office Key)

Inserting the SPOK into an Internet connected computer will automatically fire a secure connection to your office server.  The SPOK can be built to run a number of portable applications such as an email client or web browser.

We realise that there may be quite a few owners of new netbooks that are trying to get started with their little laptop and since I have blogged about the various models that are on offer we decided it a good idea to compile some of this information here.  In no particular order...

Set up a bigger monitor for home use: The screen size in netbook ranges from seven to ten inches, and that's pretty small. If you often use the netbook at home or at the office, setting up a bigger external monitor is a good idea. Your eyes will thank you for that.

Don't run a lot of applications in the background: Netbooks are made for ultimate portability and aimed to be a second computer, so it's very different than your average desktop PC. Of course it's good to have all the applications that you usually have in the desktop here. However, it will put a toll in the performance. Be more selective and choose which apps run in the background, or uninstall ones that you rarely use.

A left-field entry, the Elonex machine is way cheaper than most - the One is £99, the One+ £119 - but it has a lower spec and, crucially, is based on an obscure Chinese processor that's not compatible with most PCs. That's no problem if you stick to the basics - email, web browsing, document viewing - but if you want to install extra apps and like the idea of the broader software support Windows and Linux offer, this won't be a machine for you.

The One comes with just 1GB of storage and 128MB of memory. The One+ ups the Ram to 256MB, the storage to 2GB and adds Bluetooth. Both have a removable keyboard - the processor and other internals are behind the screen, giving the laptop a slightly top-heavy look. The screen is 7in in size, 800 x 480 in resolution.

The One-T and One-T+ have the same specs as the One and One+ - the difference is a big, more traditional laptop-like look, and costs £129.

Pick of the Range One-T+ More Info Elonex's One site

HP's 2133 is a small computer but it's not so cheap, partly because HP put Windows Vista on it. That means it also has oodles of memory, but that's because Vista needs 2GB - Linux SCCs will happily run in 512MB generally as smoothly as XP in a gigabyte and Vista in 2GB, so don't assume more memory is necessarily more desirable - it all depends on the OS.

The good news is that SuSE Linux is now an option, offered on a machine with 1GB of memory and a 120GB hard drive. You can spec the 2133 up with a 160GB hard drive, and with Bluetooth 2.0.

Back to the hardware: the screen is the star here. It's 8.9in but has a 1280 x 768 resolution. That said, for some folk it's too high, forcing you to squint - fortunately HP appears to offer an optional 8.9in, 1024 x 600 display. The HP is also one of the few SCCs based on VIA's 1.2GHz C7-M processor. That's about equivalent to Intel's 900MHz Celeron M, in turn only a little less speedy than the 1.6GHz Atom. Like memory, not all CPU speeds are equal.

Nor is SCC pricing: HP's pitching the 2133 as a premium product, and wants £360 for the basic model, rising to £430 if you want Vista instead of Linux.

This is the SCC so many buyer have been waiting for - and they still are, in the case of the Linux version, which is expected to arrive in the coming weeks. You can have the XP version now.

The Dell proved not to be as cheap as the rumour-mill had suggested, there's no hard drive option and it has an idiosyncratic function-key free keyboard, but on the plus side the Mini 9 ticks all the right SCC specification boxes and is the easiest machine for hardware hackers to get into.

And there's no fan on board, so it'll always be quiet. Though since other Atom-based SCCs have fans, it'll likely get hot in extended use.

The Linux version will offer the customary simplified UI, but underneath sits Ubuntu, one of the most popular Linux distros, and so the 9's likely to be better served for software and add-on hardware than less well-known Linux variants like the Eee's Xandros and Aspire One's Linpus.

MSI paved the way for 10in SCCs with its Atom-powered Wind, since rebadged by the UK's PCWorld as the Advent, by Medion as the Akoya E1210 and by LG as the upcoming X1100.

Linux versions have been a long-time coming - MSI is now offering a model with SuSE Linux on board - and there's no SSD version. MSI also offers a version with an 8.9in screen, but it uses the standard 10in chassis, so it's still one of the biggest SCCs - and the heaviest, thanks to the size and the HDD.

On the plus side, the Wind comes with Bluetooth - though some variants don't; many don't offer the Linux option, either - and it has an eminently usable keyboard.

Pick of the Range MSI Wind U100 120GB HDD, Windows XP More Info MSI's Wind page PCWorld's Advent 4211 page Medion's Akoya Mini E1210 page

Let's pause for a moment and turn away from today's netbooks, and acknowledge the debt all these machines owe to the original mini laptop, Psion's Series 7.

Based on a 133MHz ARM processor, it had a 7.7in, 640 x 480, 256-colour display. It only had 16MB of memory, but its EPOC operating system - the OS that went on to become Symbian and power a million smartphones - was compact enough to cope well with what would today be considered ludicrously limited resources.

Then again, its battery life of between eight and ten hours puts many a modern SCC to shame. Most can manage a couple of hours or so, and some can touch four hours, but none comes anywhere near matching the Series 7's runtime.

Small it may have been - 23 x 17.8 x 3.4cm and 1.15kg - but it wasn't cheap. When launched in 1999, the Series 7 would have set you back £700.

The original Small, Cheap Computer, Asus' Eee PC 701 is still available and remarkably cheap - it's down to £179. Its 7in, 800 x 480 screen is arguably too small for most adults, but it still makes a fine machine for kids. For bigger screens, seek out the 9xx series, which have 8.9in displays, and the 1xxx range, which have 10in displays. The latter are larger, but they have the same resolution as the 8.9in displays, so there's little benefit.

The 701 and 900s have Celeron processors - the remaining Eees have Atoms. Atoms are certainly better, and the Atom-based Eees also have bigger batteries than most SCCs, which makes them the natural choice for folk likely to be away from the mains. Asus also lets you choose from a set of CPU speeds - 800MHz, 1.6GHz and 1.8GHz - so you can better balance battery life with the performance you need. The Atom-based Eees also come with 802.11n Wi-Fi.

Again, Asus offers a choice of Linux and XP. And the Eees remain among the most accessible SCCs from a hardware perspective, with memory upgrades a doddle thanks to a hatch on the base.

Downsides? The design's not sexy. The keyboards on all but the 10in models are small, cramped and among the poorest you can get on an SCC.

But with their superior battery life, relatively unrestricted implementation of Linux, the Eees remain at the top of of the SCC tree. After a hard drive? Look for the 1000H or 904HD.

Like the Elonex One and One-T, the Maplin is dirt cheap - £170 - and has the advantage of being available on the High Street. But it too isn't x86 compatible, so you'll be limited to software developed for its MIPS-compatble Chinese processor. What's 'MIPS compatible'? Exactly.

The screen's a seven-incher, and there's 128MB of memory on board - enough for its version of Linux. There's only 2GB of storage, however, but as per usual there's an SD card slot for more.

Given the price, the spec, the lack of extra software to download, why buy this and not the Eee PC 701?

More Info Maplin's Minibook page

Fujitsu-Siemens' rather sober entry into the mini-laptop market follows the SCC standard for much of its spec. It's USP is the inclusion of an ExpressCard 34 slot - it only has two USB ports, to make room - so it'll be immediately of interest to anyone who's got any of these cards in their current laptop.

We suspect not many have, leaving Fujistu-Siemens trading on its name, the angular solidity of the Amilo's design and the fact that it comes with a set of coloured plastic plates that fit onto the lid for variety. Like the ExpressCard slot, this features seems added for the sake of differentiating the Amilo from all the other SCCs.

On the plus side, the keyboard's not bad - at least not on the pre-production model we saw - and FS will offer the machine with a choice of hard drive capacities, from 60GB to 120GB. Alas, it's only offering the machine with XP.

Pick of the Range Amilo Mini UI 3520 60GB More Info Fujitsu Siemens' Amilo Mini page