Ultimately, too, both deserve to be handled with kid gloves: whichever machine you choose, you'll find the smooth metal finish is quite vulnerable to scratches and greasy fingerprint smudges.

ENGADGET: Apple MacBook Pro with Retina display review (mid 2012)

The plastic must also be flat and smooth for the reading to be accurate, and the object must be brought to the machine (which is not very portable) for analysis, which takes yet more time.

ECONOMIST: Recycling

But if you're a 3D-game fan, this machine's Diamond Viper V7770 graphics card will probably be the major draw: It delivered smooth motion and solid performance in our tests using Redline Racer and Incoming.

CNN: Fast and pricey PIII 550 reconsidered