OK then, a quick check of the list: eggs, yes, bread, yes, cheese, yep, laptop... laptop? No, we haven't gone mad, it's just that as Gateway's latest laptop is available from Tesco, you might as well add it to your shopping list.

The MT6839b is a well featured notebook with Microsoft's latest Windows Vista Home Premium pre-installed, and carries a quite reasonable price tag of £599.

At the heart of the MT6839b lies an Intel Core 2 Duo T5300 processor clocked at 1.73GHz and backed by a generous 2GB of 533MHz DDR2 memory, so while it may not be a speed demon there's plenty of grunt to do all of your home and home office jobs. And that's pretty much all you'll be doing, as the integrated Intel GMA950 graphics (sharing up to 224MB of system memory) limits any games-playing potential.

Despite the price tag, the MT6839b looks and feels well built, in fact it feels very well built, weighing in at a hefty 3.3kg (with the power brick), so it's not one you'll fancy carrying around all day. If you do, then the battery lasts for a useful three hours when in normal office use and just over two when watching a DVD.

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The build quality extends to the keyboard which has very little flex, feels firm to the touch and, along with the nicely responsive touchpad, makes using the MT6839b a pleasurable experience. The styling belies the price tag too, with a brushed aluminium palm rest contrasting nicely with the silver chassis.

The screen's not bad either; a 15.4-inch Ultrabright WXGA widescreen display with a native resolution of 1,280 x 800 pixels and a glossy coating that makes for bright and colourful images - ideal for watching DVD movies.

Storage is provided in the shape of a 160GB, 5,400rpm hard drive and there are plenty of options to back up your data: an 8x Dual Layer DVD burner, a 4-in-1 card reader supporting the usual suspects - Secure Digital (SD), Multi Media Card (MMC), Memory Stick (MS), Memory Stick Pro and XD cards - plus four USB 2.0 ports and a Type II PC card slot.

All the usual connectivity options are there too, including 802.11a/b/g Wireless and 10/100Mbps wired networking, plus, if all else fails, a 56Kbps modem.

The software bundle includes everything you need to get you started, such as Microsoft Works 8.5, McAfee Internet Security and Cyberlink Power2Go. The warranty is limited to a year, though, which is a bit tight-fisted.

If you are looking for a laptop to use at home, which does all the basics well, then the Gateway MT6839b is worth looking at. Tesco's market domination looks to be moving into new areas.