The year of 2008 was year of netbook laptops- a new category in the market of laptops that targets any group of consumers; from pupils to students and any sort of adult users. Although, economic recession has affected every industry, it has raised the demand for netbooks because of their very affordable prices and small sizes brought out the variety of netbooks launched from unknown companies to leading laptop makers time to time last year.
Though, when we talk about the best laptops of market in 2008 we have to consider many factors. As you know, laptops are launched with different purposes and in different fixed categories. Best laptops are the all-purpose machines in their own categories or classes in terms of different factors including price, innovative feature set, functionality, portability, and battery life.
So, now the question is that how is a best laptop chosen among the thousands systems available in the market?
The brief answer is depended on which category a laptop belongs to, the price, innovative feature set, functionality and portability are compared and the best laptop in each category is chosen. Laptops are categorized in two ways:
- In one way laptops are categorized according to their applications as netbooks, business laptops, multimedia laptops, gaming laptops and workstation laptops particularly targeting professional animators, engineers and photographers.
- In another way, laptops are categorized according their portability and the size of their screens: thin and ultra slim laptops, ultra portable laptops, mid size laptops, mainstream laptops and desktop replacement laptops.
We have another sort of category that is not as important as the last two ones. We can classify laptops as said by their prices: cheap laptops like netbooks, budget standard laptops that their price is in the range from $600 or $700 up to $1500 or $1600 and expensive laptops that their prices start from $1700 up to above.
Every year the important known technology websites like Cnet, Laptop magazine, etc submit their lists of best laptops of 2008. Here I have collected list of 5 known websites including Cnet, Laptop Magazine, PC World, Yahoo, and Tech News world. Please before purchasing any laptop are making your mind check out these lists. Surely, they will help you to distinguish the suitable laptop with suitable price from many other resembled laptops made by different manufacturers.
-Cnet
has made a fair list of 5 best laptops of 2008. Well I like the list although I can not accept their opinion about the best netbook of 2008.
Here is the list:
1- 17-inches Gateway P-7811FX is one of the best gaming laptops in the category of desktop replacement laptops because of the high-end components and low price.
Read more:
-Gateway Launches $688 LT1001G Netbook along other 3 Laptops in Singapore
-Gateway P-172X FX and M-6850FX Editions Available for Sale
-Which One Do you Prefer, XPS M1730 or Gateway P-171XL FX? Review and Comparion
2- 13.3-inches LenovoThinkPad X300 is one of the Best of thin and light laptops because of its wide display, full-size keyboard, sleek, lightweight case and every feature that corporate users require. (Price: $1,889.00 - $1,889.00)
Read more:
-Samsung X360 First Impression: Challenging Air; Thinner and Lighter than Envy 133 and ThinkPad X300
3- 13-in Apple MacBook is one of the Best of thin and light laptops because of its upgraded CPU for the same price; same great design; the modest performance gains and Leopard operating system. (Price: $1,185.73 - $1,776.60)
4- 17-inches Alienware Area-51 m17x is one of the best gaming laptops in the category of desktop replacement laptops because of highest-end components, impressive design; and fantastic excellent performance.
Read more:
-Alienware Area-51(R) m15x with NVIDIA Quadro FX 3600M Available for Engineers and Designers
-Area-51 m15X with NVIDIA 8800M GTX; See, Review, Benchmark and 15 Cool Pictures
5- the 8.9-in Dell Inspiron Mini 9 netbook is a best netbook laptops of 2008, for it is more configurable than other Netbooks; good battery life; and XP and Linux OS options. (Price: $349.00 - $349.00).
Read more:
-Dell Inspiron Mini 12 Netbook Review Round up (3 reviews); Mini 12 vs. Mini 9?
-Laptop magazine
has made a list of 16 all-purpose laptops of 2008. According to the article, the best laptops of 2008 are the laptops which have been able to combine “sharp design and ergonomics with innovative features and excellent performance.”
1- 13-in Apple MacBook: because it comes with dge-to-edge LED backlit display and multi-touch track pad, high power and endurance, better graphics performace because of Nvidia’s new GeForce 9400M graphics (Prices: $1,499.95 - $1,599.00)
2- 15.4-inch Toshiba Satellite A305-S6883 laptop because it is full-featured and stylish all-purpose laptop. It comes with some striking features such as fashionable fusion finish design, enough portable, responsive, touch-sensitive multimedia keys and USB ports with Sleep and Charge technology, fast performance and long battery life. (Price: $899.00).
Read more:
Toshiba Satellite A305-S6845: 15.4" Penryn Laptop for $1250 Available for Sale
3- 15.4-inch HP Pavilion dv5t a nice multimedia laptop. It provides a crisp and bright edge-to-edge glass panel (up 1680 x 1050-pixel resolution) and loud Altec Lansing speaker. The laptop delivers Best-in-class performance, and comes with sleek new liquid-metal design, the graphics card what is good enough for gamers and built-in hard drive protection. (Prices: $579.99).
Read more:
-HP Pavilion dv6 Laptop with Centrino 2 CPU/ 4GB Memory Available Online
4- 8.9-inch Acer Aspire One netbook or mini-notebook because of Good feature set for the money, Attractive design, Good Wi-Fi performance, and Comfortable keyboard. (Prices: $349.99)
Read more:
-Acer Aspire one with Enabled 3G Only for $100 if you Sing up at AT&T
5- 10-inch MSI Wind PC netbook because of broad 10-inch screen display, fast boot time, Long battery life (more than 5 hours), comfortable full-size keyboard, and one-touch TurboDrive CPU overclocking. (Prices: $619.97). “The toughest part is finding this system in stock!”
Read more:
-MSI to Expose Wind U110, U115, U120 & Affordable 13.3-in U300 at CES 09
6- 13.3-inch Lenovo ThinkPad X301 ultra and thin laptop due to being super slim and Extremely light, an integrated DVD drive, and integrated mobile broadband, Mobile WiMAX technology, broad LED-backlit display, fantastic keyboard as well as both a pointing stick and a touchpad, Durable solid state drive, Centrino 2 processor and great performance. (Prices: $2,889.82 - $3,194.99).
7- 13.1-inch Sony VAIO Z (VGN-Z540) an advance ultraportable laptop owing to the first 13.1-inch notebook with a 16:9 aspect ratio display (brilliant XBrite-Duraview with 100 percent color saturation), can working on two open windows side by side, the first notebook allowing to switch between using Nvidia graphics to Intel integrated graphics, optional Blu-ray drive, Comfortable isolated keyboard, Fast integrated mobile broadband, Five hours battery life with the standard one and Fast integrated mobile broadband. (Prices: $1,315.00 - $2,050.95).
Read more:
-Sony VGN-SZ650N/C Reviewed
-Sony Makes official Its VAIO Z, FW, SR and BZ laptops based on Centrino 2
- The Specs of New Laptops of Sony VAIO Z series Based on Montevina Leaked
8- 18.4-inch Acer Aspire 8930G desktop replacement laptop because of 16:9ratio, 18.4-inch screen offers true high-quality 1080p LCD panel and about 180-degree viewing angle, true 5.1 speaker to deliver Dolby sound, fast performance and improved 512MB Nvidia GeForce 9700M GT graphics, blazing hard drive, Very good webcam, CineDash touch control panel. (Price: $1,699.00).
Read More:
Acer Aspire 6920 and 8920G Unveiled: The Second-gen Gemstone Blue Laptops
9- 16.4-inch Sony VAIO FW Series (VGN-FW290) desktop replacement laptop: because of being one of the first laptops to feature a screen with a 16:9 aspect ratio, support 3D games with the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 graphics, very good performance, Blu-ray player/burner, good software bundle, cylindrical hinges, and isolated keyboard design. (Prices: $1,259.00 - $1,277.00)
10- 17-inch Alienware Area-51 m17x gaming laptop. It is among the top laptops of 2008 because of top-notch gaming performance, Intel Core 2 Extreme X9000 processor, Crysis looks absolutely stunning on the 17-inch, high-definition (1920 x 1200) display, 9800M GT video cards with SLI, it scors high rate of 161 frames per second in Call of Duty 4 (game), 182 fps in F.E.A.R., and 215 fps in World of Warcraft, customizable backlighting, large, beautiful display, terabyte of storage, HDTV tuner, blu-ray drive. (Prices: $2,199.00).
11- 17-inch Gateway P-7811 FX gaming laptop is a full-featured all-purpose affordable gaming laptop. It is among top laptops of 2008 because if its best 3D performance for the price, beautiful high-definition display, HDMI and eSATA ports, good productivity performance, powerful GeForce 9800M GTS graphics card, With 90 fps on Call of Duty 4 and 135 fps in F.E.A.R., it is to get for gamers on a budget. (Price: $1,359.00)
12- 13.3-inch Dell Vostro 1310 business laptop good graphics performance, lots of configuration options, omitting trialware, Sleeker design than Vostro 1400, Network Assistant, online backup, automated maintenance tools, and personalized support, a fingerprint scanner, TPM circuitry, magnesium alloy chassis, reinforced hinges, and sealed comfortable keyboard, durable laptop. (Price: $629.00).
Read more:
- More Information about Dell Inspiron 1545 Leaked
- Dell Studio 15 and Studio 17 under Tests: Review Round up
13- 14.1-inch HP EliteBook 6930p business laptop comes with striking features such as 24 hours battery life, durable design made of brushed metal deck, brushed anodized aluminum lid, and sturdy magnesium alloy chassis, the best performance in its class, spill-resistant keyboard, a fingerprint reader, and TPM security, Bright display with good viewing angles, E-mail and calender access without booting Windows, 2GB of RAM (upgradeable to 8GB), plus an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3450 graphics card and three-year parts-and-labor warranty.(Prices: $1,095.00 - $1,320.00).
Read more:
-HP Announces EliteBook 8730wm, EliteBook 8530w and 8530p Mobile Workstations
14- 12.1-inch Lenovo ThinkPad X200 business laptop comes with highlighted features such as Extra-long battery life, Excellent keyboard, Smooth performance and snappier than what ThinkPad X301 delivers, Handy ThinkVantage Utility, a fingerprint reader, TPM circuitry, a shock-mounted 160GB hard drive, mobile broadband connectivity and Bluetooth, excellent, full-size keyboard (but no trackpad and no optical drive). (Prices: $1,068.00 - $1,476.60)
Read more:
-ThinkPad X200, SL, T& R series based on Centrino 2 with vPro
15- 12.1-inch Lenovo ThinkPad X200 Tablet is a top-tires business laptop because of excellent tablet functionality, active digitizer and touchscreen, excellent keyboard, Handy ThinkVantage utility, lightweight, designing with carbon fiber and glass fiber shell. (Price: $1,844.00)
Read more:
-The Montevina-Based ThinkPad Laptops- R, SL, T, X, X Tablet and W series Available for Purchase
16- 13.3-inch Panasonic Toughbook 30 rugged laptop is among top laptops of 2008 because of its nice striking features such as Extremely durable, turdy silver and black magnesium alloy chassis with a built-in, briefcase-like handle, Touchscreen display, Great battery life (7 hours), Good wireless range, water-proof, dust-proof, sealed, all-weather design, shock-mounted removable hard drive, optional
-PC World
has published its list of Top 10 All-Purpose Laptops too. If you notice you will find out that this list is much different than the lists presented by Cnet and Laptop Magazine. It is mystified why there is no Apple MacBook or MacBook Pro or Alienware m17x in offering in this list.
1- 14.1-inch Lenovo ThinkPad SL400 (2743-25U) business laptop with starting price of $650. Some of the impressive features consist of HDMI port, a fingerprint reader, a Webcam, a four-pin FireWire port, a WWAN card, and GPS, and backlit keyboard.
2- 15.4-inch Micro Express JFL9226 laptop is a budget-friendly road warrior.
3- 15.4-inch Lenovo IdeaPad Y510 laptop with starting price of sub-$1000 come with highlighted features like touch-sensitive shortcut buttons line, the wide responsive keyboard, a handy Novo button serves as a one-touch power management tool, Dolby speakers with an integrated subwoofer, 3 hours and 42 minutes of battery life, and nice array of multimedia features for a good price.
4- 13.3-inch Toshiba Satellite U405-S2854 business laptop is an inexpensive (costing $949) ultra portable system that is all-purpose laptop too. Some of the important features of the laptop includes: decent performance, an enormous hard drive and 3GB of RAM, bundled Microsoft office applications, the glossy and bright screen is plenty readable in most lighting conditions, indoors or out.
Read more:
-Toshiba to Launch 13.3-in Satellite U405-ST550W Bundled WiMAX Up
5- 14.1-inch HP Compaq 6530b multimedia laptop with price of $1195 comes with matte coating makes it more amenable to broad-daylight computing, durable rigid hard-plastic casing, spill-resistant keyboard, backlit touch-sensitive buttons above keyboard, 3D DriveGuard technology for protecting the hard drive, and HP ProtectTools Security Manager.
6- 14.1-inch Samsung X460 thin-and-light laptop that can be compared with ThinkPad X300. some of the highlighted features comprises a discrete 256MB nVidia GeForce 9200M GS GPU, solid performance, descent battery life (4.5-hour), integrated optical drive, HDMI port, 802.11n Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth, and bright 14.1-inch-diagonal backlit LED screen.
Read more:
-Samsung X360 First Impression: Challenging Air; Thinner and Lighter than Envy 133 and ThinkPad X300
7- 15.4-inch Sony VGN-NR485 laptop delivers solid performance although it is a cheap laptop. Nonetheless, it stands among all-purpose laptops. It comes with about 4 hours of battery life, SD and Memory Stick slots, four USB ports, and an ExpressCard/34 slot, comfortable keyboard and spacious keys.
8- 16-in Gateway MC7803u is a entertainment laptop. However, it can not deliver a decent game experience. it comes with 2-GHz Core 2 Duo T5800 CPU, 4GB RAM, and a 512MB AMD Radeon HD 3650 GPU, 3 hours, 48 minutes of battery life.
Read more:
-Cheap VAIO NR11Z notebook for Europe
9- 15.4-inch Toshiba Satellite A305-S6864 budget gaming laptop with the price tag of $1149 comes with 2.26-GHz Core 2 Duo P8400 processor and 4GB of RAM, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3470 256MB GPU, FireWire and eSATA ports, built-in Harman/Kardon speakers, supported by a downward-firing subwoofer.
Read more:
-Toshiba Satellite A305-S6845: 15.4" Penryn Laptop for $1250 Available for Sale
-Yahoo
has shared its list of the best and worst Tech products of 2008 here. Among the best tech products, you can find names of two laptops including Gateway MC7803u laptop and Lenovo IdeaPad S10. Fortunately, there is no laptop mentioned among the worst tech product of 2008.
has published its list about the best software, and gadget products of 2008. in this list you can find one laptop and that is an ultra portable Lenovo ThinkPad X301 business laptop. The write thinks this laptop is pa perfect one because
-it is small light and portable
- Long battery life about 7 hours
- A quiet laptop with a great performance
- Although it is pricy and costs a mid-US$2,000 price tag, it comes with competitive price compared to its rival like HP envy Voodoo 133.
The author has also mentioned a desktop PC: Second Generation HP TouchSmart PC which is competitor of Apple iMac.
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