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Review of the Best Laptop for 2012

The Sony Vaio S Series Laptops

The Sony Vaio S Series is ideal for most on the go users. The laptop is less than an inch thick and comes with a 13.3 inch of 15.5 inch screen depending on your needs (the big version even has a numeric keypad). The 13.3 inch models can last up to seven hours on one battery charge and you can easily add a second to give you half a day of battery life before you have to plug in and recharge. Bring the Vaio S Series laptop on a long plane flight and you’ll be entertained the entire way. You can watch Blu-Rays, browse the internet if they have Wi-Fi, or play games to your heart’s content.

The laptop is wonderfully designed. It looks fresh and sleek and the battery snaps right in and out of the way so you’ll never even notice it. You can even convert your 3G wireless mobile broadband signal into a wireless hotspot if you want to serve everyone around you. There’s an HD web camera for chatting with friends and the portability of this slim model can’t be emphasized enough. It’s exceptionally easy to bring around and that’s a huge bonus. You can customize the processor and memory to suit your needs along with the hard drive, etc. You can make it the computer you desire and go home with an amazing piece of technology.

Notepal X3 Silent Laptop Cooling Pad – Maximizing Laptop Performance

A laptop cooling pad is a must-buy gadget especially for laptops that keep on crashing due to overheating. A high-end laptop possessing all the top-of-the-line specifications is useless if it just keeps on shutting down due to heat problems. This is the reason why a cooling pad is essential for laptops as it increases the gadget’s overall performance and users will benefit from all the features offered by their laptop without experiencing any freeze-ups, slowness, or crashes. There have also been some extreme cases wherein laptops have actually caught fire due to the overheating of the batteries. Simply buying a cooling pad for your laptop could easily avoid this situation.

Efficiently Silent

Nowadays, it is not enough to have just any cooling pad. Laptop users are now looking for cooling pads with the most elegant design, most silent fans, and the most enhanced cooling performance. Due to the increasing importance of cooling pads, manufacturers have now released different types of laptop cooling systems in the market. Clearly, designers of cooling pads today have thought of everything to help users maximize the full potential of their laptops. All the users have to do is search for the right cooling system for them. This may not be as easy as it sounds due to the number of cooling pads out in the market today. It is very easy for users to be confused as to what cooling fan is compatible with their laptops. Users have to be careful and should be aware of their laptop’s specifications in order to buy the right cooling fan.

The Cooler Master Notepal X3 is one of the most recent and most popular cooling pads for laptops up to 17 inches in the market today. It boasts an extremely cool looking hi-tech design with blue LED lighting which can be turned on and off, and a huge 200mm fan that has an adjustable speed. The designers of this cooling fan also aim an increase of 20% in cooling performance by utilizing an aerodynamic design. Finally, this cooling pad also has a retractable feet to allow its users to adjust the height of the laptop.

The technological advancements in silent laptop cooling pad today means one thing. Keep your laptop cool to make it last longer. Cooling pads do not only make users more comfortable, but it also affects the longevity and prolongs the lifespan of the laptop. But as with all other gadgets, choosing the right cooling fan for your laptop is very important and the most expensive ones are not always the best ones for users. You need to make sure the fan can provide the sufficient air flow to keep your laptop computer cool, and that it has adjustable rotation speed. If you use your laptop at nights, you don’t want to suffer from loud and annoying ambient noises your cooling pad may produce.

Ps. Here you find our reviews for the best laptop in 2011 and here our review for the best laptops in 2010.

HP Pavilion dv7t series

If you’re browsing the entertainment section of the HP laptop store you’ll find the Pavilion dv7t series. It’s starting from $749.99 and it is designed to get you onto Netflix to watch movies and to play your Blu-Rays. You can output them to your TV using the HDMI port or simply put on a pair of headphones and enjoy them in bed. The widescreen makes HD video look flawless and the 1080p resolution is genuine HD so you’re getting the highest performance possible. The laptop features a second generation Intel Core i3 processor that offers Intel Turbo Boost Technology, which kicks a little extra juice to your system when it needs more to keep up with your demands, and a powerful discrete graphics card.

The notebook comes with Windows 7 Home Premium installed, offers several graphics options, and offers the option to project your laptop screen onto the TV via a wireless connection, which is really handy. A single battery can last you up to 5 hours but if you’re watching a TV show or movies you can expect that to be closer to 3 hours. You can have a Blu-Ray burner installed if you want to make your own high definition movies and the HD webcam makes for easy video chatting with friends and family. So, if you’re looking for a laptop to handle all your entertainment, the HP Pavilion dv7t would be your best bet.

The Samsung Series 9 ultra light notebook

The Samsung Series 9 notebook weighs less than 2.5 pounds and is less than inch thick when closed. It’s hard to find a laptop that slender and they make it from Duralumin, an amazing and exceptionally strong material that is twice as strong as aluminum and even lighter. How’s that for amazing? Users rate it high in all categories, including design and value. The screen size is small at 11.6 inches but this laptop is made for mobility so they’re not concerned with making it big. They want it lean and mean so you can throw it in your bag and save your back as you’re walking.

The maximum resolution is 1366×768, which is actually larger than most computers of this small stature. Kudos to Samsung for that. The SSD is quite small at only 128GB but again, this is not a computer for working at home. This is a computer for on the go action. It comes with BlueTooth, you can connect to wireless networks, the battery lasts up to 7.5 hours, and you get one year warranty that includes parts and labor for an replacements that have to be made. It’s a great computer for those on the go.

HP ProBook 5330m laptop

HP is the world’s largest provider of laptop computers, a position they’ve earned through consistently excellent production and service. The computers are top notch and the latest releases include plenty of power. One of the most recent releases is the HP ProBook 5330M. It’s designed to compete with the MacBook and offer business users a high end experience for less money (the price comes in at less than $900). It’s sleekly designed in silver and features a full keyboard, trackpad, and an excellent build quality. It offers a 13.3 inch screen and is less than 1 inch thick. It comes with Beats Audio, plenty off processing power, and weighs only 4 pounds. Features include two USB ports, Ethernet, VGA, HDMI, an SD card reader, and a headset jack. It lacks a FireWire connection and doesn’t have USB 3.0 though.

Technical specifications of the HP ProBook 5330m:

  • 2-nd generation Intel Core i3/i5 CPU
  • 8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 SDRAM
  • 500 GB HDD or 128GB SSD
  • Intel HD 3000 Graphics
  • 13.3-inch LED-backlit anti-glare display (1366 x 768)
  • Full-sized backlit keyboard
  • 802.11b/g/n wi-fi
  • Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
  • Fingerprint reader
  • Windows 7 operating system

Dell Inspiron i11z 11.6-inch Laptop

Dell Inspiron i11z is a compact laptop designed to do much more with way less. Weighing about 3 lbs and measuring merely an inch thick, the Dell Inspiron i11z brings a huge punch. It boasts a very high-definition 11.6-inch display. Powered by the ultra-low-voltage Intel Celeron 743 processor, the netbook provides enough computing power so users get to enjoy a great mix of vibrant multitasking which goes hand in hand with impressively extended battery life of 6.7 hours.

Other advanced features of the netbook consist of the convenient keyboard which is nearly full-size, simple-to-use touchpad, high quality HDMI output to connect to HDTVs, and a built-in 1.3-megapixel web cam that works with a powerful integrated microphone for your on-the-go video chatting. One of the machine’s USB port is constantly powered, which means that you can keep charging your cell phone even when the laptop is asleep. There is also an integrated three-in-one memory card reader.

This machine comes with the dashing Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit operating system.

Here are the key features of the Dell Inspiron i11z at a glance:

  • 1.3-Gigahertz energy efficient Intel Celeron 743 processor
  • 250 GB 5400 RPM hard drive
  • 2 Gigabyte of DDR2 800MHz RAM
  • Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500 MHD
  • 1.3-megapixel webcam
  • 802.11b/g Wi-Fi networking
  • SD/SDHC, MMC, and MS/MS Pro media card reader
  • 11.6-inch HD Wide LED display (1366×768 resolution)

Latest HP TouchSmart PCs

There was a time when computer makers thought the touchscreen PC was going to take over the market. That never really happened though. Instead, most touchscreen PCs were discontinued and smartphones took over the touchscreen market. Tablet computers have expanded it further and now HP is back in the touchscreen computer market with its TouchSmart series. You don’t need a mouse because you can simply reach out and touch the screen to access anything. It comes with a keyboard too so you don’t have to deal with those often irritating on screen keys for typing and you have more space for browsing the web, watching movies, and more.

The TouchSmart PCs come integrated with a wealth of programs to enhance your experience. They come with Window 7 installed along with all kinds of games, photo organizing programs, and more. They’re elegantly designed too and there’s plenty of processing power in there. The computers are great for kids that enjoy reaching out and interacting with the world instead of using the mouse or keyboard. Other features include a Blu-Ray player, a webcam with microphone, Beats Audio, HP LinkUp for keeping your computer updated, and more.

HP ENVY line of laptops

HP calls its ENVY line of laptops “The Ultimate Laptop” and it’s certainly their highest end offering. It is obviously HP’s answer to Macs. The cheapest version, the 14 Series, starts at $1000 but you definitely get what you pay for. HP has always been good about packing lots of value into their computers. All versions of the ENVY line come with Windows 7 installed and feature 2nd generation Intel Core i5 or i7 processors. You get a minimum of 6GB of memory and all the versions of the ENVY lineup have a Radeon graphics card to offer the highest level of video and game performance.

If size is an issue then you can upgrade to the 17 series, which offers a 17 inch display and 1080p. They even make a version of the ENVY that’s ready for 3d playback of your games and movies and even television shows. It’s pretty great and at most you’re paying $1500 so they’ve managed to keep the price down while offering an exceptional value to their customers. They’re currently offering an instant rebate when you customize your computer so you can get even better guts to make it more powerful. The battery life is often unimpressive on these models, which is why they offer a discount on a second one.

Origin presents a laptop with two video cards in SLI

Video cards are important for gamers. They lift some of the processing burden from the CPU and free it for other things. They allow you to set your games at the highest quality level and really push the graphics. One video card is nice but two video cards is even better. SLI (Scalable Link Interface) was invented by NVIDIA to allow two video cards to run as one, essentially. Until now you’ve only been able to have two video cards running in SLI mode in a desktop. Origin has changed that though with the world’s first laptop to offer two video cards in SLI.

It comes with two NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M cards that are overclocked so they’re extra powerful. As you might imagine everything else in the laptop is super powerful, including the latest X79 chipset, Intel quad and hexacore processors, and more. They call it the EON17-X3D and it comes in at just over $3,000. Obviously, you need some serious cabbage to afford this computer but if you’re a gamer on the go and you want cutting edge performance this is the only option for you. It’s particularly useful if you’re always on the road but you still love to play games and the low-fi stuff you find on an iPad just isn’t enough for you.

The EON17-X3D offers up to 32GB of quad channel memory and up to 3TB of storage space (that’s a lot of games!). There’s a built-in 9-in-1 card reader and you have a slew of high powered processor options to give your computer the juice it needs at the core. It’s an amazing piece of technology and all that video power comes with a great cooling system to ensure that your computer doesn’t overheat or melt your lap on a plane. Origin also offers a number of great color choices to customize the laptop to fit your personal style.

Toshiba Excite 13: Multimedia Experience Magnified

Toshiba appears to have been righting the wrongs with the recent release of Toshiba Excite 13 and its smaller siblings. This is not Toshiba’s first foray in the tablet realm, but it sure is the most aggressive move to date. Toshiba joined the tablet fray late in the game with the Thrive and it failed to impress consumers because it is clunky and it does not offer anything new. Toshiba is making amends with the Excite tablets. Three versions are offered: 7.7-inch, 10-inch, and 13-inch. Among the three, the 13-inch ($649.99 for a 32GB version) is the pick of the draw for the simple reason that the screen size is massive.

Massive screen experience

The Toshiba Excite 13 is the only 13-inch tablet in the market today. Many say that it does not make sense to make a tablet bigger than the standard 10-inchers because it defeats the purpose of the tablet. This is true to some extent because it can be a pain to be lugging around an enormous device. What’s more, it pretty uncomfortable to hold a huge device for long periods of time. With that said, what could be the saving glory of a seemingly clunky device? Not many would appreciate the enormous screen landscape, but it has to be kept in mind that it only weighs 2.2 pounds and would make an excellent portable video player. Suffice to say, it could be a niche product for users who work with bigger screen size. It works well as a multimedia device because the quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor is fast enough to run games, movies, and videos without a hitch. It is, in fact, one of the fastest Android devices currently available on market.

Android-powered

The specs are pretty standard for its class, but the Toshiba Excite 13 is able to shine through with its Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich flavor combined with the speed of the Tegra 3 processor. It has all the necessary connectivity and storage ports to make one connected even on the go. While it is a bane in the mobility department, it sure is a wonderful device for watching movies, playing games, browsing the internet. The tablet also boasts an integrated 5-megapixel webcam and one of the most impressive battery lives (over 8 hours with wi-fi turned on).

Acer Aspire Ethos laptops

The Acer Aspire Ethos laptops are designed for the high end user. It is a huge desktop replacement multimedia powerhouse computer and you can simply enjoy an amazing laptop with amazing processing power and everything you need to enjoy a high quality multimedia experience.

The Aspire Ethos series is built around multimedia enjoyment. That means an LED backlit high resolution display, 2nd generation Intel Core processors, DDR3 memory, high quality sound that blows other laptop speakers out of the water, a backlit keyboard that makes typing in the dark so much easier, an HD webcam, a fingerprint reader for super security, USB 3.0 ports, and much more. These are some of the best laptops in the business and they’re fairly well priced at less than $1500. The biggest features a gorgeous 18.4″ display that will blow your mind. It’s not exactly great for tight spaces like airplanes but if you’re looking for something this powerful you’re not worried about that.

Lenovo ThinkPad T420S widescreen laptop for corporate users

The Lenovo ThinkPad T-Series is their best selling model and there’s a good reason why. It features excellent production, high quality parts, and plenty of power for the money. Plus, they’re currently offering sales so you should jump on it now. The ThinkPad T420S, which is their most powerful and expensive model, usually retails for $1740. It is currently on sale for roughly $1000, giving you a huge savings.

They call the T420S the fastest notebook under 4lbs and they’re not kidding. It features a 14″ HD screen, an Intel Core processor (2.6GHz), Windows 7, and a solid state drive (if you’re not familiar with solid state drives you just need to know that they’re insanely fast and make booting up take only a few seconds). It weighs only 3.68 pounds and is ideal for someone looking for slim and sleek along with plenty of power. The other notebooks in the line offer the same processing power and storage space but are a little bigger so they’re a little cheaper.

Inexpensive Toshiba Satellite Laptops

Over the years Toshiba’s laptop line has gotten far more muscular and impressive with literally dozens of models offered for every price range and need. At the lowest end of the financial spectrum they offer the Satellite C650. There are 37 models in the line and the cheapest costs $348.99. It has a 15.6″ screen and despite the low price there’s a considerable amount of processing power in there and it’s more than capable of handling almost anything you’re going to throw at it. That includes business applications, internet browsing, watching movies, and light gaming.

If you’re in the market for a child’s laptop the Satellite L735 series is a good choice. It has built in parental controls to prevent exposure to the nastier elements of the internet. It’s reasonably priced at less than $500, too. If you’re a higher end user they have 17.3″ laptops in the Toshiba line that offer lots of graphical processing power, tons of memory, and tons of hard drive space. In short, no matter what you’re looking for the Toshiba laptops can give you what you need. New models are released all the time and they often run sales if you’re looking for a deal.

Toshiba Satellite P770 series

Technology is a remarkable thing and the newest 17″ Toshiba laptops prove that. The cheapest in the Toshiba P770 series goes for $699 and comes with remarkable power. You get the 17″ screen along with a quad core processor from AMD, 6GB of DDR3 memory, a 640GB hard drive, integrated graphics, and a whole mess of other amazing features that include face recognition for security, great Harman Kardon speakers, an HDMI port, memory card reader, and more. It’s a hugely powerful laptop and the price is remarkably low. Just three years ago you’d pay $699 for utter crap in comparison.

The P770 series includes eight models and the price can run all the way up to $1344. The basics are the same throughout with the AMD processors and largely the same amount of memory and hard drive space. The more you pay the more features you get, generally. The highest priced laptop includes a graphics card capable of running the latest games and pumping out beautiful video all day long. These are amazing computers and they’re well worth the cost no matter what your budget is.