Laptops Arena

In order to survive under such strong pressure from the market and in the middle of heavy competition, laptop manufacturers need to come up with new models constantly in order to satisfy consumer needs. So, in this article, we are going to talk about the newest best laptops that have appeared on the market in the year 2009.
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One of our top choices is the HP ProBook 5310m. First of all, it looks appealing thanks to the aluminum deck and lid. There is no optical drive on this laptop, but this should not bother you because you can always download most of the program you need or you can simply buy an external optical drive because they are nit expensive at all and they can be connected to your laptop thought one USB port. The spacing between the keys is very Apple like and you get a positive response every time you type. One inconvenient may be the glossy touchpad that causes a bit of friction when you use it.  The touchpad handles multi-touch gestures which has become a feature quite common to most business laptops. In order to use them, you must install the Synaptics software and after that you have to configure it for use. The 13.3 inch display is pretty ok as well although we have seen better.

If battery like is important to you, know that this ultraportable stayed on for 5 hours and 30 minutes with the wireless function switched on and while surfing on the internet non-stop. In conclusion, if you use the HP ProBook 5310m just for editing or reading documents, your laptop will most likely stay turned on for a full 7 hours. Extreme performance for a 4-cell battery I might add. For $900 you can get your own unit which has the 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo SP9300 processor and 3 GB of RAM. The graphics card is the Intel GMA 4500MHD and you have 320 GB of hard disk space. This ultraportable is extremely ok considering the price tag.



Another laptop we really like is the HP Pavilion dm3. For a price of $840, you can get your own unit with the 1.3-GHz Core 2 Duo SU7300 processor, 2 GB of RAM which are upgradeable to a maximum 8 GB (wonder what anyone could use 8 GB of RAM for on a non gaming laptop). The graphics card is the Intel GMA 4500MHD and 500 GB of disk space should be enough room for file storage. This laptop has been reinforced with aluminum and aluminum alloy on most of its surface. The keyboard is pretty awesome with the chicklet style layout. The 13.3 inch display has a 1366 x 768 resolution and you will be pleased with the level of brightness and the clarity of the images. The speakers also produce decent sound but if you want to turn up the volume to the maximum level you will get sound distortions. The HP Pavilion dm3 webcam is right above the display. If you use it for video chatting using Skype program, you will notice that the images are quite clear and it seems that this camera can also handle dim light.



If you want to know how this laptop handles the heat pressure, know that the bottom left side will get pretty hot under intensive video playback. It could get uncomfortable for your lap so try to be careful. Other than that, there are no problems with heat dispersion and the laptop stays quite cool and quiet.  One thing that really amazed us is this laptop’s battery life. With the wireless switched on and surfing the internet nonstop, this notebook will stay turned on for an impressive 9 hours and 7 minutes. This is way above the category average. This means this laptop will keep you going through a full day’s work (or a full day at school). Overall, it’s safe to say that this is a good laptop especially for those that are looking for a cheap ultraportable. The touchpad action seems a bit delayed so we do recommend and external mouse.



Although we could easily add more HP models to this list, especially since the Envy 15 is one of the greatest laptop we saw this year. But I think it’s fair to give the 11.6 Acer Ferrari One a chance at the title. Acer’s partnership with the Ferrari Formula One team has brought nothing but good things. Just by looking at the lid, you can tell it’s all Ferrari style. The glossy red lid got me thinking about those super cool race cars that burst with speed and power. Not only is this laptop good looking but it also designed to be durable. Even if it’s a small gadget, the keys are big and this makes them easy to use. You may expect the performance of this mini laptop to be the same as a Ferrari Race car but things are a bit different here. Yes, the Acer Ferrari One does have powerful specs considering its small size.



The processor is a 1.2 GHz AMD Athlon X2 L310 and you also get 2 GB of RAM. This is really nice for an 11.6 laptop. The graphics card is the integrated ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3200 and the hard disk capacity is 250 GB. Other nice features are the integrated Bluetooth and webcam. The price is somewhere around $750 which makes it a bit more expensive than other similarly sized laptops. This laptop comes with 3 USB ports, one Ethernet port, a 5-in-1 media card reader, one VGA out and the headphones and microphone jacks. With a weight of 1.44 kg, this is definitely the latest material in power and ultra portability. With features like these, it’s fair to say that the Acer Ferrari One is one of the newest best laptops of 2009.

Other such laptops are the BenQ JoyBook S35, the Samsung X520, the HP Mini 311 (there sure are a lot of HP models on this list, aren’t there?) and other HP’s and Samsung models.

In this article we are going to treat a somewhat delicate subject, that of stolen laptops. Many people tend to panic when they have some important stolen and the truth is one laptop can hold some valuable information about a person or a company. If the laptop is stolen from an office of a company, the risk of producing harm is way bigger because companies have important files that include top secret information which is priceless to the competitors. Stolen laptops can be subject to blackmail. We have read that almost 97% of stolen laptops are never recovered.
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There is a special FBI force that deals with this matter and it is called the FBI Computer Crime & Security Survey division. When your laptop is stolen, you are exposed to identity theft.  As it is always better to avoid than to combat, make sure you don’t leave your laptop in public places or on the back seat of the car where it is visible to all those that pass by. In 2003, more than 600.000 laptops where stolen and this is worrying because they appear to be as easy to steal as a cell phone. One very good way to prevent any possible problem is to buy a lock for the laptop. If you read some of our laptop reviews you have seen that laptops have a Kensington lock slot which is not that useless as you may think. This does not mean that if you lock your laptop you can just leave it anywhere. They are a security measure similar to bicycle locks and if a thief is really determined, they will bypass these lock with ease.

One of the most common places where people leave laptops that are stolen is on the car seat. Other such places are the public wireless hot spots. In a coffee shop in San Francisco, some poor finance manager got stabbed in the chest by a robber who desperately wanted his Apple PowerBook. There are ways in which you can avoid becoming a victim. If you are a person that carries their laptop around a lot make sure your laptop is password protected. This should make it difficult for the robber to access your files unless he is a professional hacker. If you use your laptop as a desktop replacement and keep it at home all the time then such measure are not needed. Of course, you have to keep in mind the robber also break into people’s homes so you could still be a victim and have your laptop stolen. PGP Whole Disk Encryption is a program which you can purchase for $150 and it is a piece of software that can scramble your hard disk.



In the past, the main reason why thieves stole laptops was to resell them on the black market of to take out the part and sell them separately. Now, the main target is the information which is stored on the laptop. You can always choose to encrypt some files and folders which should be of major privacy. There are lots of free programs which are available on the internet and can help you do just that but keep in mind that all the information stored in the browser cache is not that easy to encrypt using those products. It’s a bit of a relief to know that most thieves steal laptops for the hardware but nevertheless, if you think you could be the victim of an identity theft, you should inform the local authorities immediately. Finding a stolen laptop is not difficult if you have proper tracing software installed. What these programs do is to connect periodically to the internet and if a PC is reported stolen, that particular laptop will return details on its location. This information is reported to the competent authorities. The success rate is somewhere at 90%.



There are Absolute tracking packages which are available to business users. These packages have extremely useful option like erasing certain data of the laptop has been reported stolen. Another solution could be to scramble the data yourself. If you want to store secret information on your laptop like back account number and certain ID information, you could come up with a code that only makes sense to you and that way if your laptop is stolen, the information will be useless to anyone else.



We advise you to treat this problem seriously because the number of identity theft cases is constantly growing. You don’t even have to get your laptop stolen to be exposed to identity theft. Hackers try to exploit online money transmission systems, sweepstake contests and even internet auctions. Phishing is also a common way to steal personal information. Hackers make exact replicas of famous bank websites and then they e-mail you telling you to go to the website and re-enter your personal information because they are updating their client database. The fake website link is written somewhere in that e-mail. You should know that bank will never ask you to do something like that. If they need to update the database, they will contact you by phone and ask you to go to the nearest bank and fill in a form. Do not click any links of fake banks in the e-mail and always go to the official website of the bank.



A research was conducted back in 2007 and it pointed out that the American citizens who are greatly exposed to identity theft are those living in New York, Los Angeles and Detroit. The complaints that were registered are different, from bank frauds, credit card frauds but also home utility frauds. Try not to store on your laptop information like your bank account number, social security number or credit card PIN codes. Also try to make constant backups of the files on your laptop because if it gets stolen there is a good change you may never see them again. Also, try not to carry a laptop with you in public places like parks or coffee shops unless it is really necessary.

Before rejecting the idea of buying a used refurbished laptop, read this article that may just make you change your mind. We can give you some pretty good reasons why a refurbished laptop is a good deal if you want a good computer but don’t have the money to pay the entire price of the brand new model. First of all, you have to accept the idea that a second-hand gadget does not mean it is damaged. Second of all, these refurbished laptops are sold by pros. A refurbished laptop is a unit that was sold to a person who returned it after a short while of use, claiming that there is something wrong with it. The “damage” may be nothing more than one dead pixel, but it’s good enough reason for people to return it. The manufacturer will repair the laptop and check it for any other possible errors. After that, the laptop is resold for a lower price and with a lower warranty period.
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So, as you can see, a used refurbished laptop is not damaged, it has actually been fixed. This is a great solution if you really want a specific model which is too expensive if you buy it brand new. The refurbished model will save you up to some reasonable hundreds of dollars. Manufacturers can offer between 6 months and 1 year warranty for the resold system so this may be reassuring if you are still not convinced of the quality of these computers. The term “used” has a different meaning when it comes to refurbished laptops. Here you have the guarantee that the product you are buying has been reviewed, rechecked and repaired. There are a lot of well known and respectable laptop manufacturers that offer very good deals on refurbished laptops. Dell, Lenovo and even Apple are only some of them.

We read some reviews written by customers that bought refurbished laptops in the past. One user said he buys refurbished laptops from Apple all the time (since he used the plural I’m guessing he owns a business). He used these Apple laptops for years and the reason he sold it was because he couldn’t run the OSX 10.5 application on it. After I read some more reviews, I found out that refurbished Apple laptops are selling like pancakes in the US. People that go to these stores often always check to see what new deals Apple has to offer. Remember that there is a difference between a refurbished laptop and a remanufactured laptop. The first category is just the unit that the customer returns. Some people even return a laptop after opening the case and never actually turning on the machine. So, they ship it back. Remanufactured laptops are those computers that had a damaged part which has been replaced (may be more than one part).



If you want to make sure you are not being ripped off, here are some tips. People will try to sell used laptops claiming that they are refurbished. In order to avoid being the victim of such a thing, make sure you buy the computer from the manufacturer itself or from an authorized refurbished shop (such as CompUSA).  Also try to check more deals from different shops in order to get the best out of your money. Maybe the same laptop model is even cheaper in another shop. Another important thing is to carefully check the warranty and see if it suits you. Also read the return policy very careful so you don’t end up with any unpleasant surprises.



The process before buying a refurbished laptop is pretty much the same as the one before buying a new one. You have to check some reviews which are available all over the internet and see which model suits you best. It actually depends on what you are going to use the laptop for. The less picky you are and the more basic you computer needs and demands are, the more money you will save. If you don’t plan on playing any top of the line games, don’t buy a laptop with a strong graphics card because it’s a useless investment for you.  There are different websites that will allow you to compare different laptop models. This means that you get to see which laptop has better specs for the money you have. You can always buy a cheaper laptop and upgrade the specs later. Most laptops offer easy access to the upgradeable components as they have panels on the bottom which are easy to remove. This means it’s not always necessary to call a specialist every time you want to add some extra RAM as you can remove a couple of screws and do this by yourself.



If all you need a laptop for is to surf the internet, write e-mails and work with some documents, a netbook might be an ever better choice. They are cheaper and smaller than laptops because they are called ultraportables, made especially for people that have to travel frequently and even for students that are in need of a small computer with good battery life to help them take notes in class. If you ask a couple of friends around you may find out there are a lot of people that buy refurbished laptop. Some of them are even companies that run to this solution because they have to buy a large number of units. Some manufacturers will let you get an extended warranty if you pay extra. Even if you do, it will still be cheaper than a brand new laptop.



I hope we made you reconsider the idea that used or refurbished laptops are junk. First of all, they are not even the same thing. Used means you’re buying it with no warranty and refurbished means the manufacturer has solved all the problems and errors and will offer you half the warranty of the original brand new unit. Search the internet for some refurbished laptop stores and compare the specs and priced to get the best deal possible.

This article is a bit different than the other we’ve written before. It’s more general and not so technical as the others. When people buy a laptop in our days, they pay a lot of attention to how the laptop looks. And I don’t mean they are seeking durability. They are looking for laptops with special models and imprints on the lid. The more colored the laptop is, the better. They say that every zodiac sign has a specific color. And every person has their favorite color which normally reflects their personality. In this article we have looked into some colored laptops that you may enjoy having around.
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Green is a color associated with nature, with trees and purity. It gives you the feeling that you are connected with the environment. When you say some is “green” you don’t necessarily think it has that specific color because to be green also means to be environmental friendly. For a laptop to be green in both ways, it has to pass different stages. The level of power consumption is important.

These laptops should have a processor that saves up electricity when the owner is not using it and giving it any commands. Another important aspect is the life of the battery. These batteries should last longer so they can save up energy as well (meaning you don’t have to keep them plugged in for charging all the time). Not only so these things protect the environment, but they also save you some money on the electric bills. A manufacturer that makes green laptops (among 7 other different colors) is Dell. Dell really knows that different colors for the lid mean a bigger number of happy customers. So, how about it? Do you want a green laptop or a green-green laptop?



Another very important category of colored laptops and probably one that sells out the most is the pink laptop. Pink is a combination of red and white and this is why it is also knows as a “less violent” red (you could even say it’s red’s softer side). Even if this is a feminine color, I see a trend in the boys t-shirt. Some of the guys look good in pink as well. If the laptop of your dreams in available in pink, why not buy it, girl? The truth is, the market is filled with pink laptops from all sorts of manufacturers like Dell, Sony or even Asus. For example, the pink Sony VAIO is more than a laptop, it has become an accessory because using it in public makes you look good and feel even better. This laptop is bound to turn some heads around so you are definitely going to be the center of attention in the coffee shop. And if the pink Sony VAIO is too expensive for you (although you know that beauty has its price), you could go with a cheaper laptop such as the pink Acer Aspire One. The baby pink of this laptop is so cute, it actually got m craving for some cotton candy. I recommend you take this mini laptop to class. Not only is it going to make you more popular (I bet the girls are already talking about you at the cafeteria) but it’s also practical if you want to write down some notes of what your professor says in class.



If you ask me, blue is my favorite color. I think it is both serious and fun and it has a deeper meaning. Blue is the color of rest and relaxation, the color of the sea and the sky. Too much blue can be depressing but if you paint your room in the right amount of blue, it will definitely bring a calming sensation. However, when I thought of the words “blue laptop” the first word that came to my mind was… Alienware! Yes, this is a laptop that wears this marine blue coat which makes it stand out in any laptop store. The whole “UFO” and outer-space look is definitely appealing to the eye and glossy blue surface lead us thinking about performance. Blue is also the color for men, and men are a symbol of power. The m7700 Aurora by Alienware is definitely a laptop with an imposing design and that blue touch definitely makes it very special (and besides, have you seen the specs of this monster?!).



I have to admit, I don’t see too many red laptops on the market today. Maybe it’s because red is associated with passion and, let’s face it, there is nothing too passionate about your relationship with your laptop. Res used to be a very feminine color but today it mostly represents courage and passion so men have started using it as well. As far as red laptops go, except for Dell which, of course, covers this color as well with its Inspiron series, we also have a red Sony VAIO. Actually the Sony VAIO laptops come in different shades of this color, like raspberry red, sangria red or even candy apple red. Either way, they make an elegant accessory that to the beautiful color and they also make a powerful gadget because Sony always tries to put the best parts in their laptops. If you are a fully grown woman with a powerful personality then one of these red laptops is suitable for you. And it matches the color of you lipstick and your new shoes. Speaking of red laptop, do you remember the article we wrote about the HP Mini 10 Vivienne Tam Edition? The one about those red laptops with flower imprint finish? Now that’s a fashion statement!



So, no matter what your zodiac sign is and what kind of temper you have, you can choose between different manufacturers that make colored laptop which can help you complete somehow your personality. I mean, if people try to express feelings by using clothes with certain color, why shouldn’t they be able to do the same with their electronic gadgets. There are colored iPods out there, aren’t there?

When laptops first appeared, they were these cool gadgets that were expensive and I'm sure that most of you though (just like I did) that only business men are the ones that can afford them. If a student or a child wanted one it was considered to be more of a caprice rather than a necessity. Today, in my opinion, everyone should have a laptop because they are becoming cheaper and more useful than ever. In most cases, students that have laptops have an Ace up their sleeves because it's much easier to take notes and if the library allows it, you can even take it with you when you are working on school projects.  It is not hard to find cheap school laptops. In fact, here are some examples.
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The Asus K50IJ-RX05 is a $500 laptop that offers extremely good value for money. It has a 4 star rating out of a possible 5 and almost all the user reviews I came across were positive. It has a 2.0 GHz Intel Pentium T4200 processor and 3 GB of RAM with the possibility to upgrade to a maximum 4 GB. The hard drive has a storage capacity of 320 GB which should be more than enough to keep just about anything. Students don't have to worry with hard drive space filling up to quickly and they can store they pictures, documents, school projects, movies, music, games and other application with no problems. They have a DVD burner in case they want to make any back-up copies of their files. The Intel GMA 4500 Dynamic Video Memory Technology 5.0 video card has nothing impressive to offer so you can't play any new and demanding games on this laptop. Either than that, there are no flaws, at least nothing that would determine you not to buy the laptop. If you want to stay in touch with your friends (or your parents who are surely worried that you lost some weight because you are not eating properly on campus) there is a 1.3 mega pixel built-in webcam which you can use to let your friends see you. The 15.6 inch display has a maximum resolution of 1366 x 768. You also have a numeric keyboard which is very useful if you have any kind of calculus project (I think it's useful for playing Worms with another friend too). This laptop has 4 USB ports, 1 Ethernet port, one VGA out, a 3-in-1 card reader plus the usual headphone and microphone jack.

For $429 you can buy the Dell i1545-012B which is a 15 inch laptop with similar specs like the Asus K50IJ-RX05. Even if it sounds cheap, it does not look cheap. To me, it's kind of boring because of the monochromatic look but I guess that matte black of this laptop may be appealing to most users. I would have imagined student laptops a bit more colorful. The keyboard tray is a fingerprint magnet. One thing we didn't like about this laptop is the fact that it's quite heavy so you probably won't be carrying with you to class every day but if you plan to keep it in your campus dorm that would be a much wiser choice. It does not have a webcam and this is something that students look forward to finding in a laptop. Not to mention that similarly priced laptops have this feature. This laptop has the 2.0GHz Intel Pentium Dual Core T4200 processor and 2 GB of RAM. This means that the Asus K50IJ-RX05 is doing better so far at both the specs chapter and the features chapter. The graphics card available on this system is the integrated Intel GMA 4500MHD and as far as hard disk space goes, the Dell i1545-012B offers 160 of HDD. You have 3 USB 2.0 (remember that the Asus has 4), an SD card reader, an Express Card slot, an Ethernet port, a VGA out (no HDMI available on this unit) plus the stereo speakers and headphones and microphone jacks. This is a good mainstream laptop and it would have probably been better if we didn't have the Asus K50IJ-RX05 to compare it with. The Asus is by way better that the Dell in this cheap school laptops battle.



We are going to show you one more laptop, a bit more expensive but with really nice specs. You can buy the Toshiba Satellite A505-S6960 for as low as $650 and you will have solid performance for your money, along with good battery life. The 16 inch laptop hides a 2.1GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T6500 processor, 4 GB of DDR2 RAM, another 320 GB of available disk space and an integrated Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics card. I would give it a minus for the glossy surfaces but either than that I really like what this laptop has to offer. You have both the VGA and the HDMI ports available on this unit, along with 3 USB ports, another eSATA and USB combo port, an Express Card slot, an Ethernet port, a multi format card reader and the regular headphones and microphone jack.



You also have a DVD burner. The 12-cell battery is bound to make the laptop quite heavy but it is the perfect solution for students that are looking to use this laptop in class because it provides good battery life even if you are away from a power outlet. The laptop will shut down after 4 hours and 30 minutes of continuous video playback on a fully charged battery so if you use it just to type in a document and lower some of that display brightness, you care bound to get about 6 hours of battery life.



I think all laptops are pretty good even if I am more of a Toshiba fan myself. We have to admit that out of all three laptops, the Toshiba is the best even if it's a bit more expensive and a bit heavier that the other. If you plan to use it in the campus dorm it will be a great desktop replacement but don't be afraid to take it to class from time to time. You have enough battery life to help you get thing done with no hurry.