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.

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.