Laptops Arena

A modern gaming notebook is the best selling desktop replacement because everyone wants to be capable to play any game without having any problems. If you want a lot of performance and you’re not willing to pay Alienware prices, you can choose the Toshiba Qosmio x305-Q706. This model has the same balance between design and performance like an Alienware laptop but at a lower price.



The price starts from $1,200 but it can get somewhat expensive, depending on what configuration you choose.The Toshiba Qosmio X305-Q706 gaming notebook has a synthetic material case with a magnesium chassis which offers a great protection against scratches or if you accidentally drop it. The combination between metallic red and carbon fiber texture gives a beautiful and quality aspect.

With 16.2 x 12.0 x 2.5 inches dimensions and a total weight of 10 lbs, this gaming notebook is certainly a desktop replacement. The display is a 17 inch WSXGA LCD one, ideal for games or watching movies, with a native resolution of 1680 x 1050 pixels.

Because the Toshiba Qosmio X305-706 is a gaming notebook, it is very powerful. In standard configuration it comes with an Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 2.26 GHz processor and 3 GB of DDR3 RAM memory.  But the most important aspect of this laptop is the graphics card configuration. It comes with two nVidia GeForce 9800 GTS graphics cards that allow you to run the latest games at optimal speed without having any problems. The 320 GB 7200rpm hard drive is enough for you to store your photos, movies, music and games.



Because this gaming notebook has large dimensions, it comes with a 104-key keyboard. The flat surface and the flexible plastic material of the keys can provide you with an extraordinarily gaming experience. Even if you want to write something your hands will be relaxed because the keys are large with a generous space between them. The touchpad, like the other gaming notebooks, is quite small. But for a maximum efficiency we recommend you buy a mouse. The surface of the touchpad is made of a plastic material with a great finish and it’s very responsive to every light touch.

But let’s talk a bit about connectivity. The Toshiba Qosmio X305-706 has anything you need. It comes with 4 USB ports, a Ethernet port, a 56k modem port, a FireWire port, a HDMI port, a Display port, a S-Video port, a VGA-out port, an Express Card slot, a 5-in-1 Multimedia Card Reader, a 802.11b/g/n Wireless adaptor, a Bluetooth adaptor and the usual headphones, line-in, line-out, and microphone jacks. For burning or watching your favorite discs, this gaming notebook has a SuperMulti DVD-RW optical drive with Blu-Ray feature.



For sound, there are four integrated Harman/Kardon speakers plus a subwoofer, which produce a clear and loud sound. With these speakers you will never want to attach an external set of speakers, only if you want to throw a party. The big disadvantage of this unit is the weight. Even if the 12-cell battery keeps this laptop up for only 2 hours in stressful conditions and 3 hours and 15 minutes on standby mode, this gaming notebook is a desktop replacement.  With a low price and the great performance we recommend this notebook because it is worth all the money.

If you are a student or you don’t have a lot of money to spend on a laptop we recommend the Compaq Presario V2000 notebook. This notebook offers a great combination of style and performance into a small and easy case for only $820.



The Compaq Presario V2000 notebook has a resistant plastic case with a pleasant combination of black and silver. At a total weight of 5.21 lbs and 13.15 x 9.1 x 1.53 dimensions, this notebook is certainly an easy and slim laptop, a very important issue in our days.

The V2000 is not a gaming laptop but it offers a great performance. The Intel Pentium M 710 1.4 GHz processor and 256 MB of SDRAM memory allow you to meet the basic computing needs like writing documents, surfing the internet, listening to music or watching movies. The hard drive is quite small; it has only 40 GB of free space. But this is enough to store your favorite pictures, music, movies and files. If you are running out of free space, you can burn some CDs with the integrated DVD/CD-RW optical drive. If you are not satisfied by this performance you can upgrade the system up to a maximum of 2 GB of RAM and 120 GB of free space.

The Compaq Presario V2000 notebook has a 14.0 inch WXGA Widescreen display with a native resolution of 1280 x 940 pixels, enough for you to watch movies without problems. The colors are clear and have great quality but if you are not satisfied by this, you can choose the BrightView screen for only $50, which is more reflexive and provides more contrast and vivid colors. The JBL integrated speakers produce a great audio quality so you don’t need to attach an external set of speakers.



The keyboard is a full-sized one, very comfortable and responsive. The keys have a flat texture and offer a positive feedback when you press them. Above the keyboard you have several buttons like wireless button, volume control and main power which are very comfortably positioned and you can press them easily. The touchpad has a reasonable size and it is very responsive even to the weakest touches so it’s going to be a pleasure to use it. The left and right mouse buttons works just fine so there is pretty much no need to attach an external mouse.

If you are worried about connectivity, the Compaq Presario V2000 notebook comes with a PMCIA slot, 3 USB ports, Ethernet and Phone line ports, a VGA port, an 6-in-1 Multimedia Card Reader, a FireWire port, a S-Video output and the indispensable headphone and microphone jacks. To stay in touch with your friends the Compaq Presario V2000 notebook has an Intel PRO/Wireless 2200 adaptor.

The Bluetooth feature is missing but if you want to have it, you can order this notebook with an integrated Bluetooth adapter which offers you another way to connect 2 laptops to a wireless connection.



The Compaq Presario V2000 notebook has a 6-cell battery which will keep your laptop up for 2 hours and 40 minutes in test conditions, which is good for such a cheap laptop. But if you want, you can choose the 12-cell battery for only $25 extra. In conclusion, the Compaq Presario V2000 is a family notebook with enough performance to allows you to do your basic everyday computing tasks. At the price of $820 we can say that is a good deal.

The HP Company is recognized by its business laptops which offer a great balance between aspect and performance. The HP ProBook 4510s is the latest HP notebook model for business people who prefer a stylish and powerful laptop every day.



The ProBook 4510s is a HP notebook with a 15.6 inch screen which offers a solid performance at a low price. If you don’t have a lot of money to spend, for only $749 you can buy this model which is designed for medium and small businesses.  The HP ProBook 4510s comes with an Intel Core 2 Duo T6570 (2.1GHz, 2MB L2 cache, 800MHz FSB) processor which is very powerful, 2 GB of RAM memory and 250 GB of free space to store your files.

With this kind of performance you are able to perform your tasks without problems. The Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD graphics card is not very powerful but you don’t need a great graphics card for a business laptop. Anyway, even if you want to play some games in your free time, this graphics card allows you to run games like Half Life but not at great quality.

The ProBook 4510s HP notebook has a 15.6 inch LED-backlit anti-glare HD display screen with a native resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels. This is enough for you to watch HD movies without experiencing any trouble. The anti-glare display offers sharp and beautiful images. You will also get this unit equipped with a DVD-RW optical drive with the LightScribe technology which allows you to make personalized labels for your CDs of DVDs, feature which is common on business laptops.



At 1.25 x 14.6 x 9.83 inches dimension and a total weight of 5.8 lbs, this HP notebook is quite thin and light, an important aspect for a business laptop. The case is made of a plastic material with a black finish. The magnesium chassis is quite resistant but will break easily if you drop it several times.  The lid is made of glossy plastics with the silver HP and ProBook logos. The minimalist design which combines glossy and matte surfaces gives a real clean and business aspect.

The ProBook 4510s HP notebook has a full-sized keyboard with a completely new design. The space between the keys and the dedicated numerical pad allows you to write easily and comfortably. The flat keys have a matte texture and offer positive feedback. The touchpad is very responsive to your every touch. The touchpad texture is great and the scrolling zone on the right and down side works very well.

Let’s talk about the connection options. The ProBook 4510s HP notebook comes with 4 USB ports, an Ethernet port, a VGA port, a S-Video port, a HDMI port, a Kensington lock slot, an Express Card slot, a modem port, a Multimedia Card Reader and the headphones and microphones jacks. These connection ports are enough for a business laptop. The Wireless, Bluetooth and the integrated Webcam help you stay in touch with your friends everywhere you are.



The integrated stereo speakers are not very loud but you can attach an external set of speakers if you want a better sound quality and louder volume levels. The 8-cell battery keeps this notebook up for 5 hours and 10 minutes under stressful test conditions, one feature which is very great for a business laptop. However, for such a small amount of money, this notebook is a good choice if you need a business laptop with a great balance between aspect and performance.

The HP Mini 2140 notebook is a new mini notebook from HP which is a replacement and an update for the original HP 2133 Mini-Note. The HP Mini 2140 notebook is a business class notebook and it comes with a magnesium and aluminum alloy case.



The HP Mini 2140 notebook has a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270 processor, 1 GB of DDR2 RAM memory and a 160 GB hard drive. This combination of power and storage capacity makes this notebook a real competitor for many other notebooks from the same category. The 10.1 inch display with a native resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels allows you to watch movies without connecting an external monitor to it.

The glossy and bright display is very attractive but this can be a problem because it reflects the object in front of it when you use it outdoors or into a powerfully lit room. And just like other glossy surfaces, this is a magnet for fingerprints and dust so you must clean it every time you use it.

The keyboard on the HP Mini 2140 notebook is full-sized with flat and large keys so you can type on them without problems. Like the other models of HP notebooks, the keys offer a positive feedback. There can be only one problem. On the keyboard you will see only one “Fn” taste which is very important for a laptop. But thanks to the space between keys you can easy type on the correct keys.



The touchpad is quite small but it is very sensitive and will respond even to the weakest touch. The smooth surface of the touchpad offers a pleasant sensation when you touch it. There is but one single problem: it doesn’t support multi-touch. If you want to scroll a page you have a strip on the right side of the touchpad.

The integrated speakers on the HP Mini 2140 notebook are loud and clear so you don’t need to plug in an external speakers set. The integrated microphone is very receptive and the integrated 1.2 Megapixels webcam allows you to make video calls and stay in touch with your friends, even to take photos or record clips. The 3-cell battery will keep this notebook up for 2 hours and 12 minutes on stressful test conditions. The battery performance is not that bad but for an ultraportable we expected to see more.

If you are concerned with connectivity, this model comes with only 2 USB ports, a VGA out port, an Ethernet port, a 56k modem port, a Bluetooth adaptor and the usual headphones and microphone jacks – quite impressive considering the size of the unit. The Wireless and the Bluetooth adaptors will help you stay in touch with your friends anywhere you are.



The HP Mini 2140 notebook comes with 60 days trial of Microsoft Office and McAfee Total Protection pre-installed. The Desktop zoom feature is very useful on this kind of notebook because it helps you adjust the icons and font sizes so you can read without problems. The price of this notebook is $499. Even if the HP Mini 2140 isn’t the cheapest notebook, we recommend you buy this model because it is definitely worth the money.

The Alienware Company is recognized by its gaming laptops and desktops PCs. The Alienware M9700 is another serious gaming laptop with great performance and solid built in quality. This model is the first of its kind which uses the NVIDIA SLI technology. Using two GeForce 7900GS graphics cards and an AMD Turion64 2.40 GHz processor you can use this laptop to play any game you want without problems.



The 1 GB of DDR400 RAM memory and the two hard drives with a total capacity of 200 GB allow you to run any application without any lag and store your files in a safe place. With such a performance you will be envied by the greatest gamers in the world.

The Alienware M9700 has a 17 inch Wide Screen WUXGA display with a native resolution of 1920 x 1200 which offers clear and quality images. Even if the display is a quite glossy the ClearView technology helps you get the best quality for the on-screen images and movies even if you plan to use this laptop into a powerfully lit room. Like the other Alienware laptops, this hosts many connection possibilities.

It has an Integrated Gigabit Ethernet port, an integrated 56K modem port, 4 USB ports, a 4-in-1 Media Card Reader, a VGA port, an S-Video port, a WireFire, a Realtek 802.11 g/s Wireless adaptor, Bluetooth adaptor, an Express Card Slot, a S/PDIF output, 10/100/1000 LAN port, a DVI port, a PCMCIA slot and the indispensable headphone and microphone jacks.



The case is made of synthetic material with a pleasant combination of gray and glossy black. The lid is an artwork just like the other lids on other Alienware laptop models. The alien head which is a symbol for this company and the engraved lines are present on the lid. The Alienware M9700 keyboard is a full-size one and it is very easy to use when you play games. The keys are made of plastic material and offer a positive feedback when you press them.

The touchpad is quite small but this is not a problem because probably you will use a mouse with such a gaming laptop. Anyway, the touchpad is very responsive and it will react to every touch no matter how weak it is. But as I said, we recommend using a mouse for this laptop because you will be more satisfied and you will get better response (not to mention better shooting accuracy). If you want a good mouse, we recommend you to buy The Logitech G5 Laser Gaming Mouse for only $66.

The Alienware M9700 comes with an optical DVD-RW drive and the LightScribe feature so you can make personalized labels for your CDs of DVDs. The internal speakers and subwoofer offer an amazing sound with enough bass so you don’t need to attach other external stereo speakers. The 5.1 audio support is a rare feature for a laptop as it offers the sound quality to make any laptop owner proud.



The 12-cell Lithium-Ion battery will keep this laptop up for 1hr - 1hr 30min under test conditions. That is pretty much for a gaming laptop with these performances. The total weight is 11 pounds so if you want to carry this laptop with you all the time you will get tired very quickly. But since we are talking about a gaming laptop and a desktop replacement at the same time, this aspect may not matter that much. This laptop which has this specific configuration costs $3,700 but if you don’t want to spend such a lot of money you can choose the standard configuration which costs $1,700 but the performance will not be the same.