Laptops Arena

Small Laptops are also known as netbooks and this notebook subcategory is made exactly for what the name suggests it: using it for internet purposes. Small laptops generally come with displays that measure from 8.9 to about 12 inches in diagonal. Due to the small chassis, the components inside are rather weak and they lack a few things which are generally common on bigger laptops, things like optical drives, a good selection of ports and features or fully sized keyboard. Almost all the respectable manufacturers have at least 1 such small laptop in their portfolio.

One of the best small laptops that money can buy is considered to be the Acer Aspire One D250. This unit is based on a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270 processor and 1 GB of DDR2 RAM. The total storage capacity of the hard drive is 160 GB while the graphics card is the integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950. Since the dimensions of the unit are 10.2 x 7.2 x 1 inches and the total weight of the system is 2.4 lbs, this unit is considered to be an ultra portable. The display measures 10.1 inches in diagonal and it comes at a native resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels. As for the selection of ports and connections, this unit is host to 3 USB ports, one VGA out, an Ethernet port, a 5-in-1 media card slot and the regular headphones out and microphone in jacks.


The unit comes with the Windows XP operating system preinstalled. The starting price of the unit is $300 while the price of the unit reviewed here is $330. One of the most important aspects of small laptops is the battery performance. Sadly, the Acer Aspire One D250 does not perform as one would expect a netbook to do. With the display brightness set to 70%, the wireless card activated and the Windows power management profile set to “power saver”, the laptop managed to stay on for about 2 hours and 30 minutes.


Another good example of a proper small laptop is the Toshiba NB205. Even if it is not as popular as the Acer Aspire one or the Asus Eee PC, this offers decent netbook performance for the price of $400. This unit is based on a 1.66 GHz Intel Atom N280 processor and 1 GB of RAM. the graphics card is the integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 and the total storage capacity of the hard disk is 160 GB. The dimensions of this unit are 10.4 x 8.3 x 1.0 inches while the total weight of the system is 2.93 lbs. even if this unit is just bit bigger than the Acer Aspire One D250, it has the same 10.1 inch display that comes at a native resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels. Both of these small laptops come with 0.3 megapixel webcams. The selections of ports and features of this unit is similar to that of the Acer presented above. The unit is host to 3 USB ports, one security lock slot, a VGA out, an SD card slot, the Ethernet port and the regular headphones out and microphone in jacks. As for the battery performance, the Toshiba N205 beats the D250 by far. With the display brightness set to 70%, the wireless card activated and the Windows power management profile set to “power saver”, this small laptop manages to stay up and running for 9 hours.

The EliteBook 2530p is a HP laptop recommended for students that are in need of an ultraportable to take to class and still, a laptop that can perform the essential computing tasks. This laptop does not come with powerful components so you cannot expect anything spectacular from this unit. Back in 2008, the starting price of this unit was $1550 but the price of the unit configures was $3000. Fortunately, the price of this HP laptop has dropped and it is now a unit that you can afford.
This unit is based on a 1.86 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo SL9400 processor and 2 GB of RAM. The total storage capacity of the hard drive is 80 GB while the graphics card is the integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD. Part of the price for the unit is for the extended warranty as this unit comes with a 3 year warranty. The dimensions of this unit are 11.11 x 9.18 x 0.99 inches with the 6 cell battery and the total weight of this laptop is 3.75 lbs. the 12.1 inch display of this HP laptop has a native resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels and even if the size of the display can seem a rather small, let us not forget that we are dealing with an ultraportable.

The horizontal viewing angles are great for a laptop with the size of the EliteBook 2350p. The colors are rich and beautiful and you will surely believe you have made the right choice as well. Unfortunately, the speakers are located on the bottom of the unit and since the sound is not projected up and towards the user, sound is a bit muffled and not as clear as one would like. However, there is no doubt that if the same speakers were placed above the keyboard, the sound would be really impressive.



The keys may not have that huge of a space between them but they do feel very comfortable when you type. The keyboard is backed up by LED light so typing in the dark is going to be easier even if the light is not the most powerful one around. Above the keyboard you shall find a series of touch sensitive multimedia control buttons which are quite common on different HP laptop models. The touchpad feels very pleasant to the touch and it is also quite responsive. Even if we are not used to seeing the most spectacular selection of ports and connections on a 12 inch laptop, we are still very pleased with what this HP laptop has to offer. The 2530p comes with 2 USB ports, one VGA out, a docking station connector, a FireWire port, a modem port, an SD card reader, an Express Card slot, the Ethernet jack, a security lock slot and the regular headphones out and microphone in jacks. Battery life is a key aspect of an ultra portable unit and this HP laptop has not disappointed us at this chapter. With the display brightness set to the maximum level, the wireless card enabled, 30 minutes of music playback and doing some document editing, the laptop managed to stay on for 5 hours and 50 minutes.

Opinions as to which is the top gaming laptop are divided as the number of gaming dedicated units is in constant expansion. If you asked us a couple of months ago which we thought the top gaming laptop was, we would answer without thinking it over: the Alienware m17x. However, we have recently come across the Asus Republic of Gamers G73Jh which is one unit with quite an impressive collection of components hidden inside the chassis. Let us see if the Asus Republic of Gamers G73Jh can win the top gaming laptop title from the Alienware m17x.
The Asus G73Jh is a 17.3 inches laptop that comes in a native resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. Quite impressive, if only the Alienware didn’t come with a screen similar in size but with a native resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels. And we all know how important the display is on a gaming laptop! How else are you going to spot and enjoy all the spicy and bloody details of a shooter? The processor that comes with the Asus Republic of Gamers G73Jh (I love this name; it sounds so fancy, doesn’t it?) is a 1.6 GHz Intel Core i7 720 QM while the Alienware comes with a 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9300. The Asus Republic of Gamers G73Jh comes with the 64 bit version of the Windows 7 Home Premium while the Alienware uses the 64 bit version of the Windows Vista Home Premium operating system which means that running Windows 7 is going to require an extra purchase for the operating system license.

Both of these units come with 8 GB of RAM and considering each of the 2 processors, I doubt that multitasking is ever going to be a problem on these laptops. When it comes to the optical drive included Alienware wins because it comes with a Blu-ray optical drive while the Asus uses a simple DVD burner which is common and we have grown bored of it. Blu-ray players are much more fun, especially when you have a 17 inch laptop to enjoy HD movies on. Both of these laptops have a total storage capacity of 1 TB which is the best that a gaming laptop can do at this time. And now it is time to see just what kind of graphics card you should expect to find on the top gaming laptop. The Asus Republic of Gamers G73Jh comes with the ATI Mobility Radon HD 5870 graphics card which uses 1 GB of video memory while the Alienware uses 2 nVidia GeForce  GTX 280M graphic card that also have 1 GB of video memory.



Back in 2009, the price for the Alienware m17x $4650 for a unit just like the one configured here, even if the starting price is $1800. In March of this year, the Asus with the same configuration as the one above cost $1600. By a simple process of eliminations considering that out of 2 similarly configured laptops, one is triple the price of the other, I am proud to announce that the top gaming laptop is the Asus Republic of Gamers G73Jh.

Sony – VAIO laptops are one of the most popular series of multimedia laptops and together with the HP Pavilion series, they have gained a considerable share of the market as far as multimedia laptop users go. Sony – VAIO laptops are considered to be a standard of quality and professionalism as far as entertainment notebook go. These laptop models started appearing a few years ago and as time has passed, more and more models appeared, each one being of improved version of the previous. Even so, the first models of Sony – VAIO laptops have struggled to bring the best features that a multimedia laptop could come with at that time.

Let us take the example of the Sony VAIO G series. This laptop is based on a 1.33 GHz Intel Core Solo ULV U1500 processor and 1 GB of RAM. The total storage capacity of the hard drive is 100 GB and the graphics card is the integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950.

The dimensions of this unit are 10.9 x 8.43 x 1.00 inches and the total weight is 2.47 lbs. in case you are wondering how come this laptop is so light weight, it comes with a 12.1 inch display with a matte surface and a native resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels. Ok, so this laptop was pretty extraordinary back in 2007 but let us see if there were any improvements on a laptop model launched in 2008.



The Sony VAIO FW139E/H is one of those Sony – VAIO laptops which can make an excellent desktop replacement. This laptop model is part of the VAIO FW series and it is based on a 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 3 GB of RAM. The graphics card is the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3470 while the total storage space of the hard drive is 250 GB. This VAIO laptop model has a 16.4 inch display that comes at a native resolution of 1600 x 900 pixels and the screen is absolutely superb and it has just the right resolution. Since the display is covered in a glossy coating, the colors are simply splendid as they are sharp and vibrating and it seems that reflection is not that big of a problem with this laptop.



The selection of ports and features should always be good on a multimedia laptop which is also a desktop replacement. This is why the Sony VAIO FW139E/H comes with 3 USB ports, one Express Card slot, a VGA out, the HDMI port, a memory card reader, a FireWire port and the regular headphones out and microphone in jacks.  We love the HDMI port since we can attach external HD monitors. As for the battery life, it’s safe to say that it was within our expectations. When you set the display brightness to the maximum level, the battery will manage to keep the laptop on for about 2 hours. I know this performance is not awesome but it will do considering the specs and size of the unit. Notice the improvement between the 2 models?

Since everybody is now looking to save money in every possible way that they can, we can show you that the other alternative for buying a laptop is not refusing to buy a laptop. There are a lot of cheap laptops out there just waiting to be discovered and unless you are too picky about your notebook or want a laptop for playing top of the line games, I bet you can find at least 10 models that better suit your needs.

We all know that price is a very important factor in any shopping decision so manufacturers have starting producing cheap laptops not only for us regular users, but they are also producing cheap laptops for the business segment and even for the gaming passionate. An example of a cheap laptop dedicated to the business market is the Lenovo ThinkPad X100e.

The price of the unit configured here is as low as $570 and if you own a small business are you don’t need any fancy computers, this laptop will prove to be the ideal choice. The unit is based on a 1.6 GHz AMD Athlon Neo Single-Core MV-40 Mobile processor and 2 GB of RAM. The total storage capacity of the hard drive is 250 GB while the graphics card is the ATI Radeon 3200. The unit comes with the preinstalled version of the 32 bit version of the Windows 7 Professional operating system. The dimensions of this unit are 11.1 x 8.2 x 1.2 inches and the total weight of the system is 3.3 pounds.



This laptop has a 11.6 inch display that comes is a native resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels. The reason why this display is ideal for business is the fact that it comes with a matte surface which makes the laptop usable under any kind of light conditions. So, it doesn’t really matter if you work in a powerfully lit office of even outdoors, the screen is readable. The horizontal viewing angles are good although when you buy laptops in the office for a single person to use, I guess viewing angles are not that important.



The selection of ports and connections is average for this kind of laptop. The ThinkPad X100e comes with a total of 3 USB ports, one Ethernet port, a VGA out, a 4-in-1 card reader, a Kensington lock slot and the regular headphones out and microphone in jacks. Maybe a docking station connector would have been a wise choice but we shall settle for what we can get. If you plan on buying this laptop strictly for office usage, battery life should not influence you very much. But if you plan on taking this unit on business travels, it is important to know how you stand as far as battery performance goes. With the screen brightness adjusted to 70%, the wireless card activated and the Windows 7 power management profile set to “balanced mode”, you can squeeze about 3 hours and 40 minutes of battery life. This is quite ok considering that you are paying less than $600 for this unit.