2008 Notebook Holiday Buyer's Guide

[Jerry Jackson]

As the holiday shopping season gets underway, shoppers who are looking for notebook computers are in luck. There are more laptops than ever before that are geared towards people with many different needs and interests. Whether you're a  student who needs a low-cost computer that fits in a small backpack for school, a gaming enthusiast who wants to play Crysis and watch Blu-ray movies, or a business traveler needing a rugged yet portable solution, this guide will point you in the right direction.

A host of new models were announced over the back-to-school season and within the last month that are just coming onto the market. In addition, there are many excellent notebooks that were released earlier this year whose prices have come way down and are great bargains. You can find some of the laptops in this guide at prices ranging from less than $400 to many thousands of dollars. Obviously, higher priced notebooks have better build qulaity and better performance, but low-priced computers provide an excellent value for young students and adults who don't need high performance and just want to stay connected.

This guide will cover four different classes of laptop computers, four of which – ultraportables, general use/mainstream, gaming and multimedia, and business – are considered full-featured notebooks that can handle just about any task you throw at them (depending on the configuration). The fifth class is made up of budget-oriented mobile internet companions, or netbooks for short - smaller, cheaper, and generally less capable than full-featured notebooks, netbooks are designed for people who need constant access to a computer for email, internet access, or limited work but don't require a full notebook for content creation. Each laptop class contains recommendations within different price ranges. Our goal is to help you find the notebook (or netbook) that will make the perfect holiday gift for family, friends and last, but not least, for yourself. 

Jump to: Netbooks | Ultraportables | General Use/Mainstream| Gaming and Multimedia | Business

[chen]

A great guide for those who are looking for a new laptop! All the laptops listed here are among the popular ones that most people should check out first. Great one!

[boypogi]

where's sager??

[Red_Dragon]

Definitely better then CNET's list, lol

[Changturkey]

Will this list be updated with last minute announcements of new laptops?

[Redline]

I think there is an issue with your ultraportable section. None of the "under $1200" models listed are actually ultraportables. Portables yes, but not ultraportables.

[Gophn]

here are my current "bang for the buck" high-end gaming notebook picks....
(with 256-bit memory interface videocards)

For 17"
*($1500 budget and below)*
- Sager NP5793 (Clevo M570RU) .... its hot right now since Sager is making it fully loaded with 9800M GTS and even Blu-Ray drive to liquidate its stock so that they can focus on the new (but slightly more expensive) NP5796.
- Gateway P FX with 9800M GTS is another good choice but does not have better build quality and cooling than the Clevo M570RU.
*($1600 to $2000)*
- Sager NP5796 (Clevo M570TU) .... new model with Montevina and choice of 9800M GTS/GT/GTX
*($2000+ budget)*
- Arima W840DI (OCZ Whitebook) .... new 17" single/dual ATI 3870 and dual HDD
- Clevo D901C (Sager NP9262) .... remains to be king of notebooks... 17" with single/dual 9800M GTS/GT/GTX, uses desktop quad-core CPUs, three internal HDD, and the best notebook cooling design to date.

For 15"
*(sub-$1500 budget)*
- ASUS G50VT .... 15.6" with 9800M GS (budget high-end card)
- .Toshiba F55 .... 15.4" with 9700M GTS (still considered high end on the bottom rung of the ladder of high-end cards)
- and the rest of the mid-range notebooks with 9600M GT, ATI 3600/3650, etc..
*($1600 up)*
- Clevo M860TU (Sager NP8660) .... new 15.4" with Montevina platform and 9800M GTS/GT

AW and .Dell does not make the list (mainly for the high-end systems), they are quite outdated and configurations are usually overpriced.

This is a bang for the buck list... if you want to pay for aesthetics and lights, then look elsewhere.

[booboo12]

This is great, and yeah, better than Cnet's for sure. But you may want to check the Netbook section, specifically the Asus N10 summary -

"...It has an 8 megapixel sensor, a fairly wide 33mm lens on its 3x optical zoom, face detection, optical image stabilization, and an Intelligent Scene Selector which senses the appropriate shooting environment and picks the correct scene mode. It has a bright, sharp 2.5 inch LCD screen and takes good pictures indoors and out. "

[phiorala]

This is great, and yeah, better than Cnet's for sure. But you may want to check the Netbook section, specifically the Asus N10 summary -

"...It has an 8 megapixel sensor, a fairly wide 33mm lens on its 3x optical zoom, face detection, optical image stabilization, and an Intelligent Scene Selector which senses the appropriate shooting environment and picks the correct scene mode. It has a bright, sharp 2.5 inch LCD screen and takes good pictures indoors and out. "

Which would be wonderful if that were the included camera.

[booboo12]

Which would be wonderful if that were the included camera.

I know right? i was like, "holy crap, that's a really good webcam, oh wait... 2.5 inch screen?"