Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: Netbooks and laptops
Welcome to the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide! The team here is well aware of the heartbreaking difficulties of the seasonal shopping experience, and we want to help you sort through the trash and come up with the treasures this year. Below is today's bevy of hand curated picks, and you can head back to the Gift Guide hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the holiday season.
We're not going to lie, buying a laptop as a holiday present can be seriously scary. Not only are there tons of systems to choose from, but you're about to put down quite a bit of cash on something that's probably going to end up being someone's primary machine for a few years. Does your giftee need a netbook for just getting on the web to check e-mail? Or something thin and light with enough power to watch HD movies on the go? How about a Core i7-powered rig with discrete graphics to handle that Call of Duty: Black Ops that was in the stocking? You see, it's a daunting task, but fear not, we're here to ease the pain. Our breakdown of the best laptops is after the jump.
Stocking stuffers: Netbooks
|
|
A 10.1-inch netbook that can push along full HD content? The AMD Athlon II Neo /ATI Radeon HD 4225-powered Aspire One 521 is your answer. In addition, it has an HDMI port and 250GB of storage — but watch out, its battery only lasts for 4 hours on a charge. |
Rarely would we say a netbook turns heads, but that's exactly what NF310's wave shaped edges and gunmetal-colored chassis does. Sporting a 1366x768-resolution 10.1-inch display and Intel's latest dual-core N550 processor, it's got a bit more on the average netbooks out there, but will still only sets you back $399. |
Stocking stuffers: Laptops
|
|
There are lots of budget systems roaming the earth, but the Edge has always been one of the most solidly build laptops under $600. Its curved keys and touchpad / pointing stick navigation options make for a seriously comfortable experience and its AMD / Intel processor choices won't leave you low on power. |
The NV series isn't the most attractive rig, but there's no beating the specs for the price. For $650 you can snatch up the 15.6-inch system with a Core i3 processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 500GB hard drive. |
Oh, you shouldn't have
|
|
|
A 3.2-pound, Core i3-powered PC under $800? Oh yes, it exists. Toshiba's Portege R705 has pretty much everything your giftee could ever want in a thin and light package, including a DVD drive, 4GB of RAM, Intel's Wireless Display, and a 500GB hard drive. |
||
|
If you're seeking raw power under $900 there's no beating Dell's new XPS line. The 15.4-inch system boasts a Core i5-460M processor, 1GB NVIDIA GeForce 420M GPU, a 500GB hard drive, and incredible JBL speakers. 'Nuff said. |
A Bamboo chassis? Core i5? NVIDIA GeForce 310M graphics? Intel WiDi? And a USB 3.0 port? Oh yes, the 14-inch ASUS U43JC's list could go on... No really, they'll think you had to take out a second mortgage for this one. |
||
We can't afford the rent now, can we?
|
|
|
There have been plenty three-dee laptops lately, but HP's Envy 17 seems to be one of the most quality machines with its AMD 3D tech, integrated transmitter, and Blu-ray drive. On top of that it's got Core i5 / i7 CPU options and that same anodized aluminum chassis as the Envy 14. Yes, of course, the active shutter glasses are included! |
||
|
We wouldn't forget about the gamers! The M15x has just been updated with NVIDIA 460M GTX GPU and a Core i7 940XM quad-core processor. Configure it with an 1920x1080p-resolution 15.6-inch display, 8GB of memory, and SSD and you've pretty much got the world's most powerful laptop. |
|||