The Laptop Buying Guide For 2009

Below you’ll find the 10 most popular (based on sales) laptops on the market. We’ve categorized the most popular laptops under 3 sections: Apple notebooks, Netbooks and Windows notebooks.

Most Popular Laptops ““ Early 2009

Apple Laptops

MacBook 13″

macbook 13

The 13-inch MacBook has been updated with an all-aluminum “unibody” build, new Intel processors, and Nvidia 9400M graphics. The traditional plastic white MacBook is however still available, but only in one, limited configuration.

  • Read more on Apple’s website here
  • Official video tour
  • Macbook videos on Youtube

    • MacBook Pro

    macbook pro

    15″ MacBook Pro is still the most popular laptop among designers, developers and other professionals. In addition to the MacBook’s 9400M graphics, the Pro has a dedicated 9600M GT graphics card from Nvidia.

  • Read more on Apple’s website here
  • Macbook Pro videos on Youtube

    • MacBook Air

    macbook air

    Apple’s highly desirable ultraportable laptop has also been updated with Nvidia graphics and new low-voltage CPUs from Intel. You may choose between a 120GB traditional hard drive and an SSD with the same storage capacity.

  • Read more on Apple’s website here
  • Watch the official ade
  • Macbook Air videos on Youtube

    • Netbooks

    Nearly all netbooks are built on the same hardware ““ a 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU and integrated Intel graphics. The things that differ somewhat are the size of the screen and the hard drive capacity. The following are the most popular netbooks at the moment:

    netbooks
    Dell Inspiron Mini 9

    - Official site
    - See on YouTube

    HP Mini 1000

    - Official site
    - See on YouTube

    Acer Aspire One

    - Official site
    - See on YouTube

    		 Lenovo S10

    - Official site
    - See on YouTube

    MSI Wind

    - Official site
    - See on YouTube

    Asus EEE PC 901

    - Official site
    - See on YouTube

    Windows Laptops

    Hewlett Packard DV4

    HP DV 4 notebook

    A 14-inch laptop available in a wide range of configurations: 2.0GHz-2.66GHz Intel processors and a choice between integrated Intel graphics or Nvidia’s low-end 9200M dedicated.

    Sony Vaio NS Series

    Sony Vaio NS Series

    Sony’s NS series is a budget model available in several configurations. Most are equipped with a dual-core Intel processor and integrated graphics.

    Lenovo ThinkPad X200

    Lenovo Thinkpad X200

    IBM sold the rights to its ThinkPad line to Lenovo a few years ago, and Lenovo has continued in the same tradition. ThinkPads are still robust, professional-looking laptops, including the 12-inch X200.

    Dell Studio 15

    Dell Studio 15

    Dell uses a built-to-order model and most laptops from Dell are customizable in great detail. The 15-inch Studio 15 can be configured with a choice of Intel CPUs and a midrange dedicated graphics card from ATI.

    Sony Vaio FW Series

    Sony Vaio FW Series

    The FW series is geared at home entertainment users, with a 16″ 16:9 widescreen display. In terms of hardware, it comes with a dedicated ATI GPU and Intel processors.

    Hewlett Packard DV5

    Hewlett Packard DV5

    The popular DV5 is available with both Intel and AMD processors, and a choice of several different graphics cards, including the reasonably powerful Nvidia 9600M GT, which is well suited for gaming.

    Laptop Reviews and Comparisons Online

    Buying a new laptop is a big deal for most people, and it makes sense to read up on opinions from both professionals and other users before you buy. Once you have an idea of what to look for, visit laptop review sites online ““ there are several good, unbiased websites that are not afraid to warn you off bad products.

    Traditional computer magazines like PC Magazine and Laptop Magazine have extensive review databases on their respective websites, but dedicated laptop sites have even more to offer. The most popular and reputable sites to visit when looking for laptop reviews include laptoplogic.com, laptopical.com, notebookreview.com, and CNET

    Best Places to Buy a Laptop

    When it comes to actually purchasing the laptop, you will get great help from comparison shopping websites (unless it’s a Mac laptop). Besides price comparison sites, you should also be able to find customer reviews and comments on different online retailers. What kind of support to expect after purchasing a laptop is possibly as important as the price. The most popular places to visit for comparison shopping are pricegrabber.com and bizrate.com.

    Comments? Suggestions? Please leave them in the comments. And if you aren’t subscribed to MakeUseOf’s cool websites newsletter yet please do so now by leaving your email below. Or use the RSS feed. Enjoy!

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    Aibek Esengulov

    The guy behind MakeUseOf.com. Follow him and MakeUseOf on Twitter @MakeUseOf. For more details check out MakeUseOf about page.

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    • Callum

      1. Ask if the hardware has Linux drivers.
      2. If answer is yes, buy laptop. Otherwise go to step 1.
      3. If reality is no, return laptop, with the hard drive separated into 1000 partitions each of which is a few megabytes in size. State you were lied to and go to step 1, choosing a different laptop.
      4. ???
      5. Profit!

      • Christopher Poole

        Callum is a pretty cool guy. Eh partitions hard drives and doesn’t afraid of anything.

    • Louie

      How could you not incude ACER in the guide. I recently got an ACER 5920g laptop and is one of the best value laptops you can buy:
      Intel Core Duo 2.0GHz
      4GB RAM DDR2
      1536MB ATI Mobility Radeon (HD 3470)
      250GB Hard Drive
      Blu-Ray Drive, DVD burner
      HDMI

      • philhuber

        Thanks Louie, as I was reading down their list I was looking for ACER also. I bought ACER’s (aspire5515) at good old wallys for $259.00 and have continuously been thrilled with it. Its low cost has made me a lot freer with handling. It’s been dropped a couple of times and generally neglected. I have yet to have any problems. It gets frequently packed in my camping gear, fishing, hunting, etc. When I wanted to buy another I got best buys to match 259 price even though same model number included a web cam mine didnt have. This Aspire has 2 gigs of ram, I think only about 60 or 70 gigs of hard drive. An AMD 64 processor. My friend is still thrilling over that second one I bought her. The OS is of course Vista but only their ‘home basic’ version. No problems at all and both computers are in use about at least 6 to 10 hours on the internet every day.

      • Carlos

        Mine’s bigger ‘n yours, LoL -> Aspire 8920G

    • Louie

      Oh yeah and I forgot to say that it was only £500. And DELL are the only company that can match ACERs build quality!

      • Simon Slangen

        Acer isn’t exactly famed for its build quality (the prices are kept low during production, not distribution), especially compared to Asus or Lenovo.

      • Womble

        I always thought Dell Lappies were quite good.

        • Roy

          I’m on my second Dell laptop (Inspiron 1525, running an OS that shall remain nameless, though its codename is inspired by a large cat that runs very fast…)

          Both of them have been solid and problem-free. The first one is still running strong and working like new, even though it’s now about 7 years old!

        • http://www.shopcorn.in Shefali Roy

          Dear Womble, u are right, Dell laptops are always good in use and

      • sergiu

        Acers isnt rly good with build quality. the best laptops regarding build quality are Vaio’s and Alien Ware

    • http://www.finestlaptops.com Grry

      Good information. I couldn’t be happier with my Acer laptop which is now 3 years old. Good price, durable, and reliable.

    • Michael

      I have been using my Toshiba Satellite for some time now and I’ve had nothing but problems with it. I cant seem to figure out why my usb ports went out it in about 6 months ago and them the speakers went out mysteriously, started making some loud crackling noise. these things are pretty much junk for the price and you can definately find better out there

    • Dels

      Is the pdf ready for download? I really love the pdf guide for build pc and idiot to photoshop. hope this will finished soon :D

    • deon cute

      i suggest u all buy a compaq lappy.it is good and powerfull.it is never ending products..:P

    • http://tv-dvd.net/lenovo-notebook/ doomble

      i want lenovo laptops because have good models

    • http://kuzmin.ca/blog Michael Kuzmin

      this guide is an attempt to fit a whole universe into a couple of sentences. about battery life on small laptops you’re totally wrong. i’ve got Asus W7J, a brilliant small business-class laptop. very expensive (i bought it a couple of years ago for $2’000). battery life is very poor. and the same goes for many other laptops. why would a small laptop consume less power if it’s just as powerful or much more powerful than 15′ and 17′ ones.

      regarding some comments here:why acer is bad? cause it’s low-budget low-quality stuff. period.

      and finally, PC vs Mac. yes, hardware is compatible. so you can run Man OS X on PC almost just as easily as doing it the other way around. and what OS to chose is a completely different issue.

      2Callum, oh my god, linux is the best OS ever, we get it. jeez, you’re such a show-off))

    • Carlos

      Those are all mere toys…ACER Aspire 8920 at a minimum! I get over two hours surfing time running uBuntu Studio. Who cares if it weighs in at over 4kg – you pack it into a rucksack.

      :o )

    • http://www.4insure.net 4insure

      I recommend Asus + Acer… Taiwanese companies. I couldn’t be happier with my Asus laptop which is now 3 years old. Good price, durable, and reliable.

    • Chris

      @Michael Kuzmin
      In regards to battery life, smaller screens means less to display, means less calculations done means longer battery life. Yes, more powerful and you lose that gain, but same power and you _should_ see an increase in battery life, same specs with different screens.

      Yes, hardware is compatible BUT. Mac OSX includes a few security measures in it to make sure it can only be installed on Macs. Also, EULA says they can (and this is Apple, will) sue you for it. It’s illegal to install Mac OS of any kind on any platform other than Apple hardware.

      I just can’t wait till Apple are big business with a market share like MSFT. The amount of potential law suits will make for some fun reading. =P

      Also, Linux is an UMBRELLA TERM FOR OS’S BUILT USING THE LINUX KERNEL. Really.. How many of you are going to misuse that term? It’s pathetic.. There is no Linux OS. There are Linux OS’s. So “Linux is the best kernel ever” would be an acceptable, if flame worthy, statement. But “Linux is the best OS ever” is just wrong.

      Back on topic, Acer are actually pretty good. I had a laptop by them, worked fine, had OSS compatible hardware inc wifi which was extremely good. If you want a powerful computer, then can’t go wrong with a HP. If you want a fashion statement, then Apple. Although.. A quote I saw once..

      “If you truly believe you need to pick a mobile phone that “says something” about your personality, don’t bother. You don’t have a personality. A mental illness, maybe – but not a personality.” – Charlie Brooker

      Same goes for laptops. =P

    • Tsu

      I bought an HP dv5, and so far the monitor’s flickering, it gets so hot I can use it as a hot-compress, and lags when editing images. Tsk.

      It’s barely one year old. Should have gotten a Dell or an Acer.

    • ravi

      Looking for some recommendations. I live at school and I need to take my laptop home on the weekends and take it occasionally to class. I don’t mind it being a little heavy, but I don’t want to lug around a desktop either.

      I download a lot of music, some programs/games, do a lot of web browsing (videos, sometimes games, etc.). I need a reliable computer that will last 4+ yrs. My budget is around $5-600. I don’t need a fancy graphics card.

      Any suggestions? I was thinking about ACER. My g/f bought one for $489 w/ a lot of free stuff. It’s an Aspire 6530.

      Acer seems pretty good, but I don’t know anything bout comps.

      Can you recommend some specific models? Thanks.

      • http://makeuseof.com Aibek

        I’d recommend going with Acer or Asus, thse two can give you pretty goood deals for your budget.

      • http://www.finestlaptops.com $200 Laptops

        I don’t think you can go wrong with Acer. I have an aging Acer aspire 3610 and it has served me well. For my next purchase I will look at a refurbished laptop. There are great buys on refurbished laptops that are less than a year old and many of which are still new or open box returns with excellent warranties. You can buy a lot for under $500.

    • John

      Wow I am very surprised that Toshiba was not even mentioned. I work in a computer repair shop and we recommend Toshiba laptops to all of our business clients. We have had few issues.

    • http://www.pinnaclelists.com Grant

      Wow! Lots of great comments. I think it is the luck of the draw…kind of like avoiding a car that was built on a Monday morning or Friday afternoon……I have been using Toshibas for over 5 years now, and have had mixed experiences with them. My DVD/CD burner doesn’t burn anymore. That is probably the main hardware issue. My son’s hand me down’s fan doesn’t want to mellow out. I think that is a BIOS issue. I have used DELL in the past, and they are good products. I have heard good things about ACER and HP too. Lots of choice out there………

    • http://www.mgingerhack.blogspot.com satyendra

      well i m using Hp laptop and its really good..i may buy lenovo or vaio..the next time..

    • http://trickpedia.com Sid

      when is the 2010 version coming ?