Dell's New Studio 1737

As August quickly approaches and thoughts of school or college come more and more frequently, I’m sure you have begun the sometimes long and frustrating hunt for that perfect back to school laptop. One that will probably catch your eye with the price tag of $749.98 is the Dell Studio 1737. To further your interest even more, you will most likely notice the 17-inch widescreen and 4GB of memory. Has this laptop grabbed your attention yet? It certainly grabbed mine.

The 1737 measures 15.4 x 11.4 x 1.4-inches (HWD) and weighs 7.5 pounds. It has a simple but attractive design, and Dell offers a variety of colors and over 200 designs to choose from to personalize your 1737. As mentioned before, the laptop features a 17-inch widescreen with 1,440 x 900 resolution with the option to upgrade to a higher resolution. The keyboard on the Studio 1737 includes a full-size numeric keypad. It also has soft mouse buttons that are entirely free of any clicking noises.

The Dell Studio 1737 features 5 USB ports with one functioning as a E-SATA combo port. It also includes a FireWire port for use with compatible camcorders and external storage devices, an HDMI port, dual-layer DVD burner, and Wi-Fi capabilities.

The 1737 runs on a 2.1 GHz Intel Core DuoT6500 processor. Dell offers two different battery options for the laptop, a 64Wh battery and a 85Wh battery.

I believe that all your back to school laptop needs can be met in the new Dell Studio 1737. With the impressive 17-inch screen, 4GB of memory, and everything else that a student could need, I don't know what could be a better deal than this feature-filled laptop from Dell.

A Netbook for Under $1

I was obviously intrigued and skeptical when I heard that a netbook was being sold for under a dollar, so I felt the urge to investigate further. Here’s what I was able to uncover. Sprint Nextel has teamed up with Best Buy to offer the Compaq Mini 110c-1040DX Netbook for 99 cents. As incomprehensible as that seems, its true, but the required two-year service contract is where the money is being made.

The Compaq Mini offers a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor and 160GB hard drive. It also features a 10.1-inch anti-glare widescreen display, 5-in-1integrated digital media reader, 92 percent keyboard, built-in-webcam, and a variety of eye-catching features.

The 3G wireless service that you are required to purchase through Sprint will cost you $60 a month for 5GB of data per month. This adds up to costing you around $1,440 once you have purchased the wireless service over the two years.

Verizon Wireless and AT&T plan to also sell the Compaq Mini with a two-year service plan for $199.99 through Best Buy. Verizon currently offers two different wireless service packages. You can select the $40 a month plan which offers 250MB of data monthly or the $60 a month plan that allows for up to 5GB of data per month.

AT&T offers very similar pricing. For up to 5GB of data it will cost you $60 a month, and for 200MB of data it will cost $40 a month. The advantage to AT&T’s deal through Best Buy is that it doesn’t just offer the Compaq Mini but gives you the option to choose between it, the Acer Aspire One, Dell Inspiron Mini 9 and Mini 12, or the LG Xenia all for a base price ranging from $50 to $250.

Although this is an offer that could easily draw in a crowd, if customers do the math they will realize that with the two-year service plan these netbooks will end up costing them way over $1,000 in the end. Hopefully people will realize that this isn’t such a hot offer and will search for a better, cheaper mini-laptop deal.

The HP Mini 110

The price of netbooks just continues to go further and further down. Each year they offer better parts and lower price tags. The new HP Mini 110 definitely carries on this pattern. It resembles HP’s Mini 1000, but has many improvements and a much lower price point.

On the surface, the HP Mini 110 looks almost identical to the Mini 1000 and the Mini 1000 Mi. It features a glossy black top embellished with chic gray swirls. As you examine the netbook closer though, you are able to distinguish a few external differences. The HP Mini 110 is thicker than its predecessors, measuring more than one inch thick. This added thickness, to make room for the larger feature set and new battery set up, barely adds any extra weight to the netbook though. It manages to weigh in at a very reasonable 2.6 pounds.

The 10.1-inch widescreen is now LED-backlit and comes with 1,204 x 576 resolution. It features speakers that have been built below the screen into the frame in order to keep them hidden behind the hinge. Other important aspects to consider include the Mini’s 92 percent keyboard and mouse buttons. It also has a VGA port, an Ethernet port, a multi card reader, a headphone jack, three USB ports, and a built-in webcam. The Mini has upgraded with a 160GB, 5,400-rpm spinning drive, with the option to upgrade for something even more powerful.

Another interesting fact is that the Mini now includes a third-party software application called Syncables. Syncables allows you to connect different machines on your local network and effortlessly share photos, documents, video, and music. You can even sync e-mail accounts from Windows, Mac, and Linux systems.

HP has definitely made some huge improvements with the Mini 110. It now includes a faster hard drive and a variety of new features. No its not the Dell Inspiron Mini 12 or the Acer Aspire One, but for the reasonable starting price of $329.00 it seems like a pretty good deal to me.

Gateway NV Series 5214u

Gateway has just released their latest new line called the NV series. The line offers what I feel is the best performance at a more than reasonable price. The first in the line is the 5214u. Starting at the low cost of only $479 at bestbuy right now. The Gateway NV5214u is a Normal sized 15.6' notebook with a resolution of 1366x769 and weighs a resonable 6.82 pounds.

The best part about this laptop is it comes with every main feature that I am looking for in a budget laptop. It has an 2.1GHz AMD dual-core processor, it comes with 4GB of RAM, and it comes with the ATI Radeon HD 3200 Video Card which is on par with the more well known 8400GS. The reason these three things are so crucial because these are the three things that guarantee you a fast laptop that will run for a long time. Also the included bonus of a video card makes this laptop capable of playing games.

Some added bonuses on this laptop is the 320GB Hard Drive, 6 cell Lithion Ion Battery, an HDMI Port, Media Card Reader, and a webcam. This laptop is the perfect multimedia laptop, 320GB is more than enough to store all your music, photos, and video. The HDMI Port allows you to hook your laptop up to your giant plasma screen and the Media Card Reader is perfect for putting stuff on your phone. For a complete spec sheet see gateways website here.

If you are in need of a back to school laptop or just want a decent laptop that won't break the bank then this is the perfect laptop. It comes with all the needed hardware and ports for a great price of under $500.

The IdeaPad Y450

Did you think it was impossible to find an reasonably inexpensive, big screened laptop with a full size keyboard and loads of multimedia features? Well, Lenovo has changed that train of thought with their IdeaPad Y450.

The IdeaPad Y450 has a different look than any previous laptop. It sports a black cover like many other laptops on the market, except for the fact that the cover is not the traditional glossed-over top but instead a textured honeycomb pattern that gives the lid a coarse, grainy feel. This will certainly assist in promoting less fingerprints and smudges on the laptop’s cover. The edges of the lid are trimmed in a copper tone, while the inside is a stark white. This all unites to produce a stylish, modern looking laptop.

The Y450 measures 13.4 x 9.2 x1.4 inches (HWD) and weighs about 5 pounds. It features a 14-inch widescreen with 1,366 x 768 resolution. It also includes three USB ports, FireWire, Ethernet, a built-in webcam, and excellent speakers. Added bonuses not normally included in laptops in the Y450’s price range are the DVD burner, eSATA, and HDMI-out ports. Another important fact to consider is the Y450’s 2-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T6400 processor.

This impressive, budget-friendly laptop can be purchased in retail stores for around $599. Yes, there are plenty of other thinner and lighter laptops on the market, but they will dig a lot deeper into your pocket. The IdeaPad Y450 has excellent features, a slick design, and a heart-warming price tag. I think this is certainly a laptop that can satisfy most average people laptop needs.

The New Acer Aspire One

The new Acer Aspire One is now thinner and lighter than any previous Acer netbook. Acer managed to eliminate a sizeable amount of plastic within their best-selling netbook design to allow for these qualities, while still maintaining their reasonable price point.

Netbook design is not really one of Acer’s strengths. Although the plastic-topped Aspire One does not win any beauty pageants, there are many qualities that make up for the netbook’s lack of style. The Aspire One beats most comparable netbooks with its mere 0.8-inch thickness. This makes it thinner than the Samsung N120, the ASUS EeePC 1000HE, the ASUS EeePC 1008HA (Seashell), and the HP Mini 1000. The new Acer netbook is now also lighter. With the three-cell battery, it only weighs 2.4 pounds.

Considering other aspects, the Aspire One retains the standard 10-inch screen, 1,024 x 600 resolution, and customary keyboard. The 89 percent keyboard is certainly a feature that Acer needs to attend to. Acer was able to include mutitouch capabilities into the Aspire One, but with the limited space you have to work with performing such actions can be difficult at times.

The Aspire One features three USB ports, VGA-out, an Ethernet port, a 1.3-megapixel webcam, 802.11 g WiFi, and a 4-in-1 card reader. It also has a 160GB hard drive, which is the same or better than all other netbooks currently on the market. The Aspire One contains a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 processor, 1 GB of memory, and Intel integrated graphics.

Even with the new updates found in the Acer Aspire One, Acer has managed to retain its affordable price. The Aspire One is the most reasonably priced netbook to be found at about $300, which is the reason why the previous Acer model was the best-selling netbook available. The Aspire One is lighter, thinner, and cheaper than most other netbooks out there. If you’re looking for an inexpensive netbook, this is definitely one to check out.

MSI X-Slim X320 13-inch Notebook

The MSI X-Slim X320 is the worlds thinnest and lightest 13-inch notebook on the market right now. The X320 should not be mistaken for a low quality netbook. The latest X320 model comes with a 250GB Hard Drive and 2GB DDR2 RAM. Some low notes though is it comes with a Intel Atom 1.6GHz Processor that will be sure to bottle neck the notebooks performance. It also only comes with a 4 cell battery, but with such a barebones laptop you could probably expect the battery to be more than suitable.

The real selling point for the MSI X-Slim X320 is its size, weight and low cost. The laptop is 6mm at its thinnest and 20mm at its thickest. Also with the low weight of 2.8 pounds you should never have to worry about the hassle of carrying around your laptop. The price really makes it a great buy. Coming in at only $599 right now on sites like newegg.com you can expect this to be a hot seller.

The 13″ 16:9 glare type display has a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels and uses LED backlight.

The MSI X320 also comes with a 1.3MP web camera, speakers, wifi, Bluetooth, an ethernet port, thre USB ports, card reader, and a VGA port. One feature that is a real disappointment is the MSI X320 lacks an optical drive to read cd’s and dvd’s. This is no doubt due to its extremely thin design, but it seems like an almost necessity to have in a laptop for watching movies, installing programs, and ripping music. Overall a great ultra thin and light notebook that lacks some features, but makes up for it with the price point of only $599.