Friday, July 25, 2008

Top 5 Desktop Replacement Laptops

Desktop replacements are one of the largest growing segments in the portable market. These system pack in the features and functions that make them competitive with full sized computers. There are even a lot of specialized multimedia and gaming models. Based on my research and experience, here are the top desktop replacement laptops.

1. Dell XPS M1730

For those looking for a high performance system for gaming, Dell's XPS offers the XPS M1730 laptop. The system is highly customizable to fit to a wide variety of budgets but does offer some superb 3D graphics performance thanks to its ability to run a mobile SLI setup with NVIDIA GeForce mobile graphics processors. They even offer the Core 2 Extreme mobile processor for some of the best processing power available. Of course, the top of the line performance will cost a lot. Dell even makes a specially skinned version for those who play World of Warcraft.

2. Gateway P-173XL FX

If gaming is one of your primary reasons for getting a desktop replacement but you don't want to spend the huge sums for a gaming oriented laptop configuration, check out Gateway's FX series of laptops. The 17-inch P-173XL FX offers a very well balanced system configuration with a very strong GeForce 8800M GTS graphics processor that is even capable of playing 3D games up to the 17-inch screens 1920x1200 resolution. The RAID drive setup helps boost performance and storage space and the wide variety of peripheral connectors lets you hook up just about anything. The only real drawbacks to it are its fairly large size and battery pack that extends out from the case.

3. HP Pavilion dv9830us

If multimedia and high definition video are what draws you to a desktop replacement, HP offers some extremely strong values. The Pavilion dv9830us has a very attractive price and includes features such as a Blu-ray reader and DVD burner combo drive and digital/analog HDTV tuner card that let it play a wide variety of HD media. One big downside to the system though is the 17-inch LCD is limited to a 1440x900 resolution preventing it from being used for 1080p video. It is still possible to do it with an extrenal monitor via the HDMI connector. The price might also be so low as it uses an older Core 2 Duo T5550 mobile processor.

4. Apple MacBook Pro 17-inch

The MacBook Pro is probably one of the more expensive desktop replacement laptops on the market, but it is also the most portable. The svelte aluminum clad laptop is just one inch thick with a very light 6.8 pounds. Performance is also quite strong thanks to the Core 2 Duo T9300 processor. With the Mac OS X 10.5 operating system, it is also possible to run the Windows operating system thanks to the new Boot Camp feature. This makes the system extremely flexible in what it can run. The price just makes it something that many people might reconsider.

5. Lenovo IdeaPad Y710

Prior to the purchase by Lenovo, IBM was not a company that built any laptops with screens larger than 15-inches. The IdeaPad Y710 was a major step away from that by producing the first 17-inch desktop replacement laptop. The system integrates well loved features such as the ThinkPads great keyboard design and matched it with features consumers would like. The system ranges for very affordable budget systems to high end PC gaming platforms. Whether you need an affordable system, strong general performance or gaming, Lenovo has an IdeaPad Y710 that can match those needs.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home