Top 10 laptops in 2007

2007 has been a great year for the notebook market. With the cost of ownership dropping to new lows, more people are choosing mobiles over the traditional desktop. The latter have also undergone some changes, with sleeker designs like the Apple iMac, Sony VAIO VGC-LA38G and NEC Powermate P5000 taking up almost as little space as laptops.

But the real story must surely be in the UMPC sector. The first generation did not fare well as they cost as much as a budget notebook with significantly slower performance. The Kohjinsha SA1 was the first to break the S$1,000 (US$736.25) barrier and made this category viable. The ASUS Eee PC was even more aggressive. Despite going for under S$600 (US$441.75), it was a full-fledged computing machine in an exceptionally portable form factor. Even the newcomer, Packard Bell, launched the EasyNote XS20 at the last SITEX show. Gigabyte, known for making mainboards, came up with the Gigabyte U60 which is a surprisingly competent system.

On the other end of the scale, the Dell XPS M1730 made headlines with its dual graphics card setup. Though such systems have been around in the US, such high-end gaming machines were denied to Asian consumers until now. Its blazing performance and feature-rich package earned it the coveted Editors' Choice award. It's smaller sibling, the XPS M1530, also recieved the same honor due to its good looks and gaming capabilities.

Our top 10 charts take into account not only readership figures, but also how the various portables performed in the retail market. As such, several popular models like the ASUS Eee PC did not make it to the charts as it was only launched late in the year. Nonetheless, our research shows that Asian consumers stuck to their value-for-money philosphy. Most of the most popular models go for around the S$2,000 (US$1,472.50) mark. Without further ado, lets look at the most popular laptops in 2007.

	1.	Compaq Presario V3000 series (Core Duo T2400 Processor 1.83Hz, 512MB RAM)   CNET Asia rating: 6.9 out of 10 The good: Strong set of specs for the price; solid performance and battery life; bright 14.1-inch display; includes most of the ports and connections home users need. The bad: Putting pressure on the case above the optical disc drive results in a buzzing noise. The bottom line: The HP Compaq Presario V3000 delivers a strong set of components--plus a choice between AMD and Intel processors--and a decent set of basic features for a competitive price. Review | See full specs | Rate this
	2.	HP Pavilion dv2500 (Core 2 Duo T7300 processor 2.0GHz, 2GB RAM)   CNET Asia rating: 7 out of 10 The good: Strong set of specs for price; performance almost matches that of more expensive laptops; attractive 14.1-inch display; dual headphone jacks and fingerprint reader; includes most of the ports and connections home users need. The bad: Average battery life with the standard six-cell battery; opting for an HDMI port means sacrificing a USB port. The bottom line: The HP Pavilion dv2500 delivers an eye-catching case, a strong set of features, and solid performance at a lower price than competing systems. We recommend it for home or school use. Review | See full specs | Rate this
	3.	Acer Aspire 5583WXMi (Core 2 Duo T5500 Processor 1.66GHz, 512MB RAM) Outlook With a starting price of S$1,698 (US$1,250.16), Acer is offering an inexpensive Windows Vista-ready system on the Core 2 Duo processor. It is also a pleasant surprise to see an entry-level discrete graphics card and a full suite of connectivity options living in this Aspire. See full specs | Rate this
	4.	Acer Aspire 5610AWLMi (Core Solo Processor T1350 1.86GHz, 512MB RAM) Outlook For a laptop at under S$1,400 (US$1,030.75), this Aspire certainly offers a competent feature set. It has a DVD writer, memory card reader and runs on Intel's Core Solo platform. Granted it would have been nicer if it was a dual-core machine, but the basic user would probably not feel the difference. See full specs | Rate this
	5.	HP Compaq Business Notebook nx6320 (Core Duo T2500 Processor 2.0GHz, 512MB RAM) Outlook It may not be the prettiest model on the market, but the HP nx6320 knows what it does best and goes for it. It has fingerprint sensor, TPM security chip and harddisk protection to ensure that private data stays confidential. The unassuming chassis is laminated with a scratch-resistant coating to prevent disfiguring scars from everyday use. Coupled with its reasonable price and options to use either Intel Core Duo or AMD Turion X2 processors, the nx6320 definitely gives the competition a run for their money. See full specs | Rate this