 "5 Trendsetting Laptops")
Laptops have come a long way from the days when they were described as “plastic” boxes with a hazy LCD screen and an underpowered CPU. Today’s laptops are sleek sexy products, made out of space age materials such as carbon fiber (titanium in some rare cases), sport powerful processors and have long battery life. Keeping these parameters in mind here is our list of the 5 laptops we think have become the definitive standards in mobile computing.
Sony Vaio VGN-TX790P/W
Sony is the first name that comes to anyone’s mind whenever the thought of a classy expensive lifestyle product comes to mind. Be it from their beautifully styled PS3 or their Bravia range of TVs, Sony is in a class of its own. Therefore it should come as no surprise when we say that Sony’s Vaio range of portable laptops are probably the most famous laptop range around.
The Sony Vaio VGN-TX790P/W is a 11.1 inch ultra-portable that is fairly loaded. Built on a platinum carbon-fiber casing, this beautiful laptop comes with an Intel Pentium M ULV 773 processor , a widescreen LCD panel with a native resolution of 1366x768 (16:9 Aspect Ratio) and a 80 GB HDD. In terms of battery life this ultra-portable is easily able to top 7 hrs of battery life owing to its small LCD panel and power-saving processor. Weighing in at a mere 1.3 KG and with a small body (10.7” x 0.83” - 1.12” x 7.7” WxHxD) this laptop is the among ultra-portables. It is available in India for a listed price of Rs. 1, 30,000.
Asus VX1 Lamborghini
We had recently reviewed the Asus Lamborghini VX1 and come away impressed. This is one of the best looking laptops that are available right now. Its body is sleek, sharp and sporty with a very high quality gloss finish. The overall finish of the laptop is similar to the appearance of a Lamborghini Gallardo and is available in jet black and sporty yellow.
The VX1 apart from its good looks is a powerful performer too. It packs in a Core2duo T7400 dual- core processor (2.16 GHz) and 2GB of RAM. Storage is taken care of by a 5400 RPM 160 GB hard drive and graphics is handled adequately by a GeForce Go 7400 chipset. The LCD panel is another area where this laptop excels. It has a 15 inch LCD panel with a native resolution of 1400x1050 and sports the same splendid video enhancement technology that is present in the Asus PW201 20-inch desktop monitor. In terms of battery life the laptop manages to reach an impressive 3 hours.
The VX1 is available in India at a price of Rs. 2,00,000.
__PAGEBREAK__
Apple Macbook Pro
Apple really needs no introduction when it comes to computing. One of the original pioneers in personal computing, the company has seen many changes in its 30 year history. One of the changes that really had a powerful impact on its product line-up was the move to Intel processors. When you couple an Intel processor with OSX (arguably one of the best consumer OS’s available right now) you get a combination that is tough to top. You can of course even put in Windows on a Macbook Pro now with the help of the bootcamp software.
The new Macbook Pro is one of the best looking laptops you will find right now. Available in pristine white it is powered by a very powerful Intel Core2duo processor which has a speed of 2.33 GHz. It comes with 2 GB of 667 MHz DDR2 RAM and a 7200 RPM 160 GB hard drive. The screen is a large 17 inch with a native widescreen resolution of 1680X1050 and packs in an ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics card with 256 MB of VRAM.
Available for Rs. 1,63,000 the Macbook Pro really stands out for its powerful specifications, great looks and awesome OS.
Sony VGN-AR28GP
Sony returns to our lineup with the VGNAR28GP. At first glance it seems to be your average desktop replacement but it’s not. It’s the world’s first laptop to actually feature a Blu-Ray drive. When you combine it with a T7200 processor (clockspeed of 2.16 GHz), 1 GB of system ram, a huge 160 GB HDD and an HD ready 17 inch panel ( native resolution of 1920x1200) you get a pretty powerful system that will satisfy all your HD media cravings.
Oh! and just in case you were wondering if you can game on this laptop - its graphical core is powered by the Nvidia Geforce Go 7600 GT which is more than capable of running F.E.A. R at the laptop’s native resolution at a decent framerate. Priced at a rather expensive Rs. 1,99,000 this laptop is strictly for the well heeled mobile multimedia enthusiast.
__PAGEBREAK__
Toshiba Qosmio G30
Toshiba, like its rival Sony, is another firm that has developed the knack of making trendsetting powerful laptops. We had recently included it in our Vista capable media center roundup and just couldn’t leave it out of our current lineup.
Just to refresh your memory, the Toshiba G30 ships with a 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor (T7200), an HD-Ready 17 inch display panel (1920
 "Israel targets top Hamas leaders in Doha; Qatar, Iran condemn strike as violation of sovereignty")
 "Nepal: Oli to continue until new PM is sworn in, nation on edge as all branches of govt torched")
 "Who is CP Radhakrishnan, India's next vice-president?")
 "Israel informed US ahead of strikes on Hamas leaders in Doha, says White House")
 "Israel targets top Hamas leaders in Doha; Qatar, Iran condemn strike as violation of sovereignty")
 "Nepal: Oli to continue until new PM is sworn in, nation on edge as all branches of govt torched")
 "Who is CP Radhakrishnan, India's next vice-president?")
 "Israel informed US ahead of strikes on Hamas leaders in Doha, says White House")
