Toshiba Satellite T235D-S1345

The good: Strong battery life; thin design; better-than-Netbook performance; excellent keyboard.
The bad: Faster (if heavier) 13-inch laptops offer better performance at the same price; lacks an optical drive.
The bottom line: The Toshiba Satellite T235D-S1345 is a solid, slim, and affordable 13-inch tweener laptop for ultraportable computing; however, in a landscape filled with thinner and faster alternatives, it no longer stands alone.

Review:

Back when thin-and-light laptops were all the rage in 2009, a surprise contender for the most affordable thin 13-inch laptop came from Toshiba. The Satellite T135, an optical-drive-free laptop with an Intel Pentium or AMD Neo dual-core CPU, managed to provide exactly the sort of computing power that most Netbooks lack. For everything from video streaming to general office work, it was more than adequate. It wasn't as cheap as a Netbook, but it wasn't as expensive as many thin laptops, either.
Toshiba's update, the Satellite T235, is much like its predecessor in many ways--perhaps in too ... Expand full review

Read more: http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/toshiba-satellite-t235d-s1345/4505-3121_7-34120474.html#ixzz1Ap1FlUJ6

Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 14

The good: Great keyboard, bright screen, solid performance.
The bad: Thick and heavy, annoying rubberized trackpoint.
The bottom line: The budget-minded Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 14 does its job as a solid small-business laptop, and Lenovo finally throws in a DVD drive, but it's too chunky compared with svelte competitors.

Review:

The ThinkPad Edge series was introduced at the beginning of 2010, and was pitched as a sexier, more affordable midrange alternative to a venerable but staid ThinkPad line. Back then, its sole representative was a 13.3-inch model ThinkPad Edge with no optical drive and a low-voltage Core 2 Duo processor.
The new 14- and 15-inch ThinkPad Edge models change the equation slightly with built-in DVD drives and faster processors, but the look and feel is largely the same. The ThinkPad Edge 14 comes with either AMD or Intel CPUs; on the Intel side, it's a full-voltage Core i3/ ... Expand full review

Read more: http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/lenovo-thinkpad-edge-14/4505-3121_7-34063490.html#ixzz1Ap0GQieW

Toshiba Portege R705-P35

The good: Slim, upscale design; excellent keyboard and touch pad; includes Intel Wireless Display and built-in 4G wireless; solid value.
The bad: Missing dedicated graphics and Bluetooth; battery life merely average.
The bottom line: The Toshiba Portege R705 is as close to a perfect balance of design, price, and performance as you'll find in a Windows laptop.

Review:

Editors' note: The review below reflects hands-on testing of the Toshiba R705-P25 model. The R705-P35 here adds a built-in 4G wireless option, but is otherwise identical. As such, it retains the Editors' Choice designation of its predecessor. We know that the quest for the perfect laptop is ultimately fruitless. Different users have different needs, budgets, and expectations, and tomorrow's technology threatens to make any just-purchased laptop semi-obsolete before it even comes out of its cardboard box. That said, the new Toshiba Portege R705 comes about as close as anything we've seen this year, offering a great mix of
... Expand full review

Read more: http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/toshiba-portege-r705-p35/4505-3121_7-34213713.html#ixzz1Aj73WmtI

Apple MacBook Pro Spring 2010 (Core i7 2.66GHz, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD, 15-inch)

Read more: http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/apple-macbook-pro-spring/4505-3121_7-34058852.html#ixzz1Aj5kOHPE

Read more: http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/apple-macbook-pro-spring/4505-3121_7-34058852.html#ixzz1Aj5zncCk

The good: Adds fast, efficient Intel Core i5, i7 processors, new Nvidia graphics, seamless switching between integrated, discrete GPUs...
The bad: At the top end of the price scale; still no HDMI, Blu-ray, or other high-end options.
The bottom line: Apple's 15-inch MacBook Pro keeps the same look and feel, but offers major internal changes, including an optional Intel Core i7 CPU, making it a very serious portable powerhouse.

Review:

Updates to Apple's MacBook line of laptops are always closely watched, and they generally fall into two categories: there are major evolutions, such as the switch to aluminum unibody construction in 2008, and then there are minor spec upgrades, typically small bumps to processor speed and hard-drive size.
The newest version of the MacBook Pro line surprisingly falls outside of those two extremes. The iconic unibody aluminum construction remains, as does its large glass multitouch trackpad (in fact, from the outside, the new MacBook Pro looks identical to its predecessor). But the revamped internal components are much more than ... Expand full review

Read more: http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/apple-macbook-pro-spring/4505-3121_7-34058852.html#ixzz1Aj5GsTJD

Holiday 2010 laptop review roundup

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

With the holiday season upon us, many laptop shoppers are looking for a new system as a gift for either a lucky recipient or themselves. To assist you in this noble endeavor, we've been tracking the most promising laptops from the second half of 2010, from entry-level systems starting at well under $500 to $1,000-plus high-end multimedia and gaming rigs.
Unlike our previous review roundups, our net is cast a bit wider this time around, and includes both retail-specific systems as well as laptops you can order directly from the manufacturer. Additionally, we've decided to focus on laptops and Netbooks that we actually consider worth buying--no dogs here. If a laptop isn't at least a decent deal for the money, you won't find it on this page.
Note that this roundup is more of a broad look at what's available for laptop shoppers. You can find our actual 2010 Holiday Gift Guide laptop picks here, with laptops and other tech gifts broken down into a variety of handy categories.
Below you'll find a list of the systems in our Holiday 2010 laptop review roundup, divided by price range and with links to the full reviews. Check back regularly, as we'll be updating this page with new systems as we review them.

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20023940-1.html#ixzz1AdDpps7d