After a ceremony celebrating the Lunar New Year chairman JT Wang talked strategy for the new year and said they would compete not on price, but on user experience. The notebook maker rose to the upper echelon in global sales a few years ago thanks to the popularity of netbooks, which put it on the map for many consumers.

Now that netbooks are no longer rising steadily, Acer doesn’t intend to let the momentum drop off. They’re going to dominate the mid market of $299 – $499 priced devices. That’s tablet and netbook country.

However, ultrabooks are the big story these days, and no one (including Acer) is selling one for anywhere near that price point. Wong claims that netbooks and ultrabooks will merge by 2014.

Does that mean ultrabooks will get down to netbook pricing by that time, as others have predicted, or that ultrabooks will also come in 10-inch sizes, thus cutting down on some costs? That would make me happy — a super thin 10-inch machine with a Core i3 CPU and maybe even Nvidia’s Kepler graphics? Sign me up right this instant.

I suspect that Wong is thinking more along price lines, not size-wise.

It’s good to know that the company isn’t abandoning netbooks completely. But i think I’ll be sad when one day they merge into the ultranetbookmachine or whatever it will be called at that point.

Thanks NebookNews!

Acer: Netbook And Ultrabook Will Merge is a post by K. T. Bradford from Notebooks.com.

The $399 HP Mini 1104 is pretty standard netbook fare — 2.8 pounds, dual core 1.6-GHz Intel Atom N2600 CPU, 2GB RAM, 1024 x 600 display, 320GB hard drive — and about the same as last year’s Mini 1103, just with appropriately updated specs. It’s also $100 more.

The outside appears unchanged, which is not a bad thing. The Mini 1100 series can boast comfortable keyboards, usable touchpads, and long battery life. HP claims that the 1104 will last 9 hours.

The basic design isn’t unattractive, but highlights that this isn’t a netbook built for the consumer market. Students and business professionals will appreciate having TPM chips embedded, Computrace Pro, and available mobile broadband.

Still, consumers shouldn’t write this off just because it’s not flashy. Solid, dependable netbooks are getting harder to come by these days. The fact that the Mini 1104 can take a few bumps and has a spill-resistant keyboard is a big plus.

Corporations and institutions have a few configuration options for the Mini 1104, but if you’re buying individual units from HP.com you only have two choices. The $399 model includes the specs listed above, the $469 model has the mobile broadband module.

Full specs and a gallery below.

• Operating system: Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit
• Processor: 1.60 GHz Intel Atom N2600
• RAM: 2GB
• HDD: 320GB 5,400rpm
• Graphics: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3600
• Ports: 3 USB 2.0; VGA; Ethernet; combo stereo headphone/mic jack; 3-in-1 card reader
• Webcam: VGA
• Connectivity: 802.11 a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0, HSPA+ mobile broadband (optional)
• Dimensions: 10.55 x 7.52 x 0.89 in
• Weight: 2.78 lb

$399 HP Mini 1104 Keeps Netbooks In Business is a post by K. T. Bradford from Notebooks.com.

The IdeaPad S200 and S206 aren’t exactly traditional netbooks thanks to the 11.6-inch displays and Win7 Home Premium operating systems. Maybe that’s why they’re calling them mini notebooks.

Both the S200 and S206 measure 11.8 x 7.6 x 0.8 inches and weigh just 2.8 pounds, which is light for an 11-inch system. This puts them more firmly in the netbook realm. However, there’s a fly in this ointment. The reason it’s so light is likely to small 2 cell battery that comes with. It’s good for 4 hours of life, according to Lenovo.

Other shared specs include 2GB of RAM, USB 2.0 and 3.0 (one of each), HDMI, 2-in-1 card reader, Bluetooth (optional), and WiMAX (optional). The display offers a 1366 x 768 resolution.

What makes these two models different is the processor. The IdeaPad S200 sports an Intel Atom N2800 while the S206 comes with a dual-core AMD C60 APU. The former is very netbooky, further solidified by a 32GB internal storage option. You can get a traditional 320GB or 500GB hard drive in either model.

Both offer a metallic finish and the Lenovo Accutype keyboard we’ve come to love (though it’s not as great as those found on the ThinkPad line). Aside from basic black, consumers can buy it in cotton-candy pink, crimson red, electric blue, graphite gray and pearl white.

One advantage of mini-notebooks over netbooks is that you get Windows 7 Home Premium and the 2GB of RAM I mentioned. Other software goodies include Lenovo’s instant-on environment and OneKey Recovery.

Want one? Unfortunately you’ll have to wait a while, as the new S Series notebooks aren’t due out until June. The price is nice, though, as prices begin at $349. Specific pricing for the models and configurations isn’t available yet.

Check back for  hands-on pictures and more.

Don’t Call It A Netbook – Lenovo Announces New IdeaPad S Series 11.6-inch Mini Notebooks is a post by K. T. Bradford from Notebooks.com.

Not just older models, but many that have come out in the past 18 months. When possible and polite, I always ask netbook owners why they bought their computer, if they’re still happy with them, and if they’d buy them again. What they tell me matches with my own experience.

They bought one because they wanted a small, light, and portable computer to carry everywhere that didn’t cost a lot of money. Most are happy with them and about half tell me they’d buy another while the other half wonder if a tablet is a suitable replacement. (I tell them no.)

But talk to analysts and tech bloggers and they’ll decry that the netbook is over, done with, and no one ever wanted them to begin with! Meanwhile, I’m more likely to see one in the wild than I am a tablet. As much as I like tablets, I would not replace my netbook with one, if only to save myself from hours of endless frustration.

Imagine my non-surprise when I read today that ASUS expects to ship 4.8 million netbooks this year and only 1.8 million tablets. Granted, the company only has one tablet currently available and one on the way. And I’m sure that in years to come they’ll grow, though it remains to be seen if the company can surpass Samsung, as they aim to.

Though netbook sales are down, I don’t expect that they’ll ever go away or that they were a stop-gap, as TechCrunch seems to. Because for many people the 10-inch form factor is the perfect size. Sure, ultraportables and ultrabooks are coming along to win our hearts with light weights and very skinny chassis. In a couple of years they could reach netbook prices, and I’m glad for that. However, this also means that netbooks themselves could possibly cost even less.

The netbook craze started because someone wanted to create a small laptop that could sell for $100. If ultrabooks get down to $350 – $450, netbooks should settle in around $100, finally realizing that dream. That benefits everyone. Even those in hard economic circumstances could afford a decent, if small laptop, thus shortening the digital divide.

The only way I see netbooks going away is if tablets become less difficult to use for productivity-related tasks. And even then, they’ll have to come down in price.

I don’t know what it will take for certain segments of the Technorati to see the netbook as a valid product that’s worthy of its place in the laptop hierarchy. But people who actually use technology and have to buy it themselves and stick with it for longer than the few days in between the next product arriving in the mail are going to be the ones to determine the netbook’s viability. And so far they’re still saying they want them.

The Netbook Is Still Relevant is a post by K. T. Bradford from Notebooks.com.

Before you get up early (or stay up late) to get a low-price netbook, know which deals are worth the effort.

I’ve combed the Black Friday deals to find the best and worst. But before the big day comes, be sure to search the web to see if the netbook you want can’t be found at or close to these “deal” prices already.

Also, be sure to check out our Black Friday Notebook Deals as well.

Acer Aspire One (AOD255E)

$157 @ Target | $199 Fred Meyer

This is a basic 10.1-inc netbook from Acer. It’s pretty solid, but with a single-core Atom CPU, it’s not going to be a work horse. This deal is decent since it’s $279 new. It would make a good laptop for a kid or someone who wants a secondary laptop for basic tasks.

Gateway LT2802U

$149 @ BestBuy

Don’t bother getting up early for this one. Though the price is low, you can get this netbook online for just a bit more right now.

Samsung Series 3

$499 @ Staples

This 11.6 affordable ultraportable is a decent laptop, but you can get this for less on Amazon right now.

Sylvania 7-inch Netbook / Android Netbook / Smartbook

$74 @ Toys R Us | $79 @ Kmart | $79 @ Sears | $99 @ Hastings

Just as with tablets, you should seriously run away when you see a Sylvania netbook/smartbook in every incarnation you find it. Yes, it’s very inexpensive, but it’s also cheap and crap and it will likely break after a short time. It’s not worth even the small amount you pay for it.

Black Friday Netbook Deals is a post by K. T. Bradford from Notebooks.com.

It should have been a quick, straightforward trip to the store. However, when I left, I did so vowing never to buy a computer at Best Buy again.

The netbook we were after is the Samsung N145. The price on the tag is the same price as on the website.

It’s the price one would expect to pay, yes? When we told the clerk, who had helpfully checked to make sure they did indeed have the computer in stock, he informed us that this netbook came with some Best Buy enhancements. They’d done things to make it better (something about software), installed an anti-virus program, and created a set of recovery discs. For this pre-purchase helpfulness they wanted to charge an extra $50.

The “Say What?” look on my face must have been fierce, because he did take a step back at that point. When we said that we did not want these helpful enhancements he said that they no longer had any models in the store that didn’t have this added value and thus we could not get the netbook for $249.

I asked why the tag still said $249 and he said they hadn’t  gotten around to changing it yet. That’s when I asked to speak to a manager.

Having never bought a computer at Best Buy before I had no idea if this is a standard practice. If it is, someone needs to make them stop. It’s bad enough when stores offer unnecessary services such as this after the purchase, but to do so before the computer is even sold, rendering it more expensive by default? That’s a no.

After a few minutes a manager came over and compounded the fail already in play. Because as he approached the area, asking which netbook and such, he did not make eye contact with me or my friend. No acknowledgement at all that we were even there.

He then offered the original salesperson a solution to the problem in a low, mumbly voice. I forced him to speak to me directly and he informed me that he could give me a discount on the extra special extras so it “only” cost $30.

Obviously I did not find this acceptable. I told the gentleman that I did not want to pay for any extras, I just wanted to pay the price on the tag. Another salesperson said something about how a different person (presumably a manager) could work it out to give us the netbook for its stated price. How generous.

After this, the salespeople scattered to go find the manager or whoever to make this right with barely a word to us. We were left standing around waiting with no indication of how long it would take, if we should wait elsewhere, nothing. Essentially, the customer service was super crap on top of everything else.

Eventually one of the employees hailed to us from a register with the netbook and we did indeed get it for the correct price.

Of course, the seal on the box had been broken, there were no papers inside with warranty information, a quick set up guide, or anything one would expect in the box with a new computer. Great.

Readers, if you ever encounter anything like this in a Best Buy or any other store, turn around and walk out if they won’t sell you the computer for the price stated on the tag or online. You do not need a store to create these discs for you. Likely any computer you buy from a big box retailer will come with recovery discs or have a tool that will make them for you. You do not need some random anti-virus installed for you. You do not need anyone to open your computer’s box before you do.

Before you let any of this happen, go to a different location, go to a competitor, or go online. There’s no justification for this policy, nor the bad customer service.

Best Buy Tries To Charge $50 For Creating Recovery Discs On A Netbook I Hadn’t Yet Bought is a post by K. T. Bradford from Notebooks.com.

This year’s gift guide includes the best notebooks, netbooks and ultrabooks we reviewed in 2011 to simplify your holiday shopping and gift giving.

Because everyone has different needs and budgets, we’ve included everything from mainstream and entertainment notebooks to business and ultraportable models, aplusnd the ultimate gaming notebook. Prices start at $269 and go up over $1,000.

You can be sure that any of these notebooks will make an amazing gift this holiday season.

Mainstream Notebooks

Mainstream notebooks will meet most of your needs, and do so with some style. They’re great gifts for users who need solid performance and a decent multimedia experience but don’t need something ultra slim or ultra powerful. With these picks you can get a better experience than the typical budget notebook without spending significantly more.

Sony VAIO SE

Big screen without the bulk.

Looking for a laptop with a decent-sized display that is still reasonably portable? Sony’s got you covered with the VAIO SE. This notebook has a beautiful 15.5-inch display yet the case is only 0.9 inches thick and weighs just 4.4 pounds.

Even though it has a slim profile, this machine still has room for a Blu-ray drive and plenty of ports, including HDMI, memory card, and USB 3.0.

The 15-inch display features a full HD resolution, rich colors, and deep blacks. Add in a full-size keyboard and number pad plus a generous touchpad and you have a great laptop for both work and entertainment.

The base price includes a powerful Intel Core i5 processor and AMD Radeon graphics. Configure it on Sony’s website for more options, including a Core i7 CPU and solid state drives with storage up to 1TB (yes, terabyte).

Pertinent Specs: 15.5-inch display, 1920 x 1080 resolution, 2.4-GHz 2nd gen Intel Core i5-2430M processor, 4GB RAM, AMD Radeon HD 6470M graphics, 512MB VRAM, 500GB hard drive, CD/DVD drive

$999 and up @ SonyStyle.com

Gateway ID Series

Looks and power in an affordable, portable package.

The Gateway ID 47 packs a 14″ display in the frame of a 13″ notebook, giving you bigger display without filling up a backpack. While the notebook is smaller, it still includes a DVD Super Multi Drive and full complement of ports, which means you won’t need to add a stocking of adapters to your gift bag.

The Gateway ID 47 is attractively priced for students and home users who need the power to do basic student tasks as well as come video editing and photo touch ups. The battery lasts long enough to get you through a day of classes, and with a small package, you can carry the charger if you need to do some power intensive work.

Gateway sets the ID 47 apart from the rest of the Gateway fare with nice looks and good build quality, pictures don’t do this notebook justice. For $679 you get a very good looking notebook.

This notebook is a top pick for students and mobile users who care about style, but are budget conscious.

Pertinent Specs: 14-inch display, 1366 x 768 resolution, 2.4GHz Intel Core i5 2nd gen processor, 500GB hard drive, webcam, Super Multi DVD drive, 4GB RAM, Intel HD 3000 graphics

Read our Gateway ID47 Hands On Review

$679 @ Amazon

Multimedia Notebooks

These laptops prioritize entertainment features such as HD displays, Blu-ray players, or amazing speaker quality. Multimedia notebooks tend to have powerful processors and graphics cards, so they can handle almost anything else users throw at them as well.

Sony VAIO E series

Diamonds are a girl’s best friend.

Give a notebook with an extra dash of flair this holiday. The VAIO E series features a distinctive diamond texture and comes in four colors — black, white, blue, and pink — that extend over the whole case, not just the lid. Available in 14, 15.5, and 17.3-inch sizes, there’s an E Series for every need.

Featuring bright, LED-backlit displays with colors that pop, island-style keyboards with great travel and tactile feedback, and multi-touch touchpads, the VAIO E doesn’t forgo the practical considerations for the sake of good looks. It will also last you all day on a charge — the 14-inch version promises over 8 hours, and the 17-incher has an impressive 5+ hour rating.

Inside you can choose from Intel Core i3 (for a basic user) or Core i5 (for a mainstream user) processors. If the giftee plays games or does light to medium video editing, add on Nvidia’s GeForce dedicated graphics. If they like watching movies, you can upgrade to a Blu-ray drive.

Since these aren’t the most portable laptops, they’re a good gift for people who don’t need to carry it everywhere they go. It’s great for media lovers, especially if they’ve cut the cable cord.

Pertinent Specs: 14, 15.5, or 17.3-inch displays, Intel Core i3-2330M and Core i5-2430M processors, 1366 x 768 resolution, 4-8GB of RAM, 320-750Gb hard drive,  Blu-ray drive, Intel HD Graphics 3000 or NVIDIA GeForce 410M graphics

$469 and up @ Sony.com

Dell XPS 15

The ultimate multimedia machine.

The XPS 15 is the perfect notebook for the serious multimedia lover on your list. It’s not a thin, light, or particularly good-looking machine. But the audio quality will blow you away and it’s performance chops make it a great choice for watching HD videos and playing games. And if they have a 3D TV in the house, the XPS 15 will output 3D content via HDMI.

The 6.1 pound weight and wide 15.0 x 10.4 x 1.5 inch footprint means that this laptop will likely spend most of it’s time on a desk. That’s fine, as it can serve as the media center for a small room such as a studio apartment or dorm. The JBL speakers and Waves MaxxAudio 3 sound enhancement software deliver audio quality far above anything you’ll hear on most laptops. Not only do you get good volume, but a round, layered sound whether you’re listening to R&B, rock, classical, or watching Blu-ray movies.

The only drawback on the media side is that the 15.6-inch display only has a 1366 x 768 resolution at the base price and not a full HD one. You can upgrade to a 1920×1080 panel if you really love the person…

I’d recommend this for students who’ll do most of their work in the dorm room. The keyboard is sturdy and offers good feedback, and the large touchpad makes pulling off multi-touch gestures easy. You’ll get great performance with an Intel Core i5 processor, 6GB of RAM, and dedicated Nvidia graphics, but if you’re shopping for a power user who’ll need a laptop that can handle video editing, heavy-duty calculations, or resource-intensive programs, upgrade to a quad-core Core i7 CPU.

Pertinent Specs: 15.6-inch display, 1366 x 768 or 1920 x 1080 resolution, 2nd gen Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors, 500GB hard drive or 256GB SSD, webcam, Blu-ray drive, 4-8GB RAM, Nvidia GeFore GT graphics

$799 and up @ Dell.com

Ultraportables and Ultrabooks

When portability and long battery life matter, ultraportables or ultrabooks are good machines to consider. While these notebooks often carry a price premium, you get long battery life and sub 3 pound weight without giving up power. Our top picks are light enough you might have to make sure you put it in the box after you’ve wrapped it up.

Samsung Series 9

A MacBook Air challenger with flair.

Months before ultrabooks came on the scene, Samsung created an ultrathin ultraportable that is both powerful and beautiful. The Series 9 is made from black duralumin — a metal previously only used in aircraft construction — with a sweet curve at the edges to give the notebook some welcome flair.

The 13.3-inch display is super bright and offers popping colors and deep blacks, equally suited to surfing on the web, writing documents, or watching HD video. A large touchpad and comfortable island-style keyboard round out the look.

This laptop isn’t just about aesthetics, though. Inside you can choose from Intel’s powerful Core i5 or i7 processors plus speedy 128GB or 256GB solid state drives. The integrated battery should last you around 6 hours at least.

With the level of performance these configurations offer, the Series 9 is powerful enough to be your only notebook. It’s a great gift for road warriors and frequent travelers, people who need to carry their laptop everywhere, and grad students who need something light that can handle everything they throw at it.

Pertinent Specs: 13.3-inch display 1366 x 768 resolution, 2.4GHz Intel Core i5 processor, 128GB SSD, webcam, 4GB RAM, Intel HD 3000 Graphics

$1,649 @ Samsung.com

MacBook Air

Still setting the standard for portable power and looks.

Apple’s MacBook Air notebooks start at $999 and bring the same solid design and great industrial looks that we expect. The 11 inch Macbook Air has a full size keyboard, but a smaller mouse pad than the 13″ Macbook Air.

Unlike most of the other notebooks in this gift guide, the MacBook Air notebooks bring high resolution displays. This means that the notebook can show more on the screen at once. The 11-inch model has the same screen resolution as many 14-inch and 15-inch notebooks, and the 13-inch MacBook Air has a 1440 x 900 resolution that makes side by side work easy, and even enjoyable.

One primary concern here is storage space. The entry level MacBook Air only offers 64GB of storage, so there’s not a lot of room for pictures and video. You can get up to a 256GB of storage, but it comes at a price and may only be available online.

If you are purchasing the gift for a student, don’t forget that Apple offers student discount pricing, and there will be some Black Friday Deals.

The Macbook Air is a good gift for travelers, students who need power and portability and fans of OS X.

Pertinent Specs: 11-inch or 13-inch display, 1366 x 768 and 1440 x 900 resolution, 1.6Ghz to 1.8Ghz Intel Core i5 2nd gen processor, 2-4GB RAM, 64Gb to 256GB storage, Intel HD 3000 graphics.

Read our MacBook Air 11-Inch Review

$999 and up @ Apple

Toshiba Portege z835

An ultra-light Windows Ultrabook with looks and power.

Toshiba delivers big time on this hot new notebook. Not only do you get an incredibly thin and light notebook (lighter than the MacBook Air), but you also spend $400 less than the entry level MacBook Air 13-inch.

The Toshiba z835-p330 is a Best Buy exclusive this holiday shopping season, and has all the features a a student or light traveler could want. The internals offer enough power for web and office work, but can also handle the occasional video editing and photo touchups. From an entertainment aspect, you can play some casual games and enjoy some movies and TV shows on the super thin, but quality display.

This is one of the lightest full powered notebooks you can buy for under $900, making it a great gift. As an added bonus, your recipient will never expect a computer when they unwrap the package thanks to the thin  box and light weight.

This model is aimed at consumers, so creative professionals and those doing lots of video work will enjoy the MacBook Air as a gift much more.

One concern is the robustness of the screen, which has a lot of flex in it. You can go hands on at you local Best Buy to see this yourself.

Pertinent Specs: 13-inch display, 1366 x 768 resolution, 1.4GHz Intel Core i3 2nd gen processor, 4GB RAM and a 128GB SSD, Intel HD 3000 graphics

Read our Toshiba Portege Z835-P330 Review

$899 @ BestBuy this November

Netbooks and Affordable Ultraportables

Consumers looking for a lightweight laptop that offered decent performance have traditionally had to spend a large chunk of change for the privilege. Not so with netbooks and their cousins, the affordable ultraportables. Netbooks keep is small with 10-inch screens, mostly, and inexpensive processors for basic tasks. Affordable ultraportables go bigger, usually sporting 11.6-inch displays and more processor power for not much more money.

Samsung NC110

A budget netbook that’s just right for basic tasks.

Netbooks make great gifts for people who don’t need high-level performance but do need to be productive with their small, portable machine. The Samsung NC110 has a single-core Intel Atom processor inside, so it’s not going to serve well as a main computer. It can handle basic tasks, making it a great companion for writers, young students, and non-business travelers.

To go with it’s low price, the NC110 is basic, yet functional. The design is attractive though it lacks flair, the keyboard and touchpad are comfortable, and it comes with the standard array of ports. The 10-inch matte display actually works out in the sun. And audio quality is decent for a netbook.

It will last over 7 hours on a charge with normal usage, which should translate to all day for most people.

Pertinent Specs: 10.1-inch display, 1024 x 600 resolution, 1.6GHz Intel Atom N455 single-core processor, 250GB hard drive, webcam, 1GB RAM , and Intel GMA 3150 graphics

$269 @ B&H

HP Pavilion dm1

Affordable, meet ultraportable.

The HP Pavilion dm1 sports an AMD Fusion APU and a generous 4GB of RAM, making it an excellent choice for someone who puts a medium workload on their laptop. If you want anything more than basic image editing and want to play games more intense than Bejeweled Blitz, this isn’t the laptop for you. But if you need multitasking power as you switch between a browser with multiple tabs, an office program and your music player, the dm1 is the way to go.

At 3.3 pounds this notebook won’t weigh you down much. The 11.6-inch HD display is large enough to view windows side by side. The wide viewing angles and bright colors make it great for watching video.

This notebook is a great gift for students (high school or college), frequent travelers, writers, independent mobile workers, and anyone looking for a machine that won’t choke at the sight of 6 open tabs in Firefox.

Available on HP.com with multiple configuration options, I suggest you pay the extra $30 and upgrade to the AMD E-450 APU as well as springing for the 4GB RAM option. Both hard drives and speedy solid state drives are available.

Pertinent Specs: 11.6-inch display, 1366 x 768 resolution, AMD dual-core E-300 or E-450 APU processor, 500-640GB hard drive or 160GB SSD, webcam, 2-8GB RAM, AMD Radeon HD (integrated) graphics

Read Our Hands-On With The New HP Pavilion dm1

$399 and up @ HP.com

Business Notebooks

If you are buying for a small business owner, euntrepanuer, or a user that needs a laptop that can handle a busy on-the-go life, check out these business notebooks. Built to last longer than consumer notebooks, they tend to have better construction and better built in warranties that make up for the higher cost.  These notebooks bring consumer features like backlit keys and premium audio to the mix as well.

Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E420s

This isn’t The Man’s old ThinkPad.

The ThinkPad Edge notebook isn’t your average business notebook. Designed with small businesses and entrepreneurs in mind, the Edge e420S brings the style and features typically found in a consumer notebook together with the durability of the ThinkPad brand, and does so without a huge price premium.

This is an important distinction, because many small business owners will use this notebook for work and play. For work, there is a webcam and fingerprint reader as well as security software. For play, the notebook has Dolby Home Theater v4 audio that delivers an amazing sound for music and dialogue enhancement for movies and an improved graphics chip that will handle casual games and editing a promo video for the company website.

Unfortunately there is no matte screen option to help with outdoor viewing.

Pertinent Specs: 14-inch display with 1366 x 768 resolution, 2.3 GHz Intel Core i5 2nd gen processor (capable of 2.9GHz in TurboBoost), 4GB RAM, 320GB hard drive, Intel HD 3000 graphics.

Read our Thinkpad Edge E420s Review

$739 @ Lenovo

HP ProBook 5330m

Great looks and Beats Audio. Are you sure this is a business notebook?

The HP Probook 5330m changes what you think about a business notebook, and represents a best of both world’s approach.

Starting on the outside, this notebook has great looks thanks to a brushed aluminum style cover that carries over to the palmrest. The bottom of the notebook is covered in a soft touch rubber material that adds to the look and feel of the notebook.

Inside you’ll find an easy to type on backlit keyboard with an island style layout. The included fingerprint reader adds to security, but we’re sure the ability to lock and unlock with your Bluetooth phone will add a futuristic feel to securing your personal and business notebooks.

One more reason to consider the Probook 5330m is the inclusion of Beats Audio. Beats delivers a premium audio solution that takes the typical notebook sound experience and cranks it up to 11. Wether you listen on headphones or over the built in speakers you’ll get good sounding audio.

Pertinent Specs: 13.3-inch display, 1366 x 768 resolution, up to an Intel Core i5 2nd gen processor, up to 8GB RAM, 320GB hard drive, Intel HD 3000 graphics

$799 @ HP

Desktop Replacement

When it comes to power, you can’t beat a desktop replacement. These notebooks have a modicum of portability (you can carry them from room to room if you want to) but offer robust processing power, full-size keyboards, and all the ports you could ask for. They make great gaming rigs and multimedia editing stations.

Alienware M17x

No compromise power and gaming performance, for those who can afford it.

The Alienware M17x has a powerfully bold look, that houses an equally powerful set of components. This is a gaming notebook, for gamers. When your gamer opens up this notebook, be prepared for some screams of excitement, and that’s before he or she turns the settings all the way up in their favorite game.

The Alienware notebook is slimmed down for 2011, but is still quite heavy, so set this one on a desk. All of the colors you see above, from the vents to the keyboard are customizable. Gamers can even light up separate zones in different colors and set the lights to pulse.

The large 17″ display can be purchase with a 1080P HD resolution, delivering eye pleasing HD visuals and a large playing surface. This is also nice for watching movies, and comes in handy if work is needed. You can put two windows side by side to write a paper while referencing source material. When the notebook is on battery power, it can switch to integrated graphics, which deliver up to 4 hours of battery life while browsing Facebook and other sites.

If you can splurge, add the Wireless HD option when customizing the notebook. This allows you to stream HD games and movies to the big screen without any lag. Perfect for playing the latest game in the living room or media room without running wires all over.

Pertinent Specs: 17-inch display with up to 1280 x 1080 resolution, Intel Core i7 2nd gen processor, 8GB RAM and up to 1.5 TB hard drive, high end AMD and Nvidia graphics options

Read our Alienware M17x Review 

$1,499 and up @ Alienware

additional contributions by K. T. Bradford

Read All Of Our Gift Guides Over At GottaBeMobile

Notebook Gift Guide: The Best Notebooks, Netbooks and Ultrabooks to Give in 2011 is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

They say the netbook is not as popular thanks to tablets. Yesterday we learned that both IDC and Gartner predicted that netbook and budget notebook king Acer was struggling mightily with a big decline in total PCs shipped in Q1 2011. DisplaySearch predicts that netbooks are driving the whole industry slightly lower with only 27% growth rate predicted this year, compared with 30% last year.

The other segment that is slowing the growth is the “emerging markets” where countries that are just catching up with the industrialized world are buying fewer computers.

One segment that is picking up steam is tablets. The iPad and the Android tablets are taking the place of the netbook. People who have simple needs like reading email, surfing the web, reading books and watching some streaming video don’t need a computer. The tablet is better for those tasks. You can also occasionally produce simple content like a short email message or make a few edits to a Word document. Tablets are the perfect companion while on the go because they are smaller, lighter, and often have longer battery life. The only problem is connectivity. That is a problem for netbooks as well. Most tablets have that option built in if you need it.

DisplaySearch says the netbooks is not dead. Those emerging markets need computers but can’t afford more traditional notebooks. They also say that educators will provide their constituency with netbooks too. Their tiny hands means they don’t notice that the keyboards are too small.

But are schools relying on netbooks for education? One school district in Main is providing iPads to all of their kindergarten kids because they saw a jump in learning thanks to education apps. That is an isolated case, but not many schools are buying their kindergarteners netbooks either.

PC Growth Not as Fast in 2011 Says DisplaySearch is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.

The lower price point will help Asus compete with, yet not be cannibalized by the rising popularity of tablets in the portable computing segment. Most tablets begin at around $300 in pricing; a sub-$300 netbook may offer consumers an incentive to choose that form factor.

According to DigiTimes, “The sources believe that Asustek’s new netbook should either adopt Google’s Android 3.0 or Chrome OS in order to achieve such a price level, and the new model is expected to attract consumers who only need to perform office work and Internet browsing.”

That model is expteted to arrive in June. An Intel-based single-core netbook from Asus is already on the market with a price tag of under $300.

With Google, Asus May Finally Launch a $200 Netbook is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Notebooks.com.

While there is a chance that consumers could find a new netbook home with the Intel MeeGo operating system, even Google has made it clear that Android doesn’t belong on a netbook. The company has gone on the record stating that Chrome OS is for devices like netbooks, but the Android experience is optimized for smartphones and Tablets.

Don’t believe the word of Google? Take a look at the reviews for netbooks with Android on them, which all point to poor performance.

Toshiba AC100 First Impressions – NetbookNews: “The biggest issue is the software side of things, mainly the OS. Android (2.1), while rocking the smartphone world, is just not suited to this netbook / smartbook form factor as of yet. For an OS built around finger touch the interface feels very mouse unfriendly.”

Acer Aspire One AOD250 Impressions – Engadget: “perhaps the best news about the device is that it can be fully booted to XP at any time by clicking on the corner of Android’s home screen.”

The number of reviews is sparse because so far Android isn’t on many netbooks, and there’s a reason for that.

If ASUS plans to push forward with Android powered netbooks, then they will need to compete with the same issue iPad competitors deal with, providing a complete experience and offering benefits. Without clear and noticeable benefits, the only shoppers who will want to purchase Android netbooks are geeks, and if history has taught us anything it’s that geeks can’t support a product.

Until Android and MeeGo can deliver a better user experience, including easy interoperability with the documents and files that netbook users need for work, there’s as much a chance of a Windows tablet unseating an iPad as there is for Android to make a dent in Windows 7′s hold on netbooks.

Image via jyri on Flickr

ASUS Planning Android and MeeGo Netbooks, Microsoft Shouldn’t be Scared is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.