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Best ultraportable laptop
Pros: exquisite design, 1,080p HD (or more) touch screen, incredibly thin, light, fast performance, improved keyboard, battery life
Cons: few reviews for new model
13.3-inch full HD (1,920 by 1,080) touch screen (higher resolution available)
4-cell lithium polymer (6280 mAh)
White Gorilla Glass
Windows 8
8.78
12.72
2.87
1 year
S7-191-6640
886541755872
SD card reader
-
No
Multi-gesture touchpad
1,280 by 720 HD
Integrated Intel HD Graphics 4400 with 128 MB of dedicated memory
2x USB 3.0 (1 with power-off charging), HDMI (with HDCP support), headphone jack
0.51
Acer
1.6 GHz Intel Core i5-4200U; Core i7 processor available
8 GB
128 GB solid-state drive (RAID 0)
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Best convertible laptop
Pros: flip-and-fold laptop/tablet design, solid performance, thin, light
Cons: screen isn't full HD, few ports, some users report Wi-Fi problems
13.3-inch 1,600 by 900 touch screen
4-cell lithium polymer
Silver gray or clementine orange
Windows 8 (64-bit)
8.9
13.1
3.4
1 year
Yoga 13
N/A
2-in-1 (SD/MMC)
-
No
Multi-gesture touchpad
720p HD camera
Integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000
USB 3.0, USB 2.0, HDMI, combo headphone/microphone jack
0.67
0.67
1.9 GHz Intel Core i3-3227U; Core i5 and Core i7 also available
8 GB
128 GB solid-state drive
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Best gaming laptop
Pros: ultrabook-thin and light, powerful gaming performance, strong battery life
Cons: corner-cutting display, runs hot, no wired Ethernet port
14-inch 1,600 by 900 LED Backlit
Lithium-ion polymer 70Wh
Black
Windows 8 64 Bit
9.3
13.6
4.1
1 year
Blade
879862006495
No
-
None
Multi-touch touchpad
1.3 megapixels
Intel HD4600/Nvidia GeForce GTX 765M 2GB GDDR5
HDMI, 3x USB 3.0, headphone/microphone combo jack
0.66
Razer
Intel Core i7-4702HQ (up to 3.2 GHz)
8 GB DDR3L at 1,600 MHz
128 GB SATA III SSD
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Best multimedia laptop
Pros: speedy performance, strong gaming with optional dual graphics, outstanding 1,080p HD display, speakers
Cons: heavy, bulky, short battery life, no touch screen
15.6-inch 1,366 by 768 LED
6-cell lithium-ion
Black
Windows 8 64 Bit
10.19
15.23
5.95
1 year
Y510p
887942061265
6-in-1 (SD, SDHC, SDXC, MMC, MS, MS-Pro)
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DVD recordable (dual layer)
Multi-touch touchpad
720p HD
Nvidia GeForce GT750M 2GB GDDR5
HDMI, 2x USB 3.0, 1x USB 2.0 (one always on), headphone, microphone, VGA
0.61 (thinnest point) to 1.41 (thickest point)
Lenovo
Intel Core i7-4700MQ (2.4 GHz)
8 GB DDR3L at 1,600 MHz
1 TB 5,400 RPM
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Best business laptop
Pros: top-of-its-class performance, removable long-life battery, fantastic soft -touch finish, three-year warranty
Cons: no touch screen, poor tech support
14-inch 1,366 by 768 LED-backlit anti-glare screen
3-cell (36Whr) lithium-polymer
Black
Microsoft Windows 7; Windows 8 available
9.04
13.31
3.7
3 years basic hardware service (mail-in) with base model; 3 years on-site service after remote diagnosis included with step-up models
6430u
N/A
Yes
-
None
Touchpad
Integrated HD webcam
Intel HD Graphics 4000
2x USB 3.0, 1 USB/eSATA combo, Ethernet, headphone/microphone combo jack, VGA, HDMI, security lock slot
0.82
Dell
Intel Core i3-3227U (3M Cache, 1.9 GHz); up to Core i7 available
4 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,600 MHz
64 GB solid-state drive
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Best Apple laptop
Pros: longest battery life, fast, responsive performance, iconic thin, light design sets the standard, lower price than last year
Cons: lower- res screen than rivals, no optical drive, Ethernet or HDMI port
13.3-inch 1,440 by 900 LED-backlit glossy widescreen
54 Whr lithium polymer
Silver matte aluminum
Mac OS X Mountain Lion
8.94
12.8
2.96
1 year limited with 90 days free phone support
MD231LL/A
885909523504
SDXC card slot
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0
No
Multi-gesture touchpad
720p HD FaceTime camera
Integrated Intel HD Graphics 5000
2x USB 3.0, Thunderbolt, headphone jack, MagSafe 2
0.11 (thinnest point) to 0.68 (thickest point)
Apple
1.3 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 (Haswell), Turbo Boost up to 2.6 GHz, with 3 MB shared L3 cache; Core i7 processor available
4 GB LPDDR3 1,600 MHz
128 GB flash storage