Great Laptops and Netbooks for Under $1000

Spending $1000 won't net you the fastest machine on the block, but the Gateway MC7803u does all right for itself. It runs on an Intel 2-GHz Core 2 Duo T5800 CPU, 4GB of RAM, and a 512MB AMD Radeon HD 3650 GPU. All of those components make sense if you're Gateway, looking to come in on budget. In reality, however, you end up creating a machine that barely ekes out a score of 78 in PC World's WorldBench 6 testing suite.

Gateway wins back a couple points in battery life, as in PC World Test Center benchmarks the MC7803u managed to survive 3 hours, 48 minutes on a charge of the included battery. This system may not last as long as Lenovo's ThinkPad SL400 (which chugged along for 5 hours, 8 minutes with its massive nine-cell battery), but it hovers right in the range of what we expect of all-purpose laptops.

Just remember that, while the Gateway MC7803u looks good on the surface, it makes some compromises that prevent it from properly delivering some of the entertainment you might have in mind (such as games). If you're willing to spend a little extra to get a whole lot more oomph, check out HP's HDX16 entertainment laptop if you're inclined to splurge. Otherwise, Lenovo's IdeaPad Y510 is a little on the older--and less powerful--side, but still manages to bring some basic all-purpose entertainment to the party while costing under a grand.

For ways to get more out of your laptop on the road, see "15 Tech Secrets for the Serious Road Warrior."

Next: Lenovo IdeaPad Y510 Laptop