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Top 15 Notebook PCs

Dell reigns over Power and Midrange positions, and Gateway holds firm in Budget's top spot.

By Carla Thornton, PCW Print   

Three newcomers shake up the Top 15 Notebook PCs lineup, but not enough to topple two returning Best Buys from Dell and Gateway. Dell earns another Best Buy on the power chart, as IBM has discontinued the ThinkPad A21p.

WinBook's latest version of its Z1, equipped with a 1-GHz processor, snags third place on the power chart with an astoundingly high PC WorldBench 2000 score of 195--the best performance we've seen from a notebook. Shorter-than-average support hours and a $3539 price tag prevented the WinBook Z1 from moving up any higher.

On the midrange side, the $2299 Fujitsu LifeBook E Series lands in third place. E Series laptops have two unique features: shortcut buttons that can double as a password security system, and an infrared port conveniently designed especially for use with a wireless mouse.

The least expensive of the chart newcomers, Compaq's stylish $1899 Presario 17XL460 climbs aboard the budget chart in the number five spot. This laptop offers a black-and-silver case, above-average battery life, and extensive documentation geared toward computer novices. Our only beef: Neither the floppy drive nor the DVD-ROM drive connects externally, so you're reduced to juggling the two drives in the notebook's single internal bay.

Contributing Editor Carla Thornton regularly covers notebooks for PC World.

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