John Marrin

I'm getting too old and lazy these days to travel much farther than to my desk, couch, or bed. The good news is that Gateway seems to have made the $649 NV7915u laptop just for people like me. Industry jargon calls such models desktop replacements, but "luggable" is a better word for an overstuffed and oversize notebook PC. In this class of laptops, you generally get a larger screen and keyboard, and just enough portability that you can lug your computer around the house. And if you must, you can squeeze the machine into a large bag and take it to the office or on vacation. Desktop-replacement laptops are supposed to be no-compromise portables, but after dragging the NV7915u around with me for a couple of weeks, I found that it makes a few trade-offs.

The Gateway NV7915u has a massive chassis, and weighs a beefy 6.8 pounds. Still, the classy design offers a few nice touches. In contrast to the smudge-prone glossy finish on the outside, the keyboard and wrist rest have a subtle matte finish to minimize fingerprints. Above the keyboard is a sleek row of status lights (Bluetooth, hard-drive access, and the like), as well as touch-sensitive LEDs that let you instantly activate data backup, Wi-Fi toggle, touchpad disable, mute, and volume control. The NV7915u also comes with a good but not spectacular set of interface and media features: a DVD drive, four USB ports, HDMI- and VGA-out, an SD Card reader, and network and modem ports. Overall, the machine exhibits good craftsmanship, but it's nothing dazzling.

Though the awkward model number doesn't roll off the tongue, the Toshiba Satellite T135D-S1324 ultraportable laptop is a slim, sleek package that offers some pleasant surprises while making a few compromises. For one thing, the glossy black chassis, accented with a subtle carbon-fiber graphic, can be a magnet for fingerprints and smudges; but the unit's subtle curves and smart tapering down (from about 1.5 inches in back to just over a half inch in the front) make it a good design for carrying in your hand or in a bag. Along the front edge of the chassis is a row of LED status lights (power, Wi-Fi, hard-drive access, and so on), which are visible whether the laptop is open or closed. Thankfully, they're small, neatly arranged, and not annoyingly bright. Overall, the T135D-S1324 maintains the trim, classy look of Toshiba's Satellite line. And at a price of $600 (as of February 12, 2010), it's not a bad bargain.

Open the T135D-S1324 up, and you're greeted by a 13.3-inch widescreen display that's very easy on the eyes. The exceptionally even backlighting has virtually zero aberrations, including near the screen edges. Thanks to the screen's 1366-by-768 native resolution, text appears crisp, defined, and very readable; DivX movies and Netflix streamed video look good, too, with balanced colors and deep blacks.

At first glance, you might mistake the Dell Latitude E4300 for an earlier-vintage laptop: Its sharp lines and subtle finish stick out in today's world of glossy gadgets with rounded corners. That's not to say the E4300 isn't a handsome portable, however--it did grow on me. Even better, the matte finish isn't a magnet for fingerprints, dust, and smudges like every iPhone-inspired design on the market. If you don't care about hip style trends that come and go, the vaguely retro E4300 is a pretty sweet all-purpose laptop that can serve you well for general office computing.

Underneath the magnesium-alloy chassis, you'll find a lot of nuances that make the E4300 a well-thought-out piece of equipment. For one thing, the keyboard is a dream to type on. The keys have a pretty long travel, but it's coupled with just the right amount of click at the end. You'll also appreciate the smart key layout. Half-size F1-F12 keys open up room for generous Enter, Shift, Alt, and Ctrl keys. The arrow keys are also arranged in their logical order right next to PgUp and PgDn for easy navigation through documents, spreadsheets, forms, and Web pages. In addition, the key backlighting is just right, not too dim or too bright.

Toshiba's latest addition to the Satellite laptop line, the U505 S2940, isn't just a good-looking notebook, it also has some excellent design features that will please anyone needing a portable for general computing and entertainment. Coming in under $1000 (our review unit sells for $949 as of 9/1/09), the U505 offers just enough juice for multitasking without feeling cramped. On the other hand, at 5.6 pounds, it's a bit heavier than other notebooks with a 13.3-inch screen.

The glossy screen can make for tricky viewing in some lighting conditions, but the machine's powerful brightness, contrast, and color controls offset such issues. Overall, it's a good-looking and easy-to-read screen at it's native resolution of 1280 by 800 pixels. The default color settings were excellent to begin with, but with a few necessary adjustments, videophiles can get the right color balance. For external video output, the U505 has both a VGA port and an HDMI video-audio output for hi-def graphics.

Sony's mobile desktop replacement laptop, the VAIO VGN-AW230J/H ($1599, as of July 15, 2009), lets you take care of business and gives you easy access your entire media library. But despite its positioning as a multimedia powerhouse, the VGN-AW230J/H clocked a surprisingly anemic score of 88 on PC WorldBench 6. Though the laptop packs a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo P8600 CPU and 4GB of RAM, it finished second-to-last, next to the Alienware M17, in general performance among comparably equipped machines.

The VAIO is fast enough to handle video editing and general computing; but as a gaming rig, it's mediocre. Powered by an nVidia GeForce 9600M GT with 512MB of video RAM, the VAIO topped out at 27.63 frames per second in Enemy Territory: Quake Wars at a resolution of 1680 by 1050. In Unreal Tournament 3, it turned in a slightly better frame rate of 32.38 fps.

Samsung is continuing its run at the netbook market with incremental tweaks to design and function, and that's where the N120, blood brother of the Samsung N110, comes in. You won't find anything revolutionary here, just some nice extras that give you a little more choice.

The first thing you'll notice upon opening the N120 is the mirrorlike reflection from the glossy 10.1-inch panel. While the N120's screen looks great under ideal lighting conditions indoors, you'll have to deal with annoying glare pretty much everywhere else. Cranking up the screen's brightness will mostly compensate for the problem, and once you get accustomed to the glossy finish, you'll find a crisp, good-looking screen.