LEFA

If there had been a beauty pageant for laptops five years ago, the majority of the contestants would have been disqualified for sheer ugliness. These days, laptop makers are placing style high on the list, because frankly, they've seen the success that Apple has had with its line of laptops. Plus, processing parts are
becoming generic. You don't need the fastest processors or the best features to run Microsoft Office or watch videos. Most users don't demand a whole lot from their laptops, but they have an innate sense of what's attractive and what's not. Take, for example, Apple's approach: The MacBook 13-inch and the MacBook Pro 15-inch are sexy first—productivity is secondary. Even Bill Gates is admittedly fond of Steve Job's "intuitive taste, both for people and products."

It also helps that processing components are shrinking in size, allowing PC makers to mold their laptops into thinner and smaller form factors. There's also a wide selection of fancy metals to choose from. Sony is among the leaders when it comes to design ingenuity. The Sony VAIO VGN-SZ370P is one of the sleekest laptops in the industry, and the reason for that is its use of carbon fiber and miniaturized components. The Toshiba Portege R500 Series is regarded as the lightest ultraportable at 2.4 pounds, with a built-in optical drive. Its use of magnesium alloy, a motherboard the size of a sound card, and a 7mm optical drive produced a frame that's only ¾ of an inch thick. If that's not sexy, I don't know what is.


Even Dell has realized how much added value you get with style. The XPS M1330 recently earned our Editor's Choice for taking everything that's hot in the industry and squeezing it all into a 4-pound ultraportable. Well, 4 pounds if you stick to a 4-cell battery. Dell is certainly heading in the right direction and so will everyone else, once they realize that sexy is the ultimate selling point.

Featured in this Roundup:
Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch LED
This laptop epitomizes sexiness with its use of aluminum
metals, harvesting a 1-inch thick frame. It is well known for dual-booting
both Windows and Macintosh operating systems, and the latest Intel components
will make difficult tasks look like a breeze.


Sony VAIO VGN-SZ370P
The SZ series has been integrating an optical drive and using standard voltage processors and discrete graphics for as long as anyone. And it's able to do all of this and keep the weight under 4-pounds. The carbon fiber housing and 1-inch chassis makes it an absolute delight to carry.

Toshiba Portégé R500 Series
If you're a fan of the Portégé R200, you'll love its successor. It's two years in the making, but Toshiba manages to squeeze in a 7mm optical drive into an incredibly light, 2.4-pound frame. Best of all, it's only ¾ of an inch thick.

Dell XPS M1330
This is a design achievement for Dell, because it takes all the best things in the ultraportable industry and puts it into a 4-pound beauty.

Apple MacBook 13-inch (Core 2 Duo T7200)
If you held off purchasing an Apple MacBook, now's the perfect time to buy one. It recently received an Intel processor upgrade, bigger hard drive, and more memory. It has as much power and features as its MacBook Pro brethren, but in a smaller yet just as sleek design.

(Source:pcmag.com)