CNET's holiday 2009 retail desktop and laptop review roundup
The all-important holiday season is here, and with it the inevitable confusion about how to find the best deals on desktops and laptops. In order to help cut through the clutter, we are once again scouring the shelves of big retail stores to find boxed versions of popular PCs, from entry-level systems starting at $349 to Core i7 powerhouses.
The difference from our normal lineup of reviews is that this roundup is concerned with the specific retail models offered by brick-and-mortar stores. These are similar to those you'd be able to configure online from companies such as Dell and HP, but may have slightly different names and features. Even better, thanks to deep holiday discounts, they can sometimes be a better deal than buying direct from a PC maker.
One way to use this guide is to pick up a Sunday newspaper sales circular (which will list the retail-specific models names of computers on sale), and check here for a review before heading out to the store.
We've got all the entire list of models in our retail review roundup below, and we'll update this page with ratings and live links as the systems get reviewed over the next several weeks.
(Note: Apple's desktops and laptops, while popular holiday items, are the same whether purchased direct from Apple or in a store. You can find recent Apple products reviewed or profiled here: latest Apple MacBooks; latest Apple iMacs; latest Apple Mac Minis.)
Updates:
>See our favorite laptop in the budget category here.
>See our favorite laptop in the Netbook category here.
See more news, reviews, and recommendations in our Laptops and Desktops sections.
Macs are never included in any 'retail' anything on CNET because CNET argues that they aren't really available in retail or something. *cough*best buy*cough*
It's odd, but I guess they are trying to help people get the best deals on substandard hardware with inferior software.
(Note: Apple's desktops and laptops, while popular holiday items, are the same whether purchased direct from Apple or in a store.)
- by aplegacy December 7, 2009 1:11 PM PST
- where is the dell xps 16 with core i7? it looks better than the hp envy 15 and has blu ray. The screen is also slightly bigger and much better. {Trust me, I have both} Plus, hp envy 15 heats up a little bit more than xps 16. I don't mean that it heats up to a point it becomes a problem, but it just gets hotter. Plus, the xps 16 does seem faster when gaming and doing everyday tasks, like web surfing, itunes, stuff like that. the only bad thing is battery life, even with the extra 6 cell. But the dell xps 16 should be up there.
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