Group test: Top 5 Power Laptops of March 2010

Reviews of the best £1,001+ laptops you can buy

By Pc Advisor Staff, PC Advisor UK
March 09, 2010 11:43 AM ET

We review the best 5 laptops you can buy in the UK right now, if money is no object.

Number 5: Samsung X360

Samsung's 13.3in X360 is built with high-lacquer plastic and an anodised half-lid cover. The trackpad has good sensitivity, and the 'Scrabble-tile' keyboard apes the style and layout of those used by Sony and Apple. The screen is bright but lacks a little contrast and colour fidelity. Ports and connectors are good, though, and an external USB drive is included. Whereas other high-end laptops have seen attractive price drops, this ultraportable is now overpriced.

Full review of the Samsung X360

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Number 4: Apple MacBook Air

If the first Apple MacBook Air was revolutionary, this is more of an evolution. You get a speed boost, with the RAM now the newer DDR3 standard, and storage comes in the form of an SSD, which avoids the inclusion of moving parts. It also helps the Air to ratchet up the speed in certain situations; whereas the first Air took 70 secs to boot up, the SSD version requires just 28. It's just as lightweight and attractive as the first Air, but now it's considerably more functional to boot.

Full review of the Apple MacBook Air

Number 3: HP Envy 13

A £100 price drop makes the HP Envy 13 competitive against the lighter and faster MacBook Air - a portable from which it clearly copies some design ideas, from its all-metal construction to its expansive multitouch trackpad. We're less keen to see the high-gloss screen, although it is at least bright and packed with colour. Battery life is a solid 309 mins, while a strap-on battery increases this to a superb 797 mins. An external optical drive with LightScribe is supplied.

Full review of the HP Envy 13

Number 2: HP Envy 15

The HP Envy 15 adds extra spice to the Envy 13 with a quad-core CPU. The resolution of the screen is a little low, although the glossiness, sadly, isn't. The selection of ports and connectors is generous and the touchpad is smooth and precise. The processor is clocked at 1.6GHz, but can auto-overclock at up to 2.8GHz. The strong WorldBench score of 95 shows the potential of this architecture, and the graphics work well too.It gets a little hot in use and battery life is poor.

Full review of the HP Envy 15

Number 1: Apple MacBook Pro

The Apple MacBook Pro runs Mac OS X (you can install Windows using Boot Camp), and is now even available with a matt anti-glare screen, so it's perfectly placed to grab top spot in this chart. This exemplary model offers a stupendous WorldBench score of 98 and some heady framerates from its 9600M GT graphics card. Battery life is great - it lasted 407 mins in our tests. It's not cheap, but if you want the best then this is the gold standard for 15in-screen laptops.

Full review of the Apple MacBook Pro