Laptop Specs

It's "back-to-school" time, so we took a look at our "best bang for the buck" laptops in terms of power per dollar. Some people might prefer looks or battery life -- but for the purposes of our list, we track our "sweet-spot" in terms of computing power per price.

Here are the specs for what we think you can currently get (as well as some history so you can track advances in technology, and computer processing value):

......................Processor.......Memory........Harddrive........Price

Aug 09...... 2.1 GHz(x2)......4 GB...............320 GB...........$500

Aug 08...... 1.9 GHz(x2)......3 GB...............250 GB...........$550

Dec 07........1.6 GHz(x2)......1.5GB.............120 GB...........$550

Various models will have different specs -- but if you shop around, you should be able to get these specs "on average" (and over time, improved specs at better prices!). We usually find the best prices at Best Buy, and sometimes Costco/club stores. Once in a while, Amazon has some good deals.

We prefer the big names such as HP/Compaq, Dell, Toshiba & Gateway. If you like the Sony name, you will pay slightly more. And of course, some people prefer the styling of the Apple Macbooks -- but that's a different category.