Top 5 Desktop Replacement Laptops

Desktop replacements are one of the largest growing segments in the portable market. These system pack in the features and functions that make them competitive with full sized computers. There are even a lot of specialized multimedia and gaming models. Based on my research and experience, here are the top desktop replacement laptops.

1. Dell XPS M1730

For those looking for a high performance system for gaming, Dell's XPS offers the XPS M1730 laptop. The system is highly customizable to fit to a wide variety of budgets but does offer some superb 3D graphics performance thanks to its ability to run a mobile SLI setup with NVIDIA GeForce mobile graphics processors. They even offer the Core 2 Extreme mobile processor for some of the best processing power available. Of course, the top of the line performance will cost a lot. Dell even makes a specially skinned version for those who play World of Warcraft.

2. Gateway P-173XL FX

If gaming is one of your primary reasons for getting a desktop replacement but you don't want to spend the huge sums for a gaming oriented laptop configuration, check out Gateway's FX series of laptops. The 17-inch P-173XL FX offers a very well balanced system configuration with a very strong GeForce 8800M GTS graphics processor that is even capable of playing 3D games up to the 17-inch screens 1920x1200 resolution. The RAID drive setup helps boost performance and storage space and the wide variety of peripheral connectors lets you hook up just about anything. The only real drawbacks to it are its fairly large size and battery pack that extends out from the case.

3. HP Pavilion dv9830us

If multimedia and high definition video are what draws you to a desktop replacement, HP offers some extremely strong values. The Pavilion dv9830us has a very attractive price and includes features such as a Blu-ray reader and DVD burner combo drive and digital/analog HDTV tuner card that let it play a wide variety of HD media. One big downside to the system though is the 17-inch LCD is limited to a 1440x900 resolution preventing it from being used for 1080p video. It is still possible to do it with an extrenal monitor via the HDMI connector. The price might also be so low as it uses an older Core 2 Duo T5550 mobile processor.

4. Apple MacBook Pro 17-inch

The MacBook Pro is probably one of the more expensive desktop replacement laptops on the market, but it is also the most portable. The svelte aluminum clad laptop is just one inch thick with a very light 6.8 pounds. Performance is also quite strong thanks to the Core 2 Duo T9300 processor. With the Mac OS X 10.5 operating system, it is also possible to run the Windows operating system thanks to the new Boot Camp feature. This makes the system extremely flexible in what it can run. The price just makes it something that many people might reconsider.

5. Lenovo IdeaPad Y710

Prior to the purchase by Lenovo, IBM was not a company that built any laptops with screens larger than 15-inches. The IdeaPad Y710 was a major step away from that by producing the first 17-inch desktop replacement laptop. The system integrates well loved features such as the ThinkPads great keyboard design and matched it with features consumers would like. The system ranges for very affordable budget systems to high end PC gaming platforms. Whether you need an affordable system, strong general performance or gaming, Lenovo has an IdeaPad Y710 that can match those needs.

New Hard Drive with 4000 GB (4 Terabytes) storage capacity

Hitachi develops new hard drive head technology that will increase storage capacity to 4TB by 2011

Hitachi recently announced that it has achieved a breakthrough in hard drive read-head design.

This breakthrough has produced read-heads in the 30-50 nanometer range, approximately 2,000 times smaller than the width of an average human hair. This new technology is called current perpendicular-to-the-plane giant magnetoresistive heads.

Giant magnetoresistance principles won scientists Albert Fert and Peter Grunberg the 2007 Nobel Prize for Physics.

These new heads will allow Hitachi to expand storage capacity in standard 3.5-inch desktop hard drives to 4TB and extend 2.5-inch laptop hard drives to 1TB of capacity. Hitachi says that it plans to integrate these new heads into hard drives starting in 2009 and that the technology will reach maturity in 2011.

The first products to reach market in 2009 will use recording heads of 50nm and products with recording heads of 30nm will hit market in 2011. Hitachi representatives believe the new heads will allow for storage densities of up to 500GB per square inch. The current highest capacity drives from Hitachi can only pack in 200GB per square inch.

Another benefit of the significantly smaller heads is that the hard drives will product less noise. Test products using 50nm heads produced 40dB of sound while the 30nm heads produced 30dB. Large capacity hard drives that produce less noise will be a welcome addition to digital video recorders.

Super 8-way video card

It's gadgets like this Matrox 8-way video card -- which lets you drive eight 2560 x 1600 displays at once -- that make me think seriously about going back to a desktop machine and abandoning laptops. If only I could find 1) room for eight displays and 2) a graceful way of using the home partition on my laptop as my desktop's home partition as well, without sacrificing speed (NFS), or having to reboot each time I sit down.

The Matrox M9188 PCIe x16 multi-display Octal graphics card addresses the need to visualize large amounts of data at once in order to effectively make decisions. The latest offering from the M-Series family is the world's first single-slot PCIe x16 octal card, featuring the ability to support both DisplayPort and DVI Single-Link outputs to ensure wide compatibility with today's monitors. With 2 GB of memory and advanced desktop management features, such as independent or stretched desktop modes, the M9188 drives energy, transportation, process control, financial trading, and other mission-critical environments with extraordinary performance.

Super 8-way video card

It's gadgets like this Matrox 8-way video card -- which lets you drive eight 2560 x 1600 displays at once -- that make me think seriously about going back to a desktop machine and abandoning laptops. If only I could find 1) room for eight displays and 2) a graceful way of using the home partition on my laptop as my desktop's home partition as well, without sacrificing speed (NFS), or having to reboot each time I sit down.

The Matrox M9188 PCIe x16 multi-display Octal graphics card addresses the need to visualize large amounts of data at once in order to effectively make decisions. The latest offering from the M-Series family is the world's first single-slot PCIe x16 octal card, featuring the ability to support both DisplayPort and DVI Single-Link outputs to ensure wide compatibility with today's monitors. With 2 GB of memory and advanced desktop management features, such as independent or stretched desktop modes, the M9188 drives energy, transportation, process control, financial trading, and other mission-critical environments with extraordinary performance.