New Laptop Ratings: Your shopping questions answered

Apple Macbook Air (Click to enlarge.) [Image: Apple]

How does Dell’s new ultra-thin Adamo laptop stack up against Apple’s MacBook Air? (Results were mixed.) Wondering if you can find a full-featured laptop for about the price of a netbook? (You can.)

Learn more about these and other shopping questions in our latest batch of laptop Ratings (available to subscribers). We’ve added 14 new models, and we’ve got three recommendations for 13-inch laptops, three for 17-inch desktop replacements, and eight for 14- to 16-inch models.

More manufacturers are offering laptops with 16-inch screens. These give you a wider screen for better displaying video. You’ll also notice a lot of laptops with multitouch technology, which lets you do things like scroll up and down Web pages or zoom in on photos by using hand gestures on the touchpad.

If you’re worried about buying a Vista laptop with the release of Windows 7 imminent (it’s due out at the end of the year), plans for dealing with upgrades of new laptops from Vista to Windows 7 are still being negotiated, according to a manufacturer we spoke to. It’s possible that there will be a free upgrade plan for recent buyers, but no plans have been finalized yet.

If you’ve already got a laptop and want to switch to Windows 7, Microsoft has made available an upgrade advisor.  —Donna Tapellini

Comments

[Tablet Notebook]

I'm a big fan of MacBook Air and many people are looking forward to the new Windows 7, but will it be compatible to the previous already-released softwares? That's my biggest concern.

[Bob]

Better to compare the Dell Adamo with the MacBook - similar weight and size, with MacBook really blowing the Adamo out of the water for much less money!