The Toshiba Satellite L505-ES5018 is about the cheapest dual-core laptop that you'll find, and it provides a predictably basic feature set, but boasts competitive performance, respectable battery life, and zero bloatware.

The Asus K60I-RBBBR05 is a well-built budget laptop with enough power for most mainstream users. It has a decent battery life, a huge hard drive, and roomy 16-inch display. You get a lot for your money, but buyers will have to wade through a sea of bloatware.

The Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3t convertible Netbook tablet is priced to compete with the iPad, but underwhelming battery life and unpredictable touch response mar an otherwise sharp-looking portable.

The versatile HP Mini 210 adds best-of features from other HP laptops, but the HD video card requires a still-in-beta Flash update for streaming Flash video.

The versatile HP Mini 210 adds best-of features from other HP laptops, but the HD video card requires a still-in-beta Flash update for streaming Flash video.

While the Toshiba Satellite A505-6025 has a rock-solid combination of computing power, graphics, and battery life, its price and bulk may be hard to swallow.

People who would rather have a big screen instead of great battery life will be happy with the HP dv7-3165dx.

The Dell Inspiron i1564-6980CRD is a good, but basic, laptop.

Sony's top-of-the-line 13-inch Vaio VPCZ116GX/S has a speedy Core i5 CPU, discrete graphics, a huge 256GB SSD, and a sky-high price to match.

With Intel's new Core i3 processor, the Vaio EB1JFX/B is an affordable big-screen laptop that does many things well without much sacrifice.