The following is a list of some the best budget laptops out there:

1. Acer Aspire V5 – Don’t be fooled by the size of this 11-inch ultraportable. The Acer Aspire V5 packs the power of a full fledged laptop with an Intel Core i5 processor, a 500GB hard drive and a 6GB RAM. All this makes for a high performance laptop, one you can use with equal ease at your office or at a coffee shop. Having said as much, there are a few limitations primarily due to its small size- the keypad is a tad bit uncomfortable to use and the same goes for the touch pad. Both of these need a little getting used to. Nevertheless, the Acer Aspire V5, priced at under $500, offers complete value for money.

2. Sony Vaio E Series – The Sony Vaio E Series SVE11113FXW is also an 11-inch ultraportable, ideal for the frequent flyer. It is powered by a 1.2 GHz AMD E2-1800 processor and comes with 500GB hard drive and 4GB RAM. Again, the size might be a bother initially but once you get used to it, it stops being a problem at all. The laptop is available for $449 and has a surprisingly decent battery life.

3. HP Envy Sleekbook 6 - Price wise, the HP Envy Sleekbook falls somewhere around the margins of the category we are discussing as it is priced as close to $600. On the bright side, it is the best looking laptop you will find for that price. It boasts of a 2.1 GHz AMD processor with 4GB memory and 500GB hard drive. As added benefits, it comes with decent graphics and audio output as well.

4. Dell Inspiron 14z- The biggest USP of the Dell Inspiron 14z is the second generation Intel Core i3 processor which is difficult to find in this price category. Just like all the other laptops mentioned here, it comes with 500GB hard drive and 4GB RAM. As the name indicates, it is a 14-inch laptop which means that the size should not be a problem. At the same time, it is not a bulky laptop and can be carried around pretty easily. Just like the previous model, it is a little towards the expensive side and is available for close to $600.

While buying a regular laptop, you might look for features like processor speed and storage memory. However, when it comes to gaming laptops, the parameters involved undergo some major changes. To begin with, the audio and video specifications of the laptop assume prime importance since they have to support complicated features like dynamic lighting, landscapes and explosions which are commonplace in the gaming world. A good gaming laptop must have a 1 GB video card even as dual video cards have become the rage currently. The power of these dual video cards is harnessed by the NVidia SLI technology, taking the gaming experience to another level altogether.

After you have taken note of the video card, the next feature that you must consider is the processor. A quad core processor with a minimum speed of 2.0 GHz is standard for a gaming laptop. You can find these specifications in a Core i5 or an i7. Additionally, look for a laptop with hard drive storage of no less than 320 GB as the games can occupy a lot of storage space. Finally, the battery life of the laptop must be quite strong because constant gaming can take a heavy toll on the battery.

Based on these considerations, we have put together a list of the best gaming laptops.

1. Alienware M18x – Alienware has been associated with PC gaming for ages now and they have produced some of the very best gaming laptops till date. The Alienware M18x is no exception. This gaming laptop delivers on all fronts, right from design to performance to ease of use. It comes with an 18.4 inch display, a Core i7 processor which runs at 2.7 GHz with a turbo boost that reaches 4GHz. Moving on to the most crucial factor in a gaming laptop, the video card. The Alienware laptop boasts of a pair of SLI-enabled Nvidia GeForce GTX 580M graphics cards and each of them has a memory of 2 GB. The only flip side is the steep price.

2. Asus G74SX- If you are looking for a more affordable gaming laptop without compromising on the performance, the Asus G74SX is ideal for you. This Asus laptop is powered by a 2.2 GHz Core i7 processor with 8 GB RAM. In the graphics department, it is equipped with one of the best graphic processors i.e. Nvidia GeForce GTX 560M. The battery life isn’t exceptional, but that is a common feature in all gaming laptops.

3. MSI GT683- The MSI GT683 is a whole series of gaming laptops, all of which perform exceptionally well. The MSI GT683R-289US runs on a Core i7 processor with 12 GB RAM and is powered by a Nvidia GeForce GTX 560M. The processor speed is not exceptional, but it won’t give you many chances to complain either. The screen is 17.3 inches and the laptop is lighter than the average gaming laptop.

These were just some of the most popular gaming laptops as of now. Besides these, there are others which have their own unique advantages. The MSI GT783R-625US, Toshiba Satellite P755-S5269 and the Alienware 17x come highly recommended in the gaming world.

However, the choice between a laptop and a tablet still continues be a confusing one. There is no denying the fact that they belong to different niches- a tablet is ideal for you if you need to use basic functions while you are travelling or at best, it is an additional accessory to a laptop. But if you are looking to do hard core work which involves a lot of typing input among other things, a laptop is obviously the better choice. So, you can’t really buy a tablet and expect it to serve as a replacement for a laptop or vice versa.

In the past one year or so, several manufacturers have tried to bridge this divide by producing what are known as laptop-cum-tablets. Lenovo recently released the IdeaPad U1 Hybrid which comes with a removable touchscreen. This touchscreen can double up as a tablet which uses Lenovo’s own version of Android or can function as the screen when you wish to use the gadget as a laptop.

This set-up can potentially solve many problems- One major drawback of the tablet is the lack of a keyboard. People usually find it very hard to type with a virtual keyboard. With the laptop cum tablet, that problem can be solved easily. Whenever you need to type, you can use the device as a laptop. At the same time, it gives you the processing speed and performance of laptop, not a tablet. As the IdeaPad is in its nascent stages, Lenovo is still trying to iron out all problem sectors before the final product is rolled out in the global market.

In another attempt to make the choice between a tablet and a laptop easier, Lenovo also announced the production of the Lenovo Yoga PC. As the name suggests, flexibility is the stand out feature of this laptop-cum-tablet. It is only 17mm thick and weighs 3.1 lbs., so it delivers pretty decently on the portability aspect.

The unique hinge mechanism allows the keyboard to flip over completely so that the Yoga can be used as a tablet as well. The device will be powered by the yet to be released Windows 8 operating system. Another feature to look out for is the Intel Chief River Processor, an 8GB RAM and a promised battery life of eight hours.

Quite evidently, it is an ambitious attempt by Lenovo to combine the best of both the laptop and the tablet into one single device. The specifications promise the performance of a solid laptop while the unique hinge feature means that it can be used as a convenient tablet.

The big question now is- will Lenovo Yoga deliver on its promises or will it be just another fancy experiment gone wrong? We will just have to wait till the end of this year when the Lenovo Yoga officially hits the global markets.