Lenovo 3000 N500

A close contender with Dell in the 15-inch laptop stakes, with a fractionally faster 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo model with 2GB of RAM, 160GB hard drive and a DVD read/writer. The laptop's construction and elegant keyboard (sadly, no numberpad) are a solid reminder of its origins within IBM's ThinkPad laptop family. Like the Vostro, this Lenovo has 4 USB 2.0 ports, and while there's no webcam, it does support Bluetooth.