January's Most Popular Laptops

January has come and gone, and with it we saw the announcement of many new notebooks.  The Dell Inspiron e1705, Apple MacBook Pro  and Acer TravelMate 8200 are examples of new Intel Core Duo models that surfaced.  But few Core Duo models are actually shipping yet and so the market continues to be dominated by Pentium M and AMD Turion based notebooks.  Expect more notebook announcements in February, but it'll take quite a while before Core Duo notebooks take much market share in sales.

Below is a run down on what laptops were most popular in January based on product click data collected over the month by NotebookReview.com.  A constantly updated list of NotebookReview.com popular laptops can be found here.  We also feature a list of CNET.com most popular laptops based on product click data provided to us by CNET.

1. Dell Inspiron 6000 - The Inspiron 6000 is a 15.4-inch screen mainstream laptop that uses either a Pentium M or Celeron M processor depending on how you configure it.  The highest end graphics card you can get is an ATI X300 so the i6000 doesn't serve too well for any type of 3D gaming, but with a faster Pentium M processor and 512MB+ of RAM it will certainly be enough for most mainstream buyers.  Dell's excellent pricing on this product, frequent coupon offers and good feedback the notebook receives from customers has this notebook pinned at the top of our leader list for the most viewed notebook and most clicked on notebook on the site. 

Dell Inspiron 6000 Reviews / Dell Inspiron 6000 Opinions

2. Toshiba Satellite M45 - The Toshiba M45 is another mainstream 15.4-inch notebook that uses a Pentium M processor.  It is a direct competitor to the Dell Inspiron 6000.  The Satellite M45 is easy enough to find in retail stores.  The beautiful glossy screen and standard silver and black look make it a popular buy and product among mainstream laptop buyers.  There is no high-end graphics card option for the M45, it is purely designed for productivity applications and home buyers.

Toshiba Satellite M45 Reviews / Toshiba Satellite M45 Opinions

3. Sony VAIO S - The Sony VAIO S Series has been popular for a longtime, it's a fantastic little laptop so it's deservedly so.  The VAIO S is a prettily designed 13.3" Widescreen laptop that offers power in a small package.  The VAIO S is one of the smallest notebooks around to offer a built-in graphics card that has good performance.  The VAIO S can be configured with an nVidia Go 6400 card and fast Pentium M processor.  The only knock against the VAIO S series is they tend to get a bit warm, but Sony has resolved this issue somewhat with the latest S releases.  We expect the new Core Duo Sony VAIO SZ series announced last month that will have an optional nVidia Go 7400 card and 1.83GHz processor will make a big splash as a follow-up to the S.

Sony VAIO S Reviews / Sony VAIO S Opinions

4. Apple MacBook Pro - The MacBook Pro is the only laptop on our list that's not even shipping yet, and wasn't even known about until 3-weeks ago!  The MacBook Pro will be a 15-inch screen Intel Core Duo release from Apple and is sure to be quite popular.  We wonder if the popularity is more due to those that are "just looking" rather than actually buying this notebook -- most people don't spend $2,000+ on a laptop but that's how much you'll have to pay to get this well equipped and stylish Apple offering.

Apple MacBook Pro Reviews / Apple MacBook Pro Opinions

5. Toshiba Tecra M4 - The Tecra M4 is a surprising entry into the top 10, but since our data is shared with TabletPCReviewSpot.com and the M4 is popular with that crowd, this makes sense.  The M4 is the most powerful Tablet PC on the market offering an nVidia Go 6600 with 128MB of RAM and up to a Pentium M 2.13GHz processor.  The M4 has a 14.1" SXGA screen and of course comes with the Windows Tablet PC OS.  The M4 is a great option for those that want a notebook / tablet convertible and still want some power and gaming ability with their PC.

Toshiba Tecra M4 Reviews / Toshiba Tecra M4 Opinions

6. Dell Inspiron 9400 / Dell Inspiron e1705 - The Inspiron 9400 and e1705 were announced by Dell at CES 2006 as the first Intel Core Duo offerings from the company.  These two laptops are the same except the e1705 is purchased through the Home and Office store while the i9400 is purchased via the Dell Small Business store.  They are 17-inch widescreen desktop replacement style notebooks.  The e1705 offers up to a 2.16GHz Core Duo T2600 processor and can be configured with a fast nVidia Go 7800 256MB dedicated graphics card.  The i9400 and e1705 offer top performance when configured with high end options or can be configured with a mid-level configuration for an affordable Core Duo offering.

Visit the Dell Inspiron 9400 NotebookReview.com Forum Thread for feedback on these notebooks

7. HP dv4000 - The HP dv4000 is a 15.4-inch screen notebook powered by an Intel Pentium M or Celeron M processor.  It is a direct competitor to the Toshiba M45 and Dell 6000, but actually offers more multimedia features including a QuickPlay feature for playing back DVDs and music without booting into Windows.  The HP dv4000 can also be configured with a fast ATI X700 128MB video card which is a great option to have as it allows for gaming and very good graphics performance from a notebook.  The dv4000 has a gorgeous glossy widescreen that's always talked about in reviews.  This is an easy laptop to recommend to first time notebook buyers.

HP dv4000 Reviews / HP dv4000 Opinions

8. Compaq Presario v2000z - The Presario v2000z is a fantastic value, it's a 14-inch widescreen offering that starts at prices of $649 with an AMD Sempron 3000+ processor and slightly more for a configuration with an AMD Turion processor.  The v2000 is very portable and has a nice design.  It is equivalent to the popular HP dv1000 notebook except the dv1000 uses Intel processors and is slightly more expensive on average.  The v2000z is very portable and great for anybody that wants a nice notebook that's portable but doesn't want to spend a ton of money.

Compaq v2000z Reviews / Compaq v2000z Opinions

9. Sony VAIO FS - The VAIO FS is another mainstream style laptop with a 15.4 inch widescreen display.  Sony always has some of the best screens on notebooks, and the VAIO FS does not dissapoint.  The style is of course top knotch.  The VAIO FS comes with a Pentium M processor but there are no graphics card options for this laptop.  The Sony VAO FE will be the follow Core Duo based up to the VAIO FS and we're sure will also be popular.

Sony VAIO FS Reviews / Sony VAIO FS Opinions

10. HP dv8000 - The dv8000 is the big brother of the dv4000.  The dv8000 is a 17" widescreen laptop with a glossy display and various multimedia features.  A numpad is offered by the dv8000.  The dv8000 uses an AMD Turion processor but unfortunately at the moment does not offer any type of high-end graphics card -- we hope to see HP change that in the future!

HP dv8000 Reviews / HP dv8000 Opinions