HP Pavilion DV9233EU

The $904 laptop " though it's a bit overpriced compared to the competition -- packs just the right balance of style, power and endurance. I much prefer the dm4's aesthetic to comparable systems like Dell's Inspiron 15 and Gateway's offerings.

I am continuously impressed with the battery life. In typical use " writing posts, IMing with friends, updating Twitter and surfing in Firefox " I've consistently seen about 5.5 hours of AC adapter-free use. The dm4's six-cell 62Wh battery lasted four hours and 25 minutes.

I am an IT professional and have owned several Laptops from several manufacturers. I have to say that this is the worst laptop I have ever owned. The mainboard has been replaced twice under warranty (after arguing for hours with HP). I believe the mainboard was replaced with a re-furbished item both times. The second time they had placed a small plastic peg behind the wireless switch preventing me from disabling the wireless. This has since fallen off! The machine is full of quality features but runs very slow for its specification. The battery life is useless even when the power profile is set to minimum. I used to praise HP, but I wont be buying another one!

I've had this machine for a year. Once you've removed the Vista and HP bloat, sidebar, indexing service, roxio evaluation versions and services etc etc. and update the graphics drivers from N Vidia it's actually very powerful.

Have had this for only 3 months but it looks like something that will last.