The new model, available in obsidian black or deep cherry red rather than the usual array of smartie coloured variants will come with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, the promise up to 9 hours of battery life on the optional 6-cell battery. The usual array of connectivity options will include 802.11 draft-n wireless LAN or an optional mobile broadband module.

Elsewhere, you’ll get support for up to 8GB Dual Channel 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM, the option of either a 16GB or 128GB Solid State Drive (SSD) over an 500GB hard drive for the storage hungry, and a Blu-ray drive, if that’s your thing, in a model that weighs 1.52kg.

Prices start in the US from $799 although expect that to increase rapidly to $1869 if you go for the top line option with SSD and Blu-ray drive.

Dell says the new model is shipping globally, although the new laptop has yet to show up on the Dell UK site.

The problem is that my answer is based on my criteria and it may not necessarily be the same for someone else.

True, there are certain criteria which are universal but there are also many which are subjective. To one gaming is an important criteria, to another the weight is a more important factor.

We heard about the saying, a man’s junk may be another’s treasure or vice versa. That’s why garage sales are popular.

My point is that there is no such thing as the best laptop or notebook in the world. It all depends on the criteria we choose.

Is there a notebook or laptop which would fulifill all the criteria regardless what they are? If so, wouldn’t it be the best laptop or notebook then?

Maybe. But in all probability this is not possible because a lot of criteria may conflict with each other.

The most powerful gaming laptop will not be the one with the longest battery life because it will consume more power than one which is not.

So the question, what is the best laptop or notebook is wrong in the first place and has no answer because the question is incomplete. Missing is the most important element.

The correct question should be, what is the best laptop or notebook for ME?

The answer would be different for different persons.

The key to finding the best laptop or best notebook is to determine the criteria which are the most important to that person.

Once these are defined it becomes much easier to come up with an accurate answer.

Determining the criteria for the best laptop or notebook

To help you define the criteria which are important for you you need to list down all the features you would like your computer to have.

For example:  Low weight (less than 5 lb), 4 GB Ram memory,  High End graphic card, minimum 6 hrs battery life, most powerful CPU possible, and most importantly, the price (maximum $800).

The price factor will shrink your range if it is low. However it is a fact of life you cannot bypass.

You will however be able to determine the best laptop or notebook for that particular price range.

Next you need to allocate a ranking for each of the criteria, e.g 1 (most important) for low weight, 2 for long battery life,3 for look … etc.

Check the products available for the price and try to sort out the ones with the top rankings, i.e 1, 2, 3 …

It is important to discard from the list those without the 1st ranking because it means, the products do not meet your most important criteria.

The more top rankings a product has the chance that you have found the best notebook or laptop for YOU is high.

Fourth, google those laptops or notebooks for reviews. They will tell us their strengths and weaknesses and reveal if they really fulfill our criteria or not.

Last but not least after you have narrowed your list between 3 to 5, go and test them at computer shops. See how they respond. This will be the final test and will be the decisive factor.

However good a computer is on paper you might not like it once you try it. Specifications do not reveal everything. There are always some aspects we overlook, however small they may be, yet will influence heavily on our decision.

After you have done all these, you will have found the best laptop or notebook for YOU.

And that’s all that matters!

Things you may require to clean your LCD

• A soft lint-free cotton cloth (100% cotton t-shirt, terry towel, etc.,)
• Distilled water
• Isopropyl alcohol (or white vinegar)
• Spray bottle

You may clean the screen depending on the smears and smudges present on the screen. If only little dust is present on the screen try dry dusting the screen by wiping the screen with a cotton cloth along one direction, top to bottom or left to right. If this does not give desired results, then you can try cleaning the screen with some of the cleaning solutions.

Dirt and other organic stains left on the screen can be effectively removed by using alcohol and water solution. Alcohol cleans any organic marks like fingerprints or oily marks left on the screen, while water removes any dirt or mineral strains present on the screen.

Process to clean your LCD / Laptop screen

1. Try dry dusting the screen first with a dry cotton cloth. In most of the cases, this gives better results if only little dust is present on the screen. If you can still find any smudges on the screen then try below step.
2. In a clean spray bottle mix distilled water and alcohol in 1:1 ratio and spray the solution on to the cotton cloth and wipe the screen with the cloth along one direction or in circular motion. Avoid putting pressure on the screen, which may damage the screen.

How Not to Clean Screens

1. Never use tissue or paper towels to clean the laptop screen as they are made up of wood and contain fibers, which can scratch the screen surface.
2. Do not use any cleaning products available in the market to clean the display as they contain some harsh chemicals like ammonia, which can peal out the protective layer of the screen.
3. Never apply excess pressure to hold the cloth close to the screen as excess pressure can damage pixels in the screen.
4. Never spray the water and alcohol solution directly on to the screen as this can short circuit electronic components present in laptop.
5. Do not excessively wet the cloth with the solution use only required amount of solution to clean the screen.
6. Do not use tap water for making the cleaning solution as the tap water contains minerals that may leave strains on the screen.
7. Make sure that the screen is completely dry before you close the screen, if there is any excess liquid present on the screen wipe it with the dry area of the cloth.

All the above tips and measures can be taken for effective and safe cleaning of your LCD or laptop screen. It is always recommended to shield your laptop screen with protective scratch guards that are readily available in the market.

Many die-hard gamers still mock the whole notion of video gaming on a laptop computer. The two simply are not compatible, they do not compute. They argue a laptop is simply too small and too compact to handle all that heat – literally, figuratively and physically.

Achieving high performance usually means any computer, whether desktop or laptop, will give off a lot of heat. And cramming all those high-end components into such a small confined space only adds to this problem. Many gamers complain that gaming notebooks simply produce too much heat and there is the ever persistent problem of frying your rig. Given the fact that many gamers also have a long-term obsession to overclocking gives this concern even more weight.

If you monitor the different gaming forums, you will hear constant anecdotal stories of gaming laptops simply unable to handle all that heat. And then there is the issue of fan noise as your gaming rig tries to keep everything on the cool side. Many find gaming laptops just too noisy and would rather try their luck with a gaming PC instead.

Besides why waste all that money on a gaming notebook when you can get a much better gaming system at a far cheaper price by going with a desktop PC. This issue of price advantage is one of the most compelling arguments for NOT buying a gaming laptop.

However, there are also several more very legitimate arguments that those die-hard and battle-wary gamers also know and make. One has to do with the whole idea of upgrading since gaming laptops can’t be upgraded as easily as a desktop PC. Actually, with most laptops you can upgrade the RAM with ease if you have the free slots available. You can also upgrade the Hard Drive but depending on your laptop model, other components such as Graphics Cards and processors may be hard (if not impossible or worthwhile) to upgrade in a laptop compared with upgrading a desktop PC.

On the other hand, with a desktop PC, there is amble room for upgrading which makes it a much more suitable candidate since gaming systems need to be constantly upgraded if you want the best gaming performance possible; which after all is the unwritten creed of most true gamers. They want the best and they want it now.

However, major laptop makers know a good thing (profit) when they see it and are jumping all over the gaming laptop market. We are constantly seeing more and more powerful gaming systems hitting the marketplace. Recently, we saw Dell muscling in on Alienware (which Dell owns) by launching the new all-powerful Alienware m17x through its marketing outlets as well as through Alienware.

It’s powerful mobile gaming systems like M17x which will gradually defeat this argument that laptops are no good for gaming. The M17x offers extreme high performance with an Intel Core 2 Extreme Quad overclockable processor and Dual 1 gigabyte Nvidia GeForce GTX 280M graphics card (SLI Enabled 1,024MB) and with up to 8GB shared dual DDR3 at 1,333MHz. Impressive specs which would make many a desktop PC blush with envy.

Then again, there is the whole issue of style over performance. Many gamers just want and desire all that flash and cool style of high-end gaming laptops. They just might be the coolest looking devices on the planet. Plus, they are easier to lug around than a desktop PC, no matter which way you swing it.

Gaming laptops, despite the obvious objections from die-hard gamers with upgrading, overheating, fan noise and those hefty price tags, are probably here to stay and will gradually eat into the gaming desktop market. Whether they can also fully capture the hearts of true gamers is an entirely different question, one that won’t be answered any time soon.