The Best Laptops to buy for Christmas

This is Part 1 of India.com's Laptop buying guide which is more useful for Indians abroad coming home for the holidays. As you've probably noticed by now, everyone is on about the Atom, netbook this, netbook that.

If you're one of those people who despise small, underpowered economical cars, who likes a big, moist lager to go with his juicy steak, you're probably more interested in real notebooks.

What are real notebooks nowadays? Well, for a start they have a real CPU, preferably a dual-core. They have a screen capable of displaying websites in full res, and you don't have to have corrective laser eye surgery after using them for a few months. An optical drive is also a welcome addition, as you'll need to burn some music for your car sooner or later (a car that runs on gasoline, as God intended it to, not a diesel or hybrid).

So, let's start with the small, ultra portable ones, and see what they have to offer compared to their meek Atom powered, inbred relatives.