Six Notebooks That Don't Burn

Solution providers selling notebooks have been taking a lot of heat this year. Customers concerned about reports of notebooks burning up and a Sony notebook battery recall of 9.6 million batteries from vendors as diverse as Dell, Apple, Sony and Toshiba have customers pounding on partners for recommendations about which notebooks run coolest with the longest battery life and best performance for the buck.

With that in mind, the CRN Test Center decided to take a hard look at six notebooks that were not affected by the recalls. We evaluated everything from battery and air vent temperatures, AC power draw and battery life to performance and price. Test Center engineers then set out to determine which of them runs the coolest and draws the least amount of power. What we found is that there's a real difference among those notebooks that know how to take the heat without sacrificing performance. Read on and find out. The answers may surprise you.