ASUS N53

In the past, the term "multimedia laptop" was usually code for "laptop that does nothing well." Although these laptops often had decent video and 3D graphics performance, they sacrificed battery life to obtain it, and still typically fell way short of gaming laptops in performance.

New technology is changing the picture, however, making laptops like the ASUS N53 possible. This 15.6" laptop packs a quad-core Sandy Bridge processor and Nvidia 540M graphics, a combination that provides excellent performance across a wide range of tasks. However, thanks to the improved power efficiency of Sandy Bridge and Nvidia's Optimus graphics switching technology, the N53 manages about four hours of battery life. That's great for a big, beefy laptop.

The N53 usually runs between $900 and $1100, and comes in a few variants. The $899 N53SV-XE1 model is an absolute steal.