If you have looked at the current netbooks on the market and have not found what you are looking for, here are 6 powerful CULV laptops that are great alternatives to netbooks:

ASUS UL30A-A2 Laptop: packs quite a  punch. It comes with 4 GB RAM and a dual core CPU to give you power and performance on the road. It also offers up to 12 hours of battery life.

Toshiba Satellite T115D-S1125 LED CULV: if you are not into intel ULVs, this is the machine you should give a close look. It features 1.5GHz AMD Athlon NeoX2 L325 Processor and 2 GB Ram. It weighs only 3.5 lbs.

ASUS UL80Vt-A1 14-Inch Thin and Light Laptop: features a 14″ Widescreen HD LED LCD Display, NVidia G210M Graphics, and 4 GB Ram. Windows 7 Home Premium works like a charm on it.

Acer TravelMate TM8371-6457 13.3” Notebook: another feature rich ULV laptop for the go. It has a webcam, a finger print reader, a 5 in 1 card reader, and tons of other features to enable you to get your work done on the go.

MSI X600-031US Slim 15.6-Inch Laptop: the only CULV in this bunch that is equipped with Windows Vista. Its 1.4GHz Penryn SFF C2S ULV SU3500 Processor, 4GB RAM and 15.6″ display give you plenty of things to be excited about.

HP Pavilion DM3-1130US 13.3-Inch Laptop: takes advantage of AMD Athlon NEO X2 processing technology to provide you with performance and power on the road. Nice alternative for AMD fans.

What’s your favorite CULV Laptop?

Windows 7 Netbooks are finally shipping. Whether you are looking for a Windows 7 Home machine or just a netbook that happens to come with the starter edition of Windows 7, you can now get your hands on one without having to wait weeks or month. Of course, it’s a good time to pick up a new laptop these days as Amazon and many other retailers are giving discounts to people who adopt Windows 7 laptops early.

One has to be skeptical about the potential of Windows 7 on netbooks. Not every netbook comes with 2 GB RAM necessary to run a decent version of Windows 7 without a hitch. Windows 7 start that is included on most netbooks is not terrible but it’s not great either. At the minimum, you want to be able to run Windows 7 Home Premium on your machine. Here is an interesting guide that Microsoft has put up for those who want to upgrade to Windows 7:

Should you pick up Windows 7? Not if you already have Vista and haven’t gotten a discounted version of Windows 7. But if you are into buying a new machine, your new machine will probably come with the new Windows anyway. The operating system has certainly been improved upon and is worth a serious look. But make sure your computer has the resources to handle the OS. As far as top Windows 7 netbooks are concerned, there are plenty to choose from and more is on the way.

If you are interested in purchasing an ASUS 1005HA netbook, here are the 3 models you should pay attention to:

• ASUS Eee PC 1005HA-PU1X-BK Netbook
• ASUS Eee PC 1005HA-VU1X Netbook
• ASUS Eee PC 1005HA-EU1X Netbook

These models do look very similar on the surface. They all have the same design and almost similar features. But they are some slight differences that shoppers need to pay attention to get the most for their money. PU1X is the top of the line model. You get a faster CPU and more battery life with this model. It is a bit heavier than the low-end 1005HA model, but you get about 5 more hours of battery life from your netbook (comparison chart after the break).

Here is how these models stack up against each other:

So as you can see the difference is not huge, but you do want to make sure you pay attention to what you are paying for. Is it worth paying an additional $40 to get a slightly faster CPU and more battery life? I’d say yes, but the jury is out on that.

If you are one of those folks who want to shop around to find the biggest bang for the buck on their every purchase, you are going to have a heck of a time shopping for a netbook. There are hundreds of netbooks available on the market and the list is growing every day. A lot of these netbooks come with very similar features, which makes it very difficult to find out which one is the best. That is why we have  put together a comprehensive netbook ranking system to help you find and compare netbooks fast.

You can also compare netbooks side-by-side on a vertical grid using the Compare Netbooks button.

Our system helps you search among brands and sort through netbooks to find out the one that comes with all the features that you look for in you dream netbook. You can also change our algorithm and put more weight on the factors that are important to you the most by using Custom Rankings. You can use the sliders to change the weight per factor.

If you are not sure what you are looking for, you can use Netbook Finder to filter through and find a set of netbooks that you can choose from.

At the end of the day you want to find your netbook sooner rather than later. You can spend hours going through numbers and comparing netbooks, but there are better ways to spend your time.

Your take: what other features would you like to see added to this system?

Not all netbooks are created equal. Companies such as MSI, Acer, Asus, and Lenovo are trying very hard to outdo each other in this market. And while the prices are very close, you still have to pay attention to the smallest details if you want to get the biggest bang for your netbook buck. Netbooks may be cheap, but that doesn’t mean you should settle for low-quality ones. Here is how you should compare netbooks to find the one that is right for you:

• Performance: most netbooks use an Atom N cheap. There are a few netbooks that use other CPUs. Either way, you want to make sure you know what you are getting with your netbook. Don’t expect your netbook to be as fast as a Quad-core PC, but 1.6 Ghz CPUs provide you with enough power to get work done on your netbook.
• Screen: we’ve got tiny netbooks (10″ screen size) and super-tiny netbooks (8″ screen). I don’t know about you, but I can’t imagine using an 8″ netbook. Know what you are comfortable with before buying your next netbook.
• Weight: while all netbooks are designed to be highly portable, some are more portable than others. Take time to find out how much your netbook weighs before spending money on it.
• Wireless: most netbooks come with wireless G connection these days, but if you are looking for speed, you may want to go for those few that have wireless N adapters.
• Battery: netbooks are designed for folks who are constantly on the go. You should shoot for netbooks that can go for 5 or more hours without needing you to recharge.

You should also take time to review what others have to say about the netbook you intend to buy to make sure you are not getting a netbook that looks good on the paper but performs terribly. Customer reviews are extremely important when buying electronics and netbooks are no different. The price can also be a factor here but thankfully most netbooks are affordable.

Your take: what do you look for in your next netbook?