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TrustedReviews Awards 2008

Author	TrustedReviews
Published	25th Nov 2008

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1st Place: Alienware Area-51 m15x

Alienware and gaming notebooks in general can polarise opinion, since not everyone is so keen on spending crazy money on expensive gaming notebooks. But, if you can see the value in saving space without sacrificing performance, then you can do little better than the Area-51 m15x.

For starters it's the only 15.4in notebook you can get that can house high performance graphics like the nVidia 8800M GT - since replaced by the 9800M GT. So, though it still weighs 3.6kg, it's not anything like as large and hefty as the great number of 17in affairs out there, but just as powerful.

On top of this, Alienware furnished the machine with an awesome customisable lighting system, including a backlit keyboard, touchpad and accenting around the screen. This, combined the extreme performance and 1,920 x 1,200 screen, makes this the most complete desktop replacement around.

Read the full review of the Alienware Area-51 m15x.

2nd Place: Acer Aspire 8920G

Time has put the Acer Aspire 8920G in a better light. At the time we didn't quite deem it worthy of an award, but as natural competitors are still few and far between its Full HD, 16:9 display, Blu-ray drive, abundance of features and Acer's usual value for money make a powerful argument.

Its screen is undoubtedly the main draw. Its 1,920 x 1,080 resolution makes it ideal for HD content and it's sharp and colourful, too. It's also joined by an impressive speaker setup that delivers some bass and a convincing virtual soundscape thanks to Dolby Home Theatre audio.

Read the full review of the Acer Aspire 8920G.

3rd Place: Samsung R700

Propping up the value end of the market, the Samsung R700 has been one of the sleeper hits of 2008. Ever since launch it has been one of the most popular entries on our shopping site, mainly because it offers such brilliant value for money.

For around £550 you get a large 320GB hard drive, 3GB of RAM and a machine that's deceptively slim and light (weighing just 3.19kg) given its large 17in display. It's also a moderately attractive piece of kit, making it a bargain for anyone that just wants something simple and usable.

Read the full review of the Samsung R700.

Latest 4 of 83 Comments

Have your say: Leave a comment below about this article.

Sivart said on 1st December 2008

Just read the awards article & then looked forward to the comments.

Big disapointment to find it dominated by a fruitcake with a grudge and an old pals reunion d... more

Ardjuna said on 5th December 2008

@Sivart: yes, it would have been nice to see some more comments about the actual products, and about awards other than the arguably least important 'style' one. Still, it... more

AlexMck said on 11th December 2008

Great job Riyad. Have been following the site for a long time but only just decided to register.
Rsaeire and Singularity -- have ye any lives to lead? I should think that,... more

PaulW said on 11th January 2009

@Sivart .. I agree with you to a degree. I dont have the funds to be fortunate to be able to buy a B&W Zeppelin, and therefore look forward to reviews of such products here @ TR. No matter what Riyad (other TR staff say)says, there will also be some contention. I bought a Samsung G600 phone for Xmas .. mainly because of the brilliant review here. As it happens, i dont like it & have gone back to my Nokia 6300. I also have a Nokia E71 (which another user was raving about) & I aint too keen on that either.

So what am I trying to say? Well this .. I find the TR site just about the most "accurate" place to go to read products reviews, and generally I find the conclusions produced "weigh in" with my own needs. I bought a Canon Pixma MP610 on the strength of its review & its brilliant! I also bought a Fuji S9600 camera purely on the review here & what a blinder! Brilliant choice & a brilliant review - altho very controversial at the time! 10 / 10 for a camera that I bought for £199!!

The arguments put forward about B&W Zeppelin as an iPod docking station do produce a smile on my face. I can many years ago, someone in Hi-Fi News stating "the wider you open the windows, the more the muck flies in", and having an iPod myself, I cannot but agree with this statement .. as the audio quality of the Apple iPod is well documented to be "questionable". Poor audio in - poor audio out!

BUT .. at least TR do actually carry out reviews of products tested. Some years back (in an earlier life) I was involved heavily in the PC MIDI market & ran a well know UK PC MIDI company distributing such products as Music Quest MIDI cards, CardD DAW card & Cadenza sequencing software (Gordon .. are you reading this? You & I have had several chats in the past about some of these products.)

On one occasion I was approached by a well known MIDI Music mag (no names mentioned, but their offices were in Bath!) asking for a sample Music Quest card for "head to head" review. I had always had my suspicions about the "authenticity" of reviews carried out by this Mag, & so I sent off a card that I knew to be faulty! It simply didnt work!

We came 2nd in a head to head shoot out with other popular MIDI card! We werent asked to replace the faulty card, yet we came in 2nd place! Amazing eh?

Thanks goodness we have moved on & we have sites like TR.

Well done guys .. whilst I dont agree with all that you say, I am darned glad that you have presence on the web! Sorry for going off topic a tad!

Happy New Year!

@Sivart .. I agree with you to a degree. I dont have the funds to be fortunate to be able to buy a B&W Zeppelin, and therefore look forward to reviews of such products here @ T... more

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