If portability or price is a concern, you can opt for the smaller 15-in. MacBook Pro. It's almost as well outfitted as its big brother -- and you can save yourself up to $800 in the process.

Best of all, the MacBook Pro comes complete with all the software you (or the very lucky person on your gift list who's getting a MacBook Pro) will need to edit movies, handle digital photos, surf the Web, tackle e-mail and carry on video chats with friends and family. Sure, you can buy Office for Mac and work on it, too. Or you can run Windows if you really have to. But chances are that once you've played around with -- we mean worked with -- Mac OS X, you won't be spending much time in the Windows world anymore.

-- Ken Mingis

Gaming laptop: Alienware Aurora m9700

Because we're talking gaming, we're going to loosen our ties and allow ourselves the temporary extravagance of using the term bad ass. Honestly, that's the only term that comes to mind when describing Alienware's newest gaming laptop cum desktop replacement: the Aurora m9700.