Decide what to buy | the Reevoo.com blog, featuring news on TVs, cameras, laptops, mp3 players & other gadgets, shopping tips and deals, reviews and more

From the best MP3 players of 2008 to the best laptops of 2008. We look at the most popular in the run-up to Christmas and the most highly rated to help you decide what to buy.

So let’s take a look at the lists:

TOP FIVE MOST POPULAR LAPTOPS OF 2008:

1.    Advent 4211

2.    Acer Aspire ONE A110A

3.    Toshiba L300-13S

4.    Toshiba U400-145 T2390

5.    Dell Inspiron 1525 T5750

TOP FIVE HIGHEST RATED LAPTOPS OF 2008:

1.    Samsung NP-NC10 KA

2.    Apple MacBook Pro MB166

3.    Apple MacBook MB402

4.    Asus Eee PC 1000H

5.    Apple MacBook MB403

There’s no surprise to see that MacBooks dominated the highest rated list. People are very impressed with their speed, design and reliability but they don’t escape negative comments completely - owners say that they’re pricey, could do with better battery life and that they scratch easily.

What may surprise some people is that the 10″ Samsung NP-NC10 KA pips the MacBooks to the post. It has a fantastic score for battery life and owners love its size and weight. It has a 160Gb hard drive, 1GB RAM, Bluetooth, integrated webcam, WiFi and it weighs only 1.3kg.

Check out some of the reviews:

“it has almost everything that a standard entry level laptop has, but it is smaller and lighter. it is a good looking notebook, the wi fi and bluetooth also go along way to make the laptop a true portable work tool”

“battery life really good, as is speed for size. Brilliant to carry around. keyboard good”

“it would been better if it came with 2gb of ram, now i need to upgrade the ram”

Also flying the flag for the small guys was the Advent 4211. It’s the laptop most people are checking out at the moment. Also coming in at 10″ and a little lighter at 1.12kg, it has an 80GB hard drive, 1GB RAM, Bluetooth, WiFi and integrated webcam.

There’s a lot of love for this laptop:

“This little PC is an absolutely top notch system.”

“It’s just fantastic. The best money I ever spent. You can use it anywhere. I wouldn’t be without it.”

“No CD/DVD drive is the only downfall but not really a problem as I bought an external CD/DVD drive and the problem is solved.”

There are loads more laptops to look through. Just read the reviews before you purchase anything to make sure you get the best one for you.

Last week we looked at the top digital cameras of 2008 and this week we bring you MP3 players. There are plenty of them around but which ones are any good?

We’ve looked at the most popular ones - the ones that get the most attention on the web and the highest rated to see how they fare when people get them home.

At the moment, everyone’s after the New 16 GB Apple iPod Nano. It gets great reviews for its design and size but, as with most Apple products, consumers would like more battery life.

Here are the MP3 players getting the most attention at the moment:

1.       New Apple iPod Nano 16GB

2.       Apple iPod Shuffle 2GB 2^ND Generation

3.       Sony Walkman NWZA815B 2GB

4.       Archos GMINI 402

5.       Philips SA167 512MB

And these players are the highest rated by consumers who have all bought the products:

1.       Creative Zen 8GB MP3 Player

2.       Sony NWZA816 4GB MP3 Player

3.       Samsung YP-P2JCB 8GB

4.       Apple iPod Touch 8GB

5.       Samsung YP-T10J 2/4 GB MP3 Player

The Creative Zen 8GB MP3 Player gets great reviews. Consumers hardly have a bad word to say about it and praise its design, battery life and sound quality.

Here are some of the things reviewers had to say:

“excellent all rounder sound, vision, size and value for money” Debs, Co. Durham

“i absolutely love it, the sound and vision quality is exceptional” Nicola, Whitley Bay

If you’re strapped for cash but want to invest in something decent, the Samsung YP-T10J is an absolute bargain at £30. It’s rated 9/10 and seriously impresses reviewers:

“this MP3 player has just about everything you could possibly want and very user friendly. The sound is clear and crisp and the photo/video mode is excellent.” Denise, Norwich

“its awesome, looks good, good sound and battery life, cute, not too common like an ipod” Anonymous

“This MP3 player is capable of superb sound reproduction (though not perhaps with the supplied headphones). It’s easy to find your way around the menu and I think it must be one of the slimest MP3 players around.” Eric, Perthshire

If you’re not impressed with any of these, there are loads of other MP3 players to choose from.