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.

After our best mobile phones of 2008 post last week, we’ve moved onto digital cameras.

Whether you’re after a nice compact or a DSLR packed full of features, we’ve got the highest rated and the most popular in both categories on Decide What to Buy.

All ratings are by consumers who have all bought the products. They voted the £182, 13 megapixel Sony CyberShot DSC-W300 as the top compact digital camera of 2008.

There are great reviews on this camera with comments like:

“the picture quality is amazing”

“Brilliant little touches to the camera, like the musical slide show playback and the photo doctoring within the view back, love this camera!!”

It also gets great scores for categories like image and build quality:

And the compact that everyone’s looking at in the run-up to Christmas? It’s the 10 megapixel Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS5. It came out a few months ago but people still love the fact that it’s packed full of features. It’s currently around £125.

When it came to SLRs, the highest rated was the £478 Canon EOS 450D. With the same image quality score as the CyberShot DSC-W300, this camera really impressed its owners. One reviewer said it was “outstanding”.

The most popular SLR is the Olympus E-420. It’s a nice upgrade from last year’s E-410 and has face detection, shadow adjustment technology, 3.5fps continuous shooting rate for up to 9 Raw images and a one-touch white balance function. It’s around £350.

Here are the rest of the favourites:


TOP COMPACT DIGITAL CAMERAS

TOP FIVE MOST POPULAR COMPACT DIGITAL CAMERAS IN LAST 30 DAYS:

1. Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS5

2. Nikon Coolpix S710

3. CASIO Z200

4. Olympus FE-350

5. Canon IXUS 980 IS


TOP FIVE HIGHEST RATED COMPACT DIGITAL CAMERAS OF 2008:

1. Sony CyberShot DSC-W300

2. Canon Digital IXUS 90IS

3. Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5

4. Fujifilm Finepix Z20

5. Fujifilm Finepix F100

TOP SLR CAMERAS of 2008

TOP FIVE MOST POPULAR SLRs IN LAST 30 DAYS:

1. Olympus E-420

2. Canon EOS 50D

3. Nikon D300

4. Sony Alpha A700

5. Canon EOS 1000D


TOP FIVE HIGHEST RATED SLRs OF 2008:

1. Canon EOS 450D

2. Sony Alpha A350

3. Nikon D90

4. Sony Alpha A300

5. Nikon D60

If you’re one of the thousands shunning holidaying abroad this summer, chances are you’ll be swanning around the UK instead. This being the case, we can all imagine how much fun the roads will be. And no road trip is complete without the “why can’t you read a map properly argument”. To ease the pain a little, we’ve gone through all the sat nav reviews on Reevoo to see if we can’t save you a few hours of sitting in traffic and some disagreements with your fellow travellers.

It was pretty clear that shoppers love TomToms. They nabbed four places out of the top five highest rated devices.

Here are the results:
1.    TomTom One GB V3 - £95
2.    TomTom ONE XL – £169
3.    Garmin Nuvi 760T - £210
4.    TomTom One Explore - £110
5.    TomTom ONE WE - £116

Reevoo sends review questionnaire emails to shoppers who have bought products from one of its retail partners. In the sat nav questionnaire, owners are asked to rate design, size, accuracy, value for money, ease of use and then give the product an overall rating. You can see all of the category results below.

For value for money, the TomTom One GB V3 is a pretty good all-rounder but shoppers rated the Garmin Nuvi as the most accurate sat nav of the bunch. It depends on your priorities but they all got very good reviews.

If you can’t see one you’re impressed with, you can see all of the other sat nav reviews here.

We hope you all have lovely holidays!

In a shocking piece of research from Reevoo, Dyson were left off of the top five vacuum cleaners.

Consumers rated Numatic’s Hetty as the number one machine:

1. Numatic Hetty
2. Bissell 3760E
3. Miele S5260
4. Numatic Henry
5. Miele S5210

Who would have thought?! This must be a pretty big blow for Dyson, who have been market leaders for the past decade or so. Although, it might be a great way for them to identify the areas in which they can improve to make their machines even better.

I have to say that I’m rather proud of the fact that I own a Henry. I’ve had him for around 10 years and he’s been great. Wouldn’t change him for the world. I’ll even forgive Hetty for coming in above him.

So where do Dyson need to improve? It seems that a lot of shoppers have trouble moving them around. There are lots of reviews complaining about their weight and the height of some of the models. Other people find their hoses too short, that they are too noisy, that they have a short life-span and that they have to be emptied too often. Although the last point may be because they pick up a lot of stuff.

Going on the positives, consumers did like the designs of the Dysons and the fact that they were very powerful.

We also need to mention that Miele did really well here too. They got two products in the top five and almost all of the reviews for both the models mentioned the fact that they had superior suction.

So it seems that Numatic and Miele are the vacuums to go for. If you don’t agree with the Dyson comments I’ve picked out, you can check out all the other Dyson reviews.

In a surprise piece of research from Reevoo, Dyson were left off of the top five vacuum cleaners.

Consumers rated Numatic’s Hetty as the number one machine:

1. Numatic Hetty
2. Bissell 3760E
3. Sebo Automatic X4 Extra
4. Numatic Henry
5. Miele S5260
6. Miele S4211
7. Miele S 5210
8. Miele TT5000
9. Miele S5280
10. Dyson DC14 Hepa

(You can look closer into the different category results below)

Who would have thought?! This must be a pretty big blow for Dyson, who have been market leaders for the past decade or so. Although, it might be a great way for them to identify the areas in which they can improve to make their machines even better.

I have to say that I’m rather proud of the fact that I own a Henry. I’ve had him for around 10 years and he’s been great. Wouldn’t change him for the world. I’ll even forgive Hetty for coming in above him.

So where do Dyson need to improve? It seems that a lot of shoppers have trouble moving them around. There are lots of reviews complaining about their weight and the height of some of the models. Other people find their hoses too short, that they are too noisy, that they have a short life-span and that they have to be emptied too often. Although the last point may be because they pick up a lot of stuff.

Going on the positives, consumers did like the designs of the Dysons and the fact that they were very powerful.

We also need to mention that Miele did really well here too. They got five products in the top ten and almost all of the reviews for both the models mentioned the fact that they had superior suction.

So it seems that Numatic and Miele are the vacuums to go for. If you don’t agree with the Dyson comments I’ve picked out, you can check out all the other Dyson reviews.

Has anyone else noticed that money’s getting a little tight? If you have a car and/or an appetite, chances are you’ve been affected by price hikes lately. If you’ve got kids, it can be even harder to keep tabs on the purse strings, especially as it’s half term. If you’re in need of some entertainment for the little ones, that won’t cost a fortune, Reevoo have come up with the top toys around at the moment for under £25.

Here’s the list:

1.    VTECH Sort and Soar Rocket - £15
2.    Dora Skittles - £13
3.    Speed Stacks - £14
4.    Duplo Large Brick Box - £20
5.    Peek-A-Blocks Press & Go Train - £20

What’s great is that most of these toys have an educational edge, as well as being fun.

The VTECH Sort and Soar Rocket has been the top toy on Reevoo for ages so they must be doing something right.  It’s aimed at children from 18-36 months. Claire from Stonehaven says "my One year old loves it …no dangerous parts which is excellent" and Julie from Derby writes, it’s "Great for teaching hand eye co-ordination, teaching colours, numbers and sounds".

Dora Skittles are only £13. There are two great things about these: they can be enjoyed by both younger and older children, so you can save a few bob by getting one thing for all of your children and you can use them inside or outside, so if the weather stays as it has been, you don’t have to start pulling your hair out…I have to say that these are quite fun for adults too - combine with a nice glass of wine and that’s your evening’s entertainment sorted too. Bargain.

In at three are the Speed Stacks. People go crazy for these and there are loads of leagues and championships set up all over the country. The good thing is that they’re addictive - without added chemicals - so they can keep older children amused for hours. Parents love the fact that these get kids away from computer screens and one reviewer also comments that they’re "excellent for eye- hand coordination and gross motor skills".

We were talking about the victory of classic board games last week so I’m glad to see that another classic is in the top five here - Duplo. Although the Duplo Large Brick Box is aimed at younger children, Lauren from Northumberland says "this is a toy that appeals to all children of all ages with an endless range of possibilities for play". Another happy shopper is Sarah from Chester who writes "plenty of different bricks, easy for little hands to connect them, bright colours and great storage". An all-round good’un then.

The Peek-A-Blocks Press & Go Train from Fisher Price was also a big hit with shoppers. The only half-negative comment was that it’s a little noisy. Probably something to think about if you were hoping for a bit of peace and quiet this half term. Although, this product is aimed at children aged 12 to 18 months so if you’ve got a little one around that age, I think peace and quiet may be out of the question anyway…

So there we go, some top toys to pick from. If none of those take your fancy, there are plenty more toy reviews to look though.

Has anyone else noticed that money’s getting a little tight? If you have a car and/or an appetite, chances are you’ve been affected by price hikes lately. If you’ve got kids, it can be even harder to keep tabs on the purse strings, especially as it’s half term. If you’re in need of some entertainment for the little ones, that won’t cost a fortune, Reevoo have come up with the top toys around at the moment for under £25.

Here’s the list:

1.    VTECH Sort and Soar Rocket - £15
2.    Dora Skittles - £13
3.    Speed Stacks - £14
4.    Duplo Large Brick Box - £20
5.    Peek-A-Blocks Press & Go Train - £20

What’s great is that most of these toys have an educational edge, as well as being fun.

The VTECH Sort and Soar Rocket has been the top toy on Reevoo for ages so they must be doing something right.  It’s aimed at children from 18-36 months. Claire from Stonehaven says "my One year old loves it …no dangerous parts which is excellent" and Julie from Derby writes, it’s "Great for teaching hand eye co-ordination, teaching colours, numbers and sounds".

Dora Skittles are only £13. There are two great things about these: they can be enjoyed by both younger and older children, so you can save a few bob by getting one thing for all of your children and you can use them inside or outside, so if the weather stays as it has been, you don’t have to start pulling your hair out…I have to say that these are quite fun for adults too - combine with a nice glass of wine and that’s your evening’s entertainment sorted too. Bargain.

In at three are the Speed Stacks. People go crazy for these and there are loads of leagues and championships set up all over the country. The good thing is that they’re addictive - without added chemicals - so they can keep older children amused for hours. Parents love the fact that these get kids away from computer screens and one reviewer also comments that they’re "excellent for eye- hand coordination and gross motor skills".

We were talking about the victory of classic board games last week so I’m glad to see that another classic is in the top five here - Duplo. Although the Duplo Large Brick Box is aimed at younger children, Lauren from Northumberland says "this is a toy that appeals to all children of all ages with an endless range of possibilities for play". Another happy shopper is Sarah from Chester who writes "plenty of different bricks, easy for little hands to connect them, bright colours and great storage". An all-round good’un then.

The Peek-A-Blocks Press & Go Train from Fisher Price was also a big hit with shoppers. The only half-negative comment was that it’s a little noisy. Probably something to think about if you were hoping for a bit of peace and quiet this half term. Although, this product is aimed at children aged 12 to 18 months so if you’ve got a little one around that age, I think peace and quiet may be out of the question anyway…

So there we go, some top toys to pick from. If none of those take your fancy, there are plenty more toy reviews to look though.

The best days at school were the last days before the holidays when you could all bring your favourite games in to play all day. Mine was Hungry Hippos. Unfortunately, that didn’t make the top five games in this new piece of research by Reevoo but a couple of other favourites did.

Since this weekend’s going to be a shocker – which bank holidays aren’t? – Reevoo decided to have  a gander at which were the best games around so that we could all switch of the telly and share the love with some family favourites.

Top of the fun pile was Pictionary, with some top reviews and a cracking score of 9.1/10.

Probably one of the best board games ever invented came in at number two – Monopoly. Even though it came in second, it did get the top score across all the games in the ‘entertainment value’ category. This version is the ‘Nostalgia’ edition. I’m not entirely sure what makes if different to the one I used to play but I’ll be happy to accept Jax from Penicuik’s word who says “this has been a very good game for many years, but this version is outstanding.”

Third place went to Taboo. 100% of people recommended it but one reviewer did comment that it didn’t have enough cards which made it “very difficult to continue playing with a surprise factor”.

Not sure how this got on the list but somehow the Simpsons Chess Set beat some of the greats, like Scrabble to take fourth place. Being a girl all for the classics, I can’t say I’m too impressed but a lot of other people were. Selina from Aylesbury thought it was “nicely presented and very good value. The chess pieces themselves were solidly made” – ahh but you can’t make words out them now, can you, Selina?

Fifth went to a true childhood favourite – Uno. You can’t beat its simplicity and its ability to cheer up even the most tedious of car journeys. It was beaten by the Simpsons in the value for money and design/build categories. Frankly, it should wipe the floor with the aforementioned spin-off chess set but the masses let me down.

Oh well. Whatever your preference, make sure you bring back the board game fun over the bank holiday. You can find all the board game reviews at Reevoo.

Full results below:
1. Pictionary
2. Monopoly Nostalgia
3. Taboo
4. Simpsons Chess Set
5. Uno Extreme

To make up for the fact that we’ve been a bit overly ‘techy’ the past couple of weeks, I’ve decided to take a look at the top five food processors out there for all you foodies. I’ve looked at mixers with over ten reviews on Reevoo.

Coming out on top is the Magimix 16457 with  9/10 from 12 impartial reviews. It scored very highly for performance and design. Sue from Hebden Bridge says "Quiet powerful motor,quick effecient performance.  Excellent grating, mixing capability.  Makes pastry in a flash".

Just pushed into second place is the Kenwood FP920 with 8.9/10 from 29 impartial reviews. Again, another high scorer on performance and also scores well in the features category. Denise from Kent loves the product "It has so many gadgets I haven’t had a chance to use them all yet. It
is easy to use. Easy to clean. Does an excellent job. Very pleased". Some people did have a few issues putting the parts together and storing all of the gadgets that come with the mixer.

In third place is the Kenwood FP487. This machine scored 8.5/10 from 23 impartial reviews with a high score in the value for money category. People really like the fact that it’s easy to use and clean although, like the Kenwood in second place, a couple of people did have problems with storage.

In at four is the last Kenwood of the bunch, the Kenwood FP580 with a score of 8.2/10 from 16 impartial reviews. Unlike its brothers and sisters, this Kenwood lost marks in the build quality and features categories although a couple of people did praise its safety features.

In fifth place is the Magimix 3100/12326. It scored 8.3/10 from 22 impartial reviews, scoring highly for deign and performance but it loses marks on features. Quite a few people agreed with Rachel from Loughborough who said that "It’s extremely heavy".

If you can’t see the mixer you’ve been eyeing up for a while or if none of these take your fancy, have a gander at all the other food processor reviews. Mmmm, thank goodness it’s nearly lunch time…

Seeing as it’s April and the weather still consists of snow, gales and floods, I bet a load of you can’t wait to get into hotter climates and have already planned your escape. Looking for a nice, new, shiny mp3 player to while away the hours on planes and sunny beaches? Look no further. We’ve been ploughing through the reviews from shoppers at Reevoo to find out which mp3 players have made it into the top 5. We have to admit that what we did find was a little surprising - no iPods until fifth place and no Creatives in sight. Check it out for yourselves…

Top with a score of 9.8/10 is the Sony NWE016BC Black with top marks for value for money, design and sound quality. Funnily enough, this system beat the Apple hands down in the design stakes with shoppers rating it’s design 10/10 compared to the iPod’s 9.2/10!

Coming in a close second is Sony’s 3GB NWZA816 with 9.7/10. One shopper comments “The sound is brilliant…The size is perfect”

Middle of the pack is the Hitachi DMP20 2GB Black. Scoring 9.4/10, people praise its ease of use and battery life.

With a rating of 9.2/10, the Samsung YP-P2JCB 8GB Black wins over customers with its design, extra features and its portability but it loses points on value for money.

In at number five is the first and last Apple appearance. The New Green Apple iPod Nano 8GB scored 9.2/10. One customer sums it up as “nice shape and colour easy to use and sounds good” but comments about the lack of a carry case, the fact that you can only use itunes and scores on battery life push it into fifth place. 96% of shoppers would recommend this product, compared to 100% for the Samsung.

If you still haven’t seen one you fancy, there are a load more here.