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HP Beats Laptop (Media Hound, Under $2,500)

It's rare that a PC laptop makes even Mac owners look twice, but look twice at the above photo. See? The 15-inch black-and-red stunna -- essentially an HP Envy with a Beats by Dr. Dre veneer -- has a lot in common with the MacBook Pro, actually: the chiclet keyboard, the buttonless, multitouch trackpad, the slim, bezel-etched design, even the $2,299 (and up) price tag. But it's the 1.6GHz Intel Core i7-720QM processor, ATI Mobility Radeon graphics card, networking-optimized Windows 7, and great screen that make this a multimedia powerhouse ideal for playing music, movies, and pictures while on the go or at home. Yes, the 'Beats' brand may be mostly a marketing gimmick, but it does mean that the system also comes with a pair of Beats Solo by Dr. Dre headphones ($199 on their own), an audio interface with two stereo outputs and ultra-loud output level, which makes it good for producing or performing music live. For those who produce their own music -- or trendsetters who want a distinctive-looking PC -- the $2,229 Beats Laptop is tough to beat.