Heck, with the major players out there like Dell, IBM, Compaq and HP just to name a few, competition is absolutely fierce!

But one thing is for sure.

This years best rated laptops all seem to have one thing in common. They are all called Apples!

Apple has taken this honor from several leading computing and electronics magazines, and the trend in sales seem to suggest that consumers are feeling the same way about them, as well.

Laptops such as the apple powerbook and ibook have helped apple stand tall among the major players in the computing world.

In 2004 alone, apple announced that it had an overall net income growth of 300 percent. That equals to a profit of $295 million in the last quarter. And if you are a stock holder that certainly must put a smile on your face. I know it does for me, and a number of my friends.

Single computer model sales are also showing the same trend. For instance, the ipod desktop version disappeared off the shelves at the rate of 4.5 million per year. The imac tripled its sales!

Apples share of the international market may still be lagging behind, though. Dell still has top honors with 18 percent of the world market. HP comes in a close second with 16 percent. And in a distant third, IBM brings in 6 percent of the share.

Apple can put a dent in those figures though with the press they have been getting lately. In fact, apple won the 2004 Readers Choice award for the brand with the most impact on an international scale. It had beat out Google, which had been the winner of this award for two years running.

No matter what awards for best rated laptops or what percentages of the world market that apple acquires over the next few years, you can be rest assured that apple will continue to put out the innovative products that they are known for.

Just take a look at the software that is featured on apples laptops and desktop computers. Such admiration of application design as iphoto and itunes make apple so popular just because these programs are so useful and yet they are so easy to use.

See if you can say that about the software that comes standard with most other mp3 players or digital cameras. It's this powerful but symplistic design that makes apples some of the best rated laptops available today.

One other point I would like to make. In 2006, we will see Apples with intel chips instead of the current IBM chips. Will this improve the performance of the apple laptops and computers, I don't think so, at least not right away. But it will possibly help apple to grow and expand in the market.

In the future, I believe you will see vast improvements in performance with this change making apple computers and laptops even better than what's available today.