When shopping for a new laptop it's important to know beforehand what kind of use you plan on giving it. Whether you want a multimedia or gaming powerhouse that'll only occasionally move from your desk, or something that hits the sweet spot between performance and portability, there are plenty of good options if you know what to look for.

To help ease the hassle of going through countless product pages and bookmarking the ones you like, we've created a list with some of our favorite notebooks in each of six categories: Thin and light, business or general purpose, desktop replacements, gaming, value/budget offerings, and netbooks.