In any case, the refurbished means that the MacBook Pro for sale is not brand new, but has been sent in for a warranty claim (most likely) and has been rebuilt by someone or it may have been sold to a computer store or rebuilder as a non-working system and has now been fixed.  In either case, it's not a new computer.

If the seller and rebuilder are reputable, then the computer is likely good.  Watch for warranties, professionalism by the seller, and ask if they sell extended warranties for the system.  If they don't, that's a sign that they may not be as good at refurbishing the MacBook Pro as they could be.

The other thing to look for is the price.  Is it less than half the unit's current retail?  If so, you may be getting something less than you bargained for.  Rarely are good computers sold for that cheap and most refurbished MacBook computers will be sold at around 30-40% less than their retail value if new.

Generally, if the deal is too good to be true, it probably is.

First, let's look at the major differences between the two system groups.  The Macbook is a budget notebook in a 13 inch screen size.  It's light, portable, and cheap.  The MacBook Pro, on the other hand, is much more expensive and comes in sizes up to 17 inches.  It also has faster processors, a more robust architecture, and is more expensive.

The MacBook versus the Macbook Pro has a $600+ price difference with the Pro being more expensive.  In most MacBook comparison articles, this is what stands out the most.  Performance, however, is also very important here.

The MacBook Pro has about 50% better in processors, which means much more speed.  Other improvements for the higher price include more RAM, a (sometimes) better graphics capability, larger hard drives, and of course, the larger screens.

These are all important to the gamer and must be factored in if your choice is down to MacBook comparison options.

Both the MacBook and the MacBook Pro have comparable battery life, but the MacBook is more portable with its smaller size.  The Pro is nearly a pound heavier as well.

Most gamers, however, don't carry their systems around all the time, so this may not be a consideration for you.  Both the MacBook and the Pro have solid GeForce graphics in them, so you're probably good there no matter what.

With the larger screen and other improvements with the MacBook Pro, however, the gamer is likely to find that system to be the better option despite its heavier price tag.  If your budget won't allow, though, you can still do pretty well with the smaller MacBook.

The ULV Core 2 Duo is paired with a NVIDIA GT335M graphics processor (which can be swapped).  That's some serious punch in this tiny machine.

Plus, all of this in the M11x by Alienware comes at less than $1,000!  In fact, fully pimped, the machine is still only $949 and the base model, which has plenty of umph for most gamers anyway, is only $799.  That rocks hard.  The higher-priced package is definitely worth it, though, coming with a 1.3GHz SU7300 Core 2 Duo and 4GB of RAM.

Probably the coolest parts of the Alienware M11x design are teh great use of LED lighting to make the thing look totally awesome.  The keys, front speakers, Alienware head eyeballs, and more are all backlit by LED.  And those colors are totally customizeable and software-controlled so you can do all kinds of cool effects with them.  Very cool effect and something that Alienware has mastered over the years.

The machine has the plugins you'd expect as well.  There is a VGA out, three USB ports, ethernet, HDMI, DisplayPort, a memory card reader, FireWire, dual-mic/headphones, and of course, the AC plug.  Underneath is a battery meter, which is a fine touch too.

The whole thing weighs about 4 and a half pounds and comes complete with a keyboard laid out for gaming.  The only downer to the M11x by Alienware is its screen, which is small because of the compact size of the laptop.  Still, it's a 1366x768 LED-backlit and it has great viewing angles and performance.

This is definitely an awesome machine.  Especially for the diminutive price.

There are many people that go by a brand’s name and think it is quality. This is true in a lot of items, but when it comes to computers, almost all of the components are used by nearly every manufacturer.

There are two major manufacturers of processors, Pentium and AMD. Pentium is the larger and better known name but I have never known anyone with an AMD chip that had any problems.

When it comes to RAM or as some places call it memory, 2GB is generally fast enough to watch live streams and chat. The processor should be near 2 GHz and the storage size should be over 100GB. If the laptop is intended for a person will use their new computer as a library, there are units that can have as high as 500GB of memory, but 320 is usually sufficient.

The difference in buying a laptop for a person who will mostly use their computer for surfing and word-processing is ok with what was stated above. If the person is a gamer, then a dual core processor is preferred along with at least 4GB of ram. This way the graphics will function as the programmers designed them too and the overall experience will be enjoyed.

Best laptops to buy for Christmas 2009 will be determined by the end user and not the brand name.

For our lineup, of course, we're assuming fully-loaded machines with the top options available.  Since they're new, reliability and other things can't be considered, so we're looking purely at power and performance.  With all of that in mind, our favorite gaming notebook 2009 is...

The Toshiba Qosmio Gaming Laptop.  It was a close call, though, with the Alienware M17 coming in close behind.  What pushed the Qosmio up over the M17 for the best gaming laptop 2009 was its superior processor.  That's because the Qosmio is nearly a year newer than its Alienware competitor.

The price tags are roughly equivalent, but the Qosmio has better performance and probably better graphics (though that's a little harder to quantify).

So the Toshiba Qosmio (fully loaded) wins our pick this year for the 2009 best gaming laptop.

What about those on a budget?

Well, for you who can't afford these top-of-the-line, high-priced systems, we give our budget gaming notebook 2009 pick to the Dell Ultra Mobile Inspiron 15z Laptop.  This system has everything the gamer needs to play all but the most cutting-edge games with only the graphics card really holding you back, if at all.  At less than half the price of our top pick, this is definitely a budget gaming notebook 2009 pick.

As a bonus, our savings link to get $100 off the Dell Ultra Mobile Inspiron 15z laptop is still active, so you can click that to save even more!

The look and style of the Envy is, on first glance, a mimic of the Apple MacBook.  HP is borrowing the sleek silver look with light, rounded edges.  That's where the copy-catting ends, though.  The Envy 15 laptop has just been released and has some impressive specs over its 13-inch brother.

Under the hood, the HP Envy 15 has an Intel Core i7-720QM Processor (1.6GHz, 6MB cache) which can be upgraded to a 1.73GHz i7-820QM.

The RAM (DDR3) is extremely hot at 6GB and can be expanded to a whopping 16GB.  Talk about gaming power!

The screen is a 15.6" Full High Def LED Ultra Brightview Widescreen at 1920x1080 run by the Intel Mobile Graphics Media Accelerator X4500MHD.  That can be upgraded from the factory to the 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 9300M GS, which is highly recommended.

If you use the HP Envy 15 laptop, it's recommended that you get a good cooling table or pad.  HP admits that this great little notebook doesn't just look hot: it runs hot too.  The ultra-slim case has a price and that price is bad air circulation inside the HP Envy 15.

Otherwise, it's a great system with all the power you'll ever need to play today's great titles.

This is definitely one of the good ones.  The Toshiba Qosmio gaming laptop has all of the bases covered for a great gaming experience.  From great looks to a large screen (18.4"), it's ready to rock.

The processor is an Intel 1.6GHz Core i7-720QM and the board sports 4GB of memory (RAM).  The hard drive is 320GB (Serial ATA) and it also includes a Blue-ray disk player.  The 18.4" TrueBrite Widescreen on the Toshiba Qosmio is pwoered by a GeForce GTS 250M card from NVIDIA.

The Qosmio laptop comes loaded with Windows 7 64-bit and gives about 3 hours of battery time.

The frame rates are wicked fast and the four-core Intel really pays off with the speed delivered on this Toshiba Qosmio.  The sound system with the HDMI is great as well.  The 4GB of DDR3 can be upgraded to 8GB and Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc. are also built in.

For those concerned about the environment, the Toshiba Qosmio gaming laptop is both Energy Star 5.0 certified and has received the Gold EPEAT designation for environmental impact standards.  It's also RoHS-compliant, which means it's got low lead, mercury, etc. in its components.

Overall, the machine is high quality and is one of the best gaming laptops out there right now.  The Qosmio laptop retails for about $1,500 and is available now in stores and online.

The Dell Ultra Mobile laptop series are small, very portable units that still have big screens (15.6 inches) and a lot to offer the gamer.  They come stock with an Intel Core Duo SU7300 1.3GHz processor.  The Inspiron 15z laptop uses Windows Vista Home Premium and has a 1 year warranty with in home service included.  They come standard with McAfee protection as well (30 day trial).

The Dell Ultra Mobile Inspiron also has 3gb of RAM, a 250gb hard drive, and a CD/DVD burner.  They are fully stocked for wireless connectivity as well.  Their graphics are powered by an Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X4500 High Definition processor and they include an integrated web cam.

Most all of these stock items can be upgraded during ordering, of course.

In fact, with the money our special link will save you, you might want to take advantage of it and upgrade the RAM or ad some cool accessories to your new Inspiron 15z laptop.  Here's that link for the case upgrade and savings:

Save $100 on the new ultra mobile Inspiron 15z laptop. Only $699 after discount.

The Alienware M17 (or M17x) is a new rig that PC Magazine says "performs like a rockstar." The M17 gaming laptop has a lot of great stuff included. First, performance.

Alienware M17 Laptop Core
At the core, this system has an Intel Core 2 Duo or Quad, depending on your choice (standard is a Core 2 Duo P8600 2.4GHz). The video card in the M17 gaming laptop is an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M standard, but can be upgraded all the way to an ATI CrossFireXTM Dueal 1GB. The system comes standard with 4gb of RAM (DDR3 1066MHz), which can be upgraded to various other configurations including the 8gb Dual Channel DDR3/1333MHz.

The rest is configurable hard drive space, optical drive options, and so forth. The system comes standard with Windows Vista Home Premium and can be updated to Business or Ultimate.

Alienware M17 Screen
The screen is an LCD panel that measures an impressive 17 inches diagonally. Standard is a WideXGA 1440x900/900p, but for only $150 extra it can be raised to a WideXGA 1920x1200/1200p for extreme HD. Definitely worth that price, in my book.

Now the Goods
Here's the best part and what you've probably been waiting for. The system comes in a limited edition Nebula Red which has awesome Ferrari-style red stripes on a black case (when opened) and a red and black exterior on the clamshell along with red eyes on the chrome Alienware head logo. It's totally awesome to see.

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Here's the top 5 best selling laptops 2009:

1. Apple Macbook Pro
2. HP Pavilion DV4
3. Toshiba Satellite L515
4. HP Pavilion DV6
5. Acer Aspire AS1410

Delving a little deeper, let's see what makes those the 2009 best selling laptops.

Apple MacBook Pro
Although expensive, these systems are popular because they are some of Apple's cheapest MacBooks and they are also powerful enough to rival most of their cheaper PC counterparts. With the Mac OS X Leopard operating system, 160gb of hard drive, 2.26GHz Core 2 Duo and 2gb of RAM, it's not surprising to see them at the top of the best selling laptops 2009 so far.

HP Pavilion DV4
At about half the price of the MacBook above, the HP DV4 is about the same size dimensionally. It's a little slower at 2.1GHz, but it has 4gb of RAM and a 320gb hard drive. It runs Windows Vista Home and has a smaller batter with a shorter charge life. At such a low price, however, it's easy to see why it's one of 2009 best laptops.

Toshiba Satellite L515
About $100 cheaper than the HP above, this laptop is also a little bit thicker and heavier, but has the same performance numbers (processor, RAM, hard drive) and also includes Vista Home.

HP Pavilion DV6
This unit is about $100 more expensive than its DV4 cousin and is larger with a full inch and a half more screen (diagonally). It is otherwise basically the same system, though it does have a bit more space for upgrades.

Acer Aspire AS1410
The last of the systems on our best selling laptops 2009 list, this one is by far the cheapest. It's popular mainly amongst the back-to-school crowd with only a 1.4GHz processor, 2gb RAM, and a few other bonuses that make the Web-enabled happy, but are at the bottom end for gamers.

These are the current 2009 best selling laptops and, as you can see, most of them are relatively mainstream. The MacBook is the most expensive on the list at $1,200 (roughly) and the Acer is the cheapest (about $400 now).