Our new laptop Ratings: We respond to some beefs

Our latest computer Ratings (available to subscribers) generated a range of responses from the blogosphere, some of them negative. In particular, there was surprise at the fact that Apple models topped the Ratings in all three size categories of laptops, and that the top three 13-inch models were all Macs.

Here are some of the areas where our results and recommendations were questioned, with more information to help understand how we arrived at our conclusions:

Gizmodo said that we "awarded the unibody MacBook, MacBook Air, and plastic MacBook the gold, silver, and bronze among 13-inch laptops." That's not quite the case. We did not recommend the 13-inch unibody MacBook, even though it topped that category, because the "plastic" MacBook did almost as well for less money. It is not unusual for us to exclude highly-rated models from our Recommendations because of price or other factors.

Questions were raised about how we arrived at an overall score as high as "Good" for the MacBook Air, Apple's lightweight laptop. If you're familiar with our Ratings, you know a "Good" score typically isn't anything to crow about. In this case, other laptops in the 13-inch category received Excellent and Very Good overall scores.

Then why recommend the Air at all?, asked Laptopmag. We recommended this Mac because it weighs just three pounds, is extremely slim, had a battery life of four-and-a-quarter hours, and was the only 13-inch model we tested with a very good display.

In recommending the Air, we also considered Apple's record for providing by far the best tech support among major brands in our surveys, as well as the fact that Macs are less susceptible than Windows-based computers to most common types of malware. And we didn't say the Air is perfect. We warned that it's light on features, and that the White MacBook, a 13-incher that's 2 pounds heavier, offers better performance at less than half the price.

Laptopmag says it didn't like the Air because of the short 2-hour-and-8-minute battery life it recorded for the machine. Battery-life measures are especially prone to variation depending on test methodology, and Laptopmag's figures are on the low side compared to most other reviewers of the Air. Our tests yielded a run time of 4 hours and 15 minutes.

Computerworld wasn't happy with our netbooks tests. First, the site says it's disappointed that we didn't mention that the netbooks run Windows XP because, "Certainly the familiar environs of XP play a part in the popularity of netbooks. For many, XP is what they know and they want to stick with it."

We think netbooks' small size, light weight, and low price seem like more important factors. Netbooks are fine as secondary computers, but they have a lot of limitations, not least of which are power and ergonomics.

Computerworld also objects to our battery life claims because the netbooks with the longest battery life use extended batteries. That's true, but we note that fact in our Ratings.

We welcome all scrutiny, which can help us do our job better. In this case, among other things, it's prompted us to speed up plans to publish more about the methodology we use in the numerous and exacting tests and analyses we carry out to arrive at our Ratings. For example, we'll say more about how we measure battery life and other key performance attributes.

What are you most curious about? Feel free to weigh in below with the behind-the-scenes information you'd most like us to shed light on. —Donna Tapellini