This is a guest post by TJ Aaron from LaptopLogic.com.  LaptopLogic provides laptop reviews and news on a regular basis. They cover everything for the laptop enthusiast, including accessory reviews and other useful information. Check out their Latest Review section to see what’s cooking in the world of laptops.

Bloggers are like any other PC user and have their own specific computing needs. We’ve compiled a list of the best notebook computers for bloggers, but you will notice that these machines are all very different from each other and offer different benefits for different bloggers.

Sony VAIO P

What could be better than an ultraportable machine that was designed around the smallest, functional keyboard? With over four hours of battery life, under 2 pound weight, and a high resolution 1600×768 resolution screen, the VAIO P has some great specs on paper. But in the end this machine will have a very divided following: some will hate it, while others will love it. It is also rather expensive for what is a glorified netbook, starting at $899 but surging to $1200 or more with a reasonable configuration.

HP EliteBook 2730p tablet

While it’s no surprise that HP made this list, but what may surprise you is that it is a convertible notebook with a tablet screen. You can fold this diminutive 12 inch convertible in half and use the tablet functionality to write by hand with the stylus. Another great use of the tablet is reading. Yes, reading; bloggers tend to do a lot of that. With the tablet in slate mode you can view a ton of text and easily scroll with one hand.

Asus Eee PC 1000HE

You knew you would see a netbook on this list, and here it is. Many netbooks are difficult to distinguish thanks to the ubiquitous Intel Atom platform and meager specs. However the new 1000HE model from Asus has the latest Atom processor and accompanying chipset, but more importantly a high capacity battery! Asus calls for up to 9.5 hours and with a pre-order price of $399, this is the netbook to get if you can stand the small keyboard and pokey performance.

Lenovo ThinkPad X200

Cool, quiet, tiny, powerful, and a perfect keyboard make this machine a top pick for any user, but it is especially great for someone who needs to be typing anywhere, anytime. Users are reporting over four hours of usage on the 6 cell battery or you can nearly double that on the 9-cell, which does stick out the back. The keyboard is a true full-size design with the impeccable ThinkPad quality we all know and love. Did we mention it’s super light, doesn’t get warm in your lap, and has your choice of blazing Core 2 Duo processors? The price is pretty reasonable too.

HP Pavilion dv2

HP’s latest notebook has a lot to offer with its 12.1 inch screen, 1 inch thick design, and 3.8 pound weight with an LED-backlit display, nearly full-size keyboard, discrete graphics, and plenty of other goodies. The optical drive isn’t integrated, as with the Lenovo X200, but a matching external drive is available with regular DVDRW or Blu-ray capabilities. AMD’s new Athlon Neo chip is at play here, with a respectable ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3410 graphics chip under the hood. While it is small and slick, the $699 starting price tag is even more attractive.

Google released their free Chrome browser today. This open source browser promises to be fast and quick with javascript applications, securing computers by sandboxing the websites they browse inside the tabs, and more than adequate with dynamic sites. I checked to see if G Chrome was downloadable when I first got online today, but found it hadn’t been released just yet. By mid afternoon, I was visiting www.google.com/chrome to see how it worked.

I was pleasantly surprised by the simple interface. Google created the browser from scratch, knowing that users like to watch videos, play flash games, and browse quickly from site to site. They also know most Web 2.0 sites have dynamic code to make them work. When I browsed to sites like Digg or Youtube, I was amazed at how fast they loaded. Others are comparing it to Opera.

Everyone should at least download the browser to see how your site looks in it — make sure it renders properly. There are also some neat features to mess around with, like the address bar suggestions/search and the incognito window.

The Incognito Window

I love the description of the Incognito window. They say to be wary of the following: 

Going incognito doesn’t affect the behavior of other people, servers, or software. Be wary of:

• Websites that collect or share information about you
• Internet service providers or employers that track the pages you visit
• Malicious software that tracks your keystrokes in exchange for free smileys
• Surveillance by secret agents
• People standing behind you

Yes, be wary of the people standing behind you, secret agents, and other tin-foil hat wearing paranoids. Google’s got your back on this one. 

The Skinny

My sythesized thoughts on the new browser. Tell me your thoughts in the comment section. 

• The browser has no obvious IE 6 type of errors for my site. 
• I can access many sites faster now, especially dynamic sites. 
• I’m also scared of Google owning all the web. 
• It will likely work well for dropping EC, except the EC toolbar won’t work with it. Well, no plugins work with it now. 
• The “Most Visited” default tab rocks! It lets you quickly search, click on recent sites, and view recent bookmarks. Definitely a smart default screen. No reason why the IE one couldn’t do something similar. 
• I like the search on both the history and favorites. It’s nice, not sure how much I’ll use it, but handy. 
• I’m excited to see how they integrate other Google products with the browser, like Google Reader and Gmail. Any plugins related to those apps would be great. 

Do you know how to build back links to the blog, e-commerce store, or site you’ve started? Link building may be one of the most sought skills for any site owner. After all, links help your site become found by search engines, build traffic, and increase your site’s readership. At LinkBuildingWiki.com you will find a vast resource focused on the art of link building. The wiki makes it easy to find resources related to link building.

What is the Link Building Wiki?

The LinkBuildingWiki.com compiles links to authoritative articles, blog posts, forum posts, and their sites for users to find information quickly.  The  site is completely free to use. If you’re new to link building or SEO, then this wiki should be your first stop on the journey.

Unlike other wikis, the Link Building Wiki is not open for everyone to edit. Those who would like to participate in building content can apply for the privilege. I understand why they have it closed. Imagine the amount of spam a link building wiki would receive — now you understand too.

The site lists link building resources including SEO blogs, forums and active posts in those forums, link building articles, and link building tools. The resources are first rate and should help anyone become acquainted with tips, tricks, and lessons related to link building.

Throughout the site, you may notice recommendations for certain material from two of the creators, Rob and Jarrod. They make it easy for you to spot their favorite material. The recommendations guide you towards quality information on link building.

The Hands off Approach

For those who simply want someone with the know-how to build links to your site, you can hire the experts behind the Link Building Wiki. From their link building services page offers everyone the information needed to hire their staff for link building work.

Conclusion

The wiki introduced me to quite a few sites on link building and SEO I hadn’t heard of before this review. If you’re looking to build back links to your site, increase your search engine rankings, or just gain SEO knowledge, then the Link Building Wiki should be part of your arsenal.

This weekly wrap-up post asks one crucial question for all you micro-bloggers — Is there a wrong way to use Twitter, Plurk, Pownce, and all the others? Can you actually alienate yourself from the masses? I have no hard and fast evidence. I know on Twitter there’s a collective of individuals I’m following who “would appreciate you going easy on the spam”. But there are others who quite frequently post links to their own blogs with the intro “Some spam:”.

Micro-blogging works great to network, find answers, build an online brand, and to keep in touch with many people at once. It doesn’t seem to work well when you don’t take the time to introduce yourself to those who follow you, or at least try to interact.

I must admit, I’m often times overwhelmed by Twitter. I’m following many of the top bloggers in the industry, from Mashable to Robert Scoble. These guys are all famous in their own right and quite successful. At times, I feel like what I have to contribute would be inane, so I shut up. Other times I try too hard.  I am who I am though, and my followers understand that. It’s not like they want to me to have all the answers, to be constantly funny, or anything. Most of them don’t even know me. Why not just be myself?

So the wrong way to use Twitter and other Micro-blogging services seems to be when we try to hard and overwhelm our followers. If I just be myself and try to interact with individuals, then 99% of the time I’ll experience a positive result. If I stay in the shadows and let the tweets fly by, then I’m only going to be a small pixelated square on someone’s friends list.

How Not To Start Micro-blogging

There is one other way to start out wrong. It’s poor form to simply start following a thousand people. I’ve seen at least two Twitter users add me this weekend who have less than ten followers, but they’re following over 500 people. That’s crazy! Stop it!

Twitter does have a follow limit of 2,000. Can you imagine 2,000 people in a room? I wouldn’t want to be holding a mic telling those 2,000 people about a great offer on dog food. Stay away from spam. Be yourself.

Other’s Explosions

This week I’ve read a lot of great articles on the web. It’s hard to keep track of everything, but I did want to push some link love to a few of my favorites.

Jamie at Blog2Life.net introduced a stat tracking service called Crazy Egg. The stats track clicks on your site and can show you how traffic responds to certain areas of your blog. I’m going to give the service a try to see where you’re all clicking. I’m watching!

It’s Write Now discussed how to create your own Wordpress template, which can be highly valuable to many bloggers out there. A good series with clear instructions.

Write to Done wrote a post entitled Why You Must Blow Your Trumpet. A great article on how we need to take credit and push our own limits of ourselves.

That’s all for this week. I’ll be writing new Micro-blogging Olympics over the next few days. Stay tuned as I go for gold!

I’m running the Micro-blogging Olympics, which is really just an experiment with three separate micro-blogging services. The Twitter service has the largest user base out of all three. I’ve been active in the Twitter community longer. You can update Twitter from your mobile phone, from their website, and from third party software applications. I’ve compiled a few applications that can help you stay connected to your followers and those you’re following.

Services

1. TwitterFeed - Ever wonder how bloggers always link to their site through Twitter? It’s probably an automated service like TwitterFeed pushing their content to your doorstep.
   
2. Ping.fm - Update Twitter along with many, many other social networking sites all from the same website. It includes Pownce and Plurk, so I’m signing up now. Update: beta code needed…argh.

Desktop Twitter Applications

1. Yakkle - Kind of like a cackle, but a yakkle. You getit, right? Download, integrate with Twitter and other IMs, roar on the scene.
2. Twhirl - Recently purchased by Seesmic, an Adobe Air app that allows you to update Twitter, Pownce, and Jaiku. Hooray for multi-use software!
3. Twitterific - Own a mac? Get this lightweight desktop app for your Twittering needs.
4. gTwitter - Running Linux? Try this Twitter client.

Plugins for Firefox

1. TwitterFox - A plugin for Firefox which makes interacting on Twitter so much easier, if you’re on your browser all day long. You can customize how often it checks for updates, makes replying much easier, and doesn’t use up any screen space when not in use.
2. TwitterBar- No they don’t stock martinis in this TwitterBar, but you can add it to FF 2 or 3 for easy twitting action.