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Apple notebooks sweep Consumer Reports charts

9to5 Staff | May 25 2011 - 3:17 am PT

It’s official, MacBooks are the highest-quality notebooks money can buy. Consumer advocacy group Consumer Reports has awarded the entire lineup of Apple notebooks the highest scores among all contenders, ranking them #1 in nearly every category across the board. For example, Mac notebooks lead the pack in five out of seven spots in the 13-inch category. The paid report, relayed by The Loop, puts the 11- and 13-inch MacBook Air as well as the 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pro ahead of other branded machines from first-tier vendors.

Appeal of Apple’s stylish portables is so strong that even HTC’s boss couldn’t resist getting two MacBook Airs for herself and her spouse (see below). Oh, and let’s not forget that Apple-branded notebooks have consistently been a hit with analysts and media, not to mention Google geeks who showed unconditional love for MacBooks at the company’s developer pilgrimage earlier this month (above). Go past the break to see how MacBooks fared compared to HP, Sony, Asus and others.

The 11-inch Air ranked #1 with a score of 62/100, ahead of the #1 Gateway (52/100) and HP (49/100).

The 13-inch MacBook Air beat Sony and Asus machines to the notebook punch with a score of 76/100. The 13-inch MacBook Pro took the top five of seven spots with Sony and Asus taking the final two spots.

The 15-inch MacBook Pro ended first with just a three percentage points lead while the 17-inch MacBook Pro led the pack in two categories with the scores of 80 and 81, respectively.