Who'll win over consumers this holiday season? We test-drive the newest netbooks and notebooks.

This Christmas expect small computer overload — so many options, so little time (and money).  All the major computer manufacturers are coming out with lightweight 'net-connected laptops, and they're banking on big sales: The researchers at IDC expect some 160 million notebook computers to sell worldwide by the end of the year.

But which company will come out on top? It's a tight market right now in the notebook world. HP's (HPQ) remains the market leader in personal computers; Dell (DELL) is, for now, the No. 2 PC maker. But Taiwanese rival Acer is coming on strong, especially in the netbook market. More

Our correspondent goes to a geekfest and reports back on five new tools you need now.

Catch that mouse. Logitech's Performance Mouse MX is one to love. Photo: Logitech

I was in gadgetry heaven.

The Pepcom Holiday Spectacular in New York Thursday night was buzzing — and it wasn't just the sensation of mobile devices on vibrate mode.

With 80 companies — from Hewlett-Packard (HPQ)  to Samsung — showing off their goods for the holiday season, the room pulsated with enthusiasm, competitiveness and innovation. It was like the recession didn't exist!

I can't go through everything I saw, but here are my top five picks of the most interesting, unique technology solutions for business (and then some honorable mentions). More

In a sign that should bode well for Apple's (AAPL) earnings in its third fiscal quarter — which ended Saturday — the MacBook has clawed its way back to the top of Amazon's (AMZN) bestseller lists.

The Mac, which once led the pack in the online retailer's Computers & PC Hardware Bestsellers category despite its $1,000 to $2,000 sticker prices, had fallen behind the blistering sales pace set by netbooks like the Asus Eee and the Acer Aspire One, which sell in the $300 to $400 range.

By June 1, the bestselling Apple computer on the list — a white plastic MacBook — had been pushed down to the No. 14 position.

But netbooks have started to fall out favor recently — as witnessed by reports of return rates as high as 30% and an NPD study that found that 60% of consumers who bought them didn't understand the difference between a netbook and a notebook.

Meanwhile, Apple announced on June 8 that it was refreshing its notebook line and lowering its prices. Result: its computers have become hot sellers on Amazon once again.

Apple's entry-level 13-inch unibody MacBook, renamed the MacBook Pro, has been one of Amazon's top 100 bestsellers for 20 days — basically since the moment it went on sale. As of Monday morning, it was the site's No. 4 bestselling computer overall and No. 1 in the laptop category.

In fact, three of the top 10 and five of the top 20 bestselling laptops on Amazon are now MacBooks.

Apple is not the only beneficiary of what some see as growing consumer disillusion with netbooks. HP (HPQ) Pavilions, Toshiba Satellites and Samsung Mini Notebooks are also selling briskly online.

See also:

• AMEX vs. Amazon; Macs vs. netbooks
• Amazon’s Christmas bestsellers: Acer, Apple and Asus

Here's a tale of two demographics.

If you list the five bestsellers in Amazon's "Computers and PC Hardware" category today, you get five netbooks — three ASUS Eees and two ACER Aspire Ones. That's been the story pretty much all year.

If you list the five most popular items in "Computers and Software" on American Express's shopAmex site, you get four Apple (AAPL) products — three MacBooks, one Apple TV and one Sony (SNE) Blu-Ray player.

The first non Apple computer on the AMEX site is No. 17, a Dell (DELL) Inspiron. The first Apple on the Amazon list is No. 14, a white MacBook.

Why the difference? The Amazon site is open to everyone and tends to attract bargain hunters. The AMEX site is open only to card members, and although it advertises 30% discounts, it's attracting a different sort of clientele — one that doesn't seem to be put off by Apple's premium pricing.

Here are those lists:

On Wednesday, Gartner Research reported that Apple's (AAPL) share of the U.S. computer market, which topped 9% in calendar Q3 last year, dropped to 7.4% in Q1 2009 — putting it in fourth place behind HP (HPQ), Dell (DELL) and Acer.

The next day, Apple's share price rose nearly 2% to finish Thursday at $121.45, its highest close in six months.

Why the disconnect? Chalk it up to the ASPs.

As Gartner's Mikako Kitagawa notes, sales for Apple's competitors are being driven by the explosion of interest in low-cost netbooks — not just among penny-pinching consumers, but in the professional and education markets as well.

As result, Gartner estimates that average selling prices (ASPs) for computers sold in the first quarter may have fallen as much as 20% across the board — cutting sharply into PC makers' revenues.

Except at Apple. Despite rumors that its engineers may be working on some kind of device with a 10-inch screen, the company has so far shown zero interest in duking it out with the likes of Acer and Asus in the bargain basement mini-notebook market.

So even as Apple's market share shrinks, its margins and gross revenue are likely to have held up better than any of its competitors.

Moreover, while Gartner's Ms. Kitagawa is seeing signs of channel inventory restocking at other companies — evidence that the global PC market has not yet hit bottom — she singles out Apple's "deft control of inventories [which] limited its shipment decline."

All this — and a flood of deferred iPhone earnings — may help explain why analysts are scrambling to raise their Apple price targets (and talking up the stock) in advance of the company's fiscal Q2 earnings report next Wednesday, April 22.

Below the fold: Gartner's preliminary estimates of domestic PC shipments for Q1 2009.

More

Look what Santa left under Amazon.com's tree this Christmas morning:

• 7 Acer netbooks
• 7 Apple MacBooks
• 4 Asus netbooks
• 2 Samsung netbooks
• 2 MSI netbooks
• 1 OLPC (One laptop per child) XO laptop
• 1 Lenova Ideapad laptop
• 1 Toshiba Satellite laptop

Can you spot the ringer on Amazon's 2008 Christmas-day list of 25 bestselling notebook computers?

You guessed it. It's those seven premium-priced Apple (AAPL) MacBooks in a shopping cart dominated by stripped-down netbooks, heavily discounted Windows notebooks and a 2-for-1 "$100" laptop.

Except for the MacBooks and one $599 Toshiba, every computer on that list sells for less than $500.

The seven MacBooks, by contrast, sell for three times as much: an average of $1,473.41, after rebates.

It's almost as if Macintosh buyers were insensitive to price, even in a recession. In fact, the best-selling Apple on that list isn't the cheapest; it's a $1,299 unibody MacBook marked down to $1,218.98. The cheapest Apple — a $999 white MacBook, marked down to $929.99 — is No. 22.

Over on Amazon's desktop bestseller list, Apple did even better this Christmas morning: 4 of the top 5 are Macs.

Amazon (AMZN) is the world's largest online retailer, but for definitive holiday sales figures we'll have to wait for the quarterly reports.

Despite fierce competition from machines with more than twice the memory and price points hundreds of dollars lower, Apple's (AAPL) white 120 GB MacBook has captured the top spot on Amazon's (AMZN) list of bestselling computers this Christmas eve.

Helped along by rebates ranging from $75 to $150, three Apple-brand notebooks are on the top 10 list this morning. The other bestsellers are the 80 GB MacBook (No. 7) and the 120 GB MacBook Pro (No. 10).

Price cutting among the competition is even steeper. HP's (HPQ) 250 GB Pavilion (No. 5) is selling for $999.99, 27% off the $1,375 list price.

The least expensive computer on the list, at No. 8, is the $381 Linux-based Asus Galaxy with a 7-inch screen and 4 GB of flash memory rather than a hard drive. Many expect Steve Jobs to announce at Macworld that Apple is entering the market for flash-based notebook computes. Apple's thin MacBook, however, is likely to be larger, carry more memory, and cost a whole lot more than $381.

In Amazon's list of top-selling electronics, a late surge by a heavily discounted portable hard drive has pushed an iPod off the stack. Apple had five of the top 10 spots for much of the pre-Christmas shopping period; it's now down to four. See here.

UPDATE: As of 2 p.m. ET, the MacBook has been edged aside at No. 1 by an HP Pavillion with 160 GB hard drive marked down 37% (including rebate) to $679.99.

BOXING DAY UPDATE: This morning, the day after Christmas, the MacBook is back on top.