We've often noted large price drops in computer prices, but the past month or so has seen even steeper cuts than usual. Prices for the models included in our newest laptop Ratings (available to subscribers) bear this out.

Consider this: Thirteen-inch laptops are usually among the most expensive, but Toshiba's new Satellite L735-S3210, which comes with 4GB of memory, a 500GB hard drive, and high-resolution display, costs just $500.

Sony often offers some of the more costly laptops: But in our Ratings is the 14-inch Vaio VPCEG11FX/L, for $660—and this laptop doesn’t hold back. It has a large hard drive, long battery life, and notable performance.

A 15.6-inch Gateway laptop, the NV59C70u, saw a significant price drop. And it's also loaded with features, such as a large hard drive and an HDMI port for streaming high-def video to your TV.

Even Apple is getting into the act—sort of. The company has replaced its $1,000 white MacBook with a $1,000 MacBook Air, an 11.6-inch model running the latest version of Apple's operating system, OS X Lion. It weighs just 2.5 pounds and was a top performer among laptops.

We've also just published new Ratings of desktops and netbooks; take a look if you're in the market.