Lightweight laptops: What you give up

AnchorDesk

Lightweight laptops: What you give up

Daniel Miller
Managing Editor, AnchorDesk
Wednesday, August 20, 2003

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Ever since manufacturers came up with the idea of thin-and-light laptops--notebooks that favor portability over all else--buyers have faced a dilemma: Are you willing to give up long battery life, big screens, and the latest add-ins to save a few pounds?

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ZDNet reviewers gave the Sony model the highest rating of these three notebooks--8.4 out of a possible 10.

Sony VAIO PCG-TR1A

These days, those compromises are becoming less and less onerous. Batteries in the latest thin-and-lights are still short-lived compared to their desktop-replacement counterparts, but are getting good enough to last you the length of a cross-country flight. And while you still won't find the largest LCDs on petite portables, the screens aren't the eye-squinters of years past.

So what do you do without on today's lightweight laptops? In the cases of the latest thin-and-lights from Dell, HP, and Sony, surprisingly little.

* * * * * Dell Inspiron 300M series
Like many thin-and-lights, this one saves weight by shipping with a low-capacity battery. Unlike many others, it comes with a high-capacity backup that adds a pound to its otherwise skimpy 3-pound traveling weight; that's still a pound less than the Inspiron 600M. The 300M comes with a media slice, which gives you one bay for charging the backup battery and another for secondary storage when you return to your desktop. The keyboard is relatively sizable for an ultralight, though the function and arrow keys are on the tiny side. And the 12.1-inch screen (1280x768 native resolution), while small, is standard-issue for the thin-and-light crowd.
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CNET senior editor Tom Dunlap explains what to look for in a business laptop and lists his top picks. (Note: Registration required.)

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HP Compaq Business Notebook nc4000
Weighing just 3.6 pounds (with an additional 0.8 pounds for the AC adapter), the nc4000 is a cinch to schlep. But you'll sacrifice screen size (it's a 12.1-incher) and storage (there's no built-in optical drive), and our reviewers found the keyboard a bit cramped (particularly the space bar and Escape key). And thanks to the relatively speedy 1.6GHz Pentium M processor and relatively weak power supply, the nc4000 lasted less than three hours in our battery tests--way too short for a supposed portable. But you do get integrated 802.11a/b wireless networking, gigabit Ethernet, and two USB 2.0 ports.
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Sony VAIO PCG-TR1A
This one's really tiny: Weighing just 3.1 pounds (plus another 0.8 for the AC adapter), the case is a minute 1.4-by-10.6-by-7.4-inches. Yep, that means there's only room for a (nicely bright) 10-inch screen, and the keyboard is too small for comfortable long-term typing. But the battery lasted more than four hours in our tests, and the system comes with a built-in DVD/CD-RW drive, a digital camera, 802.11b wireless networking, an integrated 56Kbps modem and Ethernet card, and two USB 2.0 ports. Our reviewers called it one of the coolest ultralights to ship this year.
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What do you think? What features would you be willing to sacrifice to save weight? TalkBack to me!

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